"Apology for Murder" is by no means a masterpiece and it is similar to "Double Indemnity" from the previous year. Second billed Hugh Beaumont appeared in over three dozen films, starring as private detective Michael Shayne in five times. As the authors of "Forgotten Horrors 3" (2003) note "it is an unfortunate cultural hangover that few people can watch Beaumont in anything today without feeling compelled to remark on the player's larger identification with the 1950's TV sitcom "Leave It to Beaver."
Yet that is exactly what many reviewers seem to do. One writes "although he was such an incredibly nice ordinary guy as the father on "Leave it to Beaver", he often played scum-bags or hardboiled cops in films." Another writes " meet Cleaver as in Ward Cleaver of Leave It to Beaver, which costarred Hugh Beaumont." Again, Beaumont played many roles in addition to Ward Cleaver. He should not be solely identified by this one character.
Yet that is exactly what many reviewers seem to do. One writes "although he was such an incredibly nice ordinary guy as the father on "Leave it to Beaver", he often played scum-bags or hardboiled cops in films." Another writes " meet Cleaver as in Ward Cleaver of Leave It to Beaver, which costarred Hugh Beaumont." Again, Beaumont played many roles in addition to Ward Cleaver. He should not be solely identified by this one character.