Alfred Hitchcock Presents (TV Series) The $2,000,000 Defense (1958) User Reviews

Not exactly logical...but enjoyable.

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 2 April 2021]

"The $2,000,000 Defense" is an interesting episode of "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" but I must admit that it is VERY hard to believe and leaves a lot of unanswered questions....as well as introduces a twist which really comes from out of no where!

When the story begins, a man (Leslie Neilsen) is on trial for killing some guy in a fit of jealousy It seems clear that he'll be going to jail for a very long time...or worse. So he makes a proposition to his lawyer (Barry Sullivan)....get him acquitted and he'll split his fortune 50-50 with the guy! This means he'll get a reward of at least $2,000,000 if he wins the case. And so, the lawyer pulls out all the stops and employs all sorts of tricks to fool the jury. In the end, however, instead of getting $2,000,000, he gets something he never counted on receiving.

The final scene is hard to believe and seems out of context. I'd say more but don't want to spoil the suspense by saying more. It also is enjoyable despite this...and you should see it understanding it has its faults but is still good.

"The $2,000,000 Defense" has a few holes in it....

[chuck-reilly · 7/10 · 19 April 2013]

Leslie Nielsen plays a very rich man who has been accused of murder in the killing of a man he thought was having an affair with his wife. Despite the best efforts of his attorney (Barry Sullivan), Nielsen looks like he's sure to be convicted as the prosecutor hammers away at his testimony. Nielsen's flimsy excuse is that he only went over to the guy's house to scare him with a loaded gun and that the fellow just happened to knock the weapon from his hand and it accidentally fired the fatal round after hitting the ground, even though he claimed the SAFETY was on. It sounds like an impossibility and when a ballistics and firearms expert shows up on the witness stand (Herbert Anderson), he swears that there's no way that could ever happen. During a recess in the trial, Nielsen offers Sullivan half of his wealth (the $2 Million of the title) if he can somehow get him off the hook. With nothing to lose and everything to gain, Sullivan agrees. What he doesn't know is that Nielsen's real goal is to get his hands on another handgun so he can kill someone else.

"The $2,000,000 Defense" was handled by prolific actor and TV director Norman Lloyd, who was almost a fixture with the Hitchcock series. Leslie Nielsen, best known for his comedies in the 1990s, gave his usual fine performance here. He played mostly villains during his early television career. Barry Sullivan, a star on the big screen as well as TV, was the epitome of a working actor throughout his long career. Herbert Anderson, of course, played Dennis the Menace's father on the early 1960s hit comedy. He also had an important role in William Wellman's famous wartime movie "Battleground" (1949). While this episode has a minimum of built-up suspense and the ending is a bit of a letdown, the acting is still first-rate. It's also a lot of fun to watch Leslie Nielsen play a rotten egg long before he became everybody's favorite bumbling detective.

Witness for the defense

[TheLittleSongbird · 6/10 · 3 May 2023]

"The $2,000,000 Defense" has two main interests. One is that it is the first of nineteen episodes directed by Norman Lloyd, who produced more 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' episodes than he directed. The other is seeing Leslie Neilson in a non-comedic role and as a character that one does not trust with their life. Was not sure how the episode would map out, as the concept did sound ridiculous and there were many episodes of 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' with that type of premise that were that.

While not one of the worst episodes of Season 4, it is not as bad as "Don't Interrupt" and a decent 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' directing debut for Lloyd, "The 2,000,000 Defense" could have been better and is a let down after the brilliant previous episode "The Crooked Road". It is not a terrible outing and is quite fun, as well as compensated by the acting, but it is a long way from great at the same time and does underwhelm in the story and not just by a little.

Am going to start with the good. Neilson is very well cast and the slippery eel like sliminess literally drops off him, he really does relish his interesting character without hamming up too much. Barry Sullivan is an authoritative presence. Hitchcock's bookending is suitably dry humoured and Lloyd does provide some more than competent directing. The theme tune is a classic and fits the macabre tone of the series really well.

It is well made visually, simple but slick and not too stagy. The script is amusing and thought provoking and the episode does go at a lively enough pace and intrigues.

Having said all of that, the story is also really far fetched with not much making sense. Did find some of the storytelling rather incomplete feeling and a longer length would have helped to flesh out the second half more, and the episode is severely lacking in suspense.

Not to mention a good ending, here the ending is far too implausibly silly and comes out of nowhere which gives off an anti-climactic feeling.

Overall, worth a look but a long way from being one of the series' essentials. 6/10.

We'll get to see the "Two Million Dollar Defense" right after our sponsor gets his two cents in.

[sol-kay · 7/10 · 21 November 2012]

**SPOILERS*** On trial for his life in the murder of his wife Eva's, Lorie March, lover Llyod Ashley's, Leslie Nielsen, defense is that the gun went off when his intended target Thomas Ward knocked it out of his hand in trying to defend himself. He had no intention of killing ward but only in scaring him! As the facts soon come out in the trial it looked real bad for Ashley in that it's proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that the safety latch on the gun that he claims was on would make it accidentally going off or firing an absolute impossibility!

With a desperate Ashley knowing that he's cooked, or on his way to the electric chair,if convicted he tells his lawyer Mark Robeson, Barry Sullivan, to do whatever he can, legal or illegal, to prove that his gun did in fact go off accidentally with the safety latch on and offers to pay him two million dollars, on top of his normal fee, if he can accomplish that! Sure enough the very competent Robeson comes up with an air-tight scam to prove his client innocent but ends up shooting himself in his left arm to do it!

***SPOILERS*** Found innocent of all charges Ashley is now more then happy to pay Robeson the two million dollars that he earned in getting him off the hook and out of death row in gunning down Thomas Ward. But the kicker in all this is that he's just not more then willing to pay Robeson for his services in the courtroom but his actions outside of it as well!

The Victim and the Story Are Full of Holes!

[Hitchcoc · 6/10 · 7 July 2013]

One impression that these Hitchcock pieces make is that there are absolutes in the judicial system. For instance, nearly every murderer who appears on the show ends up executed. Lawyers can play fast and loose with evidence and drive their witnesses to confession. Call it the Perry Mason syndrome. In this one, Leslie Neilson is guilty of murder. He has killed his wife's lover. He hires Barry Sullivan, a high powered attorney to defend him. In the process he offers Sullivan a fortune to get him off. During the crime, Neilson claimed he only meant to scare the guy and that the safety was on when the gun hit the floor and went off. Sullivan hatches a plot, dependent on so many pitfalls that it is laughable. He even shoots himself and appears with his arm in a sling in court. He depends entirely on an honest, competent man to fall apart at the last minute, probably because in his heart hearts he doesn't want to see others hurt.

Of course, there's one more kicker which is the Hitchcock touch, but I will let those who haven't seen the episode watch for themselves. Even in the fifties with so little technology available, this could not happen.

A clever and cunning trick to go free!

[blanbrn · 9/10 · 23 February 2018]

This "AHP" episode from 1958 called the 2 million dollar defense is one that's interesting, cunning, and clever as the story twist as the drama and suspense build it up to a surprise. Lloyd Ashley(the now late great funny guy Leslie Nielsen) is on trial for murder and it's up to him to prove to his defense lawyer Mark Robeson that no way no how that the gun in question could have fired with the safety on! Tension and drama is added from the courtroom testimony and hearing each side like the defense, and prosecution and expert gun witness. Yet thru it all a plan of revealing truth and escape seeking has formed for one Lloyd as this tale takes a twist and shocking turn that's the way Alfred would have it! Good episode for it's time of 1958.

The Tall Man meets Lieutenant Frank Drebin

[classicsoncall · 4/10 · 2 October 2021]

Here's what I don't get. Why would Lloyd Ashley (Leslie Nielsen) offer two million dollars to his defense attorney for getting him an acquittal, when that's what Mark Robeson (Barry Sullivan) would have been trying to do anyway? That didn't make much sense to me. Nor did Robeson's tinkering with a loaded gun to try and prove that it could fire with the safety catch on. The prosecuting attorney would have been able to dismiss that piece of 'evidence' as insufficient to prove that the actual gun used in a murder would have reacted the same way. The one thing that did seem credible was the ballistic expert's (Herbert Anderson) reluctance to drop a loaded gun (what!!!) in the courtroom, exercising that least little doubt that the gun could actually go off and hurt someone in the courtroom. Finally, there's the closing scene in which Ashley reneges on his written agreement to fork over the two mil. Just how many times did he think he could get away with the ruse of giving half of his fortune away for every murder trial he had to face? Though the episode plays out fairly well, it just wasn't thought out very much. But it was cool to see Barry Sullivan in a role before he became "The Tall Man", and Leslie Nielsen, well before he became Lieutenant Frank Drebin.