1- VIEWERS CHECK THIS OUT...........
*Two of the guest stars play a father and son with a business partnership. Marty Wallach (played by long-time character actor Barry Sullivan) is the dad and his son, Paul (played by Glenn Corbett), has run into gambling and extensive debt problems. Paul's wife (played by Katherine Justice) is pregnant with their first child. Paul is having a horrible time being hunted down by bookies for the gambling debts he has built up. The arsonist (played by Lithuanian actor Kaz Garas) Paul has hired to take down the warehouse he and his father own, is being wanted for murder and wants to get out of town as soon as possible. The fire the arsonist started for Paul resulted in the death of two fire fighters - one of them a friend of Mike Stone.
If this sounds like a tangled web, it actually is. The interviews conducted by Stone and Keller result in the viewer being briefed and educated on arson and the insurance connection. The actor John Larch plays another firefighter friend of Stone. Larch was very popular on TV as the dad of Gidget with Sally Field.
Corbett does not play a sniveling, whimpering, gambling addicted guy who has devastated his daddy with his gambling and arson-ing ways very well. Corbett co-starred in several Hollywood western films (with Jimmy Stewart and at least 3 with John Wayne). This part on TSOSF was not really a good work of casting for the very tough-looking and macho Corbett. When his father goes off on him and yells at him on how angry he is, Paul (Corbett) stands with slumped shoulders and furrowed brow and a whiny defensive tone.
Sullivan plays the disappointed father very convincingly. He will do anything for his son.....maybe this has been part of the problem? Sullivan was well-known in Hollywood for his starring and co-starring roles. He is one of the few Hollywood actors with stars on the walk of fame for movies and television.
There is an awkward scene at approximately 39:45 where Keller is trapped under some porn magazines with a fire beginning to consume the warehouse he is in. He calls out to Stone for rescue and it just feels awkwardly played and staged.
In Act IV, the episode wraps up with a chase, gun shots and fisticuffs jammed in to make it a whirl of a finish.
Final Grade: B.
