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Reviews
The Defenders (1961)
The Defenders is on DVD
This socially relevant TV series was and still is excellent! Recently, DVDs of the first season of 32 episodes have been released and I purchased a copy. I'll comment on two of them.
The episode, "The Attack," examined the case of a police officer who killed a teenage boy he thought had molested his five-year old daughter. During his trial for murder, he learns that a different boy had just confessed to the crime against his daughter. It is a hard-hitting episode. Martin Sheen was in the cast. I read in an article that Sheen gave this episode credit for getting his Screen Actors Guild membership card in order to act in it, which began his career.
Another episode, "The Last Six Months," has the most devastatingly effective teaser opening that I have seen. A man named Fred Braden is told by his doctor that he only has a few months to live. In the six-minute opening, the viewer sees his plight from the viewpoint of the stricken man himself at the time he becomes enraged and strangles his business partner. It is a powerful and heartbreaking episode. Braden was a conscientious objector who had served in the medical core instead during the Second World War due to his abhorrence to killing.
I hope the release of the first season delights other fans of The Defenders and possibly new fans as well, because the acting and scripts are timeless! Perhaps it may serve as a harbinger toward release of the other three seasons.