"It is true what they say about you? Pete Gunn for hire?" - Lola Albright as Edie Hart
Peter Gunn: Set One DVD Review
By Jonathan Boudreaux
Peter Gunn premiered on NBC in September of 1958. Created and produced by Blake Edwards (of the Pink Panther movies), the series follows the adventures of the titular private detective, played by Craig Stevens. Gunn helps to solve crimes in his seedy town, often with the help of his pal Lt. Jacoby (Herschel Bernardi). When not doing legwork, Gunn hangs around at a dive run by Mother (Hope Emerson), a tough old broad who often provides Gunn with information he needs to crack cases. Gunn's girlfriend, Edie (Lola Albright) works at the bar as a singer. Lucky for Gunn, many of the criminals stop by Mother's on their way to or from the crime scenes, so he rarely has to stray far from its walls.
This television interpretation of film noir is, unfortunately, an example of what television sometimes does best: taking another form of popular entertainment and morphing it into a bland, watered down copy of the original. The production values of this series are almost non-existent, with chintzy sets that look as if they were constructed of cardboard and duct tape. The series achieves little of the blunt poetry - both visual and dialogue driven - of true noir.
The most successful element of the series is Henry Mancini's music. In addition to the iconic theme song, he provides an almost continuous jazz underscore. This music is top notch. The series itself seems to acknowledge this in frequent nightclub numbers that stop the negligible action of the plot in favor of showcasing Mancini's arrangements.
The first sixteen episodes of the series are presented on two DVDs. The menus allow the viewer to watch all of the episodes or to choose individual ones. The episodes are divided into chapters at each commercial break.
