The writing and dialogue in these early TV series is so far superior to today. This show is a wonderful representation of that. The judges minor soliloquy is so eloquent.
Great Show Great Acting Great Script Great Actors. This is when T.V. was Great. Thank You Ruby Pearl #2 for Uploading these Amazing Important T.V. shows.
Totally agree ! Wonderful that Robert Duvall made so many superb TV appearances before he hit big movie stardom with the original "The Godfather". He's a true National Treasure !
Indeed ! Since this series was filmed in New York City, they used a lot of Broadway actors (such as Robert Duvall) who were just starting their screen careers.
Such a good episode. Robert Duvall, one of the best actors of his generation (“an actor’s actor”), Ossie Davis (iconic) and Estelle Parsons! Great lines. “This trial is going on like a Greek tragedy, the end implicit in its beginning. And the goofy commercials! My mom & dad must have watched this propaganda-he smoked Chesterfields & she tried Kools for a while! Cough cough! Joseph Cotten! This show must have been the best of its kind. Thanks for posting.
Hello, Lisi! It is because of your comment a year or so ago that I have found The Defenders on UA-cam. Thank you! What surprises me is that I recall watching the show and enjoying it as a kid and now wonder why it held the interest of the 10-year-old me and also the current me, more than a half century later.
It was the best of its kind. I remember looking forward every week for this show. Perry Mason was more popular but couldn't hold a candle to the quality of this show.
Well said and well put. This was one of the most highly acclaimed TV dramas of the early 60s. I always love being able to watch an episode when I can find one online. Wonderfully written & cast.
A tad preachy at some moments, I feel, but such strong writing that it never tips over too far. One thing I love about this series is how they manage to surprise you just when you think you know where it's going. Jackson's answers in front of the board surprised me, but they constituted the only credible way he could have proven to them he really had changed. I appreciate how strongly they make the oppositions' cases in this series. One of the top all-time TV shows, in my opinion, and in an era when dramatic television was at its zenith (no pun intended).
One must realize that up until 1962 Capital Punishment had been the Norm forever. This was a time when American questioned the “Norms” of the past for the first time.
Uh oh, I think I'm hooked on this series, but it is excellent. The screenwriters are great at nuance with regard to the law, and also gets into the human, personal side of each case with their families, etc. The acting is superb as well. The commercials are an interesting history lesson, too (cigarettes, etc). Great show.
@@amazinggrace5692 Yes, I remember those days. It's so sad to see these cigarette commercials where people are laughing and smiling while their lungs are being decimated by cigarette smoke. Information is power, right? (Hosea 4:1 "My people perish for lack of knowledge.")
Robert Reed Richard Chamberlain James Franciscus . All were seemingly interchangeable . This period of TV show was a haven of serious NYC actors . No wonder Mr. Brady rebelled against the antics portrayed on The Brady Bunch .
@@capacola262743 Sometimes the producer or your agent misleads you until you sign the contract and then it is too late. David Hedison was also up for the part of Mike Brady but after working for Irwin Allen for four years and being promised serious scripts and getting terrible repetitive "Monster of the Week" scripts, he got bad vibes from Sherwood Schwartz. He turned down the offer that Robert Reed accepted. Fortunately, Schwartz let Reed moonlight as a police detective on Mannix during the Brady Bunch run.
@@capacola262743 I too have always wondered why he agreed to do the "Brady Bunch" series since he later would gripe so much about it. I read he was under contract to Paramount (the studio producing the series) at the time, but he was under no obligation to do the series if he didn't want to. Maybe he decided to do it for the steady paycheck. Though he was divorced, he had a daughter to help raise & support.
@@johnclark4593 Thanks for your insightful comment. I didn't know David Hedison was up for the part of Mike Brady. I did read somewhere years ago that Gene Hackman auditioned for the part too. Good thing he didn't get it; made him available for the major feature films that would make him a star.
but he ALSO did every single "brady" sequel (brady variety hour, very brady x-mas, the brady girls get married, the bradys) which were all WORSE than the original show. typical, hollywood phony hypocrite. @@jubalcalif9100
I am enjoying these episodes very much. I was glued to this series as a child (10-14). My favourite episodes were the one in which the Prestons defended a neo-Nazi of incitement to violence ('The Indelible Silence', I think), and the one in which Kenneth was wrongly arrested but declined to identify himself as a lawyer, in order to experience the system as an ordinary prisoner (I don't know which episode that was, but I'm certain I remembered it).
rosbert duvall great actor not sure if this is the same year the movie to kill a mocking bird was released, strange to see the cigarette commercials, now most places wont even let a person smoke on the premises
"To Kill a Mockingbird" (Robert Duvall's feature film debut) came out in 1962 and this TV episode aired in 1963. Yes, it is strange to see TV ads. But they were major TV sponsors back then & smoking was much more widespread in the early 60s.
A misstatement by the defense attorney saying "legal murder". No lawyer would say this. The plain fact is that murder is an illegal killing, there can never be a "legal murder". There can be a "legal killing" but not a "legal murder". One murderer is not worth society's effort, whether or not he or she is rehabilitated. They must be head accountable as a matter of them being responsible to society.
Originally telecast on March 2, 1963. This is a summer 1963 repeat, as the following week's episode was not the one seen on March 9th {"The Last Illusion"}- it was "The Colossus" [April 13, 1963].
TV was not this bad I do not knw how this was copied to youtubr but tv in the 60's was pretty good if you loived within 35 miles of the station avyenna which most city people did back then.
I can't see how it's program only lasted for years when Perry Mason lasted longer but was completely shallow compared to this program this has better acting a deeper story line Perry Mason was just a reputation of the week before it
This show has shown up repeatedly in the most television-savvy lists of the best shows of all time. Considering the fact that it appears the last time it was broadcast was on the Armed Forces Network in the 1970s (maybe as late as 1980) and has been wholly unavailable since, I think that says something about its reputation. The University of Wisconsin's archives hold copies of the full series, so that's a blessing, but I so wish it was more available. (I think virtually every episode of "The Tammy Grimes Show" - which last 4 episodes and was infamous for its early cancellation - is available on UA-cam. How did "The Defenders" NOT end up in a similar circumstance?!)
RubyPearl, Thanks for posting this episode (and all of them that you've posted). Here's what i found odd though... This episode is "Metamorphosis" (S2 E24); yet the coming attractions @ the end of this episode showcase the episode entitied "The Colossus," which is S2 E29. I would've expexpected the coming attractions to be for "The Last Illusion," which is S2 E25. Thoughts anyone...??
Let’s face the Cold facts. If they execute him nobody will be blamed for releasing a killer. These 3 men are not interested in mercy just keeping their jobs.
The usual arguments on both sides. The deterrant argument is false. Some are spur of the moment, without thought and some think that they are smart enough to outwit the law and some have no conscience. Historically, since the late '50s, liberals have been pushing for more leniency and abolishing capital punishment. However, as the past few years have shown, we have gone too far in the direction of anarchy. As for capital punishment, I think it depends on the circumstances. Great performances by Duvall and Parsons!
ah, that bufferin commercial...when they were allowed to straight out lie about studies that didnt exist and god, how i hate cig commercials this was estelle parsons first tv role
I would have gone ahead with the execution. Otherwise you open it up for a way out by passion and justice by rhetoric, doing the best arguing instead of dispassionate and pure as possible objectivity based on evidence and the need to protect society which should be our ultimate object of compassion: the law abiding citizen. Got all that?
Even though I agree with you the dispassionate aspect is for trials, in my opinion. Later when at the point of executing a man there is a different issue. Whether to take another life is an issue separate I think, plus the circumstances of the crime. In a straight killing I think I would have commuted but if there had been torture or children or mutilation involved I would have done what you say - gone ahead with the execution. In terrible, horrific crimes society simply can't take the chance that person will not kill again - certainly psychotics.
Just think of the trillions of dollars and millions of lives that wd be SAVED if people were not born to horrible homes, not born to people not fit to raise rodents; if we only STOPPED all the “mitigating circumstances” well before people were murdered 🤔 “Some people become white collar workers… some become blue collar workers, some go to college, others turn to crime”-we DO know why: parenting or lack thereof.
@@jillgarlick2122 When you say they work do you mean that they work to promote a rampant consumer ideology wherein we gauge our well being by our possessions whilst destroying our environment.
Why would people playing tennis want to smoke and ruin both their lungs and their tennis game with not being able to breathe. Very stupid to try to try to connect the good life with smoking and not being able to breathe. Only narcissists advertising to a narcissitic public in a narcissistic society could be that Stupid. I was 5 when this aired for the first time. I feel like I can remember it.
Young Robert Duval was so soulful...so is old Robert Duval
Those of you who would like to see this on a nostalgia television channel, raise your hand.
🖐🖐🖐🖐👍👍👍
Robert Duvall steals the show. Thanks for posting an excellent episode
I heartily concur !
Watching now, for the first time! Love those opening horns!
The writing and dialogue in these early TV series is so far superior to today. This show is a wonderful representation of that. The judges minor soliloquy is so eloquent.
Indubitably ! This was one of the BEST TV dramatic series of all time. Superior writing & casting.
Great Show Great Acting Great Script Great Actors. This is when T.V. was Great. Thank You Ruby Pearl #2 for Uploading these Amazing Important T.V. shows.
Only wish I had more episodes. They're pretty rare to find now days.
Robert Duvall was a great actor back then also 😄 Thank for this 😚😎
If you can find it, he played an evil alien in Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea episode, "The Invader". He does a brilliant job.
@@johnclark4593 He's also brilliant in the Twilight Zone episode 'Miniature'.
Totally agree ! Wonderful that Robert Duvall made so many superb TV appearances before he hit big movie stardom with the original "The Godfather". He's a true National Treasure !
The quality of all the cast in these shows of 50s and 60s is amazing, competition for parts must've been tough.
Indeed ! Since this series was filmed in New York City, they used a lot of Broadway actors (such as Robert Duvall) who were just starting their screen careers.
Quite a riveting episode. Expertly written & acted. Thank you VERY much for uploading !
I like the inclusion of the vintage commercials. Thank you for posting this interesting episode.
It sure gives you perspective of a dichotomy here.
The cigarette commercials....
Drives me mad !!
Yes ! I love seeing these vintage commercials !
@@sharonmitchell1757 Snowflake.
excellent. i was totally hooked and connected withthe story.
Such a good episode. Robert Duvall, one of the best actors of his generation (“an actor’s actor”), Ossie Davis (iconic) and Estelle Parsons! Great lines.
“This trial is going on like a Greek tragedy, the end implicit in its beginning. And the goofy commercials! My mom & dad must have watched this propaganda-he smoked Chesterfields & she tried Kools
for a while! Cough cough! Joseph Cotten! This show
must have been the best of its kind. Thanks for posting.
Hello, Lisi! It is because of your comment a year or so ago that I have found The Defenders on UA-cam. Thank you! What surprises me is that I recall watching the show and enjoying it as a kid and now wonder why it held the interest of the 10-year-old me and also the current me, more than a half century later.
It was the best of its kind. I remember looking forward every week for this show. Perry Mason was more popular but couldn't hold a candle to the quality of this show.
Well said and well put. This was one of the most highly acclaimed TV dramas of the early 60s. I always love being able to watch an episode when I can find one online. Wonderfully written & cast.
The only lawyer show that comes close to The Defenders is Judd for the Defense. Check it out if you can.
What a cast: Robert Duvall, Estelle Parsons, William Redfield & Ossie Davis! They don’t make great television like this anymore.
AWESOME job. Thank you so much. Great post!
A tad preachy at some moments, I feel, but such strong writing that it never tips over too far. One thing I love about this series is how they manage to surprise you just when you think you know where it's going. Jackson's answers in front of the board surprised me, but they constituted the only credible way he could have proven to them he really had changed. I appreciate how strongly they make the oppositions' cases in this series. One of the top all-time TV shows, in my opinion, and in an era when dramatic television was at its zenith (no pun intended).
One must realize that up until 1962 Capital Punishment had been the Norm forever. This was a time when American questioned the “Norms” of the past for the first time.
Thanks !!!
Uh oh, I think I'm hooked on this series, but it is excellent. The screenwriters are great at nuance with regard to the law, and also gets into the human, personal side of each case with their families, etc. The acting is superb as well. The commercials are an interesting history lesson, too (cigarettes, etc). Great show.
And baking in the sun ... man did we .. and put baby oil on to increase the tan while keeping moisturized.
@@amazinggrace5692 Yes, I remember those days. It's so sad to see these cigarette commercials where people are laughing and smiling while their lungs are being decimated by cigarette smoke. Information is power, right? (Hosea 4:1 "My people perish for lack of knowledge.")
Hooked here too. Just wish there was a way to see ALL the episodes.
Funny! (I like your name!)@@amazinggrace5692
You should see the one with Frank Gorshen (the impressionist). It's pretty amazing.@@PaulTesta
The warden : Bert Freed, longtime character actor in movies and television.
Paths of glory
Ossie Davis!!!
Robert Reed Richard Chamberlain James Franciscus . All were seemingly interchangeable . This period of TV show was a haven of serious NYC actors . No wonder Mr. Brady rebelled against the antics portrayed on The Brady Bunch .
why didn't he quit if mike brady was so far beneath his awesome talent? maybe he was a sell-out hypocrite?
@@capacola262743 Sometimes the producer or your agent misleads you until you sign the contract and then it is too late. David Hedison was also up for the part of Mike Brady but after working for Irwin Allen for four years and being promised serious scripts and getting terrible repetitive "Monster of the Week" scripts, he got bad vibes from Sherwood Schwartz. He turned down the offer that Robert Reed accepted. Fortunately, Schwartz let Reed moonlight as a police detective on Mannix during the Brady Bunch run.
@@capacola262743 I too have always wondered why he agreed to do the "Brady Bunch" series since he later would gripe so much about it. I read he was under contract to Paramount (the studio producing the series) at the time, but he was under no obligation to do the series if he didn't want to. Maybe he decided to do it for the steady paycheck. Though he was divorced, he had a daughter to help raise & support.
@@johnclark4593 Thanks for your insightful comment. I didn't know David Hedison was up for the part of Mike Brady. I did read somewhere years ago that Gene Hackman auditioned for the part too. Good thing he didn't get it; made him available for the major feature films that would make him a star.
but he ALSO did every single "brady" sequel (brady variety hour, very brady x-mas, the brady girls get married, the bradys) which were all WORSE than the original show. typical, hollywood phony hypocrite. @@jubalcalif9100
Thank you for making this available. I do hope all these episodes that aired after season 1 become available on dvd.
We can keep our fingers crossed, aye?
@@rubypearl2298
I presume there's been no progress on Seaaons 2-4...??
I am enjoying these episodes very much. I was glued to this series as a child (10-14). My favourite episodes were the one in which the Prestons defended a neo-Nazi of incitement to violence ('The Indelible Silence', I think), and the one in which Kenneth was wrongly arrested but declined to identify himself as a lawyer, in order to experience the system as an ordinary prisoner (I don't know which episode that was, but I'm certain I remembered it).
That sounds like a good episode to check out.
@@JasonAlredge To be fair, they were all pretty good for their era.
Originally aired March 2nd,1963
rosbert duvall great actor not sure if this is the same year the movie to kill a mocking bird was released, strange to see the cigarette commercials, now most places wont even let a person smoke on the premises
"To Kill a Mockingbird" (Robert Duvall's feature film debut) came out in 1962 and this TV episode aired in 1963. Yes, it is strange to see TV ads. But they were major TV sponsors back then & smoking was much more widespread in the early 60s.
A misstatement by the defense attorney saying "legal murder". No lawyer would say this. The plain fact is that murder is an illegal killing, there can never be a "legal murder". There can be a "legal killing" but not a "legal murder". One murderer is not worth society's effort, whether or not he or she is rehabilitated. They must be head accountable as a matter of them being responsible to society.
Originally telecast on March 2, 1963.
This is a summer 1963 repeat, as the following week's episode was not the one seen on March 9th {"The Last Illusion"}- it was "The Colossus" [April 13, 1963].
"Joseph Cotten, reporting!"
:)))
I was quite surprised to watch that TV commerical with Joseph Cotton ! Til now I never knew he had appeared in any.
This poor fidelity gives a good sense of what it was like to watch TV when this show first aired, and we were happy with it.
TV was not this bad I do not knw how this was copied to youtubr but tv in the 60's was pretty good if you loived within 35 miles of the station avyenna which most city people did back then.
The image quality was much better when originally broadcasted . I remember watching this series when I was in high school.
love you channels x2 great stuff!!!
As an ex-smoker, two weeks now, this is definitely a difficult video for me to watch☹️☹️☹️☹️
I can't see how it's program only lasted for years when Perry Mason lasted longer but was completely shallow compared to this program this has better acting a deeper story line Perry Mason was just a reputation of the week before it
Good question. Maybe because The Defenders was more realistic and thus more grim. It tackled controversial issues.
@@teastrainer3604 controversial issues doesn't make for good TV reruns.
@@Zebra_3 I enjoy them. But most people would rather watch Gilligan's Island for the 500th time.
@@teastrainer3604 I vote for Mary Ann.
Opening shots: E G Marshall comes down the courthouse steps just like Sam Waterston in Law and Order.
This show has shown up repeatedly in the most television-savvy lists of the best shows of all time. Considering the fact that it appears the last time it was broadcast was on the Armed Forces Network in the 1970s (maybe as late as 1980) and has been wholly unavailable since, I think that says something about its reputation.
The University of Wisconsin's archives hold copies of the full series, so that's a blessing, but I so wish it was more available. (I think virtually every episode of "The Tammy Grimes Show" - which last 4 episodes and was infamous for its early cancellation - is available on UA-cam. How did "The Defenders" NOT end up in a similar circumstance?!)
7 years isn't long enough to consider, grant parole for First Degree Murder. Good arguments raised by both sides though. A good program.
7 years of appeals of the death sentence, not 7 years to decide parole. He now stays alive BUT heads into the "life sentence"…
RubyPearl,
Thanks for posting this episode (and all of them that you've posted).
Here's what i found odd though...
This episode is "Metamorphosis" (S2 E24); yet the coming attractions @ the end of this episode showcase the episode entitied "The Colossus," which is S2 E29. I would've expexpected the coming attractions to be for "The Last Illusion," which is S2 E25.
Thoughts anyone...??
Still remember as a kid one of our neighbors who was an attorney saying The Defenders was a realistic legal drama because "they don't always win."
had never heard of this show until now, it's really good, it's like theatre, great writing (albeit too poetic and flowery in places) and acting
Once upon a time, television attempted intelligence. Once upon a time, there was an audience for it.
The Kool cigarettes ad reminds me of the Bañ on menthol smokes here in California. Why? Did Kool smokers do anything illegal? NO
menthol can be marketed to children.
Tennis and Kool cigarettes, the youth of today would be proud.
Let’s face the Cold facts. If they execute him nobody will be blamed for releasing a killer. These 3 men are not interested in mercy just keeping their jobs.
William Redfield is one of the members of the Clemency Board.
👍 YES, I saw that as well. Fantastic actor known for One Flew Over the ..,, Did many X-Minus 1 radio shows.
@@MartinSage And he wwas the pilot on the miniaturized submarine in "Fantastic Voyage."
@@stevensica89
And he was Floyd Unger, Felix's brother in Buffalo, in "The Odd Couple."
The usual arguments on both sides. The deterrant argument is false. Some are spur of the moment, without thought and some think that they are smart enough to outwit the law and some have no conscience.
Historically, since the late '50s, liberals have been pushing for more leniency and abolishing capital punishment. However, as the past few years have shown, we have gone too far in the direction of anarchy. As for capital punishment, I think it depends on the circumstances.
Great performances by Duvall and Parsons!
Casey Allen speaking. This is the CBS Television Network.
Ossie Davis!
Just made the same comment and then saw yours. I like him a lot since I was a child.
@@sabineeins2651 I always feel joy and awe when I see him on screen. He was such a dignified man.
Robert Duval, Ossie Davis, Estelle Parsons...who could ask for a better, more interesting cast?
ah, that bufferin commercial...when they were allowed to straight out lie about studies that didnt exist
and god, how i hate cig commercials
this was estelle parsons first tv role
~Robert DUVALL / REED / MARSHALL / CHAPMAN
``wwwwWOW``. . . . . An We Got That On TAPE/nice!
How many years do you think Luke would get today?
I would have gone ahead with the execution. Otherwise you open it up for a way out by passion and justice by rhetoric, doing the best arguing instead of dispassionate and pure as possible objectivity based on evidence and the need to protect society which should be our ultimate object of compassion: the law abiding citizen. Got all that?
Even though I agree with you the dispassionate aspect is for trials, in my opinion. Later when at the point of executing a man there is a different issue. Whether to take another life is an issue separate I think, plus the circumstances of the crime. In a straight killing I think I would have commuted but if there had been torture or children or mutilation involved I would have done what you say - gone ahead with the execution. In terrible, horrific crimes society simply can't take the chance that person will not kill again - certainly psychotics.
I only smoke for pleasure
And not for a death wish...
Robert Duvall was 32 here
Love and kindness for the wrong people, unlikely.
However, though in some states punishment by death is enforced, no one has the right to take another person's life.
Even in self defense.
This movie and their poetry references makes me sick to the bones.
Just think of the trillions of dollars and millions of lives that wd be SAVED if people were not born to horrible homes, not born to people not fit to raise rodents; if we only STOPPED all the “mitigating circumstances” well before people were murdered 🤔
“Some people become white collar workers… some become blue collar workers, some go to college, others turn to crime”-we DO know why: parenting or lack thereof.
The ads are classic. The cigarette ads are tragic, though.
I feel that all the adverts are tragic. A demonstration f greed and insincerity.
@@stevenwright9422 all advertisements are a demonstration of greed and insincerity, but they work. Go figure!
@@jillgarlick2122 When you say they work do you mean that they work to promote a rampant consumer ideology wherein we gauge our well being by our possessions whilst destroying our environment.
@@stevenwright9422 I would say that is very obvious, so yes.
@@jillgarlick2122 Liberals are such miserable people why even answer them. Every thing to them is a political discussion why cant they enjoy life.
Why would people playing tennis want to smoke and ruin both their lungs and their tennis game with not being able to breathe. Very stupid to try to try to connect the good life with smoking and not being able to breathe. Only narcissists advertising to a narcissitic public in a narcissistic society could be that Stupid. I was 5 when this aired for the first time. I feel like I can remember it.
1962