Route 66 - The Complete Second Season Review
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Route 66 - The Complete Second Season Feature
- The original "road trip" drama, Route 66 (1960-64), one of the most acclaimed series to emerge from '60s television, returns for a star-studded second season in Route 66: Complete Second Season Television Series. Now you can own all 32 episodes of season two of this treasured televisionic, digitally remastered for the highest quality picture and audio possible in the original, full
Buckle up for a complete season of one of television’s very best dramatic series. You may be tempted to want to pull an all-nighter and drive straight through all 32 episodes, but it’s best to take frequent rest stops to fully enjoy this trip into the heart of America. Well-heeled Tod Stiles (Martin Milner) and Hell's Kitchen-bred Buz Murdoch (George Maharis) are back on the road, still "looking and moving" to find "a place where we really fit." Until then, as Buz proclaims, "It’s not the getting there that counts, it’s the going." And these cats go. Speedways and turnpikes? They’re nowhere. In
Route 66, what usually happens is that Tod and Buz happen upon someone in crisis, like a Jewish boy who loses faith after his father is murdered, a terminally ill woman, and a mysterious woman who steps off a bus wearing a creepy mask. Most of the time, Tod and Buz are in this together, but sometimes, there is tension when only one insists on getting involved. "Can’t you leave one tornado for the weather bureau?" an annoyed Tod asks Buz in "Love is a Skinny Kid," one of the season’s best episodes.
Route 66 was one of the best written shows on television (series creator and future Oscar-winner Sterling Silliphant wrote many of the second season scripts). The hipster dialogue keeps the Beat, but it's the compassionate stories that really drive the series. Tod and Buz are audience surrogates who experience America's diverse communities, from New England shipbuilders to a Midwestern Polish family.
Route 66 is on the side of authentic craftsmanship, cultural traditions, and mom and pop restaurants where you can get "soup, salad, entrée, fruit cocktail, two vegetables, the whole truth and nothing but the truth" for .19. This season gets extra mileage from its premium guest stars, including Ethel Waters in her Emmy-nominated performance as a dying blues singer in "Good Night, Sweet Blues," Robert Redford as a Polish mill worker's college educated son whose homecoming is marred by tragedy in "First Class Mouliak," Robert Duvall as a heroin addict in "Birdcage on My Foot," Lee Marvin as a French chanteuse's violently possessive manager in "Mon Petit Chou," and an unrecognizable Martin Sheen as a psychotic gang member in "And the Cat Jumped Over the Moon" (with James Caan as a former gang member trying to go straight). That's Burt Reynolds in a bit part as a small Texas town hood in "Skinny Kid." Here's hoping they roll out
Season Three soon. I can't wait to get on the road again.
--Donald Liebenson
Now you can own all 32 episodes of season two of this treasured television classic, digitally remastered for the highest quality picture and audio possible in the original, full frame 4.3 aspect ratio.
Famous for its catchy Nelson Riddle theme song, intriguing characters, top-drawer writing and stellar guest star appearances, Route 66 was one of the most highly rated shows of the era, establishing the Corvette as an American icon.
Filmed in locations from coast to coast, the adventures continue for Tod Stiles (Martin Milner), an intellectual who has led a privileged and sheltered life, and Buz Murdock (George Maharis), a tough young man, raised in Hell's Kitchen, struggling his entire life just to survive.
The duo encounter folks good and bad even chance encounters with love in shipyards, chicken farms, cattle ranches, rodeos, hospitals, courtrooms, hotels, amusement parks, wrestling rings, religious retreats and wild animal parks.
Guest starring in the sophomore season is a renowned list of stars, including Robert Redford, Douglas Fairbanks, Robert Duvall, Suzanne Pleshette, Lon Chaney Jr., John Astin, James Caan, Lee Marvin, Martin Sheen, Ed Asner, DeForest Kelley, Marion Ross, Peter Graves, Jack Warden, Tuesday Weld and Julie Newmar, among others. One special episode features several of Maharis relatives.
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Jun 16, 2011 02:05:18
