This episode of Suspense is an often unappreciated one, with some superb acting by Richard Widmark. The story was written by Sam Rolfe who went on to be a highly successful writer of screenplays and teleplays, and received an Oscar nomination.
The plot has Widmark as an unemployed drifter who inadvertently finds himself in a strange town and ends up accused of murder. He is a quiet, embittered war veteran, kicked off a freight train for hitching a ride. His worn-out shoes took him to the small town of Marcus Junction. He met the sheriff who directed him to the town’s shoe repair where he left his broken down shoes and his socks. The sheriff recommended he get a good meal at the nearby diner. It is there that he meets an attractive waitress who invited him to her apartment. Weak from hunger and fatigue, he passed out after a few drinks. When awakened from his sleep, a man was hitting him, brutally, and accused him of murdering her. He sees her body, sprawled on the floor, dead. The police are after him, and he has to escape their pursuit in his bare feet, and find the real killer, too. Who is it? The diner’s jealous cook? The woman’s strange father? Or was it Widmark’s character? Listen for a line that says that it is so hot the newly varnished floors can’t dry properly and stay very tacky. For the paints and finishes of that time, 75 years ago, that was probably right, but would not be so today with their vastly different formulations.
The script has many intense narrative segments and Widmark’s performance is an example of how well such passages can be performed. Lewis considered Widmark one of his best and most reliable actors in the series.
The early scenes of the story in the waitress’ apartment may have raised some eyebrows as it might be as close to the steamy 1981 Lawrence Kasdan movie Body Heat that Suspense could possibly get. Those scenes are end quickly as the story proceeds to her gruesome murder, unlike that movie’s plot course. It’s multiple reasons why Suspense is not for kids.
This script was an important early step in the development of the long, successful career of writer Sam Rolfe. A dockworker (and a dance instructor), he was writing for Sam Spade and Richard Diamond. Just two years later he would be nominated an Oscar for his screenplay for the 1953 western movie The Naked Spur which starred Jimmy Stewart as a bounty hunter. Rolfe was creator of TV’s Have Gun, Will Travel with writer Herb Meadow, and was a writer and producer for The Man from UNCLE.
Marcus Junction might be an inside joke reference to prolific radio writer Larry Marcus.
LISTEN
TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or
mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP501026
THE CAST
RICHARD WIDMARK (Jefferson Casey), Paul Frees (Sheriff Benjamin Maxwell), Howard McNear (Brakeman / Driver), Junius Matthews (Pop Clovis), Mary Jane Croft (Rachael), Joe Kearns (Signature Voice / Kenny), Jonathan Hole (Hale [Restaurant stranger]), Noreen Gamill (Woman with trash can)
COMMERCIAL: Bert Holland (Hap), Harlow Wilcox (Announcer), Sylvia Simms (Operator), Jerry Maren? (Johnny Plugcheck)
###
