The Ford Television Theatre The Payoff (1952–1957) watch online HD

The Payoff - 1956

This is a hard-nosed P.I. episode of Ford Theatre, with story and screenplay by Blake Edwards. Howard Duff plays a private eye in need of a client when Janet Blair appears with the offer of a job.

Blair needs someone to pick up an envelope from a man at the boxing arena. After taking in a few rounds Duff is approached by a man who hands him a large envelope. Duff stuffs it in pocket and heads off to deliver it to Blair. This plan however encounters a slight problem. Two large gentlemen with drawn guns and a definite anti-social bent, relieve Duff of the envelope and administer a sound beating to boot.

Duff drags himself home where Blair is waiting for the package. She is less than amused with his tale about the two thugs. Blair brains him with a bottle so she can search him just to make sure he is not pulling a fast one. It seems the envelope contained 20,000 dollars.

When Duff comes to, he decides enough is enough and heads off to straighten matters out. It is all over a fixed fight where the boxer, Richard Crane, who was to lose the fight, pulls a fast one and wins. His girl, Blair, had booked a large bet under Duff's name on Crane to win. The two, Crane and Blair, figured they could avoid any trouble by using Duff as a cover. The mob however found out, and figured Duff was in on the double cross. Needless to say, further violence and the Police are needed before the matter is settled to Duff's satisfaction.

This episode plays out like a sped up "Murder my Sweet" with rapid fire dialogue and plenty of violence. It is sort of a dry run for the writer's future series, Peter Gunn. It is a most enjoyable way to spend a half-hour in front of the television.

Cheap, silly, clichéd, but somehow highly enjoyable made for TV noir-light short included as a bonus on Columbia's Bad Girls of Film Noir Vol.1. Down at heel private eye (Howard Duff) gets led into trouble by sharp dame client (Janet Blair) in fight-fix drama. Duff's gumshoe is a weathered everyman (think Robert Ryan or Paul Kelly etc.) giving the impression of a man who's seen The Maltese Falcon and gone out and tried to be Sam Spade, but wasn't doing too well at it (in fact, Duff played Sam Spade in a radio series based on Hammett's character in the 40s before getting into movies). The dialogue-heavy screenplay is by Blake Edwards (Director of Days of Wine and Roses / Breakfast at Tiffany's), and must have been great fun to write - mainly a series of entertaining plot-heavy conversations between the protagonist and an array of colourful characters, and lot of cheesy expository voice overs. Full of holes, full of humour, and full of fun, with a really great punch up to finish, The Payoff pays off... sorry, I couldn't resist that.