The episode opens in a hotel room in Pelican Point, a town near New Orleans. A man, identified by the police as a private investigator, is dead from a gun shot wound. Lt. Fontaine who comes across as either dumb or lazy determines that the man committed suicide even when the other investigator, Cal Calhoun, points out that the gun is several feet away from the body. Fontaine casually kicks the gun next to the body. Back in New Orleans, Rex Randolph's partner's wife tells Rex that her husband, Sam Jelkins, is missing and the last she heard was that he was going to Pelican Point. Rex then goes in search of his partner and finds that he was the murdered man. It becomes apparent that the corrupt Lt. Fontaine is trying to cover up the murder of Jelkins at the behest of the local bigwig matriarch Mrs. Delastone. Mrs. Delastone is an arrogant and willful woman with two daughters who she doesn't care much for; it seems all of her motherly love was for her son, now deceased. It also comes out that Mrs. Delastone was being blackmailed. In a low key way, Calhoun assists Rex with the investigation and at episode's end becomes Rex's new partner. The cast is stellar especially Richard Long as Rex Randolph and Andrew Duggan as Cal Calhoun. But what makes the show standout is that it wonderfully conveys that the setting is in New Orleans - from the characters' Southern accents (albeit in some cases very slight), the characters' mannerisms, the music, the food. Absolutely great. The bad news is that the series lasted only one season but at least back then there were 39 episodes in a season.
3 Reviews
Based heavily on a 1957 novel of the same title as the episode
bridgeguy-111 June 2023
The novel was written by Howard Browne, who also co-authored the script for this episode as well as many other Warner Brothers TV episodes in the late-'50s/early-'60s when their Westerns and private eye shows were ubiquitous. Of interest is the novel takes place in Chicago, obviously moved to New Orleans for the show. But many of the character names were transferred directly to the TV episode, in particular the Delastones. In the novel the lead private eye is named Philip Pine, and unlike the TV show he was not partnered with the deceased Sam Jellco as they had Rex Randolph be. Funny watching the episode before having read the book I thought the character names Delastone and Jellco sounded very Louisiana-like, and was surprised to find that Browne had created those names for Chicago. In the book Phil Pine was only slightly acquainted with Sam Jellco, and becomes involved when Jellco's wife hires him to find him. Anyway, highly recommend both the book and the TV episode.
Best of the WB PI shows
mlbroberts4 December 2021
The intro to how Randolph and Calhoun came to form the PI firm that was the backbone of this series, and it was really first rate. Lots of grit, lots of mystery, lots of real emotion as two young women try to keep the truth about their brother from their mother, while policeman Cal Calhoun tries to keep PI Rex Randolph from getting killed as he seeks out the truth and what it has to do with the murder of his partner. Along the way we learn that Cal has had it with with younger men taking over the police department and decides he wants to be Rex's new partner. This was a good series - at least for the first half or so when the NOLA flavor was there along with the racially integrated cast and the very musically talented background players that included Eddie Cole (Nat Cole's very talented and educated brother). BSB was the best of the WB PI shows, and this episode was one of the best of BSB.
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