STAGECOACH SEVEN

• Man, I just detest bullies. Especially the arrogant, sexist pig type. Harry Downs is one such bully and our boy Curry resolutely puts him in his place. I wouldn’t have minded if the Kid had shot him dead right there at the stagecoach door…but as is his way, Kid tries a bit of reason, a bit of a threat, and finally shuts the fool up with his demonstration of skill at the fast draw. Heyes breaks out in a pride-filled grin, and another crisis is averted.



(ok, you "Bennies"~calm down!)

• I am engrossed with Peter’s skill at communication without words. During the entire encounter between Downs and the Kid, I realized that while I was listening intently to what Kid was saying, I was mesmerized by Heyes’ face through the whole thing. Peter’s facial expressions are as actively involved in the scene as Ben’s monologue is. Just watch other actors sometime. Most often, if they are not the one speaking, they are just standing there doing nothing…waiting for their next line. But Peter is fully involved in every scene he is in by using his face or his body to stay alive and connected with what is happening for the other actors. It is something very special in his acting style that makes him more than a good actor. He is extremely charismatic on the screen and it is partially because he is fully engaged every moment we see him.

• When Heyes turns and asks the woman sitting between The Kid and him if she wouldn’t rather sit next to her husband, I want to scream, “ARE YOU NUTS?” Why would any woman in her right mind choose not to sit scrunched in behind the shoulders of two truly gorgeous men, who no doubt smell of leather and sweet whiskey and aftershave? Ooooh…I got my pulse a bit elevated there for a minute. Oh, my.



• Hey! Wait a minute! Isn’t that gang up in that clearing the same gang who were accomplices for Sarah Blaine and Agent Daley in “Wrong Train to Brimstone”? Hey, isn’t that the same clearing? Not again! Not another stock footage deception!
• How is it possible Heyes looks so adorable doing something as mundane as turning his head to look out the window of the stagecoach as it comes to a stop at gunpoint? And how is it possible no Pete Duel sites have a vid cap of that gorgeous moment?
• Gee, Kid. Wasn’t saying “It appears we’re being held up” after everyone has been commanded by the strangely styled first bandit to exit the stagecoach with their hands up just a bit unnecessary? The look Heyes’ throws you after you say it is evidence enough for me.



• What’s up with the lead bandit’s stampede strings all braided up and tight across the front of his chin like that? It is a hot day; I see sweat on his face. Wouldn’t there be chafing?



• There’s Hal Frizzell, looking much too unassuming to be a bad guy.



• Oooohhh, I just saw Heyes twirl his gun. Hot. ®
• Ugh….I just saw Heyes in those brown synthetic slacks. Cold.
• I just can’t get past that bandit’s stampede strings. Unless they are braided directly into his moustache, they sure aren’t going to be very useful at keeping his hat on his head.
• A very young Randolph Mantooth looks very innocent and nearly Amish in his round-brimmed, pushed-back-on-his-head hat. It is fun to see some actors I recognize from the future after Alias Smith and Jones and some from before the show even began. So many familiar faces from so many shows I loved.



• In the scene where Heyes and Kid discuss whether the outlaw recognized them, there’s Peter’s beautiful left profile for me to admire. And in two nearly still shots. Plenty of time to look closely. And savor. §



• I never noticed before that Ben is slightly bowlegged. As Kid and Heyes walk toward the station house for coffee it is quite apparent. He has a very cool 70s way of carrying himself that I like, though. Both men have distinctive gaits and like everything else about them, they are quite diverse.
• Harry Downs is beyond creepy, with his lecherous gaze as young Mrs. Loomis discretely nurses her baby. What a disgusting guy.



• That Keenan Wynn is a hoot. He seems to shout every line! And could his too-short, too-baggy pants be any goofier looking?
• I have known loud-mouthed complainers like Mr. Bowers and my feeling has always been that I’d like to slap them silly. And there sits his mouse of a long suffering wife, meekly tolerating his blustering and abuse.
• For just the most fleeting of moments, I thought old Hannah Utley was reaching for garlic to use as tethers to bind our boys!



• The braided bandit, as I now refer to him, has just given the people in the station three minutes to send out Heyes and Curry. He underscores the threat by saying they’ll start shooting, “…and it ain’t just two of us, it’s seven.” My photographic memory does a quick double-take and I conjure up the image of nine bandits on the hill in the clearing. Was there a black hole between the clearing and the stagecoach that two of the gang disappeared into? Did anyone involved with the production of this show know how to count? I mean, presumably everyone on the production staff had ten fingers. And even those missing a finger could still work this equation. How hard could it be to tell the difference between 7 and 9? I knew there was some numerically challenged staff from the get go, when in the Pilot Wheat smiled at the idea of the end to seven sorry lives of crime…when he could only be talking about either six or eight sorry lives of crime, depending on whether he was including Heyes and Curry.



• Joe seems to have only one single facial expression. The only variance is whether his mouth is open or closed. It is weird and slightly disconcerting.



• Hitting the deck while tied in their chairs is pretty darn cute. I am glad they only showed the expressions on their faces and the actual tip-overs a couple of times, though. It would have easily lost its sweetness if they had run it into the ground.

• To signal his gang to pause shooting, the braided bandit raises his hand to his mouth to whistle, and I can’t help but wonder about the interesting adornment on his wrist. I wonder if this actor went to rehearse with a punk rock band after he left the set each evening. Oh, wait. I don’t remember there being punk rock bands in 1971. Maybe he just went to leather bars. *wink*
• It always amazes me that the boys call each other Heyes and Kid in front of people so frequently. As they lie on the floor, tied to their chairs, Heyes says “Why bother, Kid? You’ll just have to do it again in a minute or two.” as Kid struggles to sit up. Not admitting they are Heyes and Curry, of course, he pretty much confirmed it just now, don’t you think?
• I laugh when Heyes looks up from the floor and asks Dan Loomis, ”Would you mind?” and then grins broadly at him. I just gotta marvel at the fact that Peter is even adorable sideways. *giggle*



• Heyes is such a natural caregiver. As Dan Loomis rights the Kid’s chair, Heyes reaches out to assist. Just a bit of a touch of Kid’s arm is all he can manage, but the intent is there, and oh my, what a man this is...
• Winifred Bowers is a very caring person. First we see her shielding Mrs. Loomis and the baby behind the table and then at considerable risk to herself, she leaves the shelter of the table while shots are still being fired to care for Joe, who has been cold cocked by that creep Harry Downs. Her husband doesn’t know how good he has it. Fool.
• MONTY LAIRD is a member of the outlaw gang too?? He and Hal are two of the most kindly looking people I have ever seen. But I guess that would be a pretty advantageous trait to have if you are a murdering outlaw, come to think of it.
• Because I so love finding moments of what I believe to be purely Peter, a very special scene to me is the shot just after Dan Loomis tackles the bully, Harry Downs. There stands Heyes with his hands on his hips. But it is a pose I have seen Peter in many times, not only as Heyes, but as other characters and in pictures of his private life as well; [: Picturing Pete Duel, and others] his hands on his hips in his own very distinct way. Front two fingers straight, forming a peace sign, with the other two fingers tucked under. No director told him to do this, no camera angle made it a part of Heyes, no stand-in was used for his hands. I cherish glimpsing a bit of Peter that is solely him. *sigh*



• I love how Heyes looks after going for the rifle on the floor. His hair is messy and loose and he is, in my assessment, absolutely perfect looking with the boyish smile and playful stance. The look is so reminiscent of Peter’s character in Cannon for Cordoba—which I consider a miserably unfortunate movie with one brilliant and exceedingly sexy actor in it.
• I wonder if Ben suffered from allergies. He looks awfully puffy-eyed in this episode.



• I see the bloopers in all the episodes…like just now when Heyes’ hair is loose and disheveled as he walks to the chair and slicked back and combed when he sits. I have just decided not to comment on most of them, because I am sure there is plenty of discussion of such things out there in fandom and I really don’t find the bloopers as interesting as other things I notice.
• Harry Downs is dead. Awww. Well, he lasted a lot longer than I would have allowed him to live.



• HEADLINE: OPPRESSED WOMAN STANDS UP TO BULLYING HUSBAND In a scene where you can almost hear the snip, snip of castration, Winifred Bowers expresses her distaste for her husband quite vividly, and in front of his male counterparts, no less. Funny thing though, once she took him down a notch, he actually seemed to grow some gonads and step up as a man. Good job, Winnie.



• I have called our boys ‘our heroes’ since my very first notes. In this episode I think they showed it. I don’t get the feeling they were bluffing about volunteering to surrender to the braided bandit and his gang. I think time and time again these characters exhibit their cores of benevolence, and it is very attractive, indeed.



• After hearing the number of people defending the station has jumped to seven, one of the outlaws says to Clint: “Hey, what’s he got in there? They must be breedin’ like rabbits.” GREAT LINE!
• I wonder who all those hands loading the guns and shooting in the close-ups belong to, considering they are all connected to bare arms…and there is not a man (or woman for that matter) in short sleeves in the whole group inside.
• Old Charlie Utley tells Heyes and Curry that he thinks they were willing to give themselves up to the gang because they knew there were “two ladies and a baby in danger in there”. Oh, c'mon, Charlie! What is your wife, chopped liver? Do yourself a favor, my man, and read the Vagina Monologues.
• The episode of sevens. Seven original passengers, not counting the infant in arms. Seven outlaws robbing the stagecoach, after the loss of two in the black hole between the clearing and the stagecoach. Seven people standing up to be counted as shooters against the outlaw gang. Seven posse members who take out after the retreating gang. [:anitaw Stage coach number seven. Did anyone ever count Roy Huggins’ fingers?