Road Hog

Robert Emhardt is a series regular and is always good. It takes about five seconds to establish that he's the villain (poor butterfly!). He's a traveling salesman, and his callousness causes the loss of life here (no spoiler... this happens in the first five minutes or so).

Raymond "Canadian Abe Lincoln" Massey plays an old farmer who wants justice. So we have a real clash of personalities here.

The suspense is all about how justice will be served. We presume that Emhardt's character can't win. Often times, this show would "punish" the bad guys only in Hitchcock's closing segment. That wouldn't seem to be enough here. So the question is, how does it go down? And how far will they go?

Definitely worth watching.

This is my second favorite episode in the series, this story plays out like a E.C. Comics suspense story.

Like in any of those tales we get the bad guy whom is a salesman that is unfeeling and greedy, this scum sucker thinks and acts like he owns everything and everyone as if the world revolves around him. From the beginning he squashes a harmless beautiful butterfly with his dirty shoe, ruining a nice girls day whom was admiring it and he just laughs about it, you just feel instant disgust but that little detail not just shows his social regard for other people but also on the lives of others, destruction of life on both counts means nothing to him.

We even see him at that bar how he is trying to sell mainly erotic items (if anyone is into that), but even when he makes a sale or two, he is completely impolite to customers, as he expected customers to buy more. I guess the old saying, the customer is always right meaning nothing to him.

I really like the protagonists the Pine family, on a side note Richard Chamberlain plays one of the sons this was his debut so good start for him. Another side note the other son looks like actor James Brolin when he was that age, I honestly thought that was him, but it isn't. This family of farmers are sympatric characters that were hard working people that maintain a good business and don't look for trouble. We see the youngest son had an accident with a bull and like any good family they are just driving him to a hospital.

It then comes down to the drive where we see the Pine family is racing to save the youngest son's life. It's suspenseful cause your hoping the family will be able to pass the guy and save their son on time, but the damn salesman once again acts like he owns everything and everyone. He knows what is happening is an emergency, but he doesn't give a toss, as he just deliberately just blocks them and drives below the speed limit, even though he knows it's a road that can be for two cars and you can go faster, so it shows the law is meaningless to him. I remember thinking, "c'mon just give them some damn space" and then of course we see the salesman just crosses the line and it just made my guts boil to magma hot.

It's then a revenge story from here on out, I really like how it's handled just seeing the change in mannerism the son's and the farmer you know it's no more mister nice guy. I really love how crafty they are it their revenge scheme it shows that they're not stereotypical country folk but are people that are smart and should not be underestimated.

This is suspenseful because as we see this revenge scheme conducted, we already know the result, but we don't know how. But I'll just say the salesman is about to be lead on the road to hell.

Rating: 4 stars

Robert Emhardt, the master of mean and arrogance, pulls it off again in one unforgettable tale. Another Hitchcock "you get what you deserve" story we all grew up on.

ROAD HOG was written by Bill Ballinger, who did seven episodes for the series, best known for the chiller, THE STRANGLER (1964), based on the Boston Strangler murders. I'll bet, in all probability, he encountered one or two "artistic" drivers himself and thus came this story.

Emhart plays a man named Fratus who is a dang roadhog, defined. Nothing too surprising about that, except when he blocks desperate farmer Mr. Pine (played by Raymond Massey), who is trying to get his dying son to a hospital ASAP.

Mr. Pine eventaully plots a sweet revenge for this creep. Could be one of Massey's greatest tv performances. The perfect match for Emhardt, the guy you love to hate.

Not to be missed, directed by Stuart Rosenberg, who had a distinguished career, behind film classics like, COOL HAND LUKE and WUSA.

Look for silent screen comedy star Snub Pollard, who invented the long moustache, as a bar patron.

The ultimate for Hitch fans. SEASON 5 EPISODE 11 remastered Universal dvd box set. Thanks much to METV for this running this gem late nights.

Especially now that i am 66 & will be 67 on 9/8/21, i have NEVER liked when cars come up fast on a road where u have so much room 2 pull over. Different on the big highways. I ride the Right lane @ the speed limit. U never know what is happening in the other car. My lady friend when i take her with me gives me HELL when i do that. Some roads here in Maryland it can be impossible. So if i have to, i will wave them by me. Unfortunatly i don't have people that will do this 4 me. But i don't honk my horn. I wouldn't be here 2day because u never no what that person is thinking.

Robert Emhardt made a great villain. He emanates slime in this one. He is a traveling salesman who sells trashy stuff to bars (I remember these guys from when my family ran bars when I was a kid). I always felt a little sorry for them, but they were generally honest and hard working. This guy is awful. It's one thing to not pull over, but when the kid yells at him that they have an emergency, that fixes it. It was interesting to see Richard Chamberlain as one of the sons. Around the time that Dr. Kildare gave him a boost into TV immortality and beyond. This is one of those episodes where they play with the guy's mind. It's like the Harry Morgan one where he never really was bitten by the snake.