Ironside
Ironside
TV-PG | 28 March 1967 (USA)
SEASON & EPISODES
  • 8
  • 7
  • 6
  • 5
  • 4
  • 3
  • 2
  • 1
  • 0
  • Reviews
    Grimerlana

    Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

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    Smartorhypo

    Highly Overrated But Still Good

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    Pacionsbo

    Absolutely Fantastic

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    Cheryl

    A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

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    drystyx

    Obviously, Burr is going to be remembered first as Perry Mason, and second as an insert into a Japanese monster movie.Here, we see Burr in the later stage of his career, feeding off his fame, to do a series about a handicapped law man solving crimes in a more red neck way than he did as Perry.Perry Mason was mostly about "atmosphere", and we don't get that here. Instead of the quiet room settings mingled with outdoor settings, usually away from the city in the Perry Mason series, here we get mostly city settings, which makes this dull and lifeless. City streets and motor vehicles are the worst thing possible in keeping an audience interested.The characters were okay enough, but like the show, a bit lifeless. When this show came out, I remember one high school teacher, familiar with the arts, claiming the entire concept of Burr in a wheelchair was made simply because Burr weighed too much, and couldn't stand for long shoots. This is probably just a bit of an exaggeration, but still it was a good idea to have a handicapped hero. This one solved crimes mostly on experience rather than deduction, I believe.In all, it was very dull, though, and forgettable, but Burr provided a bit of fire from his wheel chair to keep it from being too boring.

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    philharve

    There have been three Halls of Justice buildings in San Francisco's history and the building that appears in every episode of Ironside, which ran from 1967 to 1975, was the 'second' Hall of Justice and it is often referred to as the 'Old' Hall of Justice. It contained the city's jail, police station, courtrooms, and District Attorneys Office. Its address was 750 Kearny Street, which placed it on the east side of Kearny between Washington and Merchant.The 'original' and 'first' Hall of Justice stood on the same spot but was destroyed in the great San Francisco earthquake on 18th April 1906 during which it burnt to the ground. The original building bore a passing resemblance to its successor except for the addition of a tall clock tower that overlooked Kearny Street.The Old Hall of Justice was first occupied in 1912 but by 1950 it had outgrown the purpose for which it was built. A 'third' larger Hall of Justice was built about 11/2 miles distant on a new site at 850 Bryant Street, between 7th and Harriet.The Old Hall of Justice was finally abandoned in 1961 and was subsequently gutted of its luxurious fixtures and fittings, comprising wood and marble panelling, brass door knobs and hinges, carpets, furniture and other decorative features. It was finally demolished in 1967 after standing derelict.Stock footage of the derelict building was used to highlight the location of Ironside's office, which was on the top floor, left hand side, as viewed from the front of the building. A row of semi-circular windows adorned the top floor offices. Ironside's office, which also doubled as his apartment complete with semi-circular window, was recreated in the studio for the filming of the series.Also seen in the same stock footage is the Coit Tower on Telegraph Hill, which is located a short distance to the north of Portsmouth Square. Portsmouth Square, which is located on Kearny between Washington and Clay, was once the centre of 'old' San Francisco and is now part of the Chinatown district of the city.Looking eastward from Portsmouth Square prior to 1967, the frontal view of the Old Hall of Justice would have been instantly familiar to Ironside fans. Its sides and rear aspects were never filmed, presumably because they were far less attractive.Midway along the front of the Old Hall of Justice was a street-level entrance to an underground car park. It was through this narrow entrance that Ironside's personal transporter, a grey-painted, blue-striped, supercharged police van, originally painted black, was occasionally seen to use. His subsequent transport, a sand-coloured Ford van, which was introduced into the series after the police van was destroyed in one episode, is never seen near the Old Hall of Justice because the building had been demolished and a new building was in the course of erection.Today, the site is occupied by the 27-floor, Hilton San Francisco Financial District Hotel and the Chinese Cultural Centre, which share the same address. Behind the Hilton Hotel on Montgomery Street stands the famous Transamerica Pyramid, another of San Francisco's noteworthy landmark buildings.There are ongoing arguments concerning the wisdom of demolishing a building such as the Old Hall of Justice and replacing it with a modern skyscraper structure. Many of San Francisco's inhabitants regard the design and appearance of the Old Hall of Justice as having more character and beauty than the edifices that replaced it.

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    roghache

    I have fond memories of watching this well crafted detective show during my growing up years. The series portrays the story of San Francisco Chief of Detectives, Robert Ironside, who has been hit by a sniper's bullet, paralyzing him from the waist down. Confined to a wheelchair, he must forego his previous detective position but stays on with the Police Department as sort of a consultant. Ironside ferrets out crime while working from a special Police Department office complete with exercise equipment and sleeping facilities. Assisting him is his own special unit, a diverse trio consisting of regular cop Detective Sargent Ed Brown, educated policewoman Eve Whitfield, and black ex con Mark Sanger. During the course of the series Sanger progresses from Ironside's bodyguard to a police officer and finally a lawyer.In this series we see this formerly tough Chief of Detectives endeavouring to nail San Francisco's bad guys, all the while coping quite successfully with his recent disability. The program shows that this previously high profile crime fighter can still lead an equally productive life from his wheelchair. The show reveals his character development as well as his interactions with the trio of assistants, all providing viewer interest in addition to the crime solving elements.Raymond Burr, alias Perry Mason, was born to solve TV crimes! The actor gives a masterful performance here as the wheelchair bound Ironside. This is generally quite an engaging detective series and frankly, I wish that there was more TV programming of its quality these days.

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    Cue-ball

    There are precious few actors who can create two successful television characters. More recent examples include Mary Tyler Moore (Mary Richards and Laura Petrie) and Bob Newhart (Bob Hartley and Dick Loudon). In 1966, Burr completed a nine-year run as the most recognizable attorney on television. In 1967, returning to television, his challenge was to create a new character that wouldn't stand in Perry Mason's shadow. The result was Ironside -- a rough, former chief of the San Francisco police forced to retire when an attempted assassination leaves him paralyzed. (The theme music is reprised in "Kill Bill Vol. 1", whenever the Bride flashes back on her paralyzing injuries.) Bob Ironside had none of Perry Mason's polish, frequently spoke without thinking, and enjoyed fast cars as much as he relished good police work. He was given a special task force that included a regular joe beat-cop, Ed Brown (even in the sixties, a more vanilla name was never given a character); a highbrow, educated female detective (Eve Whitfield); and a troubled black youth, Mark Sanger, who was to Ironside what Charlie Young is to President Bartlet on "The West Wing". Instead of the Los Angeles setting of Perry Mason, Ironside was in San Francisco. In addition, while Perry Mason kept the lights on at CBS for nearly a decade, Ironside was a steady performer for NBC for almost as long. The show was an instant critical and commercial success.I think the reason Ironside is not as popular in reruns now as it was in the late 70s and early 80s is it will always be in the shadow of Mason, and that's a shame. The two shows are not the same, and there are many memorable episodes of Ironside. One in particular features Ironside isolated in his apartment, being stalked by a killer, that always reminded me of the climactic scene in "Rear Window" -- in which the killer was played by Raymond Burr! One of my favorite lines of dialogue, from the pilot, was his ribbing of his female detective: "By all means, ask Detective Whitfield. She's had the benefit of a classical education." That line -- which would never have passed Perry Mason's lips -- is a good sample of Ironside's tone through the series.

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