Overview: This trilogy DVD features three rare television performances by legendary actor, Paul Newman (Road To Perdition, Cool Hand Luke, The Hustler, The Color of Money).

DVD Verdict: Up first in the trilogy is FIVE IN JUDGEMENT (1955, 29:26) from the Appointment with Adventure (TV Series) and tells the tale of when two hitch hiking college kids encounter a terrible storm and are forced to seek shelter in a diner of a small farming community.

Reports that a murder has been committed nearby is over heard on the radio and the two kids match the description of the killers. The diner owner and customers tie the students up, terrorize them until the truth comes out.

The tension in the diner quickly reaches fever pitch when the news breaks and with an alarm having been issued for the arrest of the two boys, these diner owner and its customers are not taking any chances with these two kids, trust me!

The two boys realize they are in trouble and dash for the door, but the others grab them and tie them up. All Mack’s and Danny’s frantic protestations of innocence are met with scorn and derision from the off.

Soon the customers are arguing among themselves, some of them ready to hang the boys, but one of the wait staff, Sally, begs that they wait for the sheriff to arrive.

As the men are about to beat Mack and Danny, another customer named Paul leaps in to protect the boys, but this enrages Roy that he hits Paul with such a solid act of pent up violence that he actually kills him.

Sally manages to get the Sheriff’s office on the phone and is told that the murderer has been found, but which of the boys did it or was it one of the other customers? Tune in to find out for yourselves.

Next up is THE RAG JUNGLE (1956, 58:51) which tells the story of when working in the garment industry, Charlie refuses to pay the protection money demanded by racketeers.

After his father Vito is beaten up, Charlie organizes the other clothing manufacturers into standing together against the mob.

Perhaps more of a film scenario than a TV show, given its length, here Newman plays Charlie Correlli, a hard worker within the garment industry, whose father has been paying off the mob for years.

But once Charlie figures this out, and then refuses to pay the protection money demanded by these racketeers, but later witnesses his father Vito (Silvio Minciotti) being beaten up, Charlie quickly asks all the other clothing manufacturers in the area to stand together against the mob.

A mesmerizing turn by Newman here along with stand out parts played by both Edmon Ryan and the always-brilliant Frank Campanella, and chock full of heart and badly thrown punches, make this the best of the bunch for me personally.

The last presentation is THE ARMY GAME (1956, 59:10) from The Kaiser Aluminum Hour (TV Series) in which Danny has a plan to get out of his time in the army, to get a discharge.

His issues go deeper than a disdain for the military as an army psychiatrist sees through Danny’s ruse, but it’s not until he is attacked in the barracks they grant him a discharge, and he finally recognizes his deep emotional issues.

With a storyline as simple as Danny (Newman) considering his time in the army a waste and thus pretending to be crazy to get a psychiatric discharge, this isn’t one of those performances that stretched the acting talents of the great man, but still resonates with the viewer all these years later.

With a still shot from the very same The Kaiser Aluminum Hour (TV Series) as above on the front cover, Newman plays his role for the hour diligently, but never daring to exceed his given TV presence. Basically, he doesn’t overplay the small role and yet still manages to bring some underlying gravitas to it, which is rare in and unto itself these days on TV! These are all Full Screen Presentations (1.33:1) enhanced for 16x9 TVs.

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