Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past!  On Thursdays, I will be reviewing Decoy, which aired in Syndication in 1957 and 1958.  The show can be viewed on Tubi!

This week, Casey is an accused man’s only advocate.

Episode 1.32 “Fiesta At Midnight”

(Dir by Michael Gordon, originally aired on May 19th, 1958)

Juan Ortega (Tomas Milian) comes to New York City from Puerto Rico and finds himself in jail, accused of robbery and assault.  Ortega, who is still learning English, says that he was at a community dance when the crime happened and that there are two women who can provide him with an alibi.  Unfortunately, one of them (Gloria Marlowe) is married and refuses to testify that she had been talking to another man.  The other, a mysterious woman named Maria, cannot be found.  Casey tries to help.

This was an okay episode.  The episode calls out the NYPD for being too quick to assume that Ortega is guilty just because he speaks Spanish and he’s a newcomer to the neighborhood.  That said, it bothered me that a translator was never provided for Ortega.  Ortega was clearly not comfortable speaking English but he had to do so when talking to Casey because Casey didn’t know much Spanish.  I get that this was probably all done to avoid having to ask the viewers to read subtitles but, in-universe, it felt strange.  It was hard not to notice that, even in a precinct located in Spanish Harlem, there weren’t any Spanish cops.

This was an early role for Tomas Milian, who would go on to star in countless Spaghetti Westerns and who also played the corrupt general in Steven Soderbergh’s Traffic.  Though there’s little of the cunning or wit that distinguished Milian’s later performances, he still makes Juan Ortega into a sympathetic figure.

As for the episode’s ending, Maria (Miriam Colon) is revealed to be a nun and she testifies that Juan was with her when the crime occurred.  Casey tells us that Juan got his miracle.