LAWBREAKER - THE COMPLETE SERIES (SYND 1963-64) EXCELLECT QUALITY Lee Marvin
Lawbreaker is certainly one of the most fascinating artefacts of sixties television. Shot entirely in color (still novel on television in the US in 1963) with actual news footage in black and white, this one season weekly re-enactment series was culled from the files of major US city police department’s records of recent violent crimes. The restaging of the incidents was the heart of each episode.
Actor Lee Marvin hosted the show from a giant console in his windowless “control room” set on a sound stage in Hollywood. Marvin addressed the viewers directly, but also interacted with other characters (both real people and the actors playing them) who appeared on a video screen in this early precursor to “reality television”.
Interspersed with Marvin’s segments, the episodes featured filmed interviews with the actual police, criminals, and civilians involved; recreations of the crimes in the places where they originally occurred, and clips from television news coverage of the incidents in question.
Unfortunately, this outstanding early reality series is scarcely remembered today. Fortunately, all 32 episodes are available in an 8-DVD set.
This 8-DVD set contains the entire series.