I'll Take Care of You

John Forbes (Ralph Meeker) is a guy who has ample reason to be happy. He's a successful used car dealer and lives in a nice house. But things aren't so great, as Forbes' wife is god-awful. She spends money faster than he can earn it and when he tells her he can't, she simply couldn't care less. You get the impression that she is planning on spending everything and then leave him to find some other sucker. Well, she overplayed her hand and John realizes there's only one good option...kill her! Now I am NOT advocating murder...but I certainly sympathized with him...as did the script.

Through this process, John has received some help from his seemingly loyal employee, an old man nicknamed 'Dad'. But following the 'accident' that killed the wife, Dad starts making blackmail demands on John.

I loved this episode. The twist at the end is great and it ended in a most atypical way. Too often on this show, in the end the criminal is caught or Hitchcock gives some stupid epilogue about crime not paying and the guy was ultimately caught. Well, not here....and I really thought this was a dandy episode with a wonderful twist.

Hitch loved stories (and so do we...) about poor guys slipping into quicksand, and here we are again. The age-old tale of a chump saddled with a wife spending him into the house o' poor.

Ralph Meeker returns to the show, this time as Forbes, a struggling car salesman who can't make ends meet. His thoughtless wife (Elizabeth Fraser) is by no means thrifty, refusing to stop. Why end a good thing? In Hitch fashion, there's no choice but to kill her, the sooner the better... Fortunately, Forbes has a good old friend he affectionately calls "Dad" (Russell Collins). Is water thicker than blood?

A trippy trip soap opera, excellent performances all the way around, particularly Meeker and Collins, yes, a favorite of the master of suspense. Best known for BAD DAY AT BLACK ROCK.

In a fun twist, Arthur Batanides plays the detective, usually cast as baddies. Ida Moore, who turned up as kindly little old ladies (some not that kind), plays Kitty.

Agreed, you know there's no foolproof plan here, though the selected ending remains a gem no matter how many times you've seen it.

Written by William Jerome Fay who scored a huge hit with the classic "Man from the South" episode starring Peter Lorre.

SEASON 4 EPISODE 23 remastered CBS dvd box set. All seven seasons are on dvd in a single box. Released 2022. The gift of gifts for fans of Hitchcock.

The strongest point is that in this episode, many viewers can recognize themselves in Ralph Meeker's character; and the scheme here is not new at all. It looks actually like many other ones in the show. The twist ending is not a surprise either, but it remains efficient and will delight many audiences. Not the best ever but still excellent to discover.

The students bought the car for the carnival to be hit with a sledgehammer for $50. At the carnival he states 3 shots for 50 cents. So they would need to sell 100 tickets, and the car would be hit 300 times with a sledgehammer, just for them to break even.

I don't buy the conclusion with the cops making the arrest. There's no motive, so they obviously have the wrong guy.

I'll be honest, I didn't understand this episode, primarily in its final-resolution. Everything was fine until it reached the denouement at the carnival. I'd already gotten-lost on the back & forth conversations re: the headlight. The real problem, I think, was the ambient-noise of the carnival, which covered-up some crucial-dialogue. I just didn't get it. Enjoyed the episode for awhile, it moved-along nicely with unpredictable--and, for a time, directionless-plotline. I like Ralph Meeker but I seem never to be able to watch him without thinking how-closely he resembles & sounds like Vic Morrow of the later-in-the-60's "Combat" TV-series fame, to me, at-least. This, of course, not his fault. I DID feel he overacted somewhat in this episode, in order to convey anger & frustration. Yes, he was experiencing some serious financial & marriage-problems but nevertheless appeared a little too-over-the-top manic in his reactions & behavior. Even still, he remained a sympathetic-character throughout, so I give him credit for that. The only-other, relatively-minor, negative to this episode, was the portrayal of the male-teenagers, shown in stereotypical-fashion as loud, boisterous, hyperactive-kids, probably-older in real-life than the age-group they portrayed. Although these were "harmless" teens, trumpeting a worthy-cause, not hoodlums, they created unnecessary-movement & rather-irritating, overlapping-dialogue, tsk-tsk. I simply never-understood the connection between the beat-up old-jalopy they bought for $50 for their carnival and its relation to the crime. The past-his-prime, old-man-assistant at the car-lot, called "dad" by soft-hearted-owner-Meeker, was likably-sly & close-mouthed. The finale simply was beyond-me due to ambient-noise and confusing-actions & reasoning of the police, as well as "dad's"-wife's final-comments in the fade-out, etc., resulting in a disappointing viewing-experience, amounting to a complete-zero. I know I could re-watch the episode for possible-clarification but won't bother. Proceed at-your-own-risk with this clunker!