A cop gets shot, survives, and refuses to let a wheelchair stop him from solving his own attempted murder.
Citizens of San Francisco are stunned by the news that Robert Ironside, the city's hard-nosed, tough-talking chief of detectives, has been shot and left for dead while vacationing at his friend the Police Commissioner's rural retreat. Ironside survives the murder attempt, but the bullet has damaged nerves in his spine, leaving him a paraplegic. Unable to gain reinstatement as chief of detectives, Ironside gets permission to continue investigating criminal cases as a citizen volunteer. With the assistance of two former protegees, Det. Sgt. Ed Brown and Officer Eve Whitfield, and a newly-hired aide/driver, Mark Sanger, Ironside sets out to solve his first case as a civilian by finding the people responsible for the attempt on his life.
Acting
Raymond Burr's granite-jawed intensity sells every wheelchair-bound close-up.
Production
San Francisco locations before they became cliché.
Director
James Goldstone
Raymond Burr
Robert Ironside
Geraldine Brooks
Honor Thompson
Wally Cox
Scoutmaster
Kim Darby
Ellen Wells
David Sheiner
Doctor
Lilia Skala
Sister Agatha
Gene Lyons
Police Commissioner Dennis Randall
Don Galloway
Det. Sgt. Ed Brown
Barbara Anderson
Eve Whitfield
Don Mitchell
Mark Sanger
Joel Fabiani
Dr. Schley
Ayllene Gibbons
Baby Peggy Marvel
Eddie Firestone
Wheels Montana
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
This TV movie launched an 8-season series and made Raymond Burr one of the few visibly disabled leads in primetime history.
Burr bulk-ordered his wheelchair from the same manufacturer that supplied real hospitals, insisting on authenticity over Hollywood props.
US
