Big Screen Boston doesn’t cover TV series, but had I seen them in time, the three Route 66 episodes shot in eastern Massachusetts would have definitely rated a mention in the book’s introduction. They offer some of the best location shooting in the city at that time.
I don’t think I’d ever actually seen a complete episode of the series before this; for the uninitiated, the premise is a bit like the original The Fugitive, though the wanderlust captured isn’t because the law is looking for the heroes, it’s more the result of youthful, post-On the Road restlessness. Those heroes, once-wealthy Tod (Martin Milner) and more streetwise Buz (George Maharis), hit the road in Tod’s Corvette, tackling socially conscious issues as they crisscross the country.
Two of these episodes from the show’s second season (1961-62) take place in Boston, one in Gloucester. The Gloucester episode (“Once to Every Man”) offers a rather generic seafaring backdrop and a romance with headstrong heiress (Janice Rule) character for Tod. The two Boston episodes are much more distinctive. The best (“Bird Cage on my Foot”) features Robert Duvall (seen above on the Common, with Park Street visible behind him). As great as Duvall’s subsequent movie career has been, episodic TV offers the only opportunity to see him play young men (by the time he got significant movie roles, he was playing middle-aged guys, as he did in The Godfather). Now, we all know how foolish TV dramas can be when they try to present someone “strange.” Writer Stirling Silliphant’s abstract rants for the heroin addict Duvall plays could have easily drifted into unintentional comedy. But, in Duvall’s hands, they most definitely do not. He’s just someone who’s slipped off the rails a bit; not a caricature. Similarly, the earnestness of the plot—in which idealist Tod tries to help the addict, but is too naive to do so (that’s where Buz comes in)—never drifts into issue-of-the-week formula.
Another thing that’s immediately apparent in the Duvall episode is that, for the most part, it’s geographically true. At its start, Tod and Buz drive their Corvette down Storrow Drive, take the Back Bay exit, turn right on Beacon Street and stop at a friend’s apartment. And that’s where much of the action takes place, with action also in the Public Garden and Boston Common (which it melds into one place).
There’s a similar geographic veracity in the other Boston episode (“To Walk with the Serpent”), which starts at Bunker Hill Monument and climaxes at the North End’s Paul Revere Mall, as well as another dose of socially conscious drama. This time, the FBI convinces our heroes to infiltrate the inner circle of a fascist activist (Dan O’Herlihy of Fail-Safe). Although this expose of a John Birch Society sort of group occasionally drifts into caricature—do they really need a “Seig Heil” sort of salute?—this is another fine mix of issues and character-based drama.
In other words, I’d recommend checking these episodes out for some well-written drama and an effective glimpse at the city nearly 50 years ago. And the cool theme song, of course.
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