Inspired by the 1948 film of the same name, Naked City centers on the detectives of NYPD’s 65th Precinct, but the criminals, and the city of New York itself often played as big a role as anything else in an episode. Running for four seasons from 1958-63, the first season ran under the title The Naked City, as a half-hour series starring James Franciscus and John McIntire playing, respectively, Detective Jimmy Halloran and Lt. Dan Muldoon—the same characters in the 1948 film. When McIntire decided to leave the series midway through the season, his character is dramatically killed off when his car bursts into flames. Certainly a rarity for 1950’s television! In that same episode, Horace McMahon was introduced as Lieutenant Mike Parker, who would stick around for the duration.

Initially cancelled after its first season, ABC brought the show back in 1960 in an hour long format. This revamped version featured Horace McMahon as Lieutenant Mike Parker, and Paul Burke as Detective Adam Flint. The hour long episodes are really the strength of the show; given the extra time, the stories are able to truly develop and come to satisfactory conclusions without feeling rushed.

While modern audiences might view the acting as melodramatic, the stories are steeped in the noir tradition that pervaded Hollywood during much of the 1940’s and 50’s. Stark in its appearance, and straightforward with its dialogue,  “Sweet Prince of Delancey Street” which aired in 1961, and considered by many to be one of the best television episodes of all time, is a great example of the series’ style. The story revolves around a robbery and murder at a warehouse where both father and son are suspects. The detective work it takes to piece together various versions of the story, along with notable performances by Robert Morse, James Dunn, and a very young Dustin Hoffman makes for a riveting hour of television.

While Naked City gave much of the focus to lawbreakers, my favorite episodes, “Prime of Life” turns the spotlight on Paul Burke. Detective Flint attends the execution of a man helped put away.  Fellow officers and members of the press join him as they watch the man die. Flint’s discomfort while waiting for the man to die leads to flashbacks that not only shed light on the man being executed, but also help us to understand Flint in some unexpected ways. For the first time in the series, we are given an unfettered glimpse at the moral code that makes Burke the man he is.

Naked City is the precursor to the Law & Order franchise. Watching it, I couldn’t help but wonder if Dick Wolf had been a fan. Like Wolf’s popular shows, Naked City is a police procedural where the city is just as important as any of the characters, the criminals are different every week, and no matter how hard, the police keep fighting the good fight.

The acting is top notch in every episode. That’s not surprising since the list of the guest stars reads like a who’s who of Hollywood:  Alan Alda, Michael Ansara, Ed Asner, Martin Balsam, Barbara Barrie, Orson Bean, Robert Blake, James Caan Joseph Campanella, Diahann Carroll, James Coburn, Michael Constantine, William Daniels, Sandy Dennis, Bruce Dern, David Doyle, Keir Dullea, Robert Duvall, Peter Falk, James Farentino, Peter Fonda, Harry Guardino, Gene Hackman, Dustin Hoffman, Dennis Hopper, Diana Hyland, Richard Jaeckel, David Janssen,  Jack Klugman, Shirley Knight, Piper Laurie, Diane Ladd, Audra Lindley, Jack Lord, George Maharis, Nancy Marchand, Sylvia Miles, Vic Morrow, Barry Morse, Robert Morse, Lois Nettleton, Leslie Nielsen, Carroll O’Connor, Suzanne Pleshette, Robert Redford, Doris Roberts,  Telly Savalas, George Segal, William Shatner, Martin Sheen, Jean Stapleton, Maureen Stapleton, Rod Steiger, Rip Torn, Cicely Tyson, Jon Voight, Christopher Walken, Deborah Walley, Jack Warden, Tuesday Weld, Dick York and more. There’s really some amazing talent here!

Canceled the final time after 138 episodes, Naked City is a police procedural still capable of provided riveting entertainment fifty years after it left network television. Hopefully, Image Entertainment’s recent release of this Complete Series box set will spark new interest in the show, because Naked City deserves to be rediscovered.

Framed in 1.33:1, the Black and white transfers look pretty good. A couple of episodes from the first season look like the source material might not have been as good as the rest, but all-in-all this is fine stuff.

Audio wise, we are presented with a simple, yet effective Dolby Digital mono mix. Dialogue is clear throughout.

The set contains all 138 episodes on 29 DVDs.

The following special features are available

• Commercials (12:06) are a dozen of the sponsors from the run of Naked City; there’s a lot of cigarettes and over the counter medicine. Peter Lorre endorses a flexible watchband.