Ironside (1967 TV Movie) User Reviews (13)

Flashy but Interesting Pilot

[BJJManchester · 6/10 · 26 January 2006]

The pilot for the long running(1967-1975)TV crime show,with the irascible,wheelchair bound chief of San Francisco police,Robert Ironside.After years of playing villains in Hollywood movies,Raymond Burr oddly became a major TV star with this and 'Perry Mason'.The film is well-directed by the under-valued James Goldstone and nicely photographed,admittedly on rather studio-bound locations.What only really grates is flashy editing by EW Williams.The various plot strands and sequences(angry black youth treated sympathetically by Ironside,the chief victim of a revenge shooting,San Francisco's hippie culture)are interesting enough without the editor having to cut frantically and wildly;some cuts last but a few frames,and it often has the feel of a TV commercial for breakfast cereal!

These irritations aside,Burr's dominant portrayal ensured a highly successful TV series that aired until the mid 70's,and as a bonus there's a highly unexpected and bizarre turn by cultish singer Tiny Tim during Ironside's investigations!

Move over Perry...Meet the iron Bob.

[mark.waltz · 8/10 · 16 December 2021]

Finishing up a long run as beloved attorney Perry Mason, Raymond Burr took on a completely different role as tough-talking police detective Robert Ironside, and what a change it is for him. Burr takes on this role by bringing elements out of some of his 1950's film villains: passive, cynical, wisecracking and not very nice. But basically, Robert Ironside is a good guy, on the right side of the law, and after he is shot while on vacation, he begins to look at life in a different way and takes on the case of finding out who was responsible for putting him in a wheelchair.

There's also his beautiful assistant, Geraldine Brooks (a 1940's film ingenue) and protege Don Galloway, who is not above telling Ironside off when he acts out of line. When he visits ex-con Don Mitchell, he doesn't expect a warm welcome as he put Mitchell Behind Bars a few times, but eventually, he convinces him to join his team please call the phone offers him a bright future. Galloway and Mitchell would remain major parts of "Ironside" series, and they helped ground the rough around the edges character who begins to show decency as he learns trust. A cameo by Tiny Tim before "Laugh In" is also worth a mention.

A lot of star cameos and interesting character actor appearances helps make this an amusing TV movie which I'm not sure was actually a pilot but led to the long-running series. Ironside isn't exactly a character to instantly warrant sympathy, but Burr allows his own personal charm to shine through Ironside's hard shell. Lilia Skala as a tough nun is very funny, and heavy set Ayllene Gibbons ("My Fair Lady", "The Loved One") is unforgettable as car mechanic Baby Peggy. If you haven't seen the Ironside series ever or in years, this TV movie is guaranteed to make you interested just as the Perry Mason TV movies did with making people interested in his earlier episodes. No wonder he is still considered a TV and movie legend!

TV movie film helped by the beautiful Barbara Anderson

[belanger75 · 8/10 · 8 July 2019]

I have reviewed her work before ( see my reviews).She shines definitely in her many scenes here as Policewoman Eve Whitfield. Singlehandedly she makes this a way better movie than it would gave been had a lesser beautiful actress had the part or had there been no character at all of Eve Whitfield in the movie.

As for the film itself it is quite good to a degree but I must add something. The real life Vietnam War hangs over this film like Marley's ghost and the US was in fact justified to fight mass-murderer Ho Chi Minh ( who became a brutal killer in 1956 with a North Vietnamese land reform-- see my reviews)! So that means that the counter-culture scenes the cops endure while looking for Ironside's assailant are in fact wrong-headed because America was right to be in Vietnam stopping Minh from taking South Vietnam and torturing them too.

Marvelous combination of grit, humor, and character study

[m_finebesser · 10/10 · 3 August 2001]

This 1967 TV-movie captured the spirit and substance of mid-60's San Francisco far better than anything essayed by big budget Hollywood. Goldstone's use of music and cinematography and choice of backgrounds are all superb. The script is taut, witty, fast-paced, and wise. The dialogue is completely credible. And, the acting of the team was so complementary that the series based on this movie ran for six years. But make no mistake, if no series ever followed, this remarkably taut character study would stand on its own merits.

One of the most well-made TV movies ever.

[aromatic-2 · 10/10 · 27 November 1999]

Normally, I dismiss TV pilots as movies, but this is one notable exception; this is a great TV-movie that happened to lead to a TV Show. Raymond Burr is electrifying as he injects the character with many very real dimensions. The writing is taut and true. The Quincy Jones score is magnificent, and the movie is an extremely reflective time capsule of San Francisco in 1967 -- a most remarkable place.

"Pretty good pilot episode!"

[jamesraeburn2003 · 20 October 2003]

Robert Ironside the chief of San Francisco's police force is gunned down causing him to be confined to a wheelchair for life, but he traps the attacker.

Pretty good pilot for a hugely successful TV series which ran between 1968-1974. The latter was always watchable and made something worth while out of the most routine story lines.

Complex mystery improves with time

[rollo_tomaso · 10/10 · 24 June 2001]

Given that this movie takes place in Mid-60's San Francisco, even though I had remembered loving it many years ago, i thought it would probably seem dated now. Instead, it seems more relevant than ever. The characterizations of ever major and minor character are outstanding. Raymond Burr is masterful as Chief Robert T. Ironside. But even characters who have four lines have dimension, are well-acted, and memorable. This is as good a mystery as has ever been made for TV. If you get to see it, you are in for a real treat.

San Francisco is the star

[cabotcove · 10/10 · 29 May 2000]

Late 60's San Francisco is more than the backdrop, it's the fore-drop for this most remarkable 1967 TV-Movie. A haunting melange of establishment and counterculture, impeccably acted and scripted, this be one of the most cerebral movies ever made for TV. There's also no shortage of marvelous acting and character development.

the introduction to the cult series of collier young

[georgeszaslavsky · 9/10 · 4 July 2017]

After being shot and left for dead near his house,Chief Ironside learns that he would never be able to walk again. He then decides to be a specific consultant fighting crime with his own team of handpicked assistants and policemen including Eve Whitfield and Sergent Brown. He will also introduce Mark Sanger to his team despite Mark dislikes cops and is reluctant. Ironside will discover and find who shoot him and left him paralyzed for the rest of his life. The action and the subplots were superb. Plus the filming on various the locations was done superbly. I recommend this film as a necessary introduction to the Ironside TV series.

Excruciating.

[mrslimm · 1/10 · 2 February 2002]

Excruciating pilot episode that, somehow, spawned a successful internationally syndicated television show.

Raymond Burr is cheerless. The plotting is baffling. The writing is astonishingly bad. The acting is mundane.

Watching this makes you want to be shot, instead of Ironside.

Brilliant, Strong Acting, and Accurate

[samwa-27311 · 9/10 · 22 February 2020]

Correct.

Few made for TV movie pilots, are good.

This one is excellent, all around.

Normally, it takes a show, about 8 episodes, to get into a groove.

But this one is great, right out of the box.

All four leads. act as good as in a few seasons later.

Burr, is excellent.

Standard TV detective stuff that is more about the "tough-nosed detective™" than the weak and uninteresting plot

[bob the moo · 13 February 2006]

While on his first holiday for about 25 years, tough Detective Ironside is shot and left for dead at a remote farmhouse. He survives but is disabled – never able to walk again. The city is shocked and the news media enjoy the opportunity to show how the hardnosed man has been softened. However Bob Ironside is determined not to be trapped in his chair and volunteers to work within the police department, taking his own case on as his very first. With the help of Mark Sanger, Ironside is mobile and out to show the criminal element of San Francisco that not being able to walk has had no impact on his tough approach to life.

On the basis that this pilot spawned a television show that still is famous decades later, I decided to give this film a try (despite not really remembering the TV show itself). What I found was a fairly standard television cop show from the period, complete with tough detective who tells it like it is and wants justice done. None of this surprised me and although the film does have an investigation to follow, the majority of the film is just about showing us this tough character, his methods and the little cracks in his character that will be explored over many series to come (in theory). This in itself wasn't enough for me because I wasn't watching the start of a series, I was watching a film that had to stand on its own. The investigation itself involves picking through old enemies of Ironside while building this very basic character – a character clearly designed to appeal to those who did not appreciate the relaxed morals and apologistic nature of sixties youth. Suffice to say I didn't think it worked as a detective mystery and generally it wasn't delivered that well – not helped by the TV direction and the bewildering use of large numbers of fast edits in scenes that just didn't need it.

The cast are pretty standard. To me Burr is only Perry Mason simply because it was his Mason films that I grew up with. As Ironside he is a simple tough character who is as much a caricature as a person – the only thing it did do was make me wonder how Ironside would view Burr's personal life! The support cast are just filler with nobody really doing anything of note. Mitchell works reasonably alongside Burr but his character isn't convincing; meanwhile the only other person that stuck in my mind was someone listed in the final credits called "Eddie Firestone" who played a character called "Wheels" – not that funny but it amused me enough to remember at least.

Overall a fairly standard television cop show that has much about it that has dated. The plot is average at best and didn't really engage me while the main character was a simply thing that seemed designed to appeal to the "stay at home and watch telly" demographic that didn't approve of the relaxed morals of the sixties. Worth a look if you liked the TV series I suppose but probably not good enough for the casual viewer to bother with.

Flaming awful.

[dusitmark · 2/10 · 15 November 2021]

Don't let this terrible pilot ruin the series for you. It does get better.

But this debut has to rate as one of the worst pilots ever committed to film.

It's a joyless, one man show with other people crowbarred in to prop up the main character.

Burr simply doesn't cut it as the stubborn, hard-nosed cop. He's relentlessly rude and dismissive. Nobody (even in 1967) would ever put up with his foul temper.

But after the pilot came and went, the series did get better, so don't judge the world of Ironside by this stinker of a start!