Cannon: Season One, Volume Two
There had been robust detectives on television
before 1971, but none quite this… ornery. William
Conrad’s performance as the title character in Cannon
isn’t exactly an anarchic ass; as crass and frankly direct as he
is, he is (for the most part) a gentleman. But compared to the other
television characters of the early seventies, he stands apart.
 Cannon is a loner, and an unapologetic one. Where folks like John
Rockford (James Garner) and even Detective Columbo (Peter Falk) were
intrinsically warm and open, Cannon is a downright cantankerous. This
guy doesn’t have an assistant, he doesn’t have BFFs, he
doesn’t have romance knocking on his door – Cannon is a
man with a myopic desire to solve crime.
Now
don’t get me wrong; the guy’s not lazy. He does
what needs to be done to nab the bad guy. But Cannon is almost robotic
in his efficiency as a detective. He’ll unleash a capable (if
not impressive-looking) control of violence in a fight, but this guy
ain’t a show-off. He’ll find who he’s looking for,
beat him up if he has to, then clock his time card and head home.
And herein lies Cannon’s dormant charm. Like the
stubborn, unlikable uncle who always buys you the best birthday
presents, Cannon is a guy who is pretty damned likable in his
unlikability (so to speak). No matter how you slice it, the guy goes
out of his way to help people out – and he does it just because
it’s what he does. As curmudgeonly as the fella might be, he has
the greater good in mind.
However, in this second half
of Cannon’s debut season (Paramount, again, refuses to
give season-long releases of their catalog TV-on-DVD titles), as
admirable as Cannon’s presence might be, it’s not enough
to keep the show from descending quite quickly into unimaginative
crime-TV territory. Conrad imparts a perfect level of presence and
finesse to his performance, but the scenarios given to him in each of
these episodes are mundane at best.
These final
thirteen episodes of the show’s first season center on cases
like a race car driver with a thirst for bloody revenge (Treasure
of San Ignacio), a scientist who kills one of her research
subjects (To Kill a Guinea Pig), and even a crazy cult that
descends upon a small town (A Deadly Quiet Town). While these
scenarios are perhaps a bit edgier than the plot lines afforded to
other shows of the era, this Cannon: Season One, Volume Two
showcases the same shortcomings as its older brother. Quite simply,
things get dull real fast.
A Deadly Quiet
Town is a perfect example. This writer is a sucker for cult-
oriented fare (Peter Fonda’s Race With the Devil
featuring the actor, his on-screen pals, and their RV being chased by
a crazy cult is among my all-time faves), yet although this
Cannon episode starts with the kind of creepy-crawly
seediness of an impending cult takeover, soon after the second
commercial break, the show’s structure becomes business as
usual. I suppose the end result is simply a set of episodes with ideas
that don’t live up to their execution.
As with
the show’s first DVD box set, I must resort to this simple
critique of Cannon: Conrad is a great actor who has taken on
a fantastic part, but it’s just a so-so show.
The Video: How Does The Disc Look?
As
with the presentations in Cannon’s first DVD release,
these 1.33:1 transfers aren’t consistent in quality. From
episode to episode, it’s a crapshoot as to whether
Cannon’s visual presence will be pretty good or…
not. Color accuracy is relatively good; it’s the one element
that stays strong all the way through. But black levels are hit-and-
miss and finely grained detail is so-so at best. These are old shows,
so it comes as no surprise that they’re not given reference-
quality transfers; but even so, Cannon fans won’t be
impressed with this set’s video.
The
Audio: How Does The Disc Sound?
The mono
tracks, just like those on the last one, are totally appropriate.
They’re old mono for old TV, so the tininess and crackling that
you’d expect are audible, but the show’s music and
dialogue come through adequately. It could be worse.
English Closed Captions are included.
The
Supplements: What Goodies Are There?
All we
get are a set of next-on-Cannon episode
promos.
Exclusive DVD-ROM Features:
What happens when you pop the disc into your PC?
There are no DVD-ROM features on this DVD.
Final Thoughts
The thing about TV-on-
DVD titles is that regardless of implicit quality, fans want to
populate their shelves with their favorite shows’ -tube sets, so
I will fall back on familiar advice. If you like Cannon, pick
this one up. Audio and video qualities are not fantastic, and there
are no worthwhile supplements, but if you simply must have it, as a
fellow TV junkie, I understand… just don’t say I
didn’t warn you.
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