This one is all about Lloyd Bridges as "Sgt. Stagg". His daughter (Sallie Shockley) is married to muscley beach dude Steve (Frank Converse). Stagg catches Steve cheating on his daughter Tina, and is NOT happy. The poop hits the fan, bad stuff happens, and we're off to a who-dunnit. The music is SO 1970s ! the music could be from Columbo, or one of the psychological thinkers from that time. The plot could also have been an episode of Columbo. Ellen Corby is in here as Mrs. Simmons, who finds the dead body. Corby was Grandma, from the Waltons! Also John Fiedler, (Mister Peterson from Bob Newhart.) Fiedler was ALSO one of the voices of Piglet on Winnie the Pooh! Lloyd chews up the scenery, and way over-acts. I kept thinking of him as McClosky in "Airplane" ! Murray Hamilton is "Joe", the other cop trying to put the pieces together. Some great location shots around Los Angeles. Directed by Paul Wendkos, who did mostly TV stuff. About the only really big films he did were the GIDGET movies. Story by Art Wallace, who also worked mostly in television. It's not bad, but it ain't no Shakespeare. It made it to DVD, but I've never seen this one shown on TV or cable.

A corrupt police sergeant who is perversely attached to his imbecilic daughter oversteps boundaries with impunity until he makes one fatal mistake.This 1971 melodrama is dated and overacted but is quite entertaining for just those reasons. (However, it does end a bit too lamely in a conventional twist that reminds one of how cynical movies have become...) I hadn't seen Lloyd Bridges since "Sea Hunt" and enjoyed him in this hysterical bad-guy role. Not at all a bad film to watch at home alone on a non-descript weeknight.

Gruff, hard-nosed Sergeant Ed Stagg (an excellent performance by Lloyd Bridges) discovers that his basically decent, but frustrated son-in-law Steve Butler (nicely played by Frank Converse) is having an extramarital affair with Louise Campbell (a brief, but memorable turn by the sexy Anne Helm). Stagg confronts Campbell and accidentally kills her. Assigned to the investigation of the homicide, Stagg tries to pin the murder on sad drunken derelict Willard Edson (a superb Broderick Crawford in a remarkably poignant characterization). Director Paul Wendkos, working from an intriguing script by Art Wallace, relates the compelling story at a snappy pace and develops a reasonable amount of tension. This film further benefits from sturdy acting by a tip-top cast: Sallie Shockley does well as Stagg's sweet and unsuspecting daughter Tina, the always reliable Murray Hamilton is likewise fine as Stagg's loyal partner Sergeant Joe Marcus, plus there are cool bits by veteran character actors John Fiedler, Val Avery, Whit Bissell, and James Hong. Moreover, the movie makes valid points about the abuse of power, the danger of taking someone at face value, and the extremely damaging consequences of certain bold actions. Michel Hugo's crisp cinematography makes inspired occasional use of slow motion. Robert Drasnin's moody score also does the trick. A neat little flick.

Finding his son-in-law Steve Butler, Frank Converse, cheating on his daughter Tina, Sallie Shockly, brought the worst out of LAPD Sgt. Ed Stagg, Llyod Bridges. Following his son-in-law at the beach strolling with his secret love Louise Campball, Anne Helm, and later camping outside of Louises apartment in the city Sgt. Stagg give her a call telling her not to have anything to do with him or else.Back home Steve is everything that Tina could want a loving husband caring and sensitive to her needs with the only exception to a perfect marriage is of him being late most nights when he's together with Louise. Sgt. Stagg for his part has a dark and secret past that goes back to when he was a teenager by having an abusive father who constantly beat him and his mother. One night when Ed was 15 he tried to stop his father for beating his mom ending up clubbing him to death with a hammer. Shocked at what he did and even more upset that his mom, who he thought he was helping, threw a fit at him which caused Ed to run away from home. Ed's mom never reported what he did to the police and his father death was ruled an unsolved murder. Even his married life was a disaster for Ed Stagg with his wife leaving him and his, at the time, ten year daughter Tina. It was after that that Sgt. Stagg took it upon himself to see that Tina would never go through what he did as a son and husband. When his threats to Louise didn't have any effect to have her split up with Steve Sgt. Stagg showed up at her apartment, just after Steve left. Sgt. Stagg trying to get her to break up with Steve knocked Louise against the wall that ended up killing her. In a state of shock Sgt. Stagg realizing what he did tries to hide all the evidence that would connect him with Louises death but unknowingly leaves a glass that he used to revive the dying Louise on the coffee table in full view of the police who later came to investigate her death. Sgt. Stagg is so well thought off by his fellow colleagues at the LAPD that his friend Sgt. Marcus, Murray Hamilton,who's on the Louise Campball case assumed that he accidentally touched the glass leaving his fingerprints on it not realizing that it in fact was Sgt. Stagg who killed her. It was bad enough that Sgt. Stagg killed Louise and covered it up but he later goes one step down the road to destruction when in an effort to tie up all the loose ends together on Louises death he tries to frame a poor homeless derelict Willard Edson, Broderick Crawford, who had confessed to killing his friend in a drunken rage to also confess to killing Louise. Llyod Bidges as the tortured soul Sgt. Ed Stagg is at his best with an in-dept performance of a man truly at the end of his rope with his life falling apart because of his misguided actions to save his daughter marriage. Holding back his true feelings about Steve and what he did to break up his affair with Louise drives poor Sgt. Stagg to the brink of insanity and suicide.Frank Converse as the cheating husband Steve Butler showed that he was indeed a decent man and good husband when he tried to brake up with Louise, not knowing that she was dead. When he found out that Willard Edson, who Steve knew was innocent, was arrested for her death Steve went out of his way to save him from a trip to the gas chamber. Steve was more then ready to do that even if his secret life, with Louise, is uncovered to Tina by doing it. Then there's Murray Hamilton as Sgt. Marcus who's the big surprise in the movie as the troubled and hard nosed cop and best friend of Sgt.Stagg. Sgt. Marcus is forced to accept the fact that his best friend and fellow LAPD officer is no better then the criminals that he deals with every day and night on the mean streets of L.A.