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Route 66: Season 1, Vol. 2 Posters
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Rating:  -
First, the bad news. The initial "official" release by Roxbury of the first fifteen episodes of the brilliant 1960's drama Route 66 was pretty much an unmitigated disaster, unacceptable by any standards of a professional DVD TV series official rerelase. Picture quality of many episodes was inferior to that on tapes of Nickelodeon reruns, showing that absolutely no effort had been made to remaster the films. Worst of all, the episode "A Fury Slinging Flame" was an edited for syndication version, missing four and a half minutes of footage. It is patently obvious that the set was put out by an organization that didn't care about quality and was out to make a quick buck. All told, the first Roxbury set was no better than a bootleg. So any fan of the series must look forward to the second set with some trepedation.
On the bright side, the second fifteen episodes of season one of Route 66, in whatever form one is lucky enough to view them in, chronicles one of television's true unheralded classics in the period when it really begins to find its legs. The characters of Tod and Buz are really starting to take on depth, and scripts are becoming more and more character-driven as opposed to the straightforward action-adventure plots which marked the show's earliest efforts. Highlights include:
"Fly Away Home", an epic two-parter in which Tod and Buz become involved in the life of a fatalistic Phoenix cropdusting pilot (played by Micheal Rennie) in an outstanding, moving and poignant story.
"Like a Motherless Child", Tod and Buz split up after an argument and orphan Buz later becomes drawn into the life of a lonely elderly woman who previously gave up her own child.
"Most Vanquished Most Victorious", in which Tod searches for his missing cousin in the slums of L.A. and must confront not only the squalor and cheapness of life there but also the darkness in his own heart.
"Incident on a Bridge", the season finale, a most unusual love story set against the backdrop of blue-collar Cleveland, involving a physical freak and a mute, cowed servant girl.
The five stars are for the excellence of the classic series. Only time will tell, however, if Roxbury improves upon the horrendous quality of their first set.
Rating: -
This is the second half of the first season, comprising 30 episodes. The next 15 shows should include:
Episode 16 --"Fly Away Home (Part 1)" -- Tod becomes a crop duster for a struggling company.
Episode 17 -- "Fly Away Home (Part 2)" -- Tod and Buz get involved in a quandary over an extra-dangerous crop dusting contract.
Episode 18 -- "Sleep on Four Pillows" -- Tod and Buz meet a teenage girl who claims to be on the run from gangsters - but her family thinks she has been kidnapped.
Episode 19 -- "An Absence of Tears" -- Tod and Buz try to protect a blind widow from her husband's murderers.
Episode 20 -- "Like a Motherless Child" -- Buz and Tod split up over whether to return a runaway boy to an orphanage.
Episode 21 -- "Effigy in Snow" -- Tod and Buz try to stop a murderer who has left his latest victim in the snow at Squaw Valley.
Episode 22 -- "Eleven, the Hard Way" -- Tod and Buz meet a gambler (Walter Matthau), whom the people of Broken Knee have asked to save their town.
Episode 23 -- "Most Vanquished, Most Victorious" -- At the request of his aunt, Tod traces the life of his saintly cousin through the Los Angeles slums.
Episode 24 -- "Don't Count Stars" -- Tod and Buz get involved in a custody case over a 9-year-old heiress and her drunken, gambling "uncle."
Episode 25 -- "The Newborn" -- Tod and Buz protect a Native American girl and her newborn from their employer, who rules the land like a feudal baron.
Episode 26 -- "A Skill for Hunting" -- Tod and Buz are framed as poachers after Tod interferes with a real poacher's hunting.
Episode 27 -- "Trap at Cordova" -- Tod and Buz are coerced into teaching school children in rural New Mexico.
Episode 28 -- "The Opponent" -- Buz visits and inspires his boyhood hero, a former boxing great (Darren McGavin) who is now on the skids.
Episode 29 -- "Welcome to Amity" -- Tod and Buz meet a woman (Susan Oliver), who wants to bury her mother in a nearby cemetery. The people of Amity want to stop her.
Episode 30 - "Incident on a Bridge" --Tod and Buz board in a home with an abused, mute girl and her two jealous - and violent - suitors.
The five stars is for the show; I reserve less than 5 for the digital transfer. Do hope the digital transfer is cleaner and the sound better, although I can't hope for much from Roxbury/Infinity who have made this series posible on DVD. Route 66 - Season 1, Vol. 1 could have been better.
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