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cheryl-rixon
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Seaway: 34th Man (1965)
Excellent drama
This is one of the best episodes I've seen. the storyline adequately summarises the plot. It was written by Ian Hunter who was one of the blacklisted Hollywood writers, who appears in a significant part in the movie Trumbo. The story does not really explore racial themes, though the plot revolves around the fate of two black men. However, the captain of the ship is portrayed as basically a racist, though his humanity ultimately triumphs. This episode is, as all these episodes are, terribly sexist, and this adds a laughable dimension to the drama, from the standpoint of attitudes in 2016. Most contemporary attempts to capture the swinging sixties fail in this regard. It was wonderful, To see Faye Dunaway as the guest star.
Seaway: Billy the Kid (1966)
Tightly plotted episode
This is one of the better episodes.
The opening scene features Billy playing around a completely icebound freighter as it sits in the harbour. No special effects, this image is quite arresting. What follows is tightly plotted, Billy witnesses a crime but does not know it. However he is spotted, and later kidnapped. His sister goes to Nick to help her find him. She is then captured. After investigating the matter, the mystery is solved, those kidnapped rescued, and the baddies captured. What are always interesting are the background scenes. The harbour docks covered by snow, the 1960s street scenes, the cars, and best of all, how "sophisticated" Nick is, reflecting contemporary values.
Car 54, Where Are You?: Puncher & Judy (1963)
Sugar Ray Robinson and Rocky Graciano are hilarious
The plot is that Judy's gentle boyfriend, Antione (Rocky Graciano) is a hairdresser and wants to be a fighter. To discourage him, she seeks help from Toody and Muldoon. They persuade Sugar Ray Robinson to pose as a 70 year old boxer, knocking out Antoine to convince him he has no future in boxing. This occurs, with the result that Antoine turns mean at the hairdressing business, as boxing was his outlet for his anger. To get him back to normal, Sugar Ray returns and persuades him to take up boxing again. The story ends with Antoine knocking out three opponents in the ring, and Judy cheering on from the sidelines.
The episode begins with some wonderful byplay concerning Kissel, and Toody losing his gun. It then moves fully into the boxing story, and all the actors involved, including the trainers and sparring partner are excellent in their minor roles. One thing that was noticeable was that Toody and Muldoon had less to do than normal, and the guests dominated the story. This led me to look at the two boxers, and the sad fact was, they were both broke at the time and had entered acting for money, Rocky Graciano was great as the effete hairdresser, with Sugar Ray mostly playing himself, though his acting as a 70-year-old man was well done The only thing that slightly jarred was the violence in a comedy, otherwise I would've given it a 9 out of 10. The gay mannerisms of Antoine the hairdresser were funny, and I didn't think they were overdone.
Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Mrs. Bixby and the Colonel's Coat (1960)
A Maupassant short story
This is not the normal Hitchcock episode, Audrey Meadows is married to a bland and stingy dentist, He does not appear to be particularly mean-spirited. She escapes from him once a month to be with her wealthy lover who appreciates her. He gives her a gift to end the relationship, and the story revolves around the fate of this gift.
There is an air of lost dreams and stifled hopes of people trapped in unfulfilling relationships. The plot moves along steadily and it only becomes apparent what is going to happen at the very end.
I seem to have rated this episode higher than most viewers as I got into the atmosphere of the story from the very beginning, and had recently seen a number of episodes which did not involve the black humour, or elements of murder or death present in most episodes.
It was not particularly slow moving or leisurely, and did move along in a very gentle way.
Seeing Things: Second Sight (1984)
In my view the best episode of the entire series.
Eli Nostradamus is a fake psychic. Louis and Marge attend his show where a disgruntled Nostradamus client dies of an apparent heart attack after being "be goned" by Eli. In the course of Louis investigation another fortune tellers dies of an apparent heart attack. Louis' visions tell him they were both murdered by poison from a tree with red berries. Brown identifies the poison as mountain laurel. But who is the killer?
By this third season episode, the characters are so well established, they all seem to appear as bright cameos of themselves. It's mostly Marge and Louis with little from Redfern and Brown, but they, with Kenny, Max and Jason just have wonderful lines as do three tour de force guests playing Eli, the Tea guy, and the fortune teller.