What did you watch this week in classic TV on DVD(or Blu)? (5 Viewers)

[JohnHopper]

Kolchak - The Night Stalker (Blu-ray)
The Vampire (1.4) William Daniels, Suzanne Charry, John Doucette, Jan Murray, Larry Storch, Kathleen Nolan. Almost plays like a sequel to the original move, shame there were no callbacks. Vampire using an escort service, what a novel approach. I just enjoy these Kolchak episodes, so much fun.

The Werewolf (1.5) Eric Braeden, Dick Gautier, Henry Jones, Nita Talbot, Jackie Russell. An OK episode, just not a very good werewolf shape. Braeden must have needed a paycheck. At least Talbot was very entertaining as was Gautier.

I agree with you on the whole, even though, I enjoy and have fun with “The Werewolf”.

Combat
The Little Carousel (3.8) Sylviane Margolie, Warren Vanders. Saunders develops an emotional attachment to a teenage nurse assistant. She ingratiates herself with him and they develop a father/daughter type of relationship. She "saves" several soldiers. The episode only had one ending and it is what we get. What we usually see is the anger and hurt shown by Saunders - in front of his men. Very emotional episode. This one even intrigued my wife who does not generally enjoy this series.

Fly Away Home (3.9) Neville Brand. Unusual story about the use of carrier pigeons to photograph military installations and carry it back to headquarters. The birdman has an overly strong love of the birds and is extremely overprotective which causes friction between him and the troop,

A Rare Vintage (3.12) Lyle Bettger, Marcel Hillaire, Lawrence Montaigne, Corey Allen. Lt. Hanley is injured and captured. Caje and a local (Hillaire) go undercover as wine makers to try and help Hanley escape. Plays like a Mission:Impossible episode.

The Enemy (3.17) Robert Duvall. Hanley captures a very inventive Nazi bomb expert. Basically a two-person drama. Very claustrophobic and well acted episode.

The cream of the crop remains:

“A Rare Vintage”
directed by Sutton Roley
guests: Corey Allen, Lyle Bettger, Marcel Hillaire, Lawrence Montaigne
It's a good improvised rescue mission. Saunders’ squad must save wounded Hanley held prisoner in a winery. The second winery episode. The prologue contains action footages from the prologue of “The Pillbox”. Guest actor Lyle Bettger is perfect for the German officer part. Actor Lawrence Montaigne plays the German French translator. Caje poses as a rural French man.

“The Enemy”
directed by John Peyser
guests: Robert Duvall, Kurt Landen
It's a good huit-clos and duel entry. For Robert Duvall’s performance as the demolition expert and the fact this episode is about a ghost town entirely booby-trapped. It’s a solo Hanley entry.

 

[SuperClark]

I have this 1 season series on blu ray.Fun exciting show.I prefer when they go back in time.

 

[JohnHopper]

More about Michael Parks
You can watch him in another inspired part as a mechanic/race car champ Tack Reynolds in “The Mob Riders” from Stoney Burke which used to be a pilot for an intended spin-off series that never was.
Parks had a very small part on Gunsmoke but it was too shallow and limited as the son of a charlatan in the season 7 “The Boys”.
In those days, Parks seems to shine and be typecast as a New Wave young man in two feature films Wild Seed and The Idol.

I just realized that Michael Parks had a doppelganger in terms of look: see actor Laurence Harvey.

 

[The 1960's]

I just realized that Michael Parks had a doppelganger in terms of look: see actor Laurence Harvey.

Thanks John. It’s interesting how people view others and their similarities. Many times people will say that someone is a dead ringer for another person and you’ll look but hardly see a similarity at all, or maybe just a bit.

In this case I do see a similarity between Michael Parks and Laurence Harvey but not as I understand the definition of doppelganger to mean, an exact duplicate or a clone.

Which brings me to a story that has always stuck with me. In my 30’s my gf and I were watching The Andy Griffith Show. She looked at me and said, “You look like Barney Fife!” My response? “Oh how flattering, I guess you’re not too picky as to whom you sleep with?”

Suffice to say that relationship did not last too much longer.

 

[ScottRE]

Which brings me to a story that has always stuck with me. In my 30’s my gf and I were watching The Andy Griffith Show. She looked at me and said, “You look like Barney Fife!” My response? “Oh how flattering, I guess you’re not too picky as to whom you sleep with?”

Suffice to say that relationship did not last too much longer. View attachment 139103

When I was single, I didn't care who a girl thought I looked like as long as she was sleeping with me.

 

[Desslar]

Thanks John. It’s interesting how people view others and their similarities. Many times people will say that someone is a dead ringer for another person and you’ll look but hardly see a similarity at all, or maybe just a bit.

In this case I do see a similarity between Michael Parks and Laurence Harvey but not as I understand the definition of doppelganger to mean, an exact duplicate or a clone.

Which brings me to a story that has always stuck with me. In my 30’s my gf and I were watching The Andy Griffith Show. She looked at me and said, “You look like Barney Fife!” My response? “Oh how flattering, I guess you’re not too picky as to whom you sleep with?”

Suffice to say that relationship did not last too much longer. View attachment 139103

At least she didn't say you dressed like Mr. Furley.

 

[The 1960's]

When I was single, I didn't care who a girl thought I looked like as long as she was sleeping with me.

Good one Scott.

And do not anyone think for a single moment that I look like this!!

---

 

[morasp]

Just finished the Route 66 episode Cries of persons close to one. The last episode I watched of this highly regarded anthology drama from the 60s was Goodnight Sweet Blues considered by some one of the best episodes of the series so it had a tough act to follow. One of the things I enjoy almost as much as the stories is that the episodes were filmed on location usually with a lot of outdoor scenes. This one was filmed at Daytona Beach Florida and I was pretty sure I saw a KFC sign in the background of the Drive in scene. Tod seemed a little surprised by the dollar amount of the purse for the fight so I looked it up and in today's dollars and it turned out to be $1540.

No doubt about it, the main character John Frank played by Michael Parks was dealt a tough hand in life. Let's face it life is challenging even in the best circumstances. Despite having to deal with illiteracy and alcoholism John somehow has made it this far in life with the support of his girlfriend Gaybee played by Ellen Madison. Even with so many challenges he maintained a strong will to persevere as evidenced in the dream sequence which reminded me a little of A Christmas Carol. Along the way the story reminds us that no man is an island and we rely on each other to get by in this world. The ending was pretty good and I thought it was appropriate that even someone with so many life challenges could get strength from the strongest human emotion.

It's always an added benefit to gain some personal insights from a program. Watching this episode made me wonder where John Frank might have ended up without the help and support of his girlfriend. It reminded me how things had gotten better after meeting my wife.

 

[The 1960's]

Just finished the Route 66 episode Cries of persons close to one. The last episode I watched of this highly regarded anthology drama from the 60s was Goodnight Sweet Blues considered by some one of the best episodes of the series so it had a tough act to follow. One of the things I enjoy almost as much as the stories is that the episodes were filmed on location usually with a lot of outdoor scenes. This one was filmed at Daytona Beach Florida and I was pretty sure I saw a KFC sign in the background of the Drive in scene. Tod seemed a little surprised by the dollar amount of the purse for the fight so I looked it up and in today's dollars and it turned out to be $1540.

No doubt about it, the main character John Frank played by Michael Parks was dealt a tough hand in life. Let's face it life is challenging even in the best circumstances. Despite having to deal with illiteracy and alcoholism John somehow has made it this far in life with the support of his girlfriend Gaybee played by Ellen Madison. Even with so many challenges he maintained a strong will to persevere as evidenced in the dream sequence which reminded me a little of A Christmas Carol. Along the way the story reminds us that no man is an island and we rely on each other to get by in this world. The ending was pretty good and I thought it was appropriate that even someone with so many life challenges could get strength from the strongest human emotion.

It's always an added benefit to gain some personal insights from a program. Watching this episode made me wonder where John Frank might have ended up without the help and support of his girlfriend. It reminded me how things had gotten better after meeting my wife.

So many creative and expressive writers here. I really like your review. You cited aspects about this story I hadn't even thought about before even after multiple viewings. Thanks Steve!

 

[Purple Wig]

Naked City - New York to L.A. S2E23. Can't go wrong with an episode recommended by Randall and endorsed by Neal as one of the series' best. Frank Sutton and Robert Blake are a pair of psychotic brothers. Paul Burke and Ed Asner are sent to Los Angeles to return them for trial. Simon Oakland is the psychiatrist tormented by guilt, blaming himself for his role in their upbringing in an orphans home.

Naked City - A Death Of Princes. S2E1. Decided to go back and start the Paul Burke run at the beginning. Incredibly tense episode, with Eli Wallach chewing the scenery as a sort of twisted Nietzschean cop who may be corrupt, insane, or something beyond. George Maharis is a young boxer blackmailed for a secret in his past, wrestling with his conscience.

Rat Patrol - The Chase Of Fire Raid. S1E1. The series starts off with a bang, the scenery looked familiar, IMDB had nothing on locations but the MEtv website states the pilot was partially filmed outside Yuma, AZ, at the sand dunes, where I spent many weekends as a youth, as my father was never lacking dune buggies, motorcycles, and later ATV's.

Route 66 - A Fury Slinging Flame. S1E11. Leslie Nielsen is a scientist who leads a ragtag assemblage of followers into Carlsbad Cavern, to wait out what he believes to be an imminent nuclear attack. Fay Spain is a reporter trying to get the scoop. Odd scene where Tod dumps a bucket of ice onto a sleeping Buz, who wakes up but continues to lay there, with a mountain of ice over his bare flesh, for the entire scene. Seems like he would brush it away or move. Nielsen is convincing as the genius whose intellect and problem solving method are the very things that lead him into self-delusion. Reminded me of A Beautiful Mind, the biography of John Nash, mathematical genius who descended into schizophrenia. At one point Nash remarks that the delusions were coming from the same place as his insights and ideas.

Ben Casey - An Expensive Glass Of Water. S1E5. Casey butts heads with Walter Tyson (Chester Morris), a type A to the 10th power CEO who chain smokes and barks orders, leaving the guys in Serling's Patterns in the dust. The two may be more alike than they think.

Johnny Ringo - The Arrival S1E1. The likable Don Durant plays the title role as a more vulnerable gunfighter than most, jumping for a second chance as Sheriff of a small town. His gunslinging past has been exaggerated and twisted, sort of a precursor to Will Sonnett (both are Spelling productions). Durant wrote and sings the theme song. Having been given his own chance for redemption, he offers the same to the kind hearted town drunk, making him his deputy, and delighting his lovely daughter (Karen Sharpe). James Coburn is Moss Taylor, crooked and ruthless saloon owner terrorizing the town.

 

[Flashgear]

Another episode revisited in honor of James Olson's recent passing...

McMillan & Wife S3E3 Freefall to Terror (Nov. 11, 1973) W: Oliver Hailey, short story by Edward D. Hoch. D: Alf Kjellin.
Starring Rock Hudson, Susan Saint James, John Schuck, Nancy Walker. Guest starring Barbara Feldon, James Olson, Dick Haymes, Tom Bosley, Edward Andrews, Barbara Rhoades, Tom Troupe, John Fiedler.

San Francisco police commissioner Stewart McMillan (Rock Hudson) and his wife Sally (Susan Saint James) are at the airport seeing off big-time businessman Billy Calm (actor-big band singer Dick Haymes, once married to Joanne Dru and Rita Hayworth!), a former business partner and old friend who pilots his own Lear jet...Billy Calm is in the middle of a high stakes merger, really a hostile takeover, of another big company founded by Isreal Black (Edward Andrews). Calm flies off to finalize the deal, but not before a car almost runs him down on the tarmac, along with the McMillans. The car speeds off, no accident, and thus was an attempt on his life. That night and after bedtime, the McMillan household is awakened by Billy Calm's executive secretary Maggie Miller (Barbara Feldon, 'Agent 99' of Get Smart), a former girlfriend of the commissioner, who brings a copy of the merger contract that Billy Calm asks McMillan to read and provide input on (seems like a huge conflict of interest to a police commissioner, then or now). McMillan agrees to come down to Calm's offices in the morning to greet the returning businessman, who's flying back to SF to finalize the deal. If the merger goes through, it will be bad news for Isreal Black, and three of his former vice-presidents, played by James Olson, Tom Bosley and Tom Troupe, although one of them publicly says he's in favor of the deal.

Arriving at Billy Calm's offices, the McMillans are greeted by Maggie and informed that Billy's jet has been delayed by fog at the SF airport and he might have to divert to a regional airport. No sooner than they are in the offices, commissioner McMillan has to break up a fight between two of the company VPs...now fully aware of the prevailing tension, the McMillans are informed by Maggie that, unseen, Billy Calm has arrived and is now in the building...but the big deal has fallen through and the volatile Billy has apparently thrown himself out of a penthouse window to his death!

Problem is, no body is found on the street below! That is, until three and a half hours later, while returning from an adjoining restaurant to calm their nerves, Maggie and the McMillans are horrified to actually witness Billy's body falling onto the sidewalk in front of them! This prompts detective Enright (John Schuck) to remark: "he really took the long way down!"

My screen caps from the VEI complete series DVD set...

Good mystery, as you might expect adapted from a previously published short story. Hudson and Saint James aren't Nick and Nora, but they're still a good team of married detectives in this NBC Sunday Mystery Movie series featuring great music by Billy Goldenberg, Jerry Fielding and Henry Mancini...directed by prolific actor Alf Kjellin, an entertaining and fast paced execution by a typically strong collection of familiar faces in James Olson, Tom Bosley, Edward Andrews, Tom Troupe and singer Dick Haymes (who's '40s and '50s hits included The More I See You, How Blue the Night, For You For Me Forever More, Speak Low and Another Night Like This, and his movies included State Fair (1945), The Shocking Miss Pilgrim, One Touch of Venus And On the Town) and graced by the beauty of Susan Saint James, Barbara Feldon and Barbara Rhoades.

Another revelation here is how good Barbara Feldon, usually seen in lighter roles and famous for Get Smart, could be in a dramatic role...playing a career girl used and abused by a series of men in failed relationships, she's absolutely terrific in this!

 

[morasp]

So many creative and expressive writers here. I really like your review. You cited aspects about this story I hadn't even thought about before even after multiple viewings. Thanks Steve!

Thanks for saying so and for creating an interesting topic for discussion. I'm not the wordsmith that a lot of reviewers here are, more of a numbers guy, but I do try to get some kind of meaning from an episode if it's there.

 

[ScottRE]

There are a number of shows being highlighted here that I have only the vaguest of memories. I was a youngster in the 70's and went to be fairly early. Our one color TV was controlled by the parents, so a lot of these shows went over my head and I don't remember them first run. Other than impressions. Because I was so young and hit the pillows by - probably 8 or 9 - series like McMillian and Wife or The Streets of San Francisco feel like they were broadcast in the wee hours. it wasn't until the late 70's that I was allowed to stay up later and see more shows. So Quincy, Hart to Hart and such resonate with my memories much more concretely.

I have to say, the screen caps from the VEI set look better than their average release, clarity wise. Since VEI sets are quite inexpensive, I tell family to throw them on my birthday and Christmas lists to get the biggest bang for the buck (and if a show sucks, I didn't blow MY money).

My only issue with Universal series of the day is that they tend to look the same. The cinematography, the credit fonts, the backlots all look like the TV factory they were. It Takes a Thief, for example, ran on Bob Wagner's charm but once they actually moved overseas and the location was real, it opened it up visually. I once read that no one show had its own production crew, they were spread out and shared across the company. This kept things loyal to the studio rather than the producers and it also kept the shows from having and individual style. I don't know how true it is, but it feels right. The strengths were in the performers and (mostly) the writing. But man, one Glen Larson or QM crime show was much like the other after awhile for me.

At the same time....that also created a comfort level I appreciated. Much like the ITC shows, the same pool of actors was seen in the 60's and 70's, faces you knew if not the names, unless they were popular leads from cancelled 60's shows; heroes who took on villainous parts like Robert Culp, Bill Shatner and David Hedison. There's fun to be had spotting these guys grabbing jobs as they got back to the guest star circuit.

A bit of a ramble, sorry.

 

[Desslar]

Naked City - New York to L.A. S2E23. Can't go wrong with an episode recommended by Randall and endorsed by Neal as one of the series' best. Frank Sutton and Robert Blake are a pair of psychotic brothers. Paul Burke and Ed Asner are sent to Los Angeles to return them for trial. Simon Oakland is the psychiatrist tormented by guilt, blaming himself for his role in their upbringing in an orphans home.

Naked City - A Death Of Princes. S2E1. Decided to go back and start the Paul Burke run at the beginning. Incredibly tense episode, with Eli Wallach chewing the scenery as a sort of twisted Nietzschean cop who may be corrupt, insane, or something beyond. George Maharis is a young boxer blackmailed for a secret in his past, wrestling with his conscience.

Rat Patrol - The Chase Of Fire Raid. S1E1. The series starts off with a bang, the scenery looked familiar, IMDB had nothing on locations but the MEtv website states the pilot was partially filmed outside Yuma, AZ, at the sand dunes, where I spent many weekends as a youth, as my father was never lacking dune buggies, motorcycles, and later ATV's.

Route 66 - A Fury Slinging Flame. S1E11. Leslie Nielsen is a scientist who leads a ragtag assemblage of followers into Carlsbad Cavern, to wait out what he believes to be an imminent nuclear attack. Fay Spain is a reporter trying to get the scoop. Odd scene where Tod dumps a bucket of ice onto a sleeping Buz, who wakes up but continues to lay there, with a mountain of ice over his bare flesh, for the entire scene. Seems like he would brush it away or move. Nielsen is convincing as the genius whose intellect and problem solving method are the very things that lead him into self-delusion. Reminded me of A Beautiful Mind, the biography of John Nash, mathematical genius who descended into schizophrenia. At one point Nash remarks that the delusions were coming from the same place as his insights and ideas.

Ben Casey - An Expensive Glass Of Water. S1E5. Casey butts heads with Walter Tyson (Chester Morris), a type A to the 10th power CEO who chain smokes and barks orders, leaving the guys in Serling's Patterns in the dust. The two may be more alike than they think.

Johnny Ringo - The Arrival S1E1. The likable Don Durant plays the title role as a more vulnerable gunfighter than most, jumping for a second chance as Sheriff of a small town. His gunslinging past has been exaggerated and twisted, sort of a precursor to Will Sonnett (both are Spelling productions). Durant wrote and sings the theme song. Having been given his own chance for redemption, he offers the same to the kind hearted town drunk, making him his deputy, and delighting his lovely daughter (Karen Sharpe). James Coburn is Moss Taylor, crooked and ruthless saloon owner terrorizing the town.

Thanks for the rundown. About Naked City - "New York to L.A." - do they actually film in LA? Would love to see Naked City apply its comprehensive location shooting approach to cities outside NY.

I gotta check out that Leslie Nielsen Route 66 episode. Sounds amazing.

 

[bmasters9]

I have to say, the screen caps from the VEI set look better than their average release, clarity wise. Since VEI sets are quite inexpensive, I tell family to throw them on my birthday and Christmas lists to get the biggest bang for the buck (and if a show sucks, I didn't blow MY money).

Are you talking about my caps from that latest Hunter release, for one thing?

 

[ScottRE]

Are you talking about my caps from that latest Hunter release, for one thing?

Actually @Flashgear's McMillian caps. They look miles better than Matt Houston, The Immortal or Dan August.

 

[Desslar]

I have to say, the screen caps from the VEI set look better than their average release, clarity wise. Since VEI sets are quite inexpensive, I tell family to throw them on my birthday and Christmas lists to get the biggest bang for the buck (and if a show sucks, I didn't blow MY money).

My only issue with Universal series of the day is that they tend to look the same. The cinematography, the credit fonts, the backlots all look like the TV factory they were. It Takes a Thief, for example, ran on Bob Wagner's charm but once they actually moved overseas and the location was real, it opened it up visually. I once read that no one show had its own production crew, they were spread out and shared across the company. This kept things loyal to the studio rather than the producers and it also kept the shows from having and individual style. I don't know how true it is, but it feels right. The strengths were in the performers and (mostly) the writing. But man, one Glen Larson or QM crime show was much like the other after awhile for me.

I'm impressed your family would know which classic TV show sets you needed. Mine wouldn't have the slightest clue, and would be wary of adding to the growing mountain of discs. (well, still only a small hill compared to many around here)

I agree about the visual lethargy of many shows of the 60s/70s (though I would say that some network TV still has similar problems today). I have not seen this McMillan and Wife episode, and it sounds like the plot is good, but it would be hard to guess that from looking at the screencaps above. Scene after scene of everyone standing around in a cramped studio set. Really makes me appreciate shows like Hawaii Five-O, Streets of San Francisco, and Rockford Files, which were so visually dynamic by comparison. Someone release Five-O and Streets on blu ray already.

 

[SuperClark]

Hawaii 5-0 is in HD on amazon prime.I bought most of the seasons.
See on Amazon

 

[bmasters9]

Really makes me appreciate shows like Hawaii Five-O, Streets of San Francisco, and Rockford Files, which were so visually dynamic by comparison.

I take it they were dynamic because they could get out in the areas they were set and filmed in and capture the pulse of wherever they were (the places they were named for, in the case of Five-O and The Streets of San Francisco).

 

[BobO'Link]

I'm impressed your family would know which classic TV show sets you needed. Mine wouldn't have the slightest clue, and would be wary of adding to the growing mountain of discs. (well, still only a small hill compared to many around here)

I don't know about Scott - but I used to give my family detailed lists of the *exact* release I wanted, where to get it (usually 2 or 3 vendors just in case), and the maximum to pay. I did that with books, music, TV series, and movies. And they'd ignore it every time. I'd get paperbacks instead of hardcover ("I got *three* books from your list!" - no, you got *none* of the books I asked for because you didn't read properly - or I'd get a "book on tape" version - all of those got returned/exchanged) or a burned copy they made from a friend's copy (sometimes an album that'd been transferred to CD - I could have done that myself with better results) or a bootleg. I just stopped making lists and went to "Just give me money and I'll get it myself." Worked far better... except when they made it a "gift certificate" instead of cash. These days I just say "Don't get me anything."