F TROOP Fridays - Number 43
F TROOP: "The Great Troop Robbery" (ABC-TV/Warner Brothers 1966) Season Two, Episode 39. Original Air Date: October 6, 1966. Starring Forrest Tucker as Sergeant Morgan O'Rourke, Larry Storch as Corporal Randolph Agarn, Ken Berry as Captain Wilton Parmenter, Melody Patterson as Wrangler Jane, Frank deKova as Chief Wild Eagle, Don Diamond as Crazy Cat, James Hampton as Bugler Dobbs, Bob Steele as Duffy, Joe Brooks as Vanderbilt, Ivan Bell as Dudleson. Special Guest Star Milton Berle as Wise Owl. Written by Stan Burns and Mike Marmer. Directed by Seymour Robbie.
Talk about a con man getting conned. Corporal Agarn has purchased Thunder the Wonder Horse from a traveling medicine show. Dubbed "the smartest horse in the West", Thunder doesn't live up to his billing when attempting to dance or count, but when Agarn channels his inner Evel Knievel, Thunder is smart enough to pull up before jumping a hitching rail. Unfortunately our Corporal kept going, and ended up concussed and confused as a result.
"THAT'S the smartest horse in the West?"
Post-injury Agarn is behaving strangely: much more astute in his judgement despite misremembering his name and O'Rourke's among a number of memory lapses. One might consider this a positive side effect, but then the entire troop is robbed of money and belongings and Randolph's strange behavior and close proximity makes him the primary suspect. Crazy Cat and Dobbs are also under suspicion, and the troop turns to the new Hekawi medicine man Wise Owl to investigate.
"He go from tribe to tribe--has couch, will travel!"
Milton Berle guest starring on F TROOP. This was apparently after the showdown with Tuck that has only become more legendary over the years, so I can only imagine what locker room talk on the set was like. While we viewers can't be privy to that, we do get a heaping helping of witty onscreen dialogue from Burns and Marmer (Too Many Cooks Spoil the Troop). A lot is generously thrown Berle's way, he gets all the usual wisdom (see below) and Chief Wild Eagle deferentially vouches for the traveling psychologist/detective/medicine man. Spoiler alert!--Wild Eagle's endorsement ultimately proves to be a rare lapse in his judgement for the usually savvy Hekawi leader. I can say rare, but not unprecedented (Honest Injun).
"For confession, getting there is half the fun!"
It isn't just the Chief showing very special respect to our guest. After Wild Eagle's endorsement, O'Rourke hires Wise Owl to identify the thief and recover the stolen property for $2 hourly. The Captain is also taken in, putting his savings at risk to trap the guilty party and even giving the Wise one use of his office! One has to wonder why such a revered shrink and investigator feels the need to put that seemingly thriving business reputation in jeopardy by theft--maybe he just can't control his kleptomania?
"Vanderbilt isn't aiming at us, Sergeant."
"I know that. If he was I wouldn't be worried!"
As was the case in their previous entry, Burns and Marmer give our secondary characters a little extra love. Vandy hilariously guards the barracks after everything has been stolen, and suspects Dobbs and Crazy Cat get more time in the spotlight than usual, albeit via the Wise One's rather brutal interrogation methods. The anticipated sly satirization of absolute power and its abuse is followed by the first limits to that hastily granted power--Wise Owl has Parmenter and Wild Eagle pulling their respective manuals out. While Dobbs and Agarn both face blazing heat in his efforts to draw an admission, Crazy Cat probably endures the cruelest questioning.
Berle doesn't disappoint with the wide berth he's given. He's nowhere near as hammy as Rickles nor as imposing as Korman, contributing mightily to this most vaudevillian of F TROOPs. A thoroughly appropriate assignment for the writers, who were on the staff of Berle's 1966 series comeback (that lasted only a week into 1967 on ABC) and later worked together on practically every successful variety show of the late 1960's and 1970's (i.e. DEAN MARTIN, FLIP WILSON). This was their second and last F TROOP, with both their freelance scripts proving to be winners.
While Wild Eagle originally outs Crazy Cat's wampum problems at home, it is heartening to see that when the chips are down the Chief gives Crazy Cat the grace that his assistant rarely (re: never) gives him. O'Rourke casually throws Dobbs into harm's way in an effort to deflect suspicion from his amnestic V.P., but to be fair the Sarge knows the Captain will protect his orderly. As always, keeping business running smoothly probably motivates our Enterprisers more than altruism, and con man Wise Owl cannily plays them against one another to divert all eyes away from him. His eventual slip of the tongue is abrupt and obvious, but doesn't detract from an otherwise really good (if not transcendently so) time.
Oh, and there's a cute almost-reference to Wise Owl's Medicine Man predecessor from the first season, but apparently the inventor of the RoarChick test (ha!) is in fact a different guy actually named Roar Chick and not this elder statesman seen standing behind Wild Eagle:
HOW'S BUSINESS AT O'ROURKE ENTERPRISES?
None of the thefts were a direct hit, but one can assume that the troopers being short of funds can't be a good thing for the saloon.
HEKAWI WISDOM?
How enthusiastically did they roll out the red carpet for Mr. Television? He gets three aphorisms to the Chief's zero! The first two: "When fox look at sky, Easter get bitten on kneecap by toothless rabbit." The second makes a little more sense, though it provokes one of Tucker's greatest reactions of the series: "Sometimes not wise to be wise--more wise to be unwise!'
BAITING THE CENSORS?
Which brings us to our third Wise Old saying: "When shadow of wet bird fall on crooked log, time out for beaver." Followed by Wise Owl abruptly ending his session with Agarn after seeing this P.O.V.:
Wise Owl looks ready to walk over to her as the camera leaves. Mmm hmmm....
PC, OR NOT PC?
Any lechery that followed that was kept offscreen, and Wise Owl gives some equal time to the traveling medicine show after paleface Professor Cornelius Clyde hoodwinked Wild Eagle and most of the troop in season one. As noted above, the white men are just as deferential to all knowing Wise Owl as the natives, and he's no noble Native, already absolutely corrupted before getting absolute power over the investigation. He's just as tyrannical to his own as the white suspects if not even more so. Takes a while for O'Rourke to catch on to him, but to be fair the threat of losing his Vice President was more than a little distracting.
THE ALL IMPORTANT NIELSENS:
Uncle Miltie's appearance probably didn't hurt, but the bigger factor in the highest Thursday rating to date (18.8 rating, 33.2 share) was likely lead-out TAMMY GRIMES (9.9!) getting replaced at 8:30 P.M. by THE DATING GAME (16.6). Berle was returning a favor, as Storch and Tucker had appeared on Berle's new series the previous Friday. Unfortunately they couldn't dislodge many viewers from MY GEISHA or THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. and Berle was a poor third in the time slot yet again with a 12.0/21.8 share. However, BERLE saw a spike the night after his F TROOP with a 13.8/25.3.
THE BOTTOM LINE:
With its venerable guest star who is forever linked with Tucker in Hollywood lore The Great Troop Robbery can't help but be one of the most famous F TROOP installments. Loads of fun but not quite as inspired as the business agreement that kick-starts the previous Burns/Marmer entry. Despite the thin plot and fairly obvious guilty party, a good job from Berle makes this sitcom's inevitable amnesia plot highly enjoyable despite its slightness. Originally rated it a half star higher; it's really close. (*** out of four)
No comments:
Post a Comment