SWC75
Bored Historian
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- Aug 26, 2011
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ROUTE 66 10/13/61 “Birdcage on my Foot”
My IMDB review:
“Another classic episode, one of the best ever of any TV series. George Maharis and Robert Duvall have a dual tour-de-force that’s as good as anything you’d ever see in a stage play. In fact, they could easily have called this episode “Long Day’s Journey Into Night”. It’s obvious that a lot of research went into their episode by both the writers and actors, (Buz at one point describes how drug withdrawal is depicted in the movies and then what it’s really like.). Some posters have claimed that this episode makes it look like drug addiction can be cured in one night. It says nothing of sort: the night depicted is just the start of a journey.
Tod and Buz are now in Boston and they have a girlfriend, (just one of them), played by Diana Millay. They are planning a big weekend when they go to the corvette and find Duvall there, behaving weirdly. Buz instantly recognizes his problem and wants no part of it. Tod and Diana, good-natured but naïve, want to help out someone they see as in some kind of personal trouble. They don’t listen when Buz warns them off. When they rescue him from the police by agreeing to take responsibility for Duval, Buz leaves in a huff. Tod and the girl put Duval up in her apartment, (it’s not clear where Tod and Buz are staying), but find they can’t deal with him. He deceives them, has fits of destructive anger and then locks himself in the bathroom, where he’s going to main-line whatever he can find there when Buz makes a dramatic return and completely takes over, ordering Tod and the girl out.
Then it’s all tough-love Buz and desperate Duval through the depths of withdrawal. Both of them have something to withdraw from: Duvall his addiction and Buz his memory of a childhood mentor who succumbed to drugs that he was unable to help. They wind up in each other’s arms, not in a romantic way but in mutual catharsis.”
IMDB: "Route 66" Birdcage on My Foot (TV Episode 1961) - IMDb (Amazon Prime has it for 99 cents)
You-Tube: (you need to pay $1.99)
My IMDB review:
“Another classic episode, one of the best ever of any TV series. George Maharis and Robert Duvall have a dual tour-de-force that’s as good as anything you’d ever see in a stage play. In fact, they could easily have called this episode “Long Day’s Journey Into Night”. It’s obvious that a lot of research went into their episode by both the writers and actors, (Buz at one point describes how drug withdrawal is depicted in the movies and then what it’s really like.). Some posters have claimed that this episode makes it look like drug addiction can be cured in one night. It says nothing of sort: the night depicted is just the start of a journey.
Tod and Buz are now in Boston and they have a girlfriend, (just one of them), played by Diana Millay. They are planning a big weekend when they go to the corvette and find Duvall there, behaving weirdly. Buz instantly recognizes his problem and wants no part of it. Tod and Diana, good-natured but naïve, want to help out someone they see as in some kind of personal trouble. They don’t listen when Buz warns them off. When they rescue him from the police by agreeing to take responsibility for Duval, Buz leaves in a huff. Tod and the girl put Duval up in her apartment, (it’s not clear where Tod and Buz are staying), but find they can’t deal with him. He deceives them, has fits of destructive anger and then locks himself in the bathroom, where he’s going to main-line whatever he can find there when Buz makes a dramatic return and completely takes over, ordering Tod and the girl out.
Then it’s all tough-love Buz and desperate Duval through the depths of withdrawal. Both of them have something to withdraw from: Duvall his addiction and Buz his memory of a childhood mentor who succumbed to drugs that he was unable to help. They wind up in each other’s arms, not in a romantic way but in mutual catharsis.”
IMDB: "Route 66" Birdcage on My Foot (TV Episode 1961) - IMDb (Amazon Prime has it for 99 cents)
You-Tube: (you need to pay $1.99)
