User Reviews

A veteran cop of 12 years has hit rock bottom after a judge released a criminal who tried to shoot him (the gun misfired, but the arrest wasn't supposedly justified!), having had a bellyful of the laws which restrict him from arresting obvious lawbreakers. Sgt Carl Maxwell (John Lupton) storms out of Capt. Brown's (Art Balinger) office, flat fed up with the job, hitting the bottle, and missing work without acknowledging his whereabouts. Because he has a gun and badge, Internal Affairs must find him so that Carl can face a disciplinary committee to determine if the cop can still function as an officer of the law. Worried about a good cop, with an exemplary record, losing his job, detectives Sgt Joe Friday and partner Bill Gannon (Jack Webb and Harry Morgan) are allowed two days vacation leave to search for Carl. This episode follows that investigation and the meeting with Carl, with Friday and Gannon hoping to talk him into not throwing away a career, drowning his sorrows in liquor, wallowing in self-pity because he feels the police officer is mistreated and shackled by lawyers and the court. "The Frustration" is obviously a deeply felt episode, cribbed from Webb's philosophy that the police man is human and prone to snap at the pressures that come with the tasking difficulties of working the streets, collaring criminals, and arresting them within the scope of the law. This episode recognizes how frustrating it can be to arrest someone, with the case later thrown out on a technicality, establishing that such a "defeat" can cause a cop to fall prey to anger and rage at "the system". This episode also allows Friday to have one of his famous monologues on the difficulties in getting to Carl's position, that to become a police officer takes training and preparation, how he should recall the efforts it took to acquire that badge and realize the responsibilities and duties such a badge entails. Also established is the burgeoning crime that is overwhelming Los Angeles, placing a heavy strain on the department and all the cops working the streets trying to keep law and order during a most taxing time. Even though Friday wins the argument, Carl makes some good points about the burden of being a cop and how the job doesn't reward the officers according to the hard work involved.

I think I'll give this a rating of six, just because it's a typical episode of a series that was an old favorite. Considered as a member of that set, it's about average.

John Lupton is Carl Maxwell, great name, an officer who recently lost his wife. He's a friend of Friday's and Gannon's. But Lupton recently had a case thrown out of court and, in a state of near-collapse, takes off without notice for elsewhere.

When he doesn't show up for a meeting of some kind of board that is evaluating his irresponsible behavior, Lupton is in serious trouble. Friday and Gannon talk their boss into giving them a few days to search for their buddy.

The boss gets to give one of those "tough love" speeches about how, yes, we're all sympathetic and we've all been through it ourselves but a job is a job and we have to meet our responsibilities, and so forth.

The combination chaplain and counselor isn't much help, but he gets to give a little speech too.

Friday and Gannon manage to track Lupton to a phony Swiss chalet on Bear Lake in the San Gabriel Mountains. Lupton is discovered scowling into his drink. Friday and Gannon sit down and get to give him a restorative speech.

In a moment, the results of that board's investigation.

***SPOILERS*** Sgt. Carl Maxwell, John Lipton, completely lost it when a case he was involved in that almost cost him his life, by being fired by the perpetrator, was thrown out of court on a slight technicality! In the heat of battle Sgt. Maxwell, who's life was speared because his assailant's gun misfired, didn't fully informed the defendant of his rights to a lawyer!

Now AWOL from the job it's feared by Sgt. Maxwell's higher ups that he's gone off the deep end and may well end up dead or behind bars if he isn't found right away! Sgt. Joe Friday and Officer Bill Gannon, Jack Webb & Harry Morgan, go out on their own to track down the now missing Sgt. Maxwell before he really does something stupid like blowing his or some innocent bystanders brains out!

Finding Sgt. Maxwell drinking himself into a drunken stupor at some out of the way, 50 miles outside L.A, ski resort Friday and Gannon finally get to have a heart to heart talk with the troubled policeman. Searving 12 years on the LAPD Maxwell has suffered a serious case of burn out and the court throwing out his last arrest was just about the straw that broke the camel's back for him.

***SPOILERS*** It takes a while for both Friday and Gannon to bring the almost drunk on his feet Maxwell down to earth in realizing that being a cop isn't all that rewarding as he thought it would be. There are times that you have to take the good with the bad and if you can't handle that it's time for you to look for an other line of employment. Like a truck driver or meat and fish packer that Friday tells a barley conscious Maxwell that pays far more then being a sergeant in the L.A Police Departnment! Where the hell did Sgt. Friday who has enough money from his job to have his clothes beautifully dry cleaned and meticulously pressed, by the neighborhood Chinese laundry,on every single "Dragnet" episode get that information from!

Well with the booze finally wearing off and him coming to his senses Sgt.Maxwell agrees to come back to work and face the music a 60 suspension without pay, that he made up working as a Christmas temp at the L.A General Post Office, and thus put his shattered life back together again!

This is an interesting episode of "Dragnet" in that it addresses something you rarely hear about--burnout. A good career cop had enough and the judge insanely throwing out a case is the last straw. Without much warning, he disappears from work and no one can find him. Internal Affairs is looking for him but Friday's boss asks that he and Gannon look as well--they are friends of Maxwell. After lots and lots of searching, they eventually find the guy--angry and filled with self-pity. At this point, Joe launches into his world-famous speeches--a speech about how tough the job is but how he should quit if he hasn't got the guts. It's intense and very convincing--and I have read that this and several other Joe Friday speeches were played for candidates in the academy.

Well written and a nice tribute to men doing an often thankless job.