M Squad - A Forgotten Television Crime Series

by Guy Belleranti

A number of fine television series from the 1950’s and 1960’s are now largely forgotten.

One of these is M Squad. A 30 minute black and white crime drama, it starred Lee Marvin (star of such movies as The Dirty Dozen and Cat Ballou) as a tough, no-nonsense Chicago police Lieutenant named Frank Ballinger.

In the program the “M Squad” is an elite unit of plainclothes detectives whose job is to battle organized crime, corrupt city officials and other criminal activity. Also starring in the series was Paul Newlan as Ballinger’s boss Captain Grey.

In addition to Marvin’s hard as nails persona, the program also featured an excellent high contrast black and white nourish look. The series was shot in Hollywood, but did include some Chicago location shots to add flavor.

The jazzy theme music was another strength of the program. In fact, the theme music for the second and third seasons was by the legendary jazz great Count Basie.

A popular soundtrack album titled Music from the M Squad was released during the series run.

M Squad ran on NBC from 1957 to 1960, with 117 episodes being produced.

It was quite intense and violent when compared to some of the other television programs of the time, and deserves to be released on DVD.