The Big Break (possible spoilers)

(episode #33 3/19/53)

This is noted by one reviewer as a "strange episode" and it certainly is. A hold-up man named Hoffman has a violent confrontation with the police but is apprehended when overcome by tear gas. he then escapes custody after training in jail for a human fly routine by hanging from his fingers from a bunk He's caught again but released some unspecified period of time later to join the Army as an alternative to jail. He shows up at the precinct in his military uniform and has a friendly conversation with the cops he shot at. They even lend him money. It turns out he's escaped from a military prison and they have to go get him again in another shoot-out.

- As the reviewer points out, the legal system is shown here to be spectacularly inept at dealing with this guy.

- Friday and Smith are on robbery detail for a long period of time, unless they happened to be back in that segment of the rotation when Hoffman shows up in his army outfit.

- I was amazed that you could get out of jail by joining the Army. What would the Army want with a guy like Hoffman, even with a war on? My research on the web indicates that this could actually happen until the military services made a rule against it in the late 60's. Now you can't be enlisted if you have a felony on your record.

- In the judgement sequence at the end, Hoffman is convicted only of the robbery charges. As is pointed out in the "goofs" section for this episode, he would surely have been charged with attempted murder of the police officers and for his jail escapes. It says he's "now serving his sentence"- but for how long?

You have to wonder if this one was really based on the LAPD files or was in the imagination of the writer.




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