The BEST episodes directed by Jack Webb
#1 - The Big High
Dragnet - Season 2 - Episode 8
An elderly businessman, concerned about the welfare of his grandchild, informs Friday and Gannon that his daughter and son-in-law are using marijuana regularly. The young couple make no apologies for their lifestyle, which inevitably leads to disaster.
#2 - The Big Shipment
Dragnet - Season 2 - Episode 16
Drugs are found aboard a plane that has crashed in the San Fernando Valley. The pilot is quickly traced, but in order to force him to name his connection, Friday and Gannon ask the press to sit on the story for a few hours.
#3 - The Investigation
Dragnet - Season 2 - Episode 26
Friday and Gannon are screening applicants for the Police Academy. One seems to have all the right qualifications, except that six months are missing from his application.
#4 - The Shooting Board
Dragnet - Season 2 - Episode 2
Joe stops at an all night launderette to buy cigarettes and interrupts a burglar working the coin changer. When he shouts "Freeze," the criminal comes up shooting. Joe returns fire, hitting the man, who flees with the help of his girlfriend. He's later found dead. When SID tries to find the bullet fired at Joe, they come up empty and Joe faces a shooting board with no proof the man ever fired at him. A great surprise ending.
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#5 - A.I.D. - The Weekend
Dragnet - Season 4 - Episode 17
Bill's wife is out-of-town, and Bill invites Joe home for the weekend. They have dinner and play poker with some friends. A woman selling magazines shows up, and Joe and Bill suspect a scam.
#6 - The Badge Racket
Dragnet - Season 2 - Episode 3
Three con artists have been swindling businessmen from out-of-town by posing as a prostitute and two policemen. The detectives set a trap as Gannon pretends to be a manufacturer from Lincoln Nebraska.
#7 - Homicide - DR-06
Dragnet - Season 3 - Episode 6
Joe and Bill review the progress report of a homicide (thus the name of the episode). Joe has invited Bill and his wife to his apartment for dinner. The dinner is constantly interrupted by neighbors asking for advice and complaining about a loud party. One neighbor calls to say that someone is breaking into the coin boxes in the laundry room. Joe and Bill grab their guns and investigate.
#8 - Community Relations - DR-17
Dragnet - Season 3 - Episode 13
Joe and Bill are sent to a Community Relations conference at Lake Arrowhead with other police officers. Their task is to discuss ways of improving community relations, and in the process find a few officers that have bigoted views.
#10 - The Big Prophet
Dragnet - Season 2 - Episode 18
Friday and Gannon are convinced that "Brother" William Bentley's Temple of the Expanded Mind is just a sham - a front for Bentley to sell LSD to the students of a nearby elementary school.
#11 - The Trial Board
Dragnet - Season 2 - Episode 14
An officer accused of taking a bribe has chosen Sgt. Friday to represent him at his trial board hearing. Witnesses saw the officer accept the money, but he insists it was for the payback of a loan made years ago.
#12 - Narcotics - DR-21
Dragnet - Season 3 - Episode 16
The Captain ask Joe and Bill to investigate having dogs trained to sniff out narcotics. They contact a dog trainer to train dogs for the job. Joe and Bill do a demonstration for Judges to prove the effectiveness of using a dog to detect marijuana.
#13 - The Big Ad
Dragnet - Season 2 - Episode 9
An ex-con named Steve Deal contacts Friday and Gannon when a classified ad that he placed, offering to do "anything" for money, results in an offer to commit murder. Friday goes undercover as Deal.
#14 - The Big Dog
Dragnet - Season 2 - Episode 11
A purse-snatching dog? This is the case Friday and Gannon must solve. Making things more difficult, victims give different descriptions of the four-legged thief.
#15 - The Bullet
Dragnet - Season 1 - Episode 17
A dead man has been found in a locked room, along with a gun that could not have been the murder weapon.
#16 - Intelligence - DR-34
Dragnet - Season 3 - Episode 27
Joe is invited to a night school alumni party. Joe goes and is approached by one of the alumni to join the Fielder Militia, a right wing group. They want Joe to help one of the Militia’s members get a Federal firearms license. Joe works with the ATM to join the Militia to locate Militia’s cache of illegal automatic weapons.
#17 - The Big Phone Call
Dragnet (1951) - Season 1 - Episode 12
Friday confronts a jeweler with tape recorded evidence that proves he hired someone to rob his own store.
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#18 - The Big Cast
Dragnet (1951) - Season 1 - Episode 5
The police interrogate a suspect whom they believe to have murdered more than a dozen men.
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#19 - The Big September Man
Dragnet (1951) - Season 1 - Episode 11
A secretary is beaten to death and the search for the killer leads police to a religious fanatic.
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#20 - The Shooting
Dragnet - Season 1 - Episode 11
A police officer is shot while making a routine check on a pair of paroled convicts that are parked near a liquor store.
#21 - Homicide - Who Killed Who?
Dragnet - Season 4 - Episode 15
There is a multiple homicide at a rooming house. When Joe and Bill arrive, they find two dead in the lobby near a broken TV set and the manager has been shot and is near death. The manager mumbles the words "oft one" to Joe as he is taken away to the hospital. Bill and Joe start searching for clues and what the managers word mean.
#22 - A Clinic on 18th Street
Adam-12 - Season 6 - Episode 24
Malloy and Reed investigate the death of an old man wearing an unusual belt, which leads to the case being turned over to Frauds Division, who finds that Dr. Gantman, running a clinic, is treating a blind seven-year-old patient with a pituitary gland condition but his "treatment" is worthless and preventing a real treatment (removal of the gland). Later, a TV repairman who makes oscillator belts for Gantman is busted for bookmaking and agrees to testify against the doctor, but Gantman demonstrates his "treatment" in open court and fails miserably.
#23 - The Big Casing
Dragnet (1951) - Season 1 - Episode 13
A man claims that his wife committed suicide right in front of him, but the evidence suggests otherwise.
Watch Now:Amazon#24 - The Big .22 Rifle for Christmas
Dragnet (1951) - Season 2 - Episode 7
Two small boys are missing, there are blood stains on the ground and a gun meant as a Christmas present is gone.
Watch Now:Amazon#25 - The Big Hit-Run Killer
Dragnet (1951) - Season 3 - Episode 29
A woman and her grandson are run down by a bakery truck, but the driver has an airtight alibi.
Watch Now:Amazon#26 - The Big Girl
Dragnet (1951) - Season 3 - Episode 31
Friday and Smith hunt down the bandit queen; a tall, gorgeous woman who is on a rampage of robberies and shootings.
Watch Now:Amazon#27 - The Big Seventeen
Dragnet (1951) - Season 2 - Episode 4
Friday and Smith investigate a group of teenagers who are using and selling drugs.
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#28 - The Human Bomb
Dragnet (1951) - Season 1 - Episode 1
A man walks into City hall carrying a live bomb. He threatens to blow up the building if his brother isn't released from jail.
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#29 - Homicide - Cigarette Butt
Dragnet - Season 4 - Episode 7
Joe and Bill investigate a dead body found in a rundown apartment building. A half eaten peanut butter sandwich and a knife are found at the scene of the crime. A neighbor says that he saw a man and woman running out of the apartment. The man and woman come back and tell Joe and Bill that it was self defense. Joe looks for evidence that will prove or disproves the alibi.
#30 - Missing Persons - The Body
Dragnet - Season 4 - Episode 20
Joe and Bill investigate the identity of a dead 23 year old woman found under the Venice Pier. They check missing person reports to try to identify the woman, and they use a ring she was wearing and a piece of paper found on the body to track down the identity.
#31 - Forgery - The Ranger
Dragnet - Season 4 - Episode 21
Friday and Gannon question a Park Ranger about some stolen checks.
#32 - I.A.D. - The Receipt
Dragnet - Season 4 - Episode 23
Two of the department's veteran homicide detectives are accused of stealing $800 from a dead man. Joe and Bill investigate and try to find a missing receipt that would clear the detectives.
#33 - The Kidnapping
Dragnet - Season 1 - Episode 3
When a ransom delivery goes awry, Friday and Gannon use LA's notorious traffic to ensnare the kidnapper.
#34 - The Fur Job
Dragnet - Season 1 - Episode 9
Gannon goes undercover as a buyer in order to trap fur theives.
#35 - The Jade Story
Dragnet - Season 1 - Episode 10
Over $200,000 worth of Imperial Jade is reported stolen. Friday and Gannon determine the burglary was an inside job.
#36 - The Big Mother
Dragnet (1951) - Season 1 - Episode 4
A new-born baby is stolen from a hospital nursery and the trail leads the police to a deranged mother.
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#37 - The Hit-and-Run Driver
Dragnet - Season 1 - Episode 12
Friday and Gannon use newspapers, radio and TV to publicize their clues to the identity of the hit and run driver.
#38 - The Grenade
Dragnet - Season 2 - Episode 1
A surly teenager throws acid on the back of another student (played by a teen-aged Jan Michael Vincent), then crashes a party armed with a live hand grenade.
#39 - The Bookie
Dragnet - Season 1 - Episode 13
Friday goes undercover with the Department's chaplain in order to break up a gambling ring.
#40 - The Gun
Dragnet - Season 1 - Episode 15
A Japanese widow is senselessly murdered, leaving her small daughter an orphan. Friday has a hard time controlling his emotions while seeking the killer.
#41 - The Big Lamp
Dragnet (1951) - Season 1 - Episode 14
Friday and Jacobs are out to catch a safe burglar who has been on the loose for seven months.
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#42 - The Big Amateur
Dragnet - Season 2 - Episode 19
Citizens are full of praise for Officer Gideon C. Dengle - they want to bestow him with awards, honors and home-baked cookies. There's only one problem: there's no such officer in the LAPD.
#43 - The Missing Realtor
Dragnet - Season 2 - Episode 10
A woman real-estate agent is missing and turns up dead in a vacant home. The detectives' one suspect - the woman's ex-boyfriend - is cleared; then credit card bills for purchases made after the woman's death start appearing.
#44 - The Big Departure
Dragnet - Season 2 - Episode 25
Petty theft from drug and hardware stores leads to a group of four teens who are determined to start their own nation on a remote island off the California coast.
#45 - Personnel - The Shooting
Dragnet - Season 4 - Episode 1
Joe and Bill are assigned to the Medical Services Division. Two policemen have been shot. Joe and Bill must notify the wives.
#46 - The Big Shoplift
Dragnet (1951) - Season 3 - Episode 28
Friday and Smith are surprised to find a wealthy house wife is a shoplifter, until they discover that she is a kleptomaniac.
Watch Now:Amazon#47 - The Big Boys
Dragnet (1951) - Season 3 - Episode 21
The cops must stake out a hotel lobby and deal with a drunken desk clerk as they wait for four juvenile armed robbers to show up.
Watch Now:Amazon#48 - The Big Little Jesus
Dragnet (1951) - Season 3 - Episode 17
A statue of the Child Jesus is stolen from a church. Friday and Smith must find it before the paritioners miss it on Christmas morning.
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#49 - S.I.U. - The Ring
Dragnet - Season 4 - Episode 3
Joe and Bill are working the Special Investigation Unit. Informant “Black 10” asks for a meeting with Joe and Bill and gives them a tip about a bartender who is fencing stolen jade ring. Joe and Bill set up a sting to recover the ring and other stolen jewelry.
#50 - Burglary - Mister
Dragnet - Season 4 - Episode 5
An old woman has all her possessions including her cane stolen by her grandson, "Mister Daniel Lumis". Joe and Bill try to locate Lumis and find a trail of bigamy and thievery.