THE BROTHERS BRANNAGAN – Shot in the Dark - 1961
This series, which ran during 1960 to 1961, stars Stephen Dunne and Mark Roberts as a pair of brothers who are private investigators. The two are based in Phoenix, Arizona. The series ran for a total of 39 episodes. This is the 18th episode in the series.
Private investigator Mark Roberts and his brother Stephen Dunne are hired to buy a painting for a client. The client, Frank Berhens, says he is an art collector. He needs the brothers to buy a certain painting from a small art school in the California hills. Berhens tells the two that if he makes an offer, the price will double.
Dunne heads off to the out of the way art school while Roberts does some research on the school owner etc. Roberts will follow his brother the next day.
Dunne reaches the school and finds the owner, Theodore Marcuse, as well as a couple of his students. The students are played by Hal Baylor and Ruta Lee. Dunne smooth talks his way in as a wealthy type looking for strange artwork etc. Marcuse is more than happy to unload some of his collection for a spot of real cash.
Dunne finds the one he is looking for, and offers $4,000 to buy said painting. Suddenly, a new player, William Keene, arrives and offers to buy the same painting. Keene offers $5,000. A quick round of bidding soon has the item up to 10 large. Miss Lee suggests that Marcuse should hold on to the work and sell it in a real auction.
Everyone agrees to have a good sleep and talk it over again in the morning. This suits Dunne fine. He hopes his brother will have some info to help seal the deal. In the middle of the night several shots ring out. Keene is found with some unneeded holes in his body. OK? Who shot him? Roberts now shows with some interesting information. It seems that the artist had been involved in a 200 grand bank take some years before. He had been caught and sent up the river where he died. The 200 large was never found. Now who should show up, but the brother's client, Berhens. Berhen's introduces himself to all by pulling a large revolver.
Now the story comes out. The painting it seems is really a map to where the $200 grand was hidden. Everyone but Marcuse knows about $200 grand. Baylor had been part of the crew that had pulled the bank job. Miss Lee is the daughter of the artist while Keene had also been in on the robbery. He had brought Berhens in as partner to help recover it before Baylor or Miss Lee did. Berhens' had been the one to bump off Keene. Why share if you don't need to.
The brothers had really been hired by Berhens simply to keep an eye on the painting. Berhens has Miss Lee remove the outer layer of paint so they can see the map. Baylor makes a move on Berhens which unfortunately, for him, brings several slugs from Berhens' large revolver.
Roberts and Dunne use this monetary distraction to jump Berhens. A good dust up with fists and boots soon has the villain down. He is quickly trussed up for the Police to collect.
There are a few minor plot holes in this one, but the action more than covers these up. A decent episode of what I am finding to be a fun series.
The back and forth between Roberts, Dunne and the various bad guys is quite good. It is really too bad this series only ran the one year.
This series, which ran during 1960 to 1961, stars Stephen Dunne and Mark Roberts as a pair of brothers who are private investigators. The two are based in Phoenix, Arizona. The series ran for a total of 39 episodes. This is the 18th episode in the series.
Private investigator Mark Roberts and his brother Stephen Dunne are hired to buy a painting for a client. The client, Frank Berhens, says he is an art collector. He needs the brothers to buy a certain painting from a small art school in the California hills. Berhens tells the two that if he makes an offer, the price will double.
Dunne heads off to the out of the way art school while Roberts does some research on the school owner etc. Roberts will follow his brother the next day.
Dunne reaches the school and finds the owner, Theodore Marcuse, as well as a couple of his students. The students are played by Hal Baylor and Ruta Lee. Dunne smooth talks his way in as a wealthy type looking for strange artwork etc. Marcuse is more than happy to unload some of his collection for a spot of real cash.
Dunne finds the one he is looking for, and offers $4,000 to buy said painting. Suddenly, a new player, William Keene, arrives and offers to buy the same painting. Keene offers $5,000. A quick round of bidding soon has the item up to 10 large. Miss Lee suggests that Marcuse should hold on to the work and sell it in a real auction.
Everyone agrees to have a good sleep and talk it over again in the morning. This suits Dunne fine. He hopes his brother will have some info to help seal the deal. In the middle of the night several shots ring out. Keene is found with some unneeded holes in his body. OK? Who shot him? Roberts now shows with some interesting information. It seems that the artist had been involved in a 200 grand bank take some years before. He had been caught and sent up the river where he died. The 200 large was never found. Now who should show up, but the brother's client, Berhens. Berhen's introduces himself to all by pulling a large revolver.
Now the story comes out. The painting it seems is really a map to where the $200 grand was hidden. Everyone but Marcuse knows about $200 grand. Baylor had been part of the crew that had pulled the bank job. Miss Lee is the daughter of the artist while Keene had also been in on the robbery. He had brought Berhens in as partner to help recover it before Baylor or Miss Lee did. Berhens' had been the one to bump off Keene. Why share if you don't need to.
The brothers had really been hired by Berhens simply to keep an eye on the painting. Berhens has Miss Lee remove the outer layer of paint so they can see the map. Baylor makes a move on Berhens which unfortunately, for him, brings several slugs from Berhens' large revolver.
Roberts and Dunne use this monetary distraction to jump Berhens. A good dust up with fists and boots soon has the villain down. He is quickly trussed up for the Police to collect.
There are a few minor plot holes in this one, but the action more than covers these up. A decent episode of what I am finding to be a fun series.
The back and forth between Roberts, Dunne and the various bad guys is quite good. It is really too bad this series only ran the one year.