Wednesday, January 22, 2020
WKRLEM TV The Grave
Last night I did something I don't usually do. I turned to regular TV instead of a streaming service. I don't normally watch regular channels but the wife was doing something so I was waiting for her to come back. We generally watch our stories together so I didn't want to start a new episode of something we were watching. I turn to ME TV which specializes in old TV shows. What was playing? The Twilight Zone episode "The Grave."
What is great about watching old TV shows is seeing great old actors in the beginning of their careers. You even can get to see big movie stars slumming in TV dramas that you don't really see today. In this episode you get Lee Marvin a big star. Plus Lee Van Cleef one of the best Western Stars from Spaghetti Westerns. One of the best character actors of all time Strother Martin. An all star cast.
It was very well done and very engrossing. I think the best part of the whole episode was Elen Willard who plays the fey love interest of the murdered gunslinger. She is a grade a nutjob and pretty scary. She is an interesting case. A bit player in a bunch of television shows in the early sixties she quit because "acting was too draining emotionally for her." I find that very interesting.
All in all it was a very interesting episode.
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8 comments:
I watched that one not long ago - something about a knife and an article of clothing - maybe I need to rewatch it - I remember it as being pretty good.
And given the cast, it's kind of a preview of The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, Pilgrim.
Exactly right Sixty.
Lots of good wood in the show. Especially at Boot Hill.
Oh, it's on!
Strother Martin had a wonderful wild eyed look in The Wild Bunch
The Man who Shot Liberty Valance was sung by Gene Pitney. He had a cottage on Crystal Lake in Rockville, CT. So did the family of a friend. We would get drunk, drive our boat close to Pitney's cottage, and steel his boat gas tanks. He always had several full tanks. We would take a full one and leave an almost empty one.
You really can't go wrong with B&W.
Trooper York said...
What is great about watching old TV shows is seeing great old actors in the beginning of their careers.
Actually, they were at their peak when they were doing TV. Most of them were WWII vets (Lee Van Cleef was in the original cast of Mister Roberts on Broadway, Lee Marvin was in The Caine Mutiny with Bogie) and so were in their 40s.
Fun fact" When they were doing the promos for Bonanza is the summer of '59 and showed a clip of Pernell Roberts, I couldn't believe he was in the show because he was always the bad guy.
Twilight Zone was a big deal when I was a kid. I'm enjoying watching old Perry Mason shows now.
My grandma always had opera music playing. Except when Perry Mason was on. No operas during her soap operas either. Edge of Night was her fav.
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