Four Star Playhouse 1.05

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starring Dick Powell

directed by Robert Florey

Eddie White (Dick Powell) returns to his hometown for the first time in 15 years. He's wanted for murder. The police are looking for him but he's got a head start. No one recognizes him, at first, except for Chuck Stern, whose father owns the hotel where Eddie gets a room. Chuck follows Eddie around. He wants to be just like him.

The police surround the hotel. Chuck runs inside. He wants to help Eddie shoot his way out of there. Eddie decides he would rather ruin Chuck's impression of him rather than get him killed.

Thoughts

I'm not usually a fan of episodes like this but Dick Powell's performance really sold the way this story ended. He did not pull his punches when telling Chuck what he thought of him.

Notes

This is the second of 32 episodes of this show that starred Dick Powell. The previous one was 1.02 Dante's Inferno.

David Holt played the part of Check Stern. This is one of his last acting credits but he has over four dozen total acting credits according to IMDb. 

Howard McNear played the part of the hotel owner. He is best known for playing Floyd the barber on The Andy Griffith Show. This is the first of three episodes of this show in which he appeared. He also appeared in two episodes each of Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955) and The Twilight Zone (1959). He had a small part in Kiss Me, Stupid (1964).

The screenplay for this episode was written by Blake Edwards, who went on to write lots more screenplays and also direct a number of movies. This is the second of ten episode of this show that he wrote. The previous one was 1.02 Dante's Inferno. Six of the ten episodes he wrote were ones that starred Dick Powell. He directed four of the ten episodes. Edwards went on to write for a number of crime themed shows including Richard Diamond, Private Detective and Peter Gunn. Later in his career he was known as a director of comedies.