Television Review: HONDO: "Hondo and the Gladiators" (1967)

"Your lives are meaningless compared to HONDO!"






HONDO: "Hondo and the Gladiators" (1967 ABC-TV/Batjac/MGM) Episode 15; Original Air Date December 15, 1967.  Starring Ralph Taeger as Hondo Lane, Noah Beery Jr. as Buffalo Baker, Gary Clarke as Captain Richards.  Guest Starring Claude Akins as Brock, Barton MacLane as Markham, Jamie Farr as Smithers, Richard Hale as Jamarro, George Keymas as Nakka, James Chandler as the Sheriff, Phil Arnold as Bob, Montie Plyler as Jake, John Wood as Goya, Lydia Goya as Lydia, Mike Masters as The Bully and Chanin Hale as Carrot Top.  Directed by Eddie Saeta.  Written by Turnley Walker.


Welcome to the Horn Section's contribution to the Third Annual Favourite Episode Blogathon, hosted by our friend Terence Towles Canote at his wonderful blog, A Shroud of Thoughts.  Check out all the entries for the 2017's edition, and while you're there, check out Terence's archives as well--A Shroud of Thoughts has been around since 2004 and the archives are stuffed with goodies.

For my contribution this year, I'm skipping ahead in the our HONDO episode guide to my personal favorite of the 17 installments of that sadly short-lived series: the one that best exemplifies the bond between Hondo Lane and his loyal dog Sam.

Series Overview for HONDO: TV's Unlikeliest Cult Hit at this link  


Hondo Lane's latest scouting assignment takes him into New Mexico Territory, where settlers have angered Mescalero Apache Chief Jamarro by moving into Big Rock Valley before a peace treaty has been signed.   The only white man Jamarro trusts, Hondo reassures the Chief that his terms will be honored.  To seal the deal, Lane promises to bring peace envoy Markham back to the Mescalero camp to sign the paper in a proper ceremony.  Complicating matters, Jamarro is presiding over a restless tribe that includes several renegades (led by Nakka) who would prefer to leave the agreement unsigned.
 

Awaiting the arrival of Markham's party in the nearest town, Hondo has a run-in with Brock, owner and operator of The Gladiators: a traveling "fighting man, fighting dog" show.  Behind Lane's back, Brock's reigning champion is set loose on an unsuspecting Sam--and soundly defeated.  When Hondo rebuffs Brock's offer to buy Sam (and as usual denies ownership), the bare-knuckle brawler drugs and kidnaps Sam to "train" him for pit fighting.  Hondo discovers his canine sidekick is missing just as Captain Richards arrives with an impatient Markham in tow for the urgently needed peace summit.

"If it's a choice between losin' Markham and losin' Sam, Sam wins!"

Despite Hondo's gruff exterior and the fierce independence he insists on for himself and his constant canine companion, Hondo and the Gladiators demonstrates just how much Sam means to him when the chips are down.  Markham promises to bring the wrath of Washington down on Fort Lowell if he cannot get cooperation, and with a Mescalero Apache war all but certain if this envoy fails, D.C. might be the least of the Captain's worries.  Even so, for Hondo anything is worth risking to rescue Sam from a sadistic captor. 

"You're gettin' soft, too.  Too many table scraps!"

From Lane's deadpan monologue to Sam in the hotel room to his quiet desperation as he searches for his stolen pal, Hondo and the Gladiators is probably Ralph Taeger's finest episode as an actor.  Unfortunately, Hondo's oft-repeated refrain that Sam "belongs to no one but himself" is taken literally outside of the friendly confines of Fort Lowell, and the guilt that Lane feels after failing to realize this--while predictably unstated--is palpable throughout. 

"That's my dog.  You're not gonna fight him."

It's an overused term for sure, but after fifteen episodes and at least twice as many disavowals of ownership, the line truly speaks volumes.  Taeger delivers it perfectly, and the stoic star also expresses just the right touch of wordless panic when it appears that the sadistic showman might have succeeded in brainwashing Sam during "training".

"I don't give a holler down a dry well what one man does with another, but settin' dumb animals on one another isn't my idea of a sport!"

Disclaiming possession and making Sam get his own food?  Might make Hondo Lane a less than ideal human companion to modern eyes, but consider Brock, who is more than happy to own the animal.  As long as it is profitable, that is: "I got no use for a loser" is his response as his former champ flees when Sam defends himself.  Brock cages, tethers and muzzles Sam to ensure that the dog is deprived of food and water until "after his lesson"--and to eliminate any possible self-defense from the canine when he's being whipped with that chain.

Brock's cruelty to animals is only the most disgusting example of the man's gutlessness.  Veteran heavy Claude Akins skillfully essays this manipulative huckster, undermining Brock's courageous image in the pit with a constant (yet subtle) lack thereof out of it.  Brock takes off his jovial public mask in private to assistant Smithers, terrorizing the timid employee as much as his unfortunate dogs.  But this supposed tough man also meticulously avoids a confrontation with Lane during Sam's abduction, and noticeably stays put at the bar while ladies onstage are sexually harassed and their impresario assaulted (Hondo defends the damsels in distress).

Inside the pit, well, I did say it's an image of toughness.  It's hard not to notice that Brock twice tries to goad Hondo into challenging for the "big prize money", but wants no part of Hondo Lane in an uncontrolled setting.  You guessed it: Brock has flunky Jake ready to surreptitiously blackjack anyone who gets too close to besting the traveling showman for that reward. 

"Sorta sickenin', I'd say."

With those words, the Sheriff made his frustration clear at his lack of legal grounds to stop the blood "sport", an unusual topic for a prime time show to be addressing now, never mind 1967.  Hondo and the Gladiators makes a solid plea for humane treatment of animals both domestic and wild (the wolf-dog hybrid that Brock has trapped to provide Sam with an opponent), and since Hondo Lane is making it, that statement is appropriately forthright and succinct.   When Sam draws a bettor, the gambler draws exactly what you'd expect once Emberato finds out.

"Soon they will ride into Half Moon Pass...and they will never ride out!"

The audience is so invested in the fate of our four-legged scene stealer that it's easy to forget that the lives of Hondo, Buffalo, Captain Richards and Markham are also hanging in the balance with mutineer Nakka waiting in ambush.  Granted, Walker's secondary storyline isn't exactly new to the series: a wise old peace seeking Chief is being undermined by an insurgent in the tribe who thirsts for conflict. 

It's been a primary plot twice already with Hondo's father-in-law Vittoro (Hondo and the War Cry, Hondo and the War Hawks), but the writer gives us a new wrinkle that forces Hondo Lane to be in two places at once.  Unlike Vittoro, Jamarro trusts Lane--and only Lane--having never met Buffalo, Richards or anyone else from Fort Lowell.  With the premature presence of unwelcome settlers, Hondo's credentials mandate his presence for talks that cannot fail.

Turnley Walker was best known for his non-fiction books (including RISE UP AND WALK, the true story of the author's triumph over polio) but occasionally wrote teleplays, including a 1956 adaptation of his best-known work for GOODYEAR PLAYHOUSE.   Hondo and the Gladiators was Walker's final TV script and contains possibly the longest teaser of its era, with a full ten minutes of action taking place before the opening credits.

Above average plotting and unique structure enhance the viewing experience, but Walker's dialogue needed another draft or two.  Hondo's stilted replies during his initial encounter with Brock have the effect of making the usually astute scout come across like a dunce ("talk to the dog!") for not grasping the obvious danger that this showman presents to Sam.  Claude Akins isn't always served well either.  Akins does a faultless job of making you hate Brock, but unsubtle lines (i.e. "I do what pleases me!" and "I treat my help and my dogs the same!") spelling out what we can see for ourselves hinder him at times.

Unlike Walker, Eddie Saeta wasn't a HONDO newcomer; the longtime assistant director had served in that capacity for the majority of the show's first fourteen episodes.  Saeta went into Hondo and the Gladiators with thirty years' experience as an A.D., but this installment was one of only three times that Saeta took the director's chair in his long Hollywood career.  He clearly relished the opportunity.

The director's first challenge is staging the opening skirmish between Sam and Brock's reigning champ.  Thanks to tight editing and effective use of sound, Saeta presents the scuffle effectively, and his direction of the extras is impressively detailed.  On the surface, the improptu dogfight draws an enthusiastic crowd full of eager gamblers, but take a close look at the extras: the gathering also includes plenty of women and children with unhappy faces.  Those not shielding their eyes, anyway.  Brock, doesn't care, though he doesn't drum up much business in this locale.  (Later, in Brewster, the more fervent crowd is almost 100% male; I saw one woman holding a parasol in freeze frame once.)

Heads thrown back to show their features....

The director stages an enjoyable rendition of Hangtown Girls by professional dancer Lydia Goya and the super-flirtatious Chanin Hale in the saloon.  It's welcome relief from the tension in the desert involving Hondo's search for his lost pal, Brock's stomach-churning "training", and Nakka's well-staged ambush on the peace mission.  With a long association with The Three Stooges in his thirty-year background, it isn't surprising that Saeta provides the occasional comedic touch to lighten up this tense story.  And this aside.....

....he doesn't overdo it, making nary a false move for forty minutes.  For my money, Saeta is pitching a shutout going into the final inning.

"Sign your paper with all the ceremony you want.  I'm goin' to Brewster!"

The secondary plot resolved, Hondo races to Brewster, where Battling Brock has dispatched all local challengers and is hyping his main event, between a half-wolf  "brought in from the high country" to face "this savage fighting dog you see here":

After Hondo's arrival, Brock lies to the Sheriff about ownership and then distracts Sam by rattling that chain when Hondo tries to call his dog.  With no other recourse, Hondo challenges Brock to a pit fight with Sam's fate at stake.

After a full hour of Brock's villainy we've been looking forward to a comeuppance, but unfortunately Saeta finally stumbles in the final act.  Brock seizes the upper hand with the first two knockdowns, but then gets launched backwards and airborne when he attempts a finishing kick to the head.  Brock's move makes little sense in terms of strategy (he's way out in front) or physics, so while it looks cool on film, it's still distracting.  Hondo can't seem to connect, so Brock's repeated attempts to cheat (i.e. an attempted blackjacking by Jake while Brock has his fingers in Hondo's eyes) make about as much sense as Dick Dastardly's always did. 

Yeah, Saeta lays things on a little thick, but his execution is far from terrible--just frustratingly inconsistent.  When Hondo Lane breaks out of Brock's eye gouge and finally lands a solid right cross to the scoundrel's face, it's definitely a cheer out loud moment.

Hey, don't take my word for it: check out the reaction from Brewster's Sheriff.

Brock has a fight on his hands now, and all the while, Sam is barking like crazy while chained and muzzled on the edge of the pit.  The landings are a little more evenly distributed, and Brock appears a less sure of the outcome.  Ultimately, though, this isn't really Hondo Lane's fight: Brock's ass belongs to the one he's been maltreating, right?

It's after a Hondo tackle that Sam finally breaks that chain, forcing Brock to face his own "killer" creation--and forcing us to face the limits of our suspension of disbelief.  After all, Sam is still muzzled, so how much damage can he do?  Pro that he is, Akins makes an admirable effort to sell it.  This is a look of terror:

Brock cries and pleads for help, taking his cowardice to new depths.  To be fair, we could possibly believe that Sam could be scratching him, if we didn't see otherwise.  Unfortunately after the canine responds to Hondo's command and disengages, Saeta makes a poor choice in showing not just one, but multiple inserts showing us that Brock literally doesn't have a scratch on him afterwards.

When the Sheriff tells us later in that coda that Brock was "mostly in one piece", well--duh!  Showing him face down or obscuring the view enough with his hands to deny a good look would have allowed .  To be fair, it's a truly fitting final image before the fadeout to see Hondo liberating his pal from that muzzle.

Hondo and the Gladiators also boasts the show's usual quota of impressive guest stars, and then some. 

Guest starring for the second consecutive episode, Jamie Farr gets a much meatier part this time as the conscience of this installment. 

Moonlighting from his regular gig on I DREAM OF JEANNIE, Barton MacLane is at his grousing best as the skeptical peace envoy. 

Phil Arnold (like the director, a veteran of numerous Three Stooges shorts) gets some light moments at the Impresario presenting those Boston Belles, and James Chandler makes an impression as the humane, fair-minded lawman.  As mentioned earlier, Lydia Goya and Chanin Hale put on quite a show at the saloon.  If it's possible to make up for Kathie Browne's absence from this one, they do.

Like the show's hero, Hondo and the Gladiators is ragged and unpoised at times, but wins you over when all is said and done.  Just like countless "champions" who preceded him, Sam has been drugged, stolen, beaten--thoroughly abused by his capturer.  And yet, which of those acts motivates Sam to finally get loose and attack the sadist?  None of the above: it's seeing Brock hitting Hondo.  If it's possible for a television show to truly summarizes why a dog is man's best friend, I think Hondo and the Gladiators makes that statement better than any LASSIE or RIN TIN TIN episode.  If we're including animation, I'd even put it up there with FUTURAMA's Jurassic Bark.

For his part, Hondo returns the favor.  Chanin Hale's showgirl takes a shine to the scout while he's enjoying a beer during rehearsals, and Hondo seems to be reciprocating.

But just as things are starting to get interesting, he hears the commotion outside, and from the sounds of it, Sam is in trouble.....

......naturally meaning that the beautiful redhead will just have to wait.  Sorry, Carrot Top.

Maybe if I'd modestly lifted my linen....

HOW MANY CANS OF WHOOPASS?

Too bad that Brock didn't get to face the Hondo Lane we saw before he made peace with his past in Hondo and the Superstition Massacre.  The traveling showman was clearly ahead on points when the pit showdown came to an abrupt halt. Understandable, given that Hondo was coming off a hangover and an emotionally draining day that climaxed with a life-or-death battle with Nakka's forces.  Hondo also took a punch from a frustrated Buffalo in the desert, but lit into Mike Masters' aptly named Bully twice: once for egging on Sam's scuffle (and making money off it), and once for harassing the Boston Belles during their performance. 

IS THE CANTINA STILL STANDING?

Fort Lowell's cantina gets a rest, since Hondo and Buffalo are on the road.  But Hondo's subduing of the Bully results in a broken table, and free whiskey for the night from the barkeep.  A much more good-natured response than the property destruction usually gets.  Then again, Lane was protecting the dance hall girls, and they were bringing in a crowd.

A DOG'S LIFE:

What more needs to be said?   This one's all about Sam.  The teaser shows you just what a tough hombre Sam is: he runs what has to be dozens of miles accompanying Hondo on his journey in the desert heat, and after the briefest of breaks, has enough left in the tank to best Brock's trained killer.

THE BOTTOM LINE:

A few instances of subpar execution and dialogue aren't fatal flaws to a uniquely structured, emotionally resonant episode.  Powered by excellent work by Taeger, Akins and Farr, and energetic direction by Saeta, Hondo and the Gladiators is memorable and touching in the end.  Rewatchable, too.  It isn't the best episode of HONDO, but for its insight into the hero's relationship with both of his best friends, it is my personal favorite.  (*** out of four)


HONDO airs every Sunday morning at 10:15 AM Central on getTV. 

Leon Errol Series: THE JITTERS (1938)

The Leon Errol Salute Series: Number Three

THE JITTERS (1938 RKO Short) Starring Leon Errol, Vivian Tobin, Richard Lane, Alphonse Martel, Jack Rice.  Written by Leslie Goodwins and Charles E. Roberts.  Directed by Leslie Goodwins.

The introduction to our Leon Errol series is at this link.


The tables have turned!  For once, Leon Errol is wondering where his wife (Tobin) was last night.  Her answer: she was practicing for the finals of a dance contest with temperamental instructor Maurice (Martel) at The Ambassador.  Leon, who doesn't jitterbug, is jealous, and becomes even moreso when he's sent out to have dinner alone.  Understandably lacking much of an appetite for steak, Mr. Errol opts for liquid nourishment instead, and his waiter (Rice) joins him. 

It's Rice's alcohol-fueled suggestion to join 'em and then beat 'em that inspires tipsy Leon.  Fortified by a couple of hours' worth of doubles (he started with three), Errol wobbles into The Ambassador, intending to give his perceived rival a punch in the nose.  After staggering down the wide staircase to the amusement of several patrons, Leon Errol finds himself mistaken for instructor Maurice just prior to the scheduled introductory class on the titular dance.

Well, hey, Cab Calloway did sing that whiskey, wine and gin in your jug would have you ready to jitterbug.....

THE JITTERS is cited by many as the best of Errol's 98 shorts for RKO Radio Pictures.    The disagreement with his wife gives us a few spoonerisms ("You can't drag our good game in the nutter!") from a sober Leon.  Veteran Errol watchers will find another layer of humor in watching the boozing carouser act like such a fuddy duddy, and even newcomers can see the overindulgence coming once he's left to his own devices for dinner.

What follows is an entire second reel showcasing Errol's still-considerable skill at physical comedy.  Certainly one of the best on film for one of the century's most famous drunk acts.  Dean Martin and Foster Brooks could compete with Errol's slurred vocalization, but an intoxicated and ambulatory Leon was simply untouchable.

Leon wobbles on his cane while he's standing still, so you can imagine the sight of him walking down the studio staircase.  With his broken, dangling cigarette remaining unsmoked throughout, Errol also does his take on the classic "mirror" routine before "instructing" a class full of dedicated women who vainly try to follow his increasingly shaky swayings in the climactic scene for two hilarious minutes.  The ladies are way too sober to have much of a chance, but they all try gamely.  It's one of the funniest sequences that I have ever seen in any short subject.


THE JITTERS is cited by many as the very best of Leon Errol's 98 shorts for RKO Radio Pictures.  If it isn't, it certainly can't be far from the top spot: preserving a lengthy version of one of his finest Ziegfeld routines for posterity and giving it an inspired setting.   IMO the best possible introduction to Mr. Errol's work--if you can find it.  (**** out of four)

I apologize for the poor qualify of the screencaps; as you can see we really, really need this one remastered and easier to find.

MAVERICK Mondays: "The Day They Hanged Bret Maverick" (1958)

MAVERICK Mondays: Number 21








MAVERICK: "The Day They Hanged Bret Maverick" (1958 ABC/Warner Brothers TV) Starring James Garner as Bret Maverick, Whitney Blake as Molly Clifford, Ray Teal as Sheriff Tucker, Jay Novello as Oliver Poole, Robert Griffin as the Mayor, Burt Mustin as Henry, John Cliff as Cliff Sharp.   Written and Directed by Douglas Heyes.



Bret Maverick rides into Elbow Bend, New Mexico shortly after a mysterious gunman robs a Wells Fargo office of $40,000 in nearby Hallelujah.  The criminal kills the clerk as he rides off, then plants his gun, hat and a few small bills from the robbery in Bret's hotel room.  Maverick soon finds himself framed for the robbery and convicted on testimony from three eyewitnesses.  Bret's facing the gallows--but while Sheriff Tucker has his man, he doesn't have most of the stolen money, and the gambler's reticence in revealing its "hiding place" gives Maverick an ace in the hole.

Well, that and Tucker's greed.  Taking on coroner Poole as a third partner, the Sheriff strikes a deal with the tight-lipped gambler: he'll fake the hanging and allow Maverick to slip out of town in exchange for revealing the booty's location only to the two of them.  While Poole oversees the burial of the empty coffin, Bret escapes from his captor.  The two accomplices surely can't tell the townspeople the truth, and shortly after they arrive back in Hallelujah, Maverick's widow arrives to visit her husband's grave.

Douglas Heyes opened MAVERICK's second season with Bret's biggest pickle yet, and the elder Maverick sibling gets to show off his deductive skills away from the poker table.  The Day They Hanged Bret Maverick commences with a lengthy and largely wordless sequence (the only line, spoken by the Sheriff: "Any strangers ride into town tonight?") that ends with Bret behind bars and facing his final evening on earth. 

Bret takes that one opening from the dishonest Sheriff (ever-dependable Ray Teal) and escapes.  Knowing that Tucker and Poole are compromised allows Bret to return to Hallelujah in disguise in this segment's funniest scene--as his "shorter, less handsome'" twin brother.  Turns out that's a good thing, since Maverick learns that in death he's also taken on all of Cliff Sharp's crimes along with his identity.   "Bret Maverick" is now reduced to a murderer's alias, so clearing his name isn't just a desire--it's now a necessity.

Heyes' ingeniously plotted script gives Bret plenty of opportunities to adjust his tactics to changing game conditions.  Each new revelation makes tracking down the $40,000 that much more imperative: lest Bret spend the rest of his life looking over his shoulder, facing a hanging just about anywhere he goes if his "true identity" is discovered.  Mrs. Sharp mistakes him for a lawman, and in fact Bret basically is, having to play undercover detective in order to find the man who framed him and the money stolen by that man.  By the time all is said and done, Maverick's ability to read people has saved his life twice and taken him to the money that eluded the "real" law men.

The professional gambler having higher morals than the upstanding citizens?  It's a satirical well often mined by MAVERICK, and seldom more ironically than in The Day They Hanged Bret Maverick.  In one of Heyes' best bits of business, a betting pool emerges in Hallelujah's saloon on whether their doomed scapegoat will reveal the location of the loot before his last breath--with nary a voice in opposition.   The Sheriff also reveals that is heavenly Hallelujah's first court-sanctioned execution. implying that lynchings weren't uncommon before.  So much for there being "a little bit of good in the worst of us", as the Mayor says repeatedly.

As he often does, Bret Maverick gets to point out their hypocrisy in the end: it not for the greedy, corrupt officials who are now behind bars, an innocent man would have been hanged.  The Day They Hanged Bret Maverick ends with the Sheriff in jail for setting an innocent man free, and Molly Sharp is facing trial despite the fact that Cliff Sharp is dead and the money is returned, eliminating all possible charges.  "Now what's going to happen?" is Coroner Poole's frequent question, and whatever does apparently won't be dictated by any logic.  Hallelujah is no place for a poker player.  Little wonder Bret, Bart and the former's mustachioed twin all avoided it in future segments.

HOW'D BRET DO AT POKER?

No poker for Bret, though he plays solitaire in his jail cell and cuts cards once with the "widow" later.  Perhaps it's a good thing that Bret didn't make it to the table in the opener of MAVERICK's sophomore season, given the way his luck is going: a coin flip with brother Bart started him on his path to Hallelujah in the first place.  He doesn't start "running good" again until he wins the cut with Molly Sharp at the dinner table.

HOW MANY TIMES DOES BRET GET A GUN PULLED ON HIM?

Twelve, with nine of those being the posse from Elbow Bend that rouses him out of bed in his hotel room.  Not sure if that's a record; something new to start tracking?

NAGGING QUESTIONS:

Two stand out.  How did Bret fire seven shots without reloading at the farmhouse?  And, how did he get his hat back before he located Cliff Sharp?

WISDOM FROM PAPPY?

"There's more than one way to please a lady."  Not the wittiest Pappyism, nor the most profound.  But it certainly fits.  Bret's charm is a great equalizer against Cliff's combination of money and menace.

THE BOTTOM LINE:

Those two nagging questions aside, MAVERICK was a finely tuned machine at the outset of its sophomore season.  As was often the case with Heyes, his script stands up to repeat viewings, with many lines becoming funnier the second or third time around.  A solid tone-setter for not only this show's finest year, but one of the best ever for any scripted series.  (***1/2 out of four)


MAVERICK airs Saturday mornings at 9 A.M. Central on MeTV.

Television Review: GET CHRISTIE LOVE! "Pawn Ticket for Murder" (1974)

GET CHRISTIE LOVE!: "Pawn Ticket for Murder" (Universal/ABC-TV: Original Air Date 10/2/74)  Starring Teresa Graves as Detective Christie Love, Charles Cioffi as Captain Reardon, Andy Romano as Joe Caruso, Dennis Rucker as Belmont.  Guest Stars: Quinn Redeker as Lester Wheeler, Scott Brady as Sergeant Gus Marker, Dick O'Neill as Alex Dawson, Sid Haig as Nick Varga, Kenneth Tobey as Charlie Red, John Steadman (uncredited) as Tex Crandall, Richard Stahl as the Maitre D', George Ives as Butler, Al Stevenson as Max, William Bramley as Bartender, John Elerick as Policeman. Written by Joseph Polizzi.  Directed by Mark Warren.

Series overview for Get Christie Love! HERE 


Homeless wino Crandall is looking for a warm place to sleep it off and settles in the alley behind Dawson's pawn shop.  Unfortunately he ends up fatally stabbed as an accidental earwitness to the bookmaking business Dawson is fronting for the well connected Lester Wheeler.  After the derelict's body is found on skid row, his homicide is delegated to Detective Love by old-school Sergeant Gus Marker.  Legendary within the L.A.P.D. and more than a little sexist, Marker feels that the seemingly open-and-shut case is a perfect way to keep the "little girl" to "out of trouble". 

Postmortem lividity indicates that Tex was moved after death, his stab wound matches an expensive large Bowie knife and his body shows no signs of asphalt marks, pointing to a crime much less routine than Marker believes.  Dismissive of Christie's theories and preoccupied with his ongoing investigation of Wheeler's gambling ring, the Sergeant gives Love full authority to follow up on her intuition--not knowing that Tex's killing can be tied to the shady businessman he's targeting.

GET CHRISTIE LOVE! would soon become too sanitized for its own good, but Pawn Ticket for Murder is a solid example of David L. Wolper's original conception of the series.  Savvy and hard working, Detective Love mostly solves her cases through good old fashioned legwork.  However, this early installment (the fourth to air) doesn't skimp on the action, with Christie forced into a shootout with the same cleaner who murdered Tex while she's interviewing the late derelict's best friend.  (In keeping with Graves' desire not to have Christie kill anyone onscreen, the hitman is still alive after he's shot, and was apparently hit by fire from Love's backup.)

Further bite is provided as Detective Love deals with discrimination based on gender and race in Pawn Ticket for Murder.   She brushes off the former from Marker with a few curt remarks initially.  When the Wheeler connection is discovered, the Sarge tries to pull rank and take over Christie's case--a definite no-go, Sugar!  Christie's pushback is inspired, actually using The Legend's sexism against him ("stealing cases from a woman!") to force the 50/50 partnership that she should have had all along.  

With good practical reason.  The script by Polizzi (Downbeat for a Dead Man) neatly sets up several situations for Love to infiltrate locales (the neighborhood bar, pawnshop, bookmaking operation) that her youth and femininity make her welcome in.  Sergeant Marker would stick out like a sore thumb.  For that matter, so would Reardon.

Graves and Stahl

But our heroine doesn't blend in everywhere, and Christie's opportunity to be conspicuous is the best scene of the installment.  GET CHRISTIE LOVE! was mostly colorblind, even when the Detective ended up in a small town (Highway to Murder).  But entering Wheeler's orbit requires gaining access to him during his downtime--at a clearly restricted (just not heavy-handedly stated as such) country club.  The bigoted maitre'd (superbly cast Richard Stahl) mistakes the Detective for the help, barely manages to stop himself before revealing the club's unspoken policy, and struggles mightily to keep his cool while Christie trolls him politely but mercilessly.  Subtle and hilarious, a perfectly executed scene by Stahl, Graves and director Mark Warren.

Not everything goes down as smoothly.  Hit man Nick Varga (the opening scene's stabber) observes Love probing the crime scene from a window and later witnesses her interrogations of the bartender and Charlie Red.  So shouldn't a savvy crook like Wheeler be especially suspicious that an African-American female seeking him out at that country club (or just showing up at the pawn shop, for that matter) just might be the investigating officer working undercover?  

Those nagging questions notwithstanding, Pawn Ticket for Murder mostly holds up until its finale.  A pit is far too conveniently located (making the planned 'accident' even more questionable than it already is--a bulldozer?) and Christie is left way too vulnerable to sniper fire before disappearing into the warehouse.  Seems uncomfortably like a set-up, but there's nothing nefarious going on internally--Detective Love has won the respect of her most hard boiled colleague long before she helps Marker nab his quarry of two years.  The Sergeant even sends roses in appreciation when all is said and done. 

The ubiquitous Sid Haig is largely wasted in his one-dimensional role as the fearsome henchman, but Kenneth Tobey (later seen in The Big Rematch) is effective as the victim's friend Charlie Red.  In keeping with everything else we see, Detective Love is the clear winner in the interrogation room: Red is much more responsive to Christie's compassion than Marker's forcefulness. 

*

---

For some reason, John Steadman (THE LONGEST YARD, CHEECH AND CHONG'S NEXT MOVIE) is uncredited as Tex Crandall.

ONE LUMP, OR MORE?

Just one, for Mr. Wheeler at his country club.  No martial arts, either, making this installment one that can do without the obligatory for the most part.

THE BOTTOM LINE:

Detective Love is mistaken for the mail girl inside her own department and "the help" outside of it.  She promptly solves the murder she was assigned and cracks a two year case that LAPD's top men had no answers for.  Christie efficiently helps the unit's Vice Squad with a major tip and handles prejudgments of all types with professionalism and charm.  The series would soon become way too tame for its own good, and the payoff scene really sputters, but prior to that letdown Graves converts several opportunities to elevate the material.  I went back and forth between two and a half and three stars on this installment, which despite its flaws comes closer than most to realizing the original conception of the show's heroine.    (*** out of four)

Television Review: HONDO: "Hondo and The War Hawks" (1967)

 




"Your lives are meaningless compared to HONDO!"







HONDO: "Hondo and The War Hawks"  (1967 ABC-TV/MGM/Batjac Productions) Episode 7; Original Air Date: October 20, 1967.  Starring Ralph Taeger as Hondo Lane, Noah Beery Jr. as Buffalo Baker, Kathie Browne as Angie Dow, Gary Clarke as Captain Richards, Michael Pate as Chief Vittoro, Buddy Foster as Johnny Dow, William Bryant as Colonel Crook, Glenn Langan as Victor Tribolet.  Guest Stars John Carroll as Colonel "Buckeye" Jack Smith, Jim Davis as Krantz, Lawrence Montaigne as Soldado, Ed McCready as the Sergeant.  Written by Donn Mullally.  Directed by Michael D. (Mickey) Moore.


Series Overview for HONDO: TV's Unlikeliest Cult Hit at this link  


Hondo is giving the Apaches marksmanship lessons on order from Colonel Crook.  The purpose is twofold: to strengthen their hunting skills and Chief Vittoro's tribal leadership by discouraging any insurgency.  It's a controversial order within the confines of the Fort, though.  Captain Richards is none too pleased with it after he finds the entire Holbrook family dead, massacred by renegades led by Vittoro's would-be usurper Saldado.   Richards grows warier when Crook is summoned to Washington, D.C. and flamboyant "Buckeye" Jack Smith is his temporary replacement, an assignment arranged by well connected freighting magnate Victor Tribolet.

With his hand-picked commander on the way, Tribolet plots to engineer a full-scale war.  Relaying inside information on ammunition deliveries (via henchman Krantz) to the ambitious Soldado, Tribolet plans to freight firepower to both sides once hotter heads prevail.  After Smith imperils months of meticulously managed trust by ordering all Apaches to surrender their arms, Hondo disobeys the new Colonel's directive and rides to Tucson to retrieve Crook.  This insubordination lands Lane in the guardhouse just as Soldado sets a trap for Smith and Richards by volunteering to be the first to turn in all of his people's weapons.

An arrogant but accomplished senior officer arrives to threaten the uneasy peace in Arizona territory.  It's the same setup presented in Hondo and the Savage, but Donn Mullally's lone HONDO offers a much more nuanced script, realizing richer possibilities while offering effective (and timeless) political commentary.  Like General Rutledge, "Buckeye Jack" shows ignorance of the territory, but the relentless self-promoter (as Buffalo derisively details) Smith is the less humble--and therefore, more dangerous--of the two.  Rutledge arrived at Fort Lowell having "never fought" Native Americans before.  Smith, fresh off a successful campaign against the Sioux, is much more assured that he can bend any Apache to his will coming in.  Even moreso after Soldado's quick response to the Colonel's directive.

By bringing Vittoro (absent from Savage) back to the forefront, Mullally is able to present wide ranging points of view from both sides.  When Richards expresses displeasure with Crook's plan, the Chief points out to the skeptical Captain that his braves are also training to support Richards.  In the wake of back-to-back wagon attacks, Smith's order certainly seems understandable to an outsider (if not to Crook).  And given the history between the army and the Apache, even mutineer Soldado isn't entirely unjustified in his distrust of any reliance on the white man. 

While Soldado's following isn't insignificant (note the braves who depart with the renegade when he's ordered away by Vittoro), he lacks the numbers to overthrow his Chief.  Nevertheless, Soldado is a more formidable challenger than Silva--emboldened enough by his successes to brazenly call the Chief an "old woman" twice in front of Hondo and other tribal leaders.  It is arguable whose methods are less admirable (both kill unarmed settlers) but Soldado, who uses Buckeye's arrogance against him, bests Silva as a tactician.  Little surprise that his coup d'état comes closer to succeeding.

For all the shades of grey Mullaly provides, there's still a couple of one-dimensional villains in Hondo and the War Hawks. Victor Tribolet, making his first appearance as the brother of the freighting tycoon played in the pilot by Michael Rennie.  With Rennie unavailable for the series, a well-cast Glenn Langan (THE AMAZING COLOSSAL MAN) made the first of his five appearances, during which he would become a major thorn in Hondo's side, albeit one defined mainly by greed.  Tribolet was Langan's last television role, but he returned for a minor role in Fenady's feature CHISUM in 1970.

Jim Davis returns from the two-part pilot as henchman Krantz, mainly to ask the questions answered by Tribolet's expository lines.  Krantz doesn't fare any better with his fists here than he did previously, though, remaining winless in the HONDO ring. Whether he faced former mining boss Gallagher, Buffalo or Lane, the result was always the same on this series--the future Jock Ewing got his ass kicked.  No wonder he didn't return after this third go-round.

Finally, Mullaly's ironic closing note is a perfect capper, keeping our true heroes unsung.  Proving that the squeaky wheel gets the grease, it's blustery Buckeye Jack who ends up with full credit for "diffusing a volatile situation" back in D.C., stealing Colonel Crook's medal out from under him in the process.  Arrogant myopia resulting in top honors and a cushy desk job in the nation's capital after royally screwing up and almost getting everyone killed--gee, good thing that could never really happen....

WHO'S THE REAL HERO HERE?

Chief of the Chircahua and Apache Nation Vittoro, makes his sixth appearance in the first seven shows (he would appear in only three of the remaining ten) and gets to ride to the rescue again--for the third time, after Hondo and the Eagle Claw and Hondo and the War Cry. 

HOW MANY CANS OF WHOOPASS?

Hondo gets the better of Saldado twice, needing only one punch the first time.  He also gets into a tag team battle against Tribolet's henchman, in which Lane knocks henchman Krantz into a watering trough before the fight is quelled.  And as usual, the battle royale was hosted by Fort Lowell's favorite thirst quencher.  Speaking of.....

IS THE CANTINA STILL STANDING?

Yes, but the front window was shattered during that donnybrook, which saw Hondo and Buffalo on one side and Tribolet's minions on the other.  A smashed window is always flashy, but all in all, there was less property damage than usual in the end.  Several tables and chairs were overturned but still intact.

A DOG'S LIFE:

Sam is present throughout, but for once he's just an observer.  He does get to hang back with Buffalo during Lane's trip to Tucson, and for once, the canine's presence in the watering hole doesn't start a fight.  We do learn Sam is apparently a teetotaler.

THE BOTTOM LINE:

A very well developed entry, probably the best illustrating the precarity of the Vittoro/Crook alliance.  Also commendably introducing another challenging obstacle to maintaining it in Tribolet.  Another of Fenady's intriguimg supporting casts: Langan's hissable villain became a frequent foil and Carroll's TV debut was also his first appearance onscreen in eight long years.  This installment's social commentary has aged every bit as well as its bitterly ironic coda.  (***1/2 out of four)



HONDO currently airs every Sunday morning at 6:30 AM Central on getTV.