The Fifty Greatest Prime Time Drama Television Episodes of the 1960's.
My choice of the best of drama series television, presented in chronological order from 1960 through 1969.
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- DirectorNorman LloydStarsAlfred HitchcockSteve McQueenPeter LorreIn a Las Vegas casino, an unpleasant little man hopes to use a young man's wish to impress the young woman he has just met to pressure the young fellow into accepting a macabre bet.
- DirectorWalter GraumanStarsRobert StackElizabeth MontgomeryHarold J. StoneRusty Heller is a nightclub performer who has her eyes set on a better life for herself which, in her case, means lots more money. She sets her eyes on mobster Charles 'Pop' Felcher who has his own ambitions: with the recent arrest of Al Capone on tax evasion charges, he sees himself taking over as the top mobster in Chicago. When Felcher shows little interest in her, she settles for his lawyer, Archie Grayson. Felcher eventually comes around but Rusty starts to play a dangerous game when she decides to make money off Felcher and the Capone mob by selling both of them the same information.
- DirectorDouglas HeyesStarsBoris KarloffWilliam ShatnerJoanna HeyesA married couple moves into a house that is haunted by images reflected in glass and mirrors.
- 1957–196330mApproved8.2 (130)TV EpisodeDirectorBuzz KulikStarsRichard BooneJames BestRobert EmhardtPaladin reads a newspaper article describing a brutal killing. After capturing the fugitive he goes to a small Texas town to catch a train north with his prisoner. Paladin has his hands full as the townspeople are out to liven up what would have been just another quiet night.
- 1957–196330mApproved8.3 (119)TV EpisodeDirectorBuzz KulikStarsRichard BooneJames BestRobert EmhardtAfter one of the townspeople shoot and kill his prisoner, Paladin vows they will all pay. Is he seeking revenge for losing a prisoner or trying to take those that did it into custody for the justice they felt they had already handed out?
- DirectorDouglas HeyesStarsAgnes MooreheadDouglas HeyesRod SerlingWhen a woman investigates a clamor in the attic of her rural house, she discovers a small UFO with little aliens emerging from it. Or so it seems.
- 1955–196230mTV-148.2 (592)TV EpisodeDirectorNorman LloydStarsAlfred HitchcockJohn FiedlerRichard JaeckelA suspected serial killer is put in a jail house with a salesman, while a lynch mob waits outside.
- DirectorJames SheldonStarsJohn LarchCloris LeachmanDon KeeferOn an isolated family farm in Peakesville, Ohio, young Anthony Fremont, who has vast mental powers but lacks emotional development, holds his terrified family and neighbors in thrall to his every juvenile wish.
- DirectorJames SheldonStarsMartin MilnerGeorge MaharisBetty FieldOn intuition Buz steers the 66ers off route to a Maryland hamlet where everyone thinks they recognize Buz - as returning prodigal of a hated local clan. When Buz meets the Colby clan they look like clones - of Buz. Tod & Buz speed into Charm City where a family member ran to with-child, disappearing into the sin-filled streets of Baltimore. Orphan Buz has to know if she's his mother.
- DirectorDavid FriedkinStarsDick PowellPeter FalkInger StevensA truck driver on a very tight schedule stops to give a lift to a pregnant hitch-hiker; and then his life gets very complicated.
- DirectorDavid Lowell RichStarsMartin MilnerGeorge MaharisAlbert SalmiTod and Buz, in Mesquite, Texas "finishing up a 30 day job at a brick factory", meet performers at the town's rodeo. Two of the contestants hate the rodeo's clown and torment him with nasty pranks. Buz is drawn into the latest gag unknowingly and helps both the rodeo clown and a female stunt rider to find peace with themselves.
- 1958–19631hTV-148.5 (74)TV EpisodeDirectorRobert GistStarsPaul BurkeHorace McMahonHarry BellaverA mentally-stressed police officer suffers a debilitating breakdown over his family's poor financial condition, catalyzed by missing button on his uniform.
- DirectorJohn NewlandStarsRhodes ReasonRichard AndersonJoan FreemanThe series finale "I Kiss Your Shadow", with Joanne Linville and George Grizzard as guest stars, is a story of a man crushed by the memory of his wife's death in an automobile accident. In his book Danse Macabre, Stephen King nominated this episode as "...the single most frightening story ever done on TV." King wrote that Bus Stop was "...a straight drama show,... The final episode, however, deviated wildly into the supernatural, and for me, Robert Bloch's adaptation of his own short story "I Kiss Your Shadow" has never been beaten on TV - and rarely any where else - for eerie, mounting horror."
- DirectorPaul NickellStarsMichael LandonLorne GreenePernell RobertsAfter being robbed in the desert, Adam stumbles onto a seemingly chivalrous prospector named Peter Kane, who offers him a mule and supplies for three days work. However, Kane is a demented madman who is interested in psychological torture, hoping to drive a seemingly rational man like Adam to murder. As Ben, Hoss and Little Joe try to retrace the missing Adam's footsteps, Adam must rely on his own wits to defeat Kane.
- DirectorDavid Lowell RichStarsMartin MilnerGeorge MaharisLuther AdlerTod and Buz, are working as taxi drivers in Chicago, Illinois. They become acquainted with a Prohibition Era beer baron just released from a 32 year prison term. Tod and Buz strongly differ in their regard for this man, who finds time has changed the people and places of his youth. However, one thing may not have changed - an old enemy.
- DirectorPeter TewksburyStarsGlenn CorbettTed BessellMichael BurnsVern decides to get a tattoo in nearby Exeter which is a rough little town where the kids from Cardella go to booze and pickup women. He takes Howie along so Wes, Irene, Tom-Tom and Nora have to give up their date night to rescue them, or so they think. The frank discussions about sexuality and why young men go to a town like Exeter is explored with amazing realism. Humor and drama go hand in hand throughout the show. A flawless piece of writing. The last five minutes are a showcase for Randy Boone as he shows off his skills as both an actor and musician.
- DirectorStuart RosenbergStarsE.G. MarshallRobert ReedSylvia SidneyThe Prestons defend a disturbed young man accused of the murder of a girl he picked up and for which the state is demanding the death penalty. Although a court-appointed psychiatrist has evaluated him as sane, it's obvious that the man is, at the least, psychotic with some serious mother issues, but the Prestons discover that the state is in no mood to cut a deal and is determined to convict the man and put him to death.
- DirectorStuart RosenbergStarsE.G. MarshallRobert ReedSylvia SidneyIn the conclusion of a two-part story, murder suspect Joey Tassili leaves intensive psychiatric evaluation and is placed on trial for the murder of a waitress. The Prestons seek to save Tassili from the electric chair by testing the McNaughton Rule of legal insanity and delivering an impassioned argument against capital punishment.
- DirectorSydney PollackStarsVince EdwardsSam JaffeGary CrosbyA successful but arrogant lawyer, one of the few women to make it to the very top in a male profession, enters the hospital, and it turns out that she's hiding an addiction to heroin.
- DirectorSydney PollackStarsVince EdwardsSam JaffeGary CrosbyHaving discovered Faith Parsons's excuse of a back injury to feed her addiction to morphine, Zorba demands that Casey make changes in her treatment. Faith then cleverly exploits the attention of a young hospital visitor to help her procure the drug she craves.
- DirectorWalter GraumanStarsPaul BurkeHorace McMahonHarry BellaverFlint is ordered to prison to witness the execution of a murderer he helped capture.
- DirectorElliot SilversteinStarsRichard ChamberlainRaymond MasseyForrest TuckerA man suffers a heart attack after coming to see his blind daughter, whom he abandoned when she was a child in order to live a vagabond life. The daughter refuses to forgive him and will not accept his offer of help, nor will she take a chance on surgery to restore her sight, because she has been disappointed by past operations that failed.
- DirectorWilliam A. GrahamStarsDavid JanssenSusan OliverRobert DuvallKimble flees Los Angeles with a woman who loves him after checking out a lead on some one-armed man, but Lt. Gerard is right on their trail.
- DirectorWilliam A. GrahamStarsDavid JanssenSusan OliverRobert DuvallDr. Kimble still fleeing with the woman he loves, decides to fake their deaths at sea, hoping it will fool Lt. Gerard forever.
- DirectorJesse HibbsStarsRaymond BurrBarbara HaleWilliam HopperIn a very rare occurrence, Perry Mason loses a case when Janice Barton is convicted of murdering her aunt and is subsequently sentenced to death. After the verdict, Perry still investigates to try to find the real killer among the heirs.