Ironside (TV Series) Beyond a Shadow (1969) User Reviews

The jury was hung and the doubts remain

[bkoganbing · 8/10 · 3 September 2013]

Back when Chief Ironside was getting that bullet out of his spine and learning to adjust to the wheelchair an old friend of his Dana Wynter was on trial for her life in the shooting death of her husband. The jury was hung and doubts remained.

A suicide attempt by Wynter brings Ironside and his team in on the case as it is reopened to get a final closing. Not helping is Mort Sahl who is a bottom feeding sensationalist type television journalist who has dug up some history that Raymond Burr had with Dana Wynter back in their salad days.

I have to say that the result here was a surprise to me and I think it will be to other viewers. The murderer was not who I was expecting in fact there was a red herring built up all along just to tease the audience. I really think you'll like this one.

A true classic

[oliver-177 · 10/10 · 27 December 2009]

If you are (re)acquainting yourself with episodes of Ironside through DVD or on Hulu.com, you can't go wrong with this one. This is from the third season, therefore, the only classic ingredient missing is the old gray wheelchair van.

Tracy Oliver (Dana Wynter) is a rich lady who - long ago - had a dinner date with young Robert Ironside. Since then, she's been accused of her husband's murder. The trial ended with a hung jury, which left a cloud over her reputation. Now, as she is about to inherit her husband's millions, she attempts suicide.

Ironside and his three younger sidekicks delve back in the old murder case, find out why Tracy is acting so mysteriously, and finally clear her.

"Beyond a Shadow" has a clever twist at the end (just when you think you've figured it out), and it allows Raymond Burr to show his loving side. Dana Wynter - the b*tchy wife from Airport - is just right here, the sort of woman you could never forget after a long ago date. And comedian Mort Sahl is great as a muckracking Nancy Grace avant la lettre.

If there were ever to be an Ironside movie, in the loving-sarcastic vein of Starsky & Hutch or The Brady Bunch, this would make a good starting point.