Among the episodes of route 66 this was a somewhat improbable story about Tod and Buz babysitting some fashion models near a dam site. I enjoyed this story mainly because of the lovely ladies. Elizabeth Macrae really struts her stuff here. She's a real tease. I remember her as Gomer Pyle's gorgeous girlfriend who spoke with the sultry southern accent. I never knew how great looking she was until I saw this episode. Donna Douglas was also in this story. We should remember her as Elly May from The Beverly Hillbillies. Unfortunately she only has one or two lines here. I do have to agree with other reviewers about how the last 10 minutes of this episode is packed with action with the dynamite explosions. A very intense and very well made scene!
5 Reviews
NO COMPUTER EFFECTS USED IN THIS EPISODE!!!
lrrap27 August 2018
Warning: Spoilers
As alluded to by the other reviewers, the final climatic scene of this episode MUST rank as the single most stunning and impressive thing EVER filmed for TV.
True, the free-wheeling plot is all over the place, but that's part of the fun here. There's plenty of great scenery and lovely ladies on view, along with TWO (2) of the series' requisite fist-fights and neurotic female characters to enliven the proceedings. But it all comes to a SMASHING conclusion with the big dynamite scene near the end.
NOTE: Author James Rosin's interview with episode director Elliot Silverstein reveals: "Prior to filming the scene, we placed a small piece of paper wherever an explosion would occur......That way, everyone would know when we did the shot exactly where the explosions would originate, and there were no surprises...."
And whereas it's possible that doubles were used for some of the long-shots of the 3 guys scurrying across the landscape amid the tremendous volley of explosions, actress Zohra Lampert ACTUALLY RAN THROUGH THAT LONG FINAL SHOT, approaching the camera---in what appears to be bare feet! It's astounding to see what these folks--- everyone involved with this unique series---- went through week-after-week, producing a brand new HOUR-LONG show, while traveling cross country in the process.
Truly classic stuff..
LR
True, the free-wheeling plot is all over the place, but that's part of the fun here. There's plenty of great scenery and lovely ladies on view, along with TWO (2) of the series' requisite fist-fights and neurotic female characters to enliven the proceedings. But it all comes to a SMASHING conclusion with the big dynamite scene near the end.
NOTE: Author James Rosin's interview with episode director Elliot Silverstein reveals: "Prior to filming the scene, we placed a small piece of paper wherever an explosion would occur......That way, everyone would know when we did the shot exactly where the explosions would originate, and there were no surprises...."
And whereas it's possible that doubles were used for some of the long-shots of the 3 guys scurrying across the landscape amid the tremendous volley of explosions, actress Zohra Lampert ACTUALLY RAN THROUGH THAT LONG FINAL SHOT, approaching the camera---in what appears to be bare feet! It's astounding to see what these folks--- everyone involved with this unique series---- went through week-after-week, producing a brand new HOUR-LONG show, while traveling cross country in the process.
Truly classic stuff..
LR
Last 10-Minutes is a Heckuva Show
dougdoepke30 December 2014
Buzz and Tod are hired to keep girl-hungry construction workers from a team of fashion models doing a shoot against the backdrop of Glen Canyon Dam.
The main reason to catch this otherwise sloppy episode is the jolting last part. There the boys along with a lone girl (Lampert) try to escape the rocky terrain that's exploding all around them. In 60-years of non-digital viewing, I've never seen anything like it, nor do I know how they made the exploding gauntlet so realistic. I can't believe the cast would risk running through real dynamite from the dam construction; nor are process shots apparently involved; nor can I believe production would spend a big amount on setting their own explosions. After all, the gauntlet goes on for maybe 5-minutes and looks dangerous as heck. So see what you think.
Anyway, the storyline appears improvised as a way of including footage from construction of the huge Glen Canyon project. Having fashion models pose against the frameworks looks silly, but at least it's a relief from looking at all the guys. There're a couple of routine subplots that add little, but give Leslie a chance to show her acting chops. All in all, this is an episode to watch without necessarily needing to listen.
(In passing—Old movie buffs can catch an aging Billy Benedict, grown out of his patented newsboy roles of the 30's & 40's, as one of the construction crew.)
The main reason to catch this otherwise sloppy episode is the jolting last part. There the boys along with a lone girl (Lampert) try to escape the rocky terrain that's exploding all around them. In 60-years of non-digital viewing, I've never seen anything like it, nor do I know how they made the exploding gauntlet so realistic. I can't believe the cast would risk running through real dynamite from the dam construction; nor are process shots apparently involved; nor can I believe production would spend a big amount on setting their own explosions. After all, the gauntlet goes on for maybe 5-minutes and looks dangerous as heck. So see what you think.
Anyway, the storyline appears improvised as a way of including footage from construction of the huge Glen Canyon project. Having fashion models pose against the frameworks looks silly, but at least it's a relief from looking at all the guys. There're a couple of routine subplots that add little, but give Leslie a chance to show her acting chops. All in all, this is an episode to watch without necessarily needing to listen.
(In passing—Old movie buffs can catch an aging Billy Benedict, grown out of his patented newsboy roles of the 30's & 40's, as one of the construction crew.)
12/2/60 "Layout at Glen Canyon"
schappe119 February 2015
Warning: Spoilers
Route 66 is one of my favorite series of all times and having acquired a DVD boxed set of the shows I am now engaged in watching them in chronological order. As great as it was, there is a wide variance in the quality of it's episodes. It was anything but a formulamatic series and they couldn't do or re-use the sort of plots generic shows used. That's what makes the series great. But it also made it hard to keep coming up with good material. it was also hard to insert the two heroes into the center of every story. So there are some definite clunkers in among all the gems. "Layout at Glen Canyon" is the first really bad episode of a great show, although the final sequence certainly makes it memorable.
Todd and Buz have another one of their improbably easy to obtain jobs,working on the construction crew of a major dam project. Their boss calls them aside and immediately provokes a fight, pronouncing them tough enough for the assignment he's got for them. They are to become bodyguards for a group of models who have come to do a fashion shoot at the construction site, where the sex-starved workers are likely to go crazy over them.
The leader of the construction project used to be married to the model's chaperon and yet neither of them seem to be aware of the other's presence at the project. This despite the fact that the construction bosses obsession with his career and the resulting absences ruined their marriage and indirectly resulted in the tragic death of their son. If that isn't the most contrived plot ever than what is?
It ends with one of the models, in a wedding dress, no less, wandering into a valley that has been rigged up for dynamite and an amazing sequence where the characters, (I'm sure it was stunt people, not the leads), run through the valley while huge explosions go off. They aren't smoke bombs designed to suggest explosions. These are block-busters. I couldn't figure out why dynamiting this valley would be necessary to building the dam but that seemed to go along with the unlikely plot. But it was an amazing sequence to watch.
I just wish the show made some sense.
Todd and Buz have another one of their improbably easy to obtain jobs,working on the construction crew of a major dam project. Their boss calls them aside and immediately provokes a fight, pronouncing them tough enough for the assignment he's got for them. They are to become bodyguards for a group of models who have come to do a fashion shoot at the construction site, where the sex-starved workers are likely to go crazy over them.
The leader of the construction project used to be married to the model's chaperon and yet neither of them seem to be aware of the other's presence at the project. This despite the fact that the construction bosses obsession with his career and the resulting absences ruined their marriage and indirectly resulted in the tragic death of their son. If that isn't the most contrived plot ever than what is?
It ends with one of the models, in a wedding dress, no less, wandering into a valley that has been rigged up for dynamite and an amazing sequence where the characters, (I'm sure it was stunt people, not the leads), run through the valley while huge explosions go off. They aren't smoke bombs designed to suggest explosions. These are block-busters. I couldn't figure out why dynamiting this valley would be necessary to building the dam but that seemed to go along with the unlikely plot. But it was an amazing sequence to watch.
I just wish the show made some sense.
Frivolous episode ends with a bang!
lor_17 September 2023
Segment opens quite differently than the "Route 66" standard: instead of showing the Corvette driving along the open road, we have Maharis and Milner wearing hardhats, going to see the engineer managing a dam construction project (tough guy Charles McGraw), who immediately picks a fist fight with George!
It's staged scenically with everyone standing inside a huge pipe, and the upshot is McGraw hires them to guard a group of sexy models coming to the dam site from New York for a fancy photo shoot. McGraw is afraid their presence will distract the hundred of manly workers he's supervising and put him behind schedule.
Remote setting in Arizona provides solid location shooting by talented director Elliot Silverstein, several years before he went on to direct hit movie Westerns "Cat Ballou" and "A Man Called Horse".
Bethel Leslie as the girls' chaperone delivers sharp dialogue to spar with the boys, while Zohra Lampert handles dramatics. Pulchritude in a relatively lighter than usual segment is provided by Donna Douglas, Elizabeth MacRae and the relatively unknown Vana Leslie.
Show is somewhat dated and intentionally silly in its depiction of so many horny laborers anxious to make out with the models, and of course Maharis comically taking the guys on one by one for his customary fisticuffs. Key subplots concern Bethel's conflict with ex-husband McGraw, and sobby Lampert's ongoing difficulties with her cheating husband.
Stirling Silliphant reliably provides interesting dialogue, but his attempts to inject serious scenes don't fit the silly overall tone of the "honry guys" show, especially a ludicrous climax of Zohra fleeing as construction blasts photogenically go off every few yards making it look like an episode from "Combat!" while McGraw and M & M rush to rescue her.
It's staged scenically with everyone standing inside a huge pipe, and the upshot is McGraw hires them to guard a group of sexy models coming to the dam site from New York for a fancy photo shoot. McGraw is afraid their presence will distract the hundred of manly workers he's supervising and put him behind schedule.
Remote setting in Arizona provides solid location shooting by talented director Elliot Silverstein, several years before he went on to direct hit movie Westerns "Cat Ballou" and "A Man Called Horse".
Bethel Leslie as the girls' chaperone delivers sharp dialogue to spar with the boys, while Zohra Lampert handles dramatics. Pulchritude in a relatively lighter than usual segment is provided by Donna Douglas, Elizabeth MacRae and the relatively unknown Vana Leslie.
Show is somewhat dated and intentionally silly in its depiction of so many horny laborers anxious to make out with the models, and of course Maharis comically taking the guys on one by one for his customary fisticuffs. Key subplots concern Bethel's conflict with ex-husband McGraw, and sobby Lampert's ongoing difficulties with her cheating husband.
Stirling Silliphant reliably provides interesting dialogue, but his attempts to inject serious scenes don't fit the silly overall tone of the "honry guys" show, especially a ludicrous climax of Zohra fleeing as construction blasts photogenically go off every few yards making it look like an episode from "Combat!" while McGraw and M & M rush to rescue her.
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