SWC75
Bored Historian
- Joined
- Aug 26, 2011
- Messages
- 32,523
- Like
- 62,723
After reviewing the second season of Route 66 =, I decided it was the best season any TV show I'd ever watched had ever had. About half the episodes are truly memorable. I'll try yo stick to the best of the best:
ROUTE 66 9/22/61 “A Month of Sundays”
"In 1970, Arthur Hiller directed the mega-hit “Love Story” about a beautiful young woman a guy falls in love with who has a terminal illness. Nine years before he’d directed this episode of Route 66 in which the same thing happens. Hiller as a movie director had a reputation for being kind of a journeyman: he could deliver the goods but without much flair. There’s plenty of flair in this episode. It takes place in Butte Montana where the boys are working for the Anaconda Copper Company and staying in a boarding house. In every possible shot, the city of Butte is looming in the background. It’s sort halfway between a small town and a small city and seems to rise starkly out of the surrounding planes, symbolizing both civilization and isolation at the same time. It looks like the sort of place people would huddle together to protect each other against the elements. He has other touches like filming a truck moving into the mine from underneath. Even the shots of the huge strip mine seem to be symbolic of something, perhaps digging deep into a person’s psyche.
Anne Francis, (previously in “Play if Glissando”), is a native of the place who went off to become a famous Broadway actress and glamour girl, (there’s no discussion of movies). She used to live in the boarding house the boys are in, before it was a boarding house and moves back in to live with her aunt. The boys vie to see who will take her out but she isn’t looking for romance. What exactly she is looking for is unclear until she talks to a local priest, (played by the excellent Conrad Nagel, who we last saw in “A Fry Slinging Flame”, where he played a scientist with a priestly demeanor). She’s dying, not of cancer, (as Jennie Cavalleri was in Love Story), but of lupus. I assume they researched what terminal illness would allow the victim appear healthy until the very end and this qualified, (I don’t know enough about it myself.)
It’s a great “Buz” episode. George Maharis does a wonderful job depicting a man falling in love with his dream girl. Tod overheard what the priest heard and backs off, not wanting to deprive Buz or the lady of a few days of happiness. It might have been nice to have a wrap-up scene after her death but I guess they didn’t have time for it. It’s the only thing missing in a memorable episode which is a great start to the memorable second season of a great show. "
IMDB: "Route 66" A Month of Sundays (TV Episode 1961) - IMDb
You Tube:
ROUTE 66 9/22/61 “A Month of Sundays”
"In 1970, Arthur Hiller directed the mega-hit “Love Story” about a beautiful young woman a guy falls in love with who has a terminal illness. Nine years before he’d directed this episode of Route 66 in which the same thing happens. Hiller as a movie director had a reputation for being kind of a journeyman: he could deliver the goods but without much flair. There’s plenty of flair in this episode. It takes place in Butte Montana where the boys are working for the Anaconda Copper Company and staying in a boarding house. In every possible shot, the city of Butte is looming in the background. It’s sort halfway between a small town and a small city and seems to rise starkly out of the surrounding planes, symbolizing both civilization and isolation at the same time. It looks like the sort of place people would huddle together to protect each other against the elements. He has other touches like filming a truck moving into the mine from underneath. Even the shots of the huge strip mine seem to be symbolic of something, perhaps digging deep into a person’s psyche.
Anne Francis, (previously in “Play if Glissando”), is a native of the place who went off to become a famous Broadway actress and glamour girl, (there’s no discussion of movies). She used to live in the boarding house the boys are in, before it was a boarding house and moves back in to live with her aunt. The boys vie to see who will take her out but she isn’t looking for romance. What exactly she is looking for is unclear until she talks to a local priest, (played by the excellent Conrad Nagel, who we last saw in “A Fry Slinging Flame”, where he played a scientist with a priestly demeanor). She’s dying, not of cancer, (as Jennie Cavalleri was in Love Story), but of lupus. I assume they researched what terminal illness would allow the victim appear healthy until the very end and this qualified, (I don’t know enough about it myself.)
It’s a great “Buz” episode. George Maharis does a wonderful job depicting a man falling in love with his dream girl. Tod overheard what the priest heard and backs off, not wanting to deprive Buz or the lady of a few days of happiness. It might have been nice to have a wrap-up scene after her death but I guess they didn’t have time for it. It’s the only thing missing in a memorable episode which is a great start to the memorable second season of a great show. "
IMDB: "Route 66" A Month of Sundays (TV Episode 1961) - IMDb
You Tube:
