The 2022 Ed-Vent Calendar, Day 19: Tor Johnson meets Peter Gunn (1960)

Tor Johnson on Peter Gunn in 1960.

Swedish wrestler Tor Johnson is thought of as one of Edward D. Wood, Jr.'s stock players, thanks to his memorable roles in Bride of the Monster (1955), Plan 9 from Outer Space (1957), and Night of the Ghouls (1959). There's even a (completely fictional) scene in Tim Burton's Ed Wood (1994) suggesting that Eddie discovered Tor at a wrestling match in Los Angeles and recruited him to be in movies for the first time. However, the truth is that this gargantuan grappler worked in TV and film for decades, both before and after his professional association with Eddie.

Today, I'm going to spotlight a role that Tor played not long after filming Night of the Ghouls: an episode of the NBC detective show Peter Gunn called "See No Evil." It originally aired on February 1, 1960, and made such a strong impression on critic Danny Peary that he mentioned it in his 1981 review of Plan 9 from Outer Space. For the uninitiated, Peter Gunn ran for three seasons (1958-1961) and is largely remembered today for bringing producer/creator Blake Edwards together with composer Henry Mancini. The series' jazzy theme song is still a standard and has been covered by dozens of artists. When Edwards switched to making feature films, he continued to collaborate with Mancini on classics like Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961), Days of Wine and Roses (1962), and The Pink Panther (1963).

Craig Stevens as Peter Gunn.

For the most part, Peter Gunn is what you'd expect from a crime show of this vintage. The title character, as played by handsome but rather bland Craig Stevens, is a macho, cynical private eye in Eisenhower era Los Angeles. His contact on the police force is world-weary Lt. Jacoby (played by sourpuss Herschel Bernardi, looking like a man in need of a nap). Most fictional sleuths are defined by their quirks, but apart from his phallic name and his penchant for vaguely Bogart-esque quips, Gunn doesn't seem to have any. He's a straight arrow. In other episodes, Gunn hangs out at a jazz club and even dates a singer named Edie (played by Lola Albright), but none of this is in evidence during "See No Evil."

Peter Gunn may not have the most engaging protagonist in the world, but producer Blake Edwards compensates by making the series exceptionally stylish and atmospheric. We are firmly within the realm of film noir here. "See No Evil" has plenty of cockeyed camera angles, dramatic lighting effects, and swift, brutal acts of violence. Hell, two cops are matter-of-factly gunned down before we even get to the opening credits! And all through it, there is the unmistakable "cool" jazz of Henry Mancini in the background.

Look, I'll be honest and admit that I can never follow the plots of most detective and mystery shows. Even after the crime is "explained" to me at the end, I'm always a little confused as to who did what to whom and why. What I can tell you about "See No Evil" is that the plot is set in motion when a sleazy, mustachioed gangster named Brenners (Lou Krugman) shoots his way out of a courthouse after being sentenced to 60 years in the slammer for racketeering. Soon after, a blind news dealer named Cliffie (Walter Burke) hires Peter for protection. He testified against Brenners years ago and figures the crook will want to kill him in revenge. He's right. A few scenes in, Peter finds Cliffie dead—not just dead but mangled. Who or what could've done this? (Ed Wood fans may have some idea.)

As in just about every detective story, our hero goes to various places and interviews various people in search of the truth. I couldn't always tell what these folks had to do with the story. A sizable part of the episode, for example, is given over to some unhelpful switchboard operators who won't give Gunn or Jacoby the information they want about a payphone call that so-and-so placed to whatshisname. There's even a car chase at one point, though I wasn't sure why or where it was happening. Eventually, in the last 10 minutes, we get to the good part: Peter's investigations lead him to a creepy place called Sunview Sanitarium. No points for guessing that this joint is neither sunny nor sanitary.

Peter enters this Arkham-esque facility and is promptly thrown into a padded room by the gangsters. Our hero starts devising an escape when Brenners himself, flanked by lieutenants, enters the room. They share this supremely hard-boiled dialogue, neither one betraying much emotion:

GUNN: Hello, Brenners.

BRENNERS: Better make that goodbye.

GUNN: Oh, I don't know. A lot of people are looking for you.

BRENNERS: You made the mistake of finding me.

GUNN: And you made the mistake of killing Cliffie Thomas.

BRENNERS: That right?

GUNN: Police found him pretty well mangled. What did you use on him?

BRENNERS: You're gonna find out.

Brenners flashes a sly smirk, then coolly exits Peter's cell and walks over to another one down the hall somewhere. He opens an ominous-looking iron door and out steps a monster: some huge barefoot creature wearing only baggy, striped pajamas. This behemoth lumbers down the hall, with director Alan Crosland, Jr. being careful only to show him from the knees down at first. Once this unknown threat reaches Peter Gunn's cell, the camera tilts up to reveal that it's Tor Johnson, who lunges toward our hero in attack mode. (Tor's character is identified as "Bruno" in the end credits, but this name is never said aloud during the episode.) What ensues is essentially a steel-cage wrestling match, and now we can understand the beauty of having this scene take place in a padded cell. Tor can toss Craig Stevens around without the actor sustaining any serious damage. Just when all seems lost, Lt. Jacoby shows up and shoots Tor dead, though it takes five shots (by my count) to bring the big boy down. Gunn and Jacoby exchange some more terse, cynical dialogue and stagger out of the padded room. The end.

I can easily imagine why "See No Evil" would have imprinted itself on the memories of viewers for decades. For the first two-thirds, it's your typical TV detective show, perhaps a bit more stylized than most. Then it suddenly becomes Chiller Theatre. Shifting the action to Sunview Sanitarium is a rather outrageous conceit on the part of the writers (the story itself is credited to Blake Edwards), and then the addition of Tor Johnson takes the episode into the world of pure fantasy. I was reminded of the Rancor scene from Return of the Jedi (1983), though viewers in 1960 probably thought of Daniel in the lions' den.

To be fair, the bonkers plot twist in "See No Evil" is somewhat telegraphed. In the early, more cheerful stages of the episode, Gunn's investigations take him to a dingy-looking gym where a funny little man named Igor (the ubiquitous Benny Rubin) is impatiently choreographing a female wrestling match. This scene exists purely for comic relief, however, and does not hint that Gunn himself will soon end up wrestling for his life.

This episode of Peter Gunn is something that all Ed Wood fans will want to see, if they haven't already. It's always a pleasure to watch Tor in anything, and it's especially nice to see him in a classy, respectable network TV show rather than a grade-Z programmer for a change. I'm sure Eddie watched "See No Evil" (if his TV weren't in hock that week) and just as sure that he loved it. In his films, short stories, and novels, Eddie favored square-jawed, ultra-manly heroes like Peter, and he made more than one attempt at film noir, complete with that rat-a-tat dialogue. I wouldn't say that he ever mastered the genre, but he made a couple of noble efforts. I think the finale of "See No Evil" would have blown his mind.