Barnaby Jones (TV Series) The Price of Anger (1980) User Reviews

Yet another friend episode...and this one ALMOST has something important to say.

[planktonrules · 5/10 · 7 August 2021]

"The Price of Anger" is a rather frustrating episode. First, like a bazillion other episodes of "Barnaby Jones", the person in trouble is one of J. R.'s friends. And, in the final seasons it seemed like being a friend of J. R., Barnaby or, especially, Betty was a guarantee you'd be dead, commit a murder or be accused of some crime! Second, and more importantly, the show ALMOST managed to have something interesting to say about race...but in the end, didn't.

When the show begins, Jedediah is talking with a school friend, Wes (Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs)...a very important guy in this episode who we never heard of before and would never hear of again after this episode. The pair are supposed to get together later to study, but first Wes needs to work driving a cab. However, he picks up and odd and nervous guy and they appear to be followed. The guy has Wes drop him off and tells him to return for him. But when We arrives back, the man is dying...and a stupid woman seems to automatically assume the black Wes had attacked the dying man. There's more...including a plot involving $100,000....and it almost is an interesting story about race and racial profiling...but doesn't quite hit the mark.

By the way, if you do watch, look at the final scene where a guy comes up behind Barnaby and Jedediah and threatens to shoot them. Now he's probably about 6 feet away and manages to MISS when he shoots...most likely due to Barnaby's lightning quick reaction! How ridiculous.

Circumstantial evidence and racism

[jarrodmcdonald-1 · 15 August 2021]

Not sure if we can say this episode is ahead of its time, or that society hasn't changed much since 1980 in matters of racial profiling. It's interesting that J. R.'s pal, a black man, is assumed to be a killer when a white woman walking a dog gets the wrong idea about him leaning over the body of a dead man.

Of course we know that J. R. will move heaven and earth to prove his friend's innocence.

The other reviewer seems to have problems with the friend in trouble trope this show's writers frequently use. But I think that is actually one of the show's strengths...that the Jones family use their careers in detection to help decent people they know. And even on cases where clients begin as strangers, they quickly become friends. That's the type of feel-good TV drama audiences wanted back then and probably still like even now. Nothing wrong with this at all.

This episode features a fun turn by beloved character actor Pat Corley (who later became a household name on Murphy Brown). And it also has a classic line delivered by Barnaby, when J. R. gets a call from his pal and pretends it's his girlfriend so Detective Biddle won't figure out who's on the other end of the line. Barnaby, who had initially answered the call, says: "That's the first Gloria I ever spoke to that sounded like he needed a shave."

Stupid premise right from the start.

[bac-96806 · 1/10 · 15 October 2022]

A righteous law student runs from the scene of the crime and doesn't turn in lots of found money, and he's black. So many cliches and absolute stupidity, if you want us to believe his character. Geez, some of these later episodes were really bad. A righteous law student runs from the scene of the crime and doesn't turn in lots of found money, and he's black. So many cliches and absolute stupidity, if you want us to believe his character. Geez, some of these later episodes were really bad. A righteous law student runs from the scene of the crime and doesn't turn in lots of found money, and he's black. So many cliches and absolute stupidity, if you want us to believe his character. Geez, some of these later episodes were really bad.