Tributes To Your Favorite Classic TV Stars (1 Viewer)

[The 1960's]

Happy 92nd Birthday Robert Duvall (January 5, 1931)

Naked City (1958-1963)
Stars John McIntire James Franciscus Suzanne Storrs Harry Bellaver Horace McMahon Paul Burke Nancy Malone​

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Naked City is an American police procedural television series from Screen Gems that aired on ABC from 1958 to 1959 and from 1960 to 1963. It was inspired by the 1948 motion picture The Naked City and mimics its dramatic "semi-documentary" format. As in the film, each episode concluded with a narrator intoning the iconic line: "There are eight million stories in the naked city. This has been one of them." The Naked City episode "Four Sweet Corners" (1959) inspired the series Route 66, created by Stirling Silliphant. Route 66 was broadcast by CBS from 1960 to 1964, and, like Naked City, followed the "semi-anthology" format of building the stories around the guestactors, rather than the regular cast… Continue at Wikipedia

S02E13 A Hole in the City (Feb.01.1961)
Stars Paul Burke Horace McMahon Harry Bellaver Robert Duvall Sylvia Sidney Lou Antonio Jamie Smith Olga Bellin Edward Asner Harold Gary Ed Simon Richard X. Slattery Michael Kray Godfrey Cambridge Martin Balsam Robert Blake Lawrence Dobkin Judith Lowry​

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The old Yankee Stadium—stomping grounds of Mickey Mantle and old Bronx Jews—features in “A Hole in the City.” Here is an episode almost devoid of series regulars. It is Robert Duvall’s show. He delivers a method performance as gangster Lewis Nunda. Nunda’s gang has just robbed an armored truck, killing three guards. A sparsely populated, no-traffic police car chase ensues. For those of us that love Old New York, we’re given good street views of the Bronx, near the Gold Medal/Biograph Studios, where Naked City interiors were shot. Duvall’s psychopathic character fires an automatic weapon at cops, who fire back with .38 handguns. There were no swat teams in 1961. In a garage near Yankee Stadium, they shoot the clerk played by great Black actor/comedian Godfrey Cambridge, whose only line is “Why?!” My question was Why such a short cameo? One of the four gang members is killed by the police, but the other gang members shed no tears for one of their own. Yankee Stadium is the local precinct of Ed Asner, a beefy detective who gets shot. Asner’s detective had a recurring minor role in the series.

Naked City’s cops search for the gang block by block. Nunda holes up at the apartment of an opera-singing aunt played by the aristocratic Sylvia Sidney. She’s the only one who represented success in his life. We look out onto the field of Yankee Stadium from her window. Naked City specialized in location shooting, and there are good shots of Yankee Stadium storefronts—Val’s Luncheon Ice Cream Parlor and Olinsky’s Super Market. Lewis Nunda finally gets death by cop on a Bronx rooftop at the end. All good psychos end their chase on a rooftop. And they’re all clean kills on Naked City, which shows no blood or gore.

By Josh Alan Friedman
Author of Black Cracker and Tell the Truth Until They Bleed

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[The 1960's]

 

[The 1960's]

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You can stream it here.

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[Doug Wallen]

Robert Duvall (Happy 92nd Birthday - 01-05-23)

I was asked to contribute to this thread for Mr. Duvall's birthday tribute. I have visited this thread and am awed by the thoughts, pictures and video's that are found here. I am not sure my meager contribution is necessary, but I will attempt to show appreciation for the body of work that Mr. Duvall has given the world.

What can you say about this actor? As a viewer of classic television from the days of three networks, I have seen several of Robert Duvall's early appearances. He has always impressed me with his on target, low-key performances. He easily disappears into each of the characters he plays. I enjoy any episode he appears in. For this tribute I thought I would discuss a few of my favorite performances from his TV era.

Wild Wild West
The Night Of The Falcon (3.10) Robert Duvall, Lisa Gaye, Kurt Kreuger, John Alderson, Joseph Ruskin, Douglas Henderson, George Keymas, Edward Knight, William Phipps.

As the episode opens, the citizens of Tonka Flats are being evacuated against a 12 Noon deadline. We also see some obvious (due to their furtive looks as well as identifiable clothing) agents from other countries (Kreuger, Alderson, Ruskin, Keymas and Knight). We also get the single mother with a wayward child who returns to town to retrieve her favored toy (tension and a “whew” moment for West). An unreal sound is heard and the town is just destroyed.

This was certainly a demonstration of a super weapon that is being offered for sale to the highest bidder by a mysterious person known only as the Falcon. Colonel Richmond (Henderson, recurring boss) sends West and Gordon to identify the Falcon, since a threat has been leveled at Denver.

As is the norm for this series, a way is soon found to separate our heroes. Artemus is attacked in the train and one of the potential bidders is eliminated. Artemus finds it very easy to portray this gentleman and ends up on the same stagecoach heading to visit a Dr. Horace Humphries (Duvall). It seems odd that the clues led Artemus to a local Doctor. Jim decides to hunt for an alternate entrance to the Falcon's lair. Artemus visits the Doctor and finds himself quickly knocked out. Artemus and the other bidders awaken at the same time and learn that Doctor Humphries is just the mild mannered alter ego of the villainous Falcon (not much of a surprise at this point). I do find it fascinating that the Doctor and Falcon are played with very subtle differences. The Doctor appears harmless and the Falcon is played with an undertone of menace bordering on the insane. Such excellent characterization than normally seen in some of the one-dimensional villains facing our heroes.

After many fights and an extremely long, slow burning fuse, the rocket is launched and Denver appears headed to become a crater. Jim figures out how to reprogram the missile while Artemus finds a way to destroy the weapons stockpile.

Lana (Gaye) tries to convince Artie that she can be rehabilitated. She then grabs a gun and Jim convinces her that gun is useless since it is not loaded. She surrenders. Only then does Jim show Artie that the gun was actually loaded.

Excellent episode enhanced by the fact that Duvall's characterization of the Doctor and the Falcon are different and believable.

He just makes it look so easy, even when covered in heavy make-up such as that used in the next episode that I wish to highlight.

The Outer Limits
Chameleon (1.31) Robert Duvall, Howard Caine (Maj. Hochstetter), Douglas Henderson, Henry Brandon, William O'Connell, Vic Perrin. Teleplay by Robert Towne (Chinatown)! Amazing script.

This episode follows a similar path that Robert Culp did earlier this season, (The Architects Of Fear).

Aliens have unexpectedly landed and have inadvertently killed a soldier. The military is watching and gathering evidence to determine what their course of action should be. Are the aliens truly harmless or are they an advance team trying to determine the planets defenses. Naturally the General (Brandon) wants to destroy. The scientists led by Chambers (Caine) wants to try something dramatically different.

Chambers also has ties to the intelligence community and tracks down an amoral killer, Mace (Duvall). We meet him in Mexico where he just seems to be existing. Appearances are deceiving, Mace is crossed and he explodes in brutal violence and then calmly sets down to listen to Chambers proposition. I would guess that Mace is an adrenaline junkie who is just looking for his next big adventure. Chambers whets his appetite with the most unlikely assignment, undergo gene therapy to rewrite his DNA and become a spy. His appearance would be as that of the aliens. A cover story is also developed. Intrigued, Mace returns and agrees to accept the mission.

As you can imagine, the military has objections as to his fitness for this particular assignment. Objections are overcome and mace undergoes the needed treatments. Duvall's performance is so slow and deliberate, you can almost see Mace weighing the odds of this mission. He willingly submits to the necessary changes and his only seeming manifestation is a weird high-pitched laugh.

He infiltrates the spaceship and searches to find the potential nuclear matter that the government is afraid of. Mace kills one of the aliens and is then subdued. As he stays in his new reality, he finds that he is intrigued by the aliens and feels they have more to offer him, than by returning to his “killer” persona. After some conversation, he agrees to join the aliens and look for answers with them.

The General is fearful of what information Mace could offer to the “enemy”. Chambers argues for mercy. Mace is allowed to leave.

Such a strong, understated performance. That is what I always notice about any character portrayed by Duvall. He makes the outlandish plot-line believable and accessible to us as viewers.


It is hard for me to believe that Duvall was under that makeup, but I found no reference to indicate it was not him. His performance became vocal only and he still imbued his alien with Mace's underlying humanity. This has always been one of my favorite OL episodes since I initially viewed it on a late night marathon found on TNT in the 80's.

Of course, I also appreciate his turn in To Kill A Mockingbird as Boo, Tom Hagen in The Godfather and The Godfather Part II. I was glued to the television when Lonesome Dove aired. His performance as the retired Texas Ranger Augustus (Gus) McCrae is near perfection.

Happy Birthday Mr. Duvall!!!

 

[The 1960's]

The F.B.I. (1965-1974)
Stars Efrem Zimbalist Jr .Philip Abbott William Reynolds​

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The F.B.I. is an American police television series created by Quinn Martin and Philip Saltzman for ABC and co-produced with Warner Bros. Television, with sponsorship from the Ford Motor Company, Alcoa and American Tobacco Company (Tareyton and Pall Mall brands) in the first season. Ford sponsored the show alone for subsequent seasons. The series was broadcast on ABC from 1965 until its end in 1974. Starring Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., Philip Abbott and William Reynolds, the series, consisting of nine seasons and 241 episodes, chronicles a group of FBI agents trying to defend the US Government from unidentified threats. For the entirety of its run, it was broadcast on Sunday nights… Continue at Wikipedia

S01E10 The Giant Killer (Nov.21.1965)
Stars Efrem Zimbalist Jr. Philip Abbott Stephen Brooks Robert Duvall Patricia Smith David Sheiner June Dayton Lee Meriwether John Clarke Robert Brubaker Phil Chambers Amy Fields Paul Comi Bill Zuckert Jack De Mave Robert Gibbons Norma Connolly​

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File #98-19223-W Joseph Maurice Walker SABOTAGE! Code name: The Giant Will Die!
Inspector Lewis Erskine, Arthur Ward, Joseph Maurice, Harry Meade along with Paul Antonelli race against time trying to find the whereabouts of Joseph Maurice Walker (Robert Duvall) a deranged man who is planning on destroying a U.S. test rocket. He has left a series of cryptic radio messages across the U.S., an unauthorized broadcast stating code name: “The Giant Will Die”. What Giants, they wonder? Paul Bunyon? Cyclops, Atlas? Titan? Thor?? Is it espionage? Sabotage? There are thousands of locations and only 24 hours to narrow down the search before he strikes again...

Seeing the tightly-wound Duvall in his early screen roles, before he became known as one of America's greatest film actors, is always something special. He brings a real edge to this solid if sometimes staid show. Also with David Sheiner, Patricia Smith and, in one brief scene in bureau headquarters, Lee Meriwether.

I live in a world of black & white so doing this photo video commentary with Robert Duvall in color was a treat.​

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[The 1960's]

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[JohnHopper]

THE FBI SEASON 5

Episode #2
“Nightmare Road”
written by Mark Rodgers
directed by Harvey Hart
cinematography by William W. Spencer
music by Duane Tatro
guests: Robert Duvall, Burr DeBenning, Davey Davison, Anthony Hayes, Ellen Weston, Roy Engel, Warren Parker, Ray Kellogg, Ron Doyle, Ron Brown, Phil Dean, Midge Ware, Fred Holliday

Gerald Wilson, Lawrence “Jack” Collins, Carolyn Palmer

KILLING A FEDERAL OFFICER, UNLAWFUL FLIGHT, MURDER

It’s a very interesting bank robbers slice of life that foreshadows the season 6 “The Condemned” (also scored by Duane Tatro) with an almighty leader and a young couple—we only see one robbery. The vicious performance of Robert Duvall is good and engaging and turns this episode into a solid drama. The episode tends to focus more on the intimate relations of the robbers (Robert Duvall oddly holds his accomplices prisoners and steals the girlfriend of his partner) and the victims (two shot down federal cops) and the wife of one victim played by Ellen Weston and it features a solemn national funeral. As in The Fugitive, one character dyes his hair black. The cast of the criminals is good: Robert Duvall as the bloodthirsty and frightening leader who enjoys killing, Burr DeBenning as the partner, Davey Davison as the scared wife of the partner.

QM actors notes: Robert Duvall guests in some QM series like The Untouchables, The Fugitive (3), The FBI (5). This is the last part of Robert Duvall for The FBI which closes a cycle initiated by his first part in “The Giant Killer”, also written by Mark Rodgers. Duvall started with the Charles Larson era with four episodes and ended with the Philip Saltzman era with this one.

Returning guest actors: Robert Duvall (the season 4 “The Harvest”), Burr DeBenning (the season 4 “The Intermediary”), Davey Davison (the season 3 “Southwind”), Anthony Hayes (the season 4 “The Fraud”), Ellen Weston (the season 4 “The Fraud”), Roy Engel (the season 4 “The Fraud”), Warren Parker (the season 2 “The Scourge”), Ron Doyle (the season 2 “Vendetta”), Ron Brown (the season 2 “The Satellite”), Phil Dean (the season 4 “Death of a Fixer”), Fred Holliday (the season 4 “The Patriot”).

Preview Clip | The FBI | Nightmare Road | The Bank Robbery Scene

 

[JohnHopper]

THE FBI SEASON 5

Episode #2
“Nightmare Road”

Pictures of bank robber Gerald Wilson (actor Robert Duvall).

 

[JohnHopper]

File #98-19223-W Joseph Maurice Walker SABOTAGE! Code name: The Giant Will Die!
Inspector Lewis Erskine, Arthur Ward, Joseph Maurice, Harry Meade along with Paul Antonelli race against time trying to find the whereabouts of Joseph Maurice Walker (Robert Duvall) a deranged man who is planning on destroying a U.S. test rocket. He has left a series of cryptic radio messages across the U.S., an unauthorized broadcast stating code name: “The Giant Will Die”. What Giants, they wonder? Paul Bunyon? Cyclops, Atlas? Titan? Thor?? Is it espionage? Sabotage? There are thousands of locations and only 24 hours to narrow down the search before he strikes again...

Seeing the tightly-wound Duvall in his early screen roles, before he became known as one of America's greatest film actors, is always something special. He brings a real edge to this solid if sometimes staid show. Also with David Sheiner, Patricia Smith and, in one brief scene in bureau headquarters, Lee Meriwether.

I live in a world of black & white so doing this photo video commentary with Robert Duvall in color was a treat.

It’s a large scale terrorist entry written by one of the best crafstmen on the series. The main interest lies in the stoic performance of Robert Duvall who is a proto Unabomber alias Theodore Kaczynski. You may find his character acts like a cipher, a silent abstract figure that lacks of depth except when his wife breaks the ice and explains his political motivations. As a side note, I love the veiled seduction scene between the lovely Lee Meriwether as Joanna Laurens and Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. at the federal office. She knows he is a widower if you catch my meaning.

 

[JohnHopper]

TWO FILMS
Badge 373 as NYC cop Eddie Ryan
The Outfit as ex-convict/bank robber Earl Macklin

In 1973, Robert Duvall starred in two famous NeoNoir films. Find a tribute to one.

Jerry Fielding - The Outfit (1973)

 

[ScottRE]

VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA
Season 1 Episode 20
“The Invaders”
Written by William Read Woodfield
Directed by Sobey Martin

A severe undersea earthquake exposes an apparently ancient, yet advanced city, an area of which is littered with metallic canisters. Nelson and company bring one of the capsules aboard and discover life within. They manage to cut the thing open and retrieve a strange looking man, a man who claims to be from a civilization twenty million years old, the product of a previous evolutionary cycle. He is most concerned that Nelson also rescues the other canisters, each of which the alien Zar claims, contains one of his people. Nelson and Crane, suspicious of circumstances and of Zar's odd demeanor, stalls for time to learn more about the creature.

Robert Duvall (billed as Duval here) didn’t spend a lot of his career in the sci-fi fantasy genre. The Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits (his work on my favorite episode The Inheritors is simply outstanding) and then Voyage followed by The Time Tunnel, were about all he did (unless you count the borderline genre crossings of The Wild Wild West). His offbeat personality and oddball look was perfect for this role. He truly comes off as alien, even mangling the pronunciation of “aluminum.” His layered characterization shows us a curious, friendly, condescending and threatening being. He excels here and the script gives him a lot to work with.

The makeup is simple but effective. Unlike later full head and body get-ups, Duvall is permitted to be recognizable. The skull cap wrinkles a bit here and there, but overall it’s very convincing and almost seamless. His appearance and depiction seem almost Outer Limits like, a show Voyage replaced on the schedule and emulated in its approach in this first season. The difference here is, on The Outer Limits, the humans would be in the wrong…

Unfortunately, the script lets the viewers down in a variety of ways. It relies on the carelessness of the leads to propel the story forward. They continually leave Zar (name never spoken aloud) alone to do as he pleases, give him access to “the history of mankind on microfilm” and generally just tool around while he plots and schemes. There’s also a major continuity gaffe. The idea that “a single drop of his blood contains enough ‘botulitis’ to kill millions” is fine…except the doctor and Nelson handle his blood and it drips all over the hands of poor seaman Foster (the episode’s red shirt). This episode is very close to being one of the best, but the carelessness in the writing restrains it. There are two filler scenes that amount to nothing (one is just pointless banter, the other a meaningless jeopardy situation), using time that could have been better spent fleshing out Zar and giving the format characters better business.

 

[ScottRE]

What I find amusing is just how much the Star Trek episode “Space Seed” (shot two years later) mirrors this story. A man from the past is revived from suspended animation, has superior intellect and plans to release his people and take over. Kirk is more merciful than Nelson, who coldly traps Zar in his cabin and burns the guy alive. Voyage was always a more about killing the bad guy than Star Trek was, but it’s amusing to find episodes of Voyage which closely parallel the later, better remembered series. It’s also a shame Duvall never did an episode of Star Trek.

The regular cast, more than the script, delivers the goods. Basehart gives his usual fine performance and Hedison is at his best. There’s a moment when, even after they discover killing Zar is hazardous to their health, Crane had had enough. “I’ve had it. I don’t care what power you’ve got…” (to this guards) “If he moves, if he speaks, if he twitches…kill him!” (back to Zar) “Understand?”

A good, but not great, episode and the first of two guest roles for Irwin Allen by Duvall, who makes this episode memorable on his own. He was so perfectly cast, he raised the bar on alien menaces, one that was seldom, if never, reached later on.

Coming up later tonight... Duvall’s second and final foray into the Fantasy Worlds of Irwin Allen.

 

[The 1960's]

Robert Duvall, The Godfather of Classic Television Birthday Salute Continues

Naked City (1958-1963)
Stars John McIntire James Franciscus Suzanne Storrs Harry Bellaver Horace McMahon Paul Burke Nancy Malone​

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Naked City is an American police procedural television series from Screen Gems that aired on ABC from 1958 to 1959 and from 1960 to 1963. It was inspired by the 1948 motion picture The Naked City and mimics its dramatic "semi-documentary" format. As in the film, each episode concluded with a narrator intoning the iconic line: "There are eight million stories in the naked city. This has been one of them… Continue at Wikipedia

S04E06 Five Cranks for Winter... Ten Cranks for Spring (Oct.24.1962)
Stars Paul Burke Horace McMahon Harry Bellaver Robert Duvall Nancy Malone Herschel Bernardi Shirley Knight Ludwig Donath Stefan Gierasch Peter Gumeny Jimmy Little Sid Raymond Hy Anzell Maxwell Glanville Richard Roat Robert Weil Charles Dierkop Lawrence Dobkin Remo Pisani​

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In “Five Cranks for Winter. . . Ten Cranks for Spring,” Robert Duvall guest stars as boxer Johnny Meigs. He is losing a match at Sunnyside Gardens in Queens. In a real fight, at least in modern times, they would have stopped the fight with so many unanswered punches. Herschel Bernardi plays Gus Slate, the sleazeball manager who won’t allow the fight to be stopped. Johnny is carried out on a stretcher.

He goes into the hospital comatose. Our Naked City detective Adam Flint becomes entwined in the near death of Meigs, trying to find out how the boxing match makers allowed Meigs—who harbored a brain injury—back into the ring. As the manager says, he “got somethin’ knocked loose in the head” in his last fight. The episode proceeds in flashbacks. Meigs daytime job is running a newsstand. He needs $250 fast, for his wife to attend a flower festival and present a rose she created. Gus Slate bribes a drunk, washed-up doctor to give Johnny the go-ahead for a match. There were no bets favoring Johnny.

That the 65th precinct’s detectives would take such interest in the welfare of a fighter begs the suspension of our disbelief. Det. Flint even sends his girlfriend to take care of the boxer’s wife. But this is the domain of Naked City’s make-believe police. Duvall isn’t physically convincing as a pro boxer either, but then again, you never can tell from looks. Duvall was obviously a favorite of Stirling Silliphant, the series’ creator, and his acting convinces you.

By Josh Alan Friedman
Author of Black Cracker & Tell the Truth Until They Bleed

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Note: This episode is a prime example of the inconsistencies of the prints used for the DVD release of this series. There were few better than this one. The clip above and images below are indicative of that.

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[The 1960's]

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[The 1960's]

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You can stream it here.

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[ScottRE]

The Time Tunnel
“Chase Through Time”
Written by Carey Wilbur
Directed by Sobey Martin
Starring Robert Colbert & James Darren, with Whit Bissell, John Zaremba & Lee Meriwether
Guest Starring Robert Duvall, Lew Gallo and Vitina Marcus​

A saboteur, Raul Nimon (Robert Duvall – credited correctly this time) enters the Time Tunnel HQ and kills Dr. Stiles, the one and done tech on night watch. Nimon plants a timed nuclear bomb, exits through the tunnel and ends up in the same time period as Tony and Doug. Nimon is suddenly and randomly transferred into time and the tunnel crew send the boys after him so they can find Nimon and find out where he hid the bomb. Tony and Doug land one million years into the future, but in a quirk of time, arrive ten years after Nimon did. Therefore, the saboteur has had time to ingratiate himself into the futuristic society.

The boys are greeted by Vokar (Lew Gallo), sort of a military police guy with silver skin, and are taken to The Magister (Joe Ryan) who introduces “Master Worker Nimon.” Nimon is creating his own time machine and is using Zee (Vitina Marcus) as a Guinea pig. The boys take a liking to her and attempt to save Zee from death while attacking Nimon and forcing him to give up the info they need. Vokar, assigned to protect Nimon, comes to his aid and the tunnel transfers them all back in time to 1,000,000 BC.

Robert Duvall’s second and final Irwin Allen adventure has a great premise, but is, ultimately, a schlocky affair. This episode marks a turning point in the series, which always flirted with craziness, but embraces its fluid concept. It’s also the first episode after the pilot to begin without the usual opening narration (it was dropped going forward). While the previous episodes were primarily historical adventures, here the time travelers go a million years into the future and further episodes would begin including future or alien societies. It’s odd to see Duvall in a show like this. Where his Voyage appearance had a measure of sophistication and maturity to it, this one is strictly for the kids (or the kid at heart). Yet, as poorly drawn as Raul Nimon is, Duvall invests him with an everyman quality that is hidden behind a dollop of pomposity. His nervous energy works well here and Duvall invests Nimon with inadequacy, fear and superiority all at the same time. He brings the character to life and steamrolls over everyone he shares a scene with. Robert Colbert and James Darren were super nice guys but they were the blandest leads of any Irwin Allen show, routinely swapping lines with no impact made on their characters. Meanwhile Lew Gallo, a solid craftsman, does what he can with a thankless role and Vitina recites lines like she’s reading the Real Estate listings. Yet, having said that, this is a hugely fun episode if you take it on a Saturday Morning TV level. It’s straightforward and uncomplicated but gives Duvall a chance to chew some scenery while giving a character more depth than it deserved. When they get to 1,000,000 BC (as we’re treated to unaired pilot episode footage), Nimon’s fate is downbeat and pathetic.

Honestly, if you like the show and Irwin Allen (and you all know that I do) this one is a joy to watch. You don’t turn into one of his shows for the well written scripts and emotional content. It’s fast food TV. The scene where Nimon is sinking in quicksand is the least convincing depiction of this weirdly popular threat I’ve ever seen.

There is a lot of action and interesting imagery, but for the most part, we’re treated to the usual Irwin Allen “silver face paint” aliens, control panels, reused costumes, props and blackout “limbo” sets. Duvall somehow holds onto his dignity wearing a silly silver cap. I can only hope he had a good time making this one. He does do a lot of his own stunts in a role that’s pretty physical. It’s just weird he was cast, practically anyone could have done this role, but luckily he either needed the bucks or 20th Century Fox owed him a role. Or maybe he just loved being directed by Sobey Martin, who also helmed his Voyage episode. I have no idea if he lists this on his resume or even remembers the experience, but there it is.

The Blu Ray transfer is beautiful, with deep blacks and that wonderful feel of Panavision colors and shading really makes the 1966-67 images pop. Enjoy the pretty pictures.

Happy Birthday, Mr. Duvall!

 

[ScottRE]

 

[Jeff Flugel]

The Mod Squad – 1.23 “Keep the Faith, Baby”
Father John Banks (Sammy Davis, Jr.), a black priest and a controversial figure whose public call for reformation in the Catholic Church has put him at odds with his diocese, becomes the target of criminals Matt Jenkins (Robert Duvall) and his brother, Frank (Ron Hayes). Matt was on his way to the electric chair when he got a last-minute reprieve. Now he's out on bail and his case is up for a new trial, and the rumor on the street is that the D.A. has a key witness. After Father Banks is suspended by the Church, Frank believes the priest will reveal Matt’s guilt, stated during his last rites. Matt is reluctant at first to take any action, but eventually goes along with Frank’s plan to lure Father Banks into a deathtrap. Father Banks takes his calling seriously, though, and has no intention of revealing his secret, despite no longer officially being a priest. Linc (Clarence Williams III) and his Mod Squad pals Pete (Michael Cole) and Julie (Peggy Lipton) have been assigned to keep Father Banks safe…though as it turns out, the priest is more than capable of taking care of himself.

Penned by Harve Bennett, this is a strong dramatic showcase for Sammy Davis, Jr. and he does excellent work here as a man of high moral principals who is willing to do what is right, even if it means being kicked out of the priesthood and denied his lifelong avocation. Davis, Jr. was a fine actor when called to be and uses his chief asset, his deep, commanding, soulful voice, to good effect here.

Duvall’s role is less significant, but he too gets his moments to shine, especially in a flashback to his emotional death row confession. This 1969 appearance was Duvall's next-to-last regular TV series guest-starring role before his ascension to legendary film star status (the other being a S5 episode of The F.B.I.), and while it’s not a particular challenging part for an actor of his talent, Duvall treats it with his usual subtlety and conviction. Also with William Schallert (as Banks’ sympathetic head priest).

 

[Flashgear]

Neal has asked me to post an introduction to Robert Duvall's milestone episode of Route 66's Birdcage on My Foot (Oct. 13, 1961), Duvall's second appearance on the series and directed by Elliot Silverstein from one of Stirling Silliphant's strongest scripts ever...a daring and important story that also gave George Maharis an equally golden opportunity to shine (it was one of his favorite episodes). But the whole supporting cast renders strong support in what proves to be one of this great series' best episodes...with lasting power and even greater relevance to this day.

For the first time in the current (1961-62) season, the boys are driving a spanking new 1962 Corvette...Tod (Martin Milner) is pursuing yet another rich girl (Diana Millay playing a character perhaps drawn from Tod's own recently once-entitled past) to old money Beacon Hill in Boston...with a bemused Buzz in tow...with plans to holiday at "the Cape"...perhaps the celebrated Martha's Vineyard retreats of recently elected President Kennedy were influencing this storyline on a superficial level, but this episode is not about the old-money patrician class of New England...it (startlingly) is really about a tragic addict in the throws of Heroin withdrawal!

I don't think an earlier depiction of Heroin addiction and withdrawal exists in American television drama...certainly not in a weekly series. If it did indeed appear earlier, it would have been touched upon in one of the live anthology shows from NYC. The subject was hardly touched upon in even high minded theatrical films, apart from Frank Sinatra's Man With the Golden Arm in 1955...

Screenwriter Stirling Silliphant seems to be drawing from, and wrestling with, his own demons of addictive nature, as his searing and powerfully eloquent teleplay testifies...to me, one of his most extraordinary. Elliot Silverstein directs this challenging story. But who best to give voice to Silliphant's tortured monologues and rapier dialogue?...Maharis for sure, stepping up to give one of his immortal best from this dynamic series...but also a nearly unknown, and as yet unproven young actor in Robert Duvall...still working today at age 92, but here a full ten years away from his big break into lasting fame in the superb ensemble cast of The Godfather...despite appearing in high profile theatrical films like To Kill a Mockingbird, The Chase and Bullitt, his career trajectory in the 1960s seemed limited to his quality supporting and occasionally guest star appearances in TV. So you just know he must have savored this meaty role and researched the hell out of the actual tragic manifestations of Heroin addictions...probably in concert with the drug treatment and withdrawal program at the New England Baptist Hospital (a branch of the pioneering Lexington Ky. center) as seen in the episode's closing exterior shot...

Mike Kellin, one of my personal favorite supporting actors (just check out his tremendous work in Mr. Novak's Sparrow on the Wire, Combat!'s Losers Cry Deal or The Incident) provides expert support as the tough but weary and ultimately compassionate police detective who knows Duvall's character well...Martin Milner and Diana Millay provide the (initially) confounded and admirable patrician compassion as their first impulse...running into the brick wall of a hopeless addict's deceit and powerless submission to his overpowering illness...until Buzz Murdock, who wanted nothing to do at all with Duvall's tragic spectre comes to the rescue... Buzz, who is fearful of revisiting the terrors of his own past dance with 'Lady H' and the shallow grave that is the unresolved grief he himself has yet to deal with...Maharis and Duvall's scenes together in this episode are stunning...

An example of Silliphant's tremendous dialogue in this episode:

Duvall as 'Arnie' defending his addict's deceit (expressed on the back of a photo) to Tod and Charlotte:

"Somebody had to write it! If I were going to go all Lit-Crit here, I would say that this is a profound statement about the disconnected society of the 1960s, when family was breaking down and endearments had to be written to oneself on the back of a stolen photograph!"

The Beacon Hill Boston of 1961 as seen in this episode (Neal's great screen caps will illustrate) remains largely unchanged physically to this day, except perhaps in the growing spectre of the contemporary opioid epidemic afflicting our times...but as Birdcage on My Foot opens, the open-road optimism and wanderlust of our heroes remains intact...happily tooling down the Storrow Drive along the Charles River...taking that forbidden exit (forbidden to us Plebeians) at the Back Bay sign to Beacon Hill...a strange rendezvous with an even stranger man leads to a pursuit across Boston Common to the Massachusetts's State House...

 

[The 1960's]

Route 66 (1960-1964)
Stars Martin Milner George Maharis Glenn Corbett​

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Route 66 is an American adventure crime drama television series that premiered on CBS on October 7, 1960, and ran until March 20, 1964, for a total of 116 episodes. The series was created by Herbert B. Leonard and Stirling Silliphant, who were also responsible for the ABC drama Naked City, from which Route 66 was an indirect spin-off. Both series employed a format with elements of both traditional drama and anthology drama, but the difference was where the shows were set: Naked City was set in New York City, while Route 66 had its setting change from week to week, with each episode being shot on location. Route 66 followed two young men traversing the United States in a Chevrolet Corvette convertible, and the events and consequences surrounding their journeys. Martin Milner starred as Tod Stiles, a recent college graduate with no future prospects because of circumstances beyond his control. He was originally joined on his travels by Buz Murdock (played by George Maharis), a friend and former employee of his father's, with the character leaving midway through the third season after contracting echovirus. Near the end of the third season, Tod met a recently discharged Vietnam veteran named Lincoln Case, played by Glenn Corbett, who decided to follow Tod on his travels and stayed with him until the final episode… Continue at Wikipedia

S02E04 Birdcage On My Foot (Oct.13.1961)
Director Elliot Silverstein Writers Stirling Silliphant (teleplay) Elliot Silverstein (story) Herbert B. Leonard
Stars Martin Milner George Maharis Robert Duvall Mike Kellin Diana Millay​

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The series with the greatest TV theme song of them all sets “Birdcage on My Foot” in Boston. It deals in social realism not common on Kennedy-era American TV. We follow Arnie, Robert Duvall’s junkie portrayal, as he tries to hot wire Buz and Tod’s Chevrolet Corvette. People didn’t lock their cars back then. Tod follows Arnie, wanting to turn him over to the police.
“Let ’em go,” says Buz. “He’s got a birdcage on his foot.” Apparently, this was slang for a heroin monkey on your back. A detective busts Arnie and checks the tracks on his arm. This was a time when addicts were seen like criminal lepers. The cop says Arnie is “Just a no-good gone-for-broke bum who’s better off in jail. . .”

Like altruistic do-gooders, Tod, Buz and their girlfriend refuse to press charges. They take the junkie under their wing. They bring Arnie back to her apartment to go cold turkey. At first Buz, who seems to know a thing or two about the futility of heroin addiction, cuts out. But then he returns and sees Arnie through his withdrawals. The scenes also include Arnie running off to the toilet, presumably to vomit.

Though not exactly The Man With The Golden Arm, it was prescient of this series to even deal with the taboo of heroin addiction. Duvall gives a perfectly creditable performance as a junkie, and doesn’t overdo it with the trembling or scratching. The streets of 1961 Boston also figure prominently.

By Josh Alan Friedman
Author of Black Cracker & Tell the Truth Until They Bleed

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