FBI Code 98 (1962)

Three men (Ray Danton, Andrew Duggan, Jack Kelly) vital to America's missile program are en route to Cape Canaveral by private jet when a homemade bomb is discovered in a suitcase. Defused by one (Danton) of them, the FBI takes charge of the investigation. Was it sabotage or murder? Based on the novel HEADQUARTERS F.B.I. by Stanley Niss (who also produced the film) and directed by Leslie H. Martinson (FATHOM). This was originally intended as a TV pilot but instead was released theatrically in the U.S. and Great Britain. With a little tinkering, this pilot eventually morphed into the long running TV series THE F.B.I. with Efrem Zimbalist Jr. which ran on ABC from 1965 to 1974. As to the film itself, it's a decent crime drama with a documentary feel to it as the movie splits into two parts: 1) the behind the scenes investigation of the F.B.I. into the attempted bombing and 2) the personal lives of the non FBI people (romance, revenge, adultery, overbearing mothers). In a cost saving move, Max Steiner rehashes his score to THE FBI STORY (1959). With Philip Carey, Kathleen Crowley, Merry Anders, Jack Cassidy, William Reynolds, Peggy McCay and Vaughn Taylor.