Route 66 (TV Series) A Fury Slinging Flame (1960) User Reviews

The Specter of Atomic War

[aimless-46 · 23 May 2008]

If you are wondering about the strange title, "A Fury Slinging Flame", of this episode from the first season of "Route 66", it is part of a Tennyson poem quoted by guest star Leslie Nielson's character. Specifically it is from "In Memoriam A.H.H.", a Tennyson friend who died at age 22. "And Time, a maniac scattering dust, And Life, a Fury slinging flame".

Dr. Mark Christopher (Nielson) is a famous scientist who believes from his Russian friend's cryptic message that the USSR will initiate a New Year's Day nuclear attack on the United States. The episode was originally broadcast on December 30, 1960. One of the most interesting things about the series is the many episodes reflecting subjects about which 1960's viewers were especially concerned.

Christopher has been unable to convince his associates to act on this information and is under orders from the government to not disclose it, as doing so would create a panic. So along with his son and a small band of followers, he takes shelter deep inside Carlsbad Caverns (where the episode was actually filmed) much to the annoyance of the National Park Service (action star James Brown plays the Supervising Park Ranger). Tod and Buz assist Paula Shay (Fay Spain), a beautiful newspaper reporter who wants to interview Dr. Christopher.

Tod and Buz are pretty ancillary to the whole story. You know this not just because of their lack of screen time but because this is one of the few episodes where Buz does "not" punch out somebody.

Leslie Nielsen good as always

[v8powerage · 10/10 · 7 June 2020]

The episode stars Leslie Nielsen still with black hair, the story might seem to be far fetched, but 20 years later world has stood on verge of just such an event as described in the story.

12/30/60: "A Fury Slinging Flame"

[schappe1 · 7 April 2015]

This is an episode I could still remember vividly years after I first saw it. It makes the other episodes seem unimportant by comparison. . Leslie Nielsen is a scientist who, based on indications he thinks he has received in playing chess with a Russian counterpart, thinks the Soviets are about to launch a nuclear attack on New Year's Day. He convinces a group of people of his belief and they all go to Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico, feeling that being deep underground will give them the best chance of survival. Ignoring the pleas of park rangers and friends, including another scientist, to leave, Nielsen and his group, (which includes frightened children one of which is his own son), grimly stay on until his ex-wife arrives with a court order that she has custody of the children. As she and the kids leave, Nielsen runs after them at zero hour. They get outside and…nothing happens. But Nielsen doesn't give in to humiliation. He makes a haunting prediction with a line that resonated with me to this day: "It didn't happen this Wednesday. But does that just mean it will happen on some other Wednesday?"

I grew up in this era and behind all our thoughts was that at some point we would experience that "other Wednesday". "On the Beach" had come out in 1959, a story of the last survivors of a nuclear war trying to live life as best they can before the effects of the war drift over to where they are, (Australia). The Cuban Missile Crisis was just around the corner. Conrad Nagel, (a grand old actor from the silent era), plays Nielsen's older colleague and gives a speech about how if the attack came, he'd rather be right where the missiles come down and get it over with because what remained wouldn't be much of a life even if you did survive it. We don't' think about these things as much these days. Time has passed and that other Wednesday hasn't happened- yet. The politics of the world have changed. But these weapons are still out there and so is human conflict. That other Wednesday will always loom until we learn to respect each other and minimize conflicts, rather than maximizing them.

Where are the boys during all this? They are working at a near-by amusement park and looking forward to their New Year's Eve celebration. They meet up with an attractive lady reporter who cons them into posing with her as new converts to Nielson's group so they can get a story. Todd has a good line of his own at the end when he suggests to Nielsen that there are other days of the week and perhaps we see what they have to offer before that Wednesday comes. The perfect attitude for someone who's life is just a trip down a road to see what's around the bend until the road comes to an end.

Unfortunate Misfire

[dougdoepke · 11 November 2017]

A renowned scientist gathers his son and friends to seek shelter in Carlsbad Caverns from an expected nuclear catastrophe. There he encounters patient Park Rangers and our two guys who are working in the area. What he hasn't counted on is a furious ex-wife.

Looks to me like the writers were flailing around for an ending to this end-of-the-world story. But then the story's got a distinguished scientist acting out an apocalypse the evidence for which sounds plain goofy. So writer Silliphant's got a basic story problem. At least we get a pretty good view of spooky Carlsbad Caverns, whose rocky spires go in six different directions. Had the visuals dwelled on these as metaphor, fear of the world's end would have been heightened. Instead, we get a lot of bad dialog and rushing around, minus the needed mood potential of the caverns.

If I seem negative, it's because I think an unusual location and story idea are wasted. Usually, dialog and narrative were a series strong point, but not here.

On the acting front, Nielsen as the scientist does his best. There's no tongue in cheek, though he may have been tempted. Also, I wish we saw more of Ms Kardell—her lush dimples amount to caverns of their own. And too bad Ms Spain, the aggressive reporter, passed away at an early age. Her resume is impressive, while she manages here in a difficult role.

Anyway, I'm ready after this misfire to hop into the Corvette's back seat and get to the next place with our two poetic wanderers.

Here's a conspiracy theory predating JFK's era

[lor_ · 24 September 2023]

Writer Stirling Silliphant concocted a topical story line for this segment, set near White, New Mexico, and the threat of nuclear war -likely to be started by a madman in the USSR, is oddly topical once again with Putin and North Korea's dictator both involved in nuclear saber rattling 63 years later!

Leslie Nielsen is cast as a famous atomic scientist who becomes paranoid via veiled messages from a Russian pen pal he plays long-distance chess with, becoming convinced a First Strike from the communists is due imminently, on New Year's Day. (Show was broadcast at Holiday time.) He assembles a group of people to hide out with him in Carlsbad Caverns, like a bunch of Survivalists, ready to sit out the WW III they expect and its consequences. It's a big issue for the National Park Service and the government to deal with.

Fay Spain guest stars as a national reporter from Boston determined to break the story about the people hiding way down in the caverns, a similar situation to Billy Wilder's classic noir "Ace in the Hole". She's also designated romantic interest for Milner, while Maharis gets a sassy Lauren Bacall-type, played by Lili Cardel A fellow scientist friend of Leslie's (played by Conrad Nagel) is sent from MIT to try and talk sense into him, to no avail. A side issue has Milner "inheriting" a truck with a trailer for living in bequeathed to him by Nielsen, who has no use for such things after squatting in the caves, awaiting Armageddon.

Silliphant provides a well-written soliloquy for Nielsen to recite on how he figured out the time of Armageddon by clues in his correspondence with his Russian friend, no more far-fetched than the innumerable conspiracy theories floating around today, leading to a photogenic chase on location through Carlsbad Caverns, leading to the expected anti-climax ending.