MovieChat Forums > Dragnet (1951) Discussion > Was the LAPD really like this?

Was the LAPD really like this?

posted 10 years ago by schappe1
1 reply | jump to latest

Dragnet shows the LAPD as a highly professional organization full of dedicated public servants. Marty Wynn got the ball rolling by asking Webb on the set of "He Walked By Night" why Hollywood didn't give an accurate portrayal of police work. This 'realism' is a strong part of the appeal of the show: this is what it's really like and these cases are real, (just the names were changed to protect the innocent).

But the criticisms of the LAPD during the Watts riots, the Rodney King situation and the OJ Simpson trial gives a very different picture of the LAPD, as do films like "Mullholland Falls, LA Confidential and Gangster Squad.

The early radio episodes were done before William Parker was hired to "clean up the department" in 1950. The Chief when the show started was Clarence Horrall:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clemence_B._Horrall
who "resigned under pressure during a grand jury investigation of police corruption" when a member of his vice squad was found to be the boyfriend and bodyguard of a brothel madame. I never saw a policeman like that one on Dragnet. I don't recall a n episode with a corrupt cop in it, something you'll see on nearly every other police show.

I have a feeling that the day-to-day work of the detectives was basically what we see on Dragnet but there was another side of the LAPD that isn't represented here.

The past is a series of presents. The present is living history we are privileged to witness

[–] mactach 10 years ago

I can't answer that but as some will say, "Things aren't always what they seem to be."

I think the reason why Jack revived Dragnet in the 60's had to do partly with the issues with race relations and various other things concerning the LAPD and other departments nationwide.