Blake Edwards had a long career, but he is perhaps best remembered as being the man who married Julie Andrews and creating The Pink Panther franchise. He did, however, so many other projects, one of which was Peter Gunn. This was a show in reaction to the hardboiled film noir style of detectives, where the title character for this series was well dressed, put together, sophisticated and used his wits. No, he wasn’t the only one of this type, but there was a certain “coolness” to Peter Gunn that made him very much a product of his time and timeless.
Now we get all three seasons of the series on DVD in a new comprehensive set. That’s 114 episodes. As a bonus there is a CD sampling some of the music from the series by composer Henri Mancini. This includes the theme song.
The success of Peter Gunn rests not just on the writing and establishment of the character, but its portrayal by actor Craig Stevens. He plays the private investigator with some charm, part of this is evidences by his hangout of choice. Mother’s is a jazz club which Peter also uses as an office of sorts, and he also happens to be involved with vocalist Edie (Lola Albright). Then there is police Lieutenant Jacoby (Herschel Bernardi). He provides both a foil and friend for the private investigator.
Interestingly, the series, which is a product of its time, still holds up pretty well. Sets are reused quite often, and while I haven’t watched half of the episodes (partway through the 2nd season and sampled several from the 3rd) it’s something that modern viewers will especially notice. It’s not bad, but it is just a sign of when the series was made.
And the guest stars. Jackie Coogan, Ted Knight, Gavin MacLeod and several other recognizable names and faces show up.
There are no extras in this set, save for the CD sampler of music. It’s a shame, but understandable. This isn’t the sort of series most people remember, let alone seek out at this point. It’s too bad, really, because as private investigator television series go, Peter Gunn is not only a solid offering, it’s one of the better examples of the genre.