Coyote Moon

The Professor (Macdonald Carey) is a real sap. He is driving cross country and comes upon a lady who bums a ride off of him. Soon, she tells the Professor to stop, as she sees her father by the side of the road (Edgar Buchanan). Without really even asking, he gets in the car. Soon the Professor finds that the father, in particular, is a real thief....and you wonder how long this will continue until the Professor either tosses them out OR the pair kill him and take the car! They are truly awful....and you wonder where is this going next. And, since it's "Alfred Hitchcock Presents", what happens next could be almost anything!

I have to say, this episode really had me guessing. I had no idea WHAT was going to happen next...but it certainly turned out to be very funny. I appreciate this, as the episode truly is most original and silly...and quite enjoyable. Well worth your time...and quite a few laughs at the end.

Hitchcock's personal favorite among his own films, Shadow of a Doubt, intersects in this episode with TV's "Petticoat Junction," insofar as the secondary male lead of the film, MacDonald Carey, matches wits against a very scrubby cigarette-bumming Edgar Buchanan here. A full-time career can be had just trying to track which Hitchcock film actors appear in which, if any, episodes of both this series and the shorter-lived but more cinematic "Alfred Hitchcock Hour" which followed it. Try a second career at comparing the similar settings of various episodes, for example, this one with another set on the sandy highways of the Southwest, "Escape to Sonoita," starring the very young Burt Reynolds, who faces more dangerous strangers than the freeloading "tramps" of this episode.

If you find yourself as annoyed and bored as the traveling professor (Carey) is with the excesses of the hitchhikers — the supposedly pregnant daughter, the menacing son, and the old father (Buchanan), then just wait for the payoff of the ending. The coyote in the protagonist's nature emerges just when it's most needed!

This "AHP" episode from 1959 is clever and well done with drama and suspense as it takes a twist in the end. A professor is on his way to a teaching post in California and along the way he picks up a hitchhiker named Julie. And things start to not seem right even more when Julie's father and brother are picked up also. It's like the trio has other things in mind like theft. It's a con game as this episode proves that along the way of travels you shouldn't trust people or pick up strangers. Anyway the professor wises up and sees a plan and moment to change the game as this episode takes a twist and turn with justice being brought upon the con artists! Overall well done episode that teaches turn about is fair play as what comes around goes around!

'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' "Coyote Moon" (1959)

Opening thoughts: Herschel Daugherty was responsible for some exceptional 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' episodes, standouts being "The Creeper", "Little White Frock" and "The Last Dark Step". He was though also responsible for the disappointing "Father and Son" and the big time miss "Sylvia" (one of my least favourites of the series). He really excelled in the creepier episodes and he also excelled in the few that had more of an emotional impact, less so in the slighter plotted, more soapy ones.

"Coyote Moon" is not quite one of his best episodes, not like "The Creeper", "Little White Frock" and "The Last Dark Step". It is in my mind closer to their level than to "Father and Son" and "Sylvia" thankfully and while not an episode of the creepy or poignant kinds it is one of Daugherty's more entertaining episodes. Season 5 does see a major return to high quality after such a bad previous episode in "Appointment at Eleven".

Bad things: There is very little to criticise actually about "Coyote Moon". Maybe it does go a little too over the top on the silliness when the outwitting becomes more outlandish.

Good things: MacDonald Carey's spirited lead performance does raise the episode to a higher level, always incredibly entertaining to watch while also rootable. The acting on the whole is fine and there is a good deal of wit in the chemistry. Daugherty's direction also raised the episode's quality. He was clearly having fun with the material, while mostly not losing control of it, no signs of indifference.

While not lavish, the production values are still atmospheric and set the lively and (when needed) suspenseful tone well. "Funeral March of a Marionette" is suitably macabre and is an inspired choice for theme music.

A good script always helps and the one in "Coyote Moon" is incredibly funny and witty, while also taut and thoughtful. Hitchcock's bookendings are still amusingly ironic. Loved the light hearted and more adventurous tone of the story, which is always lively and has the right amount of suspense too. The ending satisfies immensely and far from a cop-out or too convenient, ending exactly how it should do.

Closing thoughts: Overall, absolutely great.

9/10.

MacDonald Carey is a professor who is just minding his own business, when a pretty young woman asks for a ride. This is the start of trouble. Before long, she notices her father on the side of the road and insists they pick him up. Maybe this is trouble. What happens is a convoluted set of plot circumstances that bring in two other characters and a totally unbelievable conclusion. We have to remember that these shows get the whole thing done in about 25 minutes. It's amazing how much happens. We do get the satisfaction of the good guy coming out on top (as is usually the case with AHP), but the way it happens is just too much.