Route 66 (TV Series) Fly Away Home: Part I (1961) User Reviews

Legendary episode of a legendary show

[coop-16 · 10/10 · 20 July 2011]

I had heard about Route 66 for years, however, like other shows of the Golden Age of TV, it was inaccessible to me. Thanks to Retro TV, I have just discovered how good it was. One or two of the episodes I have seen have been weak, at least one, ( "A Fury Slinging Flame") , was so far-fetched it bordered on camp. However, others from the first season. ( "Play It Glissando", "Ten Drops of Water", "Strengthening Angels", "Three Sides") have been gripping drama, sometimes with moral and spiritual overtones. One ( " Sleep On Four Pillows") was hilarious.

However, the real highlight of the season so far has been "Fly Away Home.". TV Guide once listed it among the fifty best TV episodes of all time. On seeing it, I would say they were right. Michael Rennie and Dorothy Malone were both magnificent. Our boys, Tod and Buz act more as a chorus to the unfolding tragedy, but that does not render the episode any less gripping, or less vividly written by Silliphant. I have only one complaint. The good folks at retro only showed the second part of the two-part episode. I would love to see both parts someday.

I hope Retro will get around showing to certain other unseen classic shows from The Golden Age. I am thinking of a certain show about an abrasive, dedicated brain surgeon, a certain show about a compassionate but frustrated social worker, and above all, a show about a conscientious, crusading state legislator. Of course, none of these shows had a cool red Corvette.

2/10-17/61 "Fly Away Home"

[schappe1 · 12 April 2015]

As another reviewer has pointed out TV Guide once ranked the top 50 episodes of TV Series ever and Route 66's "Fly Away Home" made that list. I can't rank it that high but it's a good episode, (a two parter). The memorable thing about it is the performance of Michael Rennie as a pilot who has seen so many colleagues die and yet survived himself that he views himself as a jinx. He's working as a crop duster now for a firm that is barely surviving. They have an offer for a very dangerous run- sulfur- from a local farmer, (Ford Rainey). The firm's owner, who is the widow of Rennie's former partner who died in a flaming crash, turns him down even if they might have to go out of business. Rennie finally agrees to do the run and meets the fate he has been longing for.

It probably could have been a one hour show. It's padded by the appearance of Rennie's ex-wife, a lounge singer played by Dorothy Malone, whom Buz also falls for. There's another subplot about the owner, (played by Cathy Lewis, who I'd never heard of), coming to terms with her husband's death. She somehow retains hope that he'll suddenly fly overhead, buzzing the field and land triumphantly for a romantic reunion. Jenny Maxwell, (who had her own sad meeting with fate twenty years later when she and her husband were killed in a robbery), plays still another sexy girl coming of age who flirts with Tod and wants her mother to give up the business so they can have some fun. But in the end, it's all about Rennie's character and his haunted performance.

Off to a flying start

[lor_ · 12 October 2023]

This special 2-parter from Stirling Silliphant begins with a shot of a crop duster piloted by guest star Michael Rennie, with the boys in their Corvette driving along below watching him fly. A crash landing is a strong starter, after Maharis has fun doing a satirical British accent mocking the image of a British World War II fighter pilot.

Both of our heroes get a brusque brushoff, as Milner's desire to become a crop dusting pilot taught by Rennie is rejected, and just as rapidly Maharis's making a play for Rennie's ex-wife, lounge singer Dorothy Malone receives the cold shoulder.

Enter Jenny Maxwell, a sexy blonde teen who is a young friend of the family who remembers Milner and has a crush on him from before. Complicating matters, she holds Rennie responsible for the death of her father, the owner of the crop dusting company.

The plot thickens as the movie stars in the cast, Rennie and Malone, are still sparring: she's desperately in love with her ex while he only wants to be left alone. He's suffering from a massive case of survivor's guilt, tortured by the fact that he's okay yet his colleagues from the war and more recent times got killed.

With Maharis unable to get to first base with Dorothy, Milner is dancing romantically with Jenny. All setting up plenty of dramatics to come in Part 2. Tensions mount, as Jenny's mom tries to save her late husband's business while sparring with her footloose daughter, and of course Milner & Maharis become mixed up with all the local goings-on, with a bit of Phoenix local color thrown in.

The show's emphasis on free spirits finds Rennie gone missing, just taking out his troubles with a bit of parachute jumping.

Tightly directed by Arthur Hiller, the heightened melodrama is quite entertaining.