Baretta (TV Series) The 5½ Pound Junkie (1975) User Reviews

Episode holds up pretty well 30 years later

[filmbuff1974 · 10/10 · 15 November 2006]

I remember this series as a child.I thought it was cool then even though I didn't fully understand the issues involved.Now as an adult in my late thirties re-watching this I am really surprised at how much I'm enjoying this series on DVD.It's not just about nostalgia.The stories and Robert Blake's acting are just amazing.

The Five-And-A-Half-Pound Junkie episode Has Baretta protecting the pregnant junkie girlfriend of a murdered boxer.I won't give any more of the story away but to say that it's really exciting television viewing.In this episode we get to see Robert Blake's Baretta persona go undercover in a very different Los Angeles than exists now and it's a lot of fun.

Great episode!

The 5½ Pound Junkie

[Prismark10 · 6/10 · 26 September 2020]

The events of the first episode are not totally forgotten as Baretta remembers his dead girlfriend.

Here Baretta is after his childhood friend Eddie, a boxer who refuses to throw a fight. After a cop is killed Eddie is a suspect and the goons who wanted Eddie to throw the fight have made him disappear permanently.

Eddie left behind his pregnant girlfriend Sue who is a junkie. Baretta wants to know what happened to Eddie and wean Sue off drugs or else the baby will be born a junkie.

A strong gritty episode about drug addiction. The goons are a nasty lot shooting the policeman and blaming Eddie. Although I am not sure how the forensics add up.

Baretta still uses his penchant for dressing up to go undercover and we get to know a little about his backstory. His father was a hustler and we see Baretta thinking on his feet to get out of sticky situations.