Crooked Mile

... for you have Katharine Ross five years before raindrops are falling on her head, George Kennedy three years before he won best supporting actor for Cool Hand Luke, and then there is Burt Reynolds who will be a headliner in films all during the 1970s.

In this episode, blacksmith Quint (Burt Reynolds) is seriously seeing Susan (Katherine Ross). Her dad, Cyrus, is furious about their dating. For once it seems it is not racism associated with Quint being half Comanche. Instead, Cyrus doesn't want anybody to take his daughter away from him. He somehow feels that because he spent his life raising her, she owes him her time as an adult taking care of him. Susan's mother died when she was seven.

Realizing he can't handle this situation, Cyrus calls his relative Praylie to "get rid " of Quint. But what they have here is a failure to communicate. Praylie considers killing the same as getting rid of Quint. Cyrus just wanted him scared away. Praylie is further agitated that Cyrus didn't tell him that Quint has powerful allies in Festus and Marshall Dillon. This disagreement turns tragic and violent. I'll let you see exactly what I mean by that.

I'm really starting to like the Festus/Quint friendship. This week there is a humorous scene between the two of them - and doc -in the Long Branch on the subject of making the perfect ham.

One of Gunsmoke's most unusual "comic relief" scenes---the gourmet smoked ham that we first see on Doc's operating table. For a few seconds, we think that it's a HUMAN body part...but ultimately, the hunk-a-ham ends up over at the Long Branch for a fun feast with Doc, Festus, Quint, etc. The scene actually made me hungry. But then, trouble walks in the door....

And speaking of HAM (fans of Mr. Kennedy: get ready to hit the "NOT USEFUL" button....), George Kennedy nearly ruins this episode for me; he just doesn't have the acting chops for this kind of role; his line delivery is phony and ill-at-ease. He's nowhere near the class of actor as, say, James Arness or Royal Dano--who is positively TERRIFYING in this show. Man, what an ominous, threatening, inhuman dude! Now THAT"S a fine actor--totally poised and technically solid.*

So I deduct one rating star for Kennedy but restore it for Dano. The plot is pretty standard and predictable--which is fine, since the script is written well. Great shot of Festus and Quint DIVING out of the blacksmith shop as it EXPLODES--try it in SLO-MO! Also-- (NON-Spoiler alert)--there are two deaths during the final climatic scene--one looks very fake (director should have re-filmed it), the other really cool. Also, Ken Curtis and Burt Reynolds make a great team. LR

* (A friend and I had the great pleasure of meeting with Royal Dano in his Santa Monica home in September, 1988. I was in town to meet with Ray Bradbury re: a musical project, and called Royal cold out of the phone book. I had a videocassette of "Face of Fire" ('59) which he appeared in but didn't own a copy of. So he invited my friend and me over. A THREE-HOUR chat, during which he talked on like an excited kid---and he recalled EVERY DETAIL of his career, too, from his stage debut in "Finians' Rainbow" (1947) to the present. My only regret is that we didn't have a recorder to capture our talk. His wife kept peeking around the corner saying "Royal, your dinner's getting cold.." What a night!)

Always good acting with the regulars, but this episode had great guest acting, the exchange between George Kennedy and Katherine Ross really showed her skills and she could hold her own with a veteran actor like George Kennedy, the episode was well written with many layers to it.

Once again, we get the man can't allow his adult daughter talking to men, daughter resists, man scold's daughter, daughter still resists, man hits, daughter, daughter whimpers and goes away cowering, daughter conceals her love affair. His reasoning, because she's my daughter, oh...... Ok...... Somehow this plot has been resurrected more times than Jason Voorhees. The forbidden love story can be traced all the way back to Romeo and Juliet and probably before. It's been used in movies, TV, songs, Broadway plays, and who knows where else, usually with predictable results.

Given that this shopworn storyline has been driven into the ground over and over, this episode doesn't do a lot for me, nor do any of its predecessors. Come to think of it, I wouldn't have found this type of story all that interesting had it not been recycled numerous times and should be in the cliché hall of fame.

We do however get some name actors in the deal; we get Morgan Woodward who's a serviceable actor provided he has material to work with and doesn't try and overact the part. George Kennedy whose best moments were in Naked Gun. Royal Danno whose always been a strong character actor. And lastly Katherine Ross whose been an excellent actress in whatever she does. However, no matter who they get to play the parts, this episode belongs in the recycle bin.

George Kennedy was usually a bad father on TV shows. A wooden lack of expression and a monotone robotic voice made it hard to know if he had any feelings. Condemning his kids for whatever they were happy doing made it hard to like him as a Dad.

In this episode, Kennedy is upset that his super hottie daughter (Katherine Ross) is sparking with Quint Asper (Burt Reynolds). Reynolds was another actor who had a hard time emoting. He could smile or frown, but that was about as far as it got.

So these two guys are fighting with each other over Ross, and along comes Royal Dano, another guy that had zero range of expression. Normally Dano played dim-wits, hill-people, miners, etc.

This time Dano plays the tough hill-man from the Dagler family tree. Kennedy is his cousin, and called him down to Dodge so he can kill Quint, the man his daughter loves. Not very great family values.

Festus knows Dagler, and he gets added to the mix of tough characters. This was back when Festus was a tough hill-man himself, before the last years, when the writers watered him down into a hillbilly goofball.

Reynolds and Ross are going to elope, but even though Quint can see that trouble is brewing, he wants to do it on his own time. Ross wants to go sooner, because she knows her Dagler family is dangerous, and that all hell is about to break loose.

Unfortunately Quint leads the beautiful Katherine Ross into a major family conflict, and then leaves her hanging there, and she pays the price. Not a great moment for Quint.

Quint should have protected Ross, by eloping with her, or he should have stayed and fought it out with Royal Dano, and her father, George Kennedy. That would have been a great action-packed finale, and they could have lived happily ever after.