First, I want to say Happy Thanksgiving to all of you who read this review! I’m so thankful for The Shattered Lens and the opportunity to share my love of movies, TV and pop culture with all of you! Now on with the show…

Originally airing on December 5th, 1958, “Blind Spot” opens with free-lance photographer, Mike Kovac (Charles Bronson), receiving a phone call from his best friend Terry Ross (Norman Alden), who is in Lisbon, Portugal. A very nervous Terry tells Kovac that he will be airmailing him some very important negatives for something “dynamite” that he’s working on. While they’re on the phone, an imposing man with a wide-brimmed, boater hat steps into Terry’s room and shoots him dead. Hearing the shots, Kovac is on the next plane to Lisbon to talk to the police and try to find out what happened. Apparently this is big news as the Lisbon paper even reports that Kovac is on his way. The killer, who we soon learn is named Al Alviella (Mario Alcalde), is waiting on Kovac in front of the police station and through a variety of events, is able to convince him that he was Terry’s friend and can help him in his investigation. It seems the police believe that Terry was working for an underworld espionage organization and that he got killed for it. Kovac doesn’t believe there’s any possibility that his old wartime photographer buddy could be involved in anything dirty. But with the killer Al’s false stories and leads, as well as Kovac’s discovery of Terry’s wife Renee (Chana Eden), when he didn’t even know Terry was married, Kovac begins to question how well he really knew his old friend. When the truth finally all comes to light, will Kovac be able to get out of Lisbon alive?!

After the disappointing melodrama of the previous episode, MAN WITH A CAMERA gets back on track with “Blind Spot.” First, we get a somewhat intriguing crime storyline in this episode. While we know from the beginning that Kovac’s friend was murdered and who the killer is, the story still has a few surprises up its sleeve. The final reveal and fight scenes are very well handled, with Bronson continuing to prove that no one can throw a punch quite like him. Second, the episode has an appealing theme of “friendship forged by fire,” in this case by serving together in World War II. With the circumstantial evidence mounting, Kovac begins to doubt his old friend, and it’s here that the new wife steps in and says “Terry said you were his friend… his best friend!” Kovac knows in his heart that his friend just couldn’t have done these things, no matter how bad it looks, and he keeps pushing to find out the truth. I want to have friends like that! 

Finally, “Blind Spot” contains some solid performances and an interesting guest appearance. Bronson himself is quite emotional and demonstrative in this episode. He yells at the police when they tell him they believe his old buddy is dirty. He yells at the shadowy underworld “man” who tells him that his buddy was on his payroll, and then proceeds to start punching henchmen until they get the upper hand on him. And I’ve already mentioned the coolness of the final fight scenes where he clearly does his own stunts! I also found Mario Alcalde to be charismatic as the killer Al Alviella. There’s something about him, maybe it was his voice, that kind of reminds me of Andy Garcia, an actor I really like. Alcalde appeared on most of the good TV shows of the late 50’s and 60’s, but unfortunately died at the young age of 44 in 1971. One last thing about the casting that I found interesting involves character actor Frank DeKova, who has one scene here as a shadowy, Lisbon underworld figure credited only as “The Man.” DeKova would play one scene as a shadowy underworld figure known only as “The Man” 14 years later in Bronson’s action classic THE MECHANIC! 

“Blind Spot” isn’t a perfect episode, as it does have a fairly slow build up after its entertaining opening scene. However, the excitement of the ending scenes, the more interesting storyline, and the good performances from its main players are more than enough to get a recommendation from me.