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Peter Gunn, Set 2 | Year: 1958 Classification: Television Directed: - Robert Altman - Blake Edwards - Walter Grauman - Alan Crosland Jr. - Jack Arnold - David Orrick McDearmon - Paul Stewart - Boris Sagal - Lamont Johnson - Robert Ellis Miller Not the most classic of classic TV Novel plots, zany characters and Blake Edwards' superb jazz sound track distinguish this series. But all told they do not compensate for its lack of other outstanding features nor make it the best of its genre. Those who love classic TV and/or private investigator/police drama have many other better choices available. Even better than the first set, if that's possible! This show is very addictive and it serves to remind us what REAL "cool" is all about. No kiddies, it's not a face full of rings and studs and a tattoo on your butt. It's not some numb-nutted, no-talent, rap-squawking pimp-daddy grabbing his croth on the Leno show. It's not the concept of bacterial life in Martian rocks. It's not your baseball cap on backwards and a pair of stupid-looking three-quarter-length baggy pants. Here is the truth: Peter Gunn is COOL personified! A smooth, immaculately dressed private eye who hangs out in a jazz club (where his girlfriend is the Julie London-esque chanteuse) and mixes with, truly, some of life's beatnik eccentrics.... all to the sounds of a perfect Henry Mancini score and produced by Blake Edwards. How cool is that? Also what is really good about this series (especially for you older guys out there) is the number of familiar faces and character actors that we used to see in 50s/60s TV shows and Elvis movies. I swear that while I was watching this dvd I asked myself "When is Floyd the Mayberry barber from the 'Andy Griffith Show' gonna turn up?", and lo and behold, in the very next episode, there he was as an eccentic antiques dealer. I also like the bongo-playing skindiver with the apartment full of hula girls.... this is Atomic Age bachelor pad excess, I love it!! Yeah, I agree that the transfers are not up to the usual A&E excellence and in some shows the tape hiss is very noticable but hey, given the vintage of this stuff, I'll live with it. Can't wait for further volumes of this ultra cool TV noir and hope and pray A&E release BOURBON STREET BEAT, 77 SUNSET STRIP, SURFSIDE 6 and HAWAIIAN EYE in box sets. I highly recommend this dvd. Buy it, check it out, let the "cool" flow over you like molasses and put it up there on your shelf next to "Jazz On A Summer's Day" and "The Saint" mega-set. Gunn-derful! Nothing is overdone here. The acting, the sets, the music (oh, yes, enjoy the MUSIC) and most of the stories are cool. Craig Stevens is sublimely in control in the title role, Lola Albright's unspectacular singing voice but unmitigated charm fit into the unspectacular but charming setting of Mother's, the nightclub where Gunn hangs out with her, and Herschel Bernardi is the harried and weary police detective sometimes at odds with Gunn, the private detective. But how often have you seen that cop/dick relationship overplayed on TV series and in movies. Here it is understated. That is not to say the show is so low-keyed as to be boring. There are mysteries, there's humor (including an episode in which the immaculately tailored Gunn is scurrying about town with a trained seal in tow), and a good rock 'em sock 'em fight every episode. And all this is surrounded and united by the brilliant Mancini music. You will have fun and won't get tired even if you watch a bunch of episodes at one sitting. Buy Peter Gunn at Amazon.com Buy posters at Allposters.com Jamster - the latest ringtones for your phone!  Search with Walhello on the Internet on Peter Gunn Search with the Priority Search Engine on Peter Gunn This page in other languages: Suomeksi | Nederlands | Deutsch
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