Ironside

TV Movie
1967
TV-PG
1h 38m

IMDb RATING

YOUR RATING

Paralyzed by a sniper's bullet, Robert T. Ironside continues investigating criminal cases as a citizen volunteer. With the assistance of two former protegees, Ironside sets out to find his w... Read allParalyzed by a sniper's bullet, Robert T. Ironside continues investigating criminal cases as a citizen volunteer. With the assistance of two former protegees, Ironside sets out to find his would-be assassin.Paralyzed by a sniper's bullet, Robert T. Ironside continues investigating criminal cases as a citizen volunteer. With the assistance of two former protegees, Ironside sets out to find his would-be assassin.

Director
- James Goldstone
Writers
- Don Mankiewicz
- Collier Young
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.5/10

480

YOUR RATING

Director
- James Goldstone
Writers
- Don Mankiewicz
- Collier Young
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

Nominated for 2 Primetime Emmys
- 2 nominations total

Photos1

User reviews13

7.5480

Featured reviews

10cabotcove

San Francisco is the star

Late 60's San Francisco is more than the backdrop, it's the fore-drop for this most remarkable 1967 TV-Movie. A haunting melange of establishment and counterculture, impeccably acted and scripted, this be one of the most cerebral movies ever made for TV. There's also no shortage of marvelous acting and character development.

2dusitmark

Flaming awful.

Don't let this terrible pilot ruin the series for you. It does get better.

But this debut has to rate as one of the worst pilots ever committed to film.

It's a joyless, one man show with other people crowbarred in to prop up the main character.

Burr simply doesn't cut it as the stubborn, hard-nosed cop. He's relentlessly rude and dismissive. Nobody (even in 1967) would ever put up with his foul temper.

But after the pilot came and went, the series did get better, so don't judge the world of Ironside by this stinker of a start!

9georgeszaslavsky

the introduction to the cult series of collier young

After being shot and left for dead near his house,Chief Ironside learns that he would never be able to walk again. He then decides to be a specific consultant fighting crime with his own team of handpicked assistants and policemen including Eve Whitfield and Sergent Brown. He will also introduce Mark Sanger to his team despite Mark dislikes cops and is reluctant. Ironside will discover and find who shoot him and left him paralyzed for the rest of his life. The action and the subplots were superb. Plus the filming on various the locations was done superbly. I recommend this film as a necessary introduction to the Ironside TV series.

jamesraeburn2003

"Pretty good pilot episode!"

Robert Ironside the chief of San Francisco's police force is gunned down causing him to be confined to a wheelchair for life, but he traps the attacker.

Pretty good pilot for a hugely successful TV series which ran between 1968-1974. The latter was always watchable and made something worth while out of the most routine story lines.

6BJJManchester

Flashy but Interesting Pilot

The pilot for the long running(1967-1975)TV crime show,with the irascible,wheelchair bound chief of San Francisco police,Robert Ironside.After years of playing villains in Hollywood movies,Raymond Burr oddly became a major TV star with this and 'Perry Mason'.The film is well-directed by the under-valued James Goldstone and nicely photographed,admittedly on rather studio-bound locations.What only really grates is flashy editing by EW Williams.The various plot strands and sequences(angry black youth treated sympathetically by Ironside,the chief victim of a revenge shooting,San Francisco's hippie culture)are interesting enough without the editor having to cut frantically and wildly;some cuts last but a few frames,and it often has the feel of a TV commercial for breakfast cereal!

These irritations aside,Burr's dominant portrayal ensured a highly successful TV series that aired until the mid 70's,and as a bonus there's a highly unexpected and bizarre turn by cultish singer Tiny Tim during Ironside's investigations!

Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
Raymond Burr wears a large bandage on his right hand for most of this episode because he injured it filming the first scene.

Goofs
When Ironside is shot in the beginning of the movie, he is shown on his stomach. When he is found the next morning, he is on his back.

Quotes
Robert Ironside: [Inspecting a small envelope] Some miscellaneous nuts.
[Looks at Ed]
Robert Ironside: Some miscellaneous nuts?
Det. Sgt. Ed Brown: I tagged that one myself.
Robert Ironside: I don't believe it. You wrote "some miscellaneous nuts"?
Det. Sgt. Ed Brown: Well, what's the matter with it?
Robert Ironside: Why nothing at all. Except that in police work there is no such things as "some," numbers are important. And miscellaneous means a lot of different things, and these are all the same. And nuts is too general and happens to be incorrect. Otherwise, a splendid piece of labeling. One, two, three, four, five, six. Not some miscellaneous, just six. Now, six what? Not nuts, what?
[Toss the object to Ed]
Robert Ironside: Ed, what is that?
[Ed inspects it and then tosses it to Eve]
Robert Ironside: That's right, Miss Whitfield has had the benefit of an expensive classical education, perhaps...
Eve Whitfield: It's an acorn.
Robert Ironside: An acorn. Exactly. Six acorns. Now, what do we know about acorns? Come, come. Has no one ever told you that mighty oaks from little acorns grow? The acorn is the fruit of the oak, but do you see any oaks in among those sycamores. The nearest oak is a hundred yards from those sycamores. Now, query: how came those acorns among those sycamores?