THE DAY THEY HANGED KID CURRY

Before I begin, I have to say I was working at a huge disadvantage on this episode because I discovered as I set about searching the internet for vidcaps that there were almost none available. I found one source, with a small cache of substandard vidcaps, that I thought I would be forced to use. I was all set to ask you all to forgive me for a piss-poor presentation this week and hang in there with me…until my sweetest, most giving friend on earth let me make her a list of what I needed and “custom snatched” some vidcaps for me to use. Everybody, blow Laura a kiss, please! She’ll feel 'em…

*keep in mind, please--vidcaps can only be as good as the video quality of the episode*

• Yippee!! Season two has begun!! I’m so glad to be back!
• Boy what a bustling and lively city San Francisco is in the opening scene. People milling about everywhere, the streets full of traffic. It was a big city even then, having literally doubled its population between 1870 and 1890 to 300,000. San Francisco is still an exciting city, and happens to be one of my three favorite in the whole world.
• How cute to see Monty Laird as the taxi driver. The poor man just could not act, but he is so charming in his attempt, I would forgive him anything. I love the way he inflects the line “Mr. O’Sullivan, just one question. How did an arwn-ry man like yoooou get the name of Silky?” And I positively adore the glimmer of a grin from Peter as Monty is saying the line—I feel certain that even though Heyes smiles just a fraction of a second later when Silky responds, it is Peter enjoying the moment as Monty utters the line. I have the feeling Mr. Laird was loved by everyone working on the show. ®



• I like the interaction between Heyes and Silky as they joke about the taxi fare. Heyes chides him that he really did give the driver a dollar and we feel their camaraderie and ease with each other right off the bat. I get the impression Heyes reveres “old-timers” and while he has a very healthy ego, he is never so arrogant as to believe he can’t learn something from their experience.



• I am disappointed by Heyes’ reaction to hearing there is bad news about Kid. A dispassionate “He’s not….?” from Peter doesn’t seem to me to be the reaction we would see in Heyes. I don’t think he would throw himself to the ground wailing, but I do think he would express more emotion in his voice when he is essentially asking if his partner is dead…
• What a typically female thing to say as the old woman in the court room gallery leans in to Heyes and says about Penelope Roach, “Lovely girl. But stupid.” Heyes is bemused by the comment; I don’t think the pettiness women can be known to exhibit is in the genetic makeup of most men.
• I wouldn’t have even recognized the prosecuting attorney as old Clarence from the upcoming Night of the Red Dog had it not been for his distinctive way of speaking. In fact, I was looking away, typing my notes, as I heard and recognized his voice and put two and two together. Nice to see he has teeth. *giggle*
• I enjoy Heyes comeback of “Oh, I do” when the old woman agrees with his assessment of the judge’s fairness by saying, “If you believe in coddling criminals.” He has such a cute look on his face when he says it, it just makes me smile. He said three words, but spoke volumes with his facial expressions as she got up and left.
• There is a "feel" about this whole episode that doesn’t settle well with me. It is an ok show on its own and I probably would have enjoyed it as a separate entity, but it doesn’t have the smooth feel of a typical Alias Smith and Jones episode. It feels unfamiliar in some odd way. Is Peter’s acting off a bit? In the first scene with Ben it seems affected…I see acting, which has rarely been the case with him. It feels like Peter acting like Hannibal Heyes, not being Hannibal Heyes, which he normally does so fully.
• Heyes being frisked by the overzealous deputy is priceless. He is practically molested by the man as he is painstakingly searched—poked, prodded and patted down in every conceivable way, in every possible hiding place on his body. Girls, is there one of us among us who wouldn’t have loved that job? And I laugh to myself when I think up a punch line in my own style—to see Heyes walk into the cell and stealthily open his jacket, letting the imposter and us know he has a gun…®

• I never could stand the actor playing the Kid Curry impersonator. But Robert Morse wins me over in this role. He really plays it well and I am moved by the story he tells Heyes in his cell. He only wants to be somebody, even if he has to die to realize that goal. He is a small man with a small existence, made exciting and noteworthy only by the deeds of someone whose life and celebrity he is emulating. It is an understandable draw, to have a moment in the sun, but I agree with Heyes and question whether dying for that moment is valid.



• Not knowing how these things work, I am fascinated by a full tub of bathwater, with bubbles, in a hotel room. More interesting to me than seeing the Kid naked and wet is how they get the water into the room in the first place—still hot and bubbly. And even more intriguing is how they get the water OUT of the tub…I would think carrying a tub of water to and from the room would be nearly impossible. Not only the weight, but the natural propensity of water to slosh when moved, would make it a very difficult and messy undertaking. Was there a crew of hotel employees with a water bucket brigade—before and after the patron took his soaking? It seems like a huge amount of work. I wonder how often people bothered to bathe in the 1880s.



• I love the look on Heyes’ face when he knows he has made a good point of logic to the Kid about what would happen if after “he” has been legally hanged some lawman who knows him sees him up and prancing around. Heyes gets a grin of triumph on his face and takes a drink of his whiskey because he knows he has hooked Kid with his reasoning.

• Kid will finally listen, and take the situation a “lot more serious.” And the Kid looks absolutely innocent and quite charming in his unawareness over why this situation isn’t any better for him than it is for Heyes. It takes Heyes explaining it to him; and when he does understand we realize it wasn’t self-centeredness on the Kid’s part at all. It was simply naiveté.

• I have discovered I am not a big fan of the director of this episode, Barry Shear. While some of his episodes are the best of the series, such as The Bounty Hunter, the camera angles often seem choppy and disjointed and I get a feeling he is experimenting with still frames and odd zooming and strange haziness of some of the shots. The incidences of it in this episode are not as obvious and jarring as they are in, most particularly, The Bounty Hunter, but they are distracting to me nonetheless. Looking through the spinning wheel at Kid as he enters the saloon would be a nice shot, except it suddenly goes out of focus, as if in zoom, and I suspect Mr. Shear was trying to give the sense of a big screen experience--a Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid feel--rather than a TV episode. That scene and the sudden close up, out of focus, of Kyle as he sees the Kid in an upcoming scene are both just so poorly done they seem almost amateurish.
• I liked Kid’s first season hat better. The new hat reminds me too much of the flop hats we wore in the 70s and that silly looking disco-belt hatband is far from masculine in my eyes. I am aware that Ben designed his own hat. I forgive him. It was the seventies, after all. Now, Bennies, remember what I said in my disclaimer about differences of opinion being celebrated...
• Belinda Montgomery always struck me as a sweet young woman. I don’t know what else I have seen her in, but I have always been familiar with her and I think she was a fine actress. She might have made a nice love interest for the Kid in another episode. Somehow, even as attractive as she is, she doesn’t seem to me to be Heyes’ type.
• Did I miss something? Are the Devil’s Hole gang no longer residing in Devil’s Hole? Or have they just dwindled to the point of near extinction and allowed the once plush and vibrant Devil’s Hole Hideout (when led by either Hannibal Heyes or Big Jim Santana) to become a ghost town, complete with tumbleweeds and unhinged doors flapping in the wind?
• What a disappointment this actor playing Lobo is. The original actor, Bill McKinney, was only in three first season episodes, but we became familiar with him and he fit the role so well. This actor is sorely lacking in the weird charisma the original Devil’s Hole Gang had in spades. All those original actors, though they said very little, played very well off of each other and felt like a gang…
• I don’t know why, since it is becoming an old joke in this series, but I laugh when Heyes hits his hat and it billows with dust.
• May I just say I am very happy we have moved beyond the point in our history where a gallows was erected in the middle of the town square and the execution of a human being by one of the cruelest means possible was considered the most exciting entertainment around?
• I really enjoy the whole scene when Heyes revisits the imposter in his cell after the hanging is postponed. It is wonderful the way he allows the faker to grab him by the lapels and bring his message home, but then has his fill and with strong determination on his face turns the tables and grabs the man by his shirt and ever so masterfully sits him down and takes charge of the situation. And the awe expressed by the identity thief when he realizes he is in the presence of Hannibal Heyes is palpable and so well done by Robert Morse.
  

• It is a true laugh out loud moment for me as we see the boys, including Kyle and Wheat, lined up at the bar; Heyes with his hat pushed forward, shadowing his eyes and his lips pursed tight with frustration; Kid knowing there isn’t any point to asking if Heyes’ visit to the jail went well; Kyle in his usual state: clueless; and Wheat with an expression letting us know he is mulling over what the next step in the plan should be. What an image this is! Flawlessly lined up, set up with precision so that what each character says in this scene works to perfection. It is perfect, right up until the director experiments once again and zooms in so close on Wheat it detracts from what he is saying.

• Kyle is like a little kid as he puts a mustache on the wanted poster of Wheat in the telegraph office. Wheat always has to keep an eye on him and keep him out of innocent mischief. I like the relationship they have. Kyle is always wide eyed and full of questions and the perfect match for Wheat who needs to constantly build himself up in someone’s eyes. Their relationship and its dynamic were better expressed in The Pilot, but there are glimpses of it here that remind me of the fun these two characters add to the series.
• An absolutely ideal expression on the face of the imposter as the jail keeper announces his Grandmother is in town! The poor guy just wants to eat his soup and be allowed to die in peace and all these bogus relatives keep coming out of the woodwork! I laugh every time the actor turns to the camera and with ludicrously comical look on is face says, “My Grandmother?” ®



• It’s bizarre, but Grandma Curry reminds me a bit of my own Grandma! Ol’ Walter Brennan did a good job in the dual role. The elderly flirting between Grandma and the sheriff is more than just a bit creepy, though.
• I like the opportunity to see Heyes’ prowess with a gun. He easily gets the drop on two lawmen with guns. And aren’t we all just so proud of him when he deftly opens the safe while being harangued by the sheriff? He is certainly a man of many skills.





• The entire encounter between the Kid and the elderly livery stable owner is just superb. The old man’s voice and cadence tickle me right off the bat, and Kid’s patience and attempt to get the old cuss to be quiet is so fitting of his character. In every encounter where he has to take an upper hand, the Kid always tries to first give his opponent a way out. Here he looks at the old guy, who’s giving him an unending tirade, with an expression of annoyance and resolve and says, “Are you gonna be quiet?” before simply placing a bucket over the head of the man, making his rant even more amusing with its odd echo. Truly funny, and on a whole, just flawless.

• I wish the video were of better quality in this episode. I suspect Robert Morse was playing his facial expressions to the hilt when Heyes cut off his air to make him be quiet—but the scene is so dark and the video so poor, I can’t see it enough to enjoy it.
• It is cute when Heyes finally opens the impenetrable can with a hatchet, and I know if I don’t mention it, one of my readers will say, “but you missed my favorite scene…”
• That’s a pretty damn smart bunch of bumpkins…their fire moat was a complex idea I didn't expect from them. I have never seen a more ingenious, well organized posse in my life.

  

• I am completely captivated with Robert Morse’s quirky characterization of Fred Philpotts. The way he tells the judge his name and then with over the top, but perfect, exaggeration of his expression and movement where he is really from is just incredible.
• I don’t know if it was the directing, the writing, or even the poor video quality, but this episode simply left me wanting, and the best part of it for me is just the path it leads us down to the wonderful episodes ahead in the second season…

The Legacy of Charlie O'Rourke

• The final episode of the first season is already upon us, and I am feeling a bit sad in anticipation of the end of my notes in only 18 weeks. What a joy this has become for me. Thank you all so much for continuing to stop in and let me know you have.
• Our boys look so nice riding into town. I love how Heyes,in particular, looks on a horse. Very tall in the saddle…such a smooth rider. And Kid, bouncing along, always makes me smile.



• I think this actor playing Charlie, Billy “Green” Bush, would be very handsome without the beard. He has lovely eyes and a sweet smile.

• I appreciate that Heyes voices his disapproval to the sheriff for his attitude. Heyes has a strong will, and a social conscience, and his best weapon is always words. He doesn’t say much, but his point is made—although the sheriff doesn’t back down on his opinion that the only reason Charlie would have visitors is for the gold.



• When Heyes and Kid visit in jail, it is a sweet moment when Charlie squeezes the arm of each man, giving him what is effectively a hug from behind the bars.



• Some insight on what the significance of the match Charlie lights and writes on himself with, anyone? Was he going to draw a map to the gold?

• I feel saddened by Charlie’s predicament; I suppose because I now have first hand knowledge that all outlaws are not heartless evil-doers. It is poignant to me that our boys care about their former cohorts and feel compassion and sorrow for them when something like this befalls one of them.
• It is terribly moving to me when Charlie says, “There’s something else you could do for me, kind of a last request…” and when Kid answers, “Sure, Charlie, what is it?” he requests that Heyes and Kid be there at the hanging. He needs to see them there, for comfort and support and they are compassionate enough that we know, even though the last thing they want to do is watch their comrade die, they will be there to show him he isn’t alone. It touches me. Peter and Ben both have gentle looks on their faces in this scene that work so well…
  
• I like the back of Kid’s coat, all worn and weathered and supremely manly.
• And speaking of coats…even though it seems to me to look like a child’s jacket, I am very happy indeed that Heyes is wearing a shorter coat than his winter version. I do so enjoy watching him walk away…
• Heyes is so much more emotional by nature than the Kid. Kid is fully pragmatic…always thinking how any experience will affect him. While Heyes is still reeling emotionally from having seen Charlie and promising to be there for his hanging, Kid is more concerned about himself as he replies to Heyes’ comment that he feels terrible and wishes Ol’ Charlie had never spotted them with “It could’ve been worse. A lawman could have spotted us.” I don’t think Kid is cold-hearted, I think he is just always in defense mode—his role in the pair being to protect them. Still, it comes off very unfeeling to think anything that could happen to him could be worse than a man hanging by his neck until dead. Sometimes I wish the writers had thought some of these words, and their impact, out a bit more carefully.

• Harry Briscoe amuses me the minute I see him. J.D. Cannon did a tremendous job of making this eccentric character both distasteful and endearing. I always laugh when I notice his dual holsters, worn as if he is some skilled gunslinger. Maybe he is ambidextrous, but I doubt he is very adept at fast draw. Even though I imagine Bannerman detectives were trained in the use of firearms, Harry just seems a bit too bumbling to ever have truly mastered the art.
• Ok, I am a giddy teenager again…sue me…but damn, our boys look particularly handsome in this episode. I love the bangs on Heyes.

• Can’t you just smell the testosterone in the room when the saloon girl enters by way of the ceiling, in a cage, and sings a sweet ditty to all the drinking, randy men? And Heyes and Curry can’t even begin to wipe the grins off their faces, in sincere appreciation of the woman’s “talent”, and her apparent interest in them.




• The moment when Kid folds the note the saloon girl has dropped to their table, and clutches it to his chest when Heyes ask who the note was meant for is adorable. I think that is purely a Ben move, at least the extra little bit of possessiveness, and it tickles me. It’s fun to see the boys in a state of longing.®

• An unfortunately unflattering outfit on the saloon girl, though, as the little skirt cuts right at the widest part of her hips, not only making her appear wider, but shorter as well. An inch or two higher or lower would have made all the difference in the world.
  
• Our boys are so cute drinking tea as they wait for Alice to dress behind the screen. Befitting their very distinct characters, Heyes sits stiffly upright in his chair and sips his tea somewhat gingerly, while Kid drinks his like a cup of coffee, himself a bit slouched over and looking every bit the cowboy. A nice contrast between them, of their natures. I get the strong feeling in scenes such as this that they are showing themselves as two little boys, having been orphaned at 10, [:The Men That Corrupted Hadleyburg who have largely taught themselves manners, and Heyes being the more worldly because he does read books has a different instinct about how to act than the Kid does--although he has taught Kid a lot, as far as manners go.





• Besides, Kid is much too concerned with what is going on behind the screen to worry about putting on airs.
• Kid cannot stop grinning, and turning to look at the screen, and Heyes’ laughs covertly as he sips his tea and thinks of the woman behind the partition. What a sweet moment. Kid is more obvious in his appreciation, and I think Heyes is slightly giddy, like a teenage boy with lustful thoughts, and can’t quite hold back his urge to laugh. Since we have seen Heyes’ entire body become involved when he lets himself be overcome with laughter or excitement, we are made very aware he is doing a mighty good job at keeping himself in check here. (It’s just my opinion, but I think the laughing is acting, by the way—not what some feel is Peter breaking character.)
• Joan Hackett is so unique. She is not what I would consider classically attractive but she has a way about her that is very appealing. Her manner of speaking, her looks, her flirtatiousness. I would think men would find her incredibly sexy; it’s patently obvious our two lonely boys do.
  
• The whole scene of Alice visiting Charlie is heart wrenching to me. We know she is there to get knowledge of where the gold is, and yet we see her compassion and warmth toward him. She sings him “The Streets of Laredo” but doesn’t use the original words…she sings of him having to hang and his eyes fill with tears…it is just a very tender moment, and in my mind a high quality scene. Charlie eats watermelon to push back his pain and fear and that is so touching. This actor’s take on the emotions is understated, and in effect, more moving than if he had openly cried. I actually teared up. Charlie will die tomorrow, he wants comfort and consolation in his last few hours, and he gets it from Alice even if he probably realizes she wants his money. I am a sap, so I trust that even though she was partially motivated by greed, Alice meant it when she said she was there because she thought that “maybe a few songs and someone to talk to might make the night go a little easier” for him. Regardless, she did what no one else cared enough to do, she afforded a desperately alone man some comfort in his last hours of life—and maybe that is enough to make her worthy of his fortune in gold. *sniffle*



• Thank god the producers or director or writers—whoever makes this type of decision—saw fit to NOT show us anything referencing the hanging. We simply see a church steeple and then slowly become aware of the funeral taking place as we hear Alice still singing the song. And we see Heyes, Curry, and I have to assume Alice, there at the graveside, honoring Charlie O’Rourke. Very well done. What is the sheriff doing there though? It feels hugely disrespectful and he should have stayed home.
• Almost jarringly moving away from the somber mood of the last scene, the boys ride into town after the funeral and are waylaid into the livery stable by four men. It seems improbable to me that they would allow themselves to be walked into the stables. I think the beginning of the scene would have worked better had they “parked” their horses near the livery stables and been dragged, kicking and fighting, inside. But as the scene progresses we are treated to one of the few laugh out loud moments of the episode; we hear what appears to be a brawl in the barn, with lots of banging and punching and horses whinnying and a few very strange male screams…I laugh every time I hear it! And then from the stables emerge our two macho boys who have obviously kicked the asses of the pack of rabble rousers quite handily, but are now visibly angry and walk with great determination toward the saloon. I tell you, I wouldn’t want to be the one those pissed off cowboys are going looking for…



• I just noticed the sign on the livery stable: ‘HENRY’S LIVERY STABLE. THE FRIENDLIEST PLACE IN TOWN.’ Very amusing.
• Briscoe gasping for breath after Heyes and the Kid give his head some time in the trough: priceless. And as Kid pounds him on the back and the water comes out of his mouth, I laugh like a fool. Harry Briscoe was really great comedic relief in the show—it was a wise move by the powers that be to have him as a recurring character.



• Our boys are mad all right, but hearing the words “5,000 dollars…” stops them in their tracks and they drag Briscoe, dripping and gasping, into the saloon to hear what he has to say. Very cute.
• Is Peter just particularly exquisite looking in the scene where Briscoe is telling the boys that Alice spent four hours singing gospel hymns the night before he swung, as Harry so delicately puts it, or is it just me? I may have to consider one of those very moments as a choice of photo in my next calendar…and for future swooning exercises, of course. §
  
• If gold is $333 a pound, that means they will be moving approximately 300 lbs 5.3 ounces of gold. I did that in my head. Is anyone impressed besides me? *wink*
• I am fascinated by the way a stagecoach is driven. I have watched a lot of westerns in my life and yet I never noticed before rediscovering Alias Smith and Jones that the driver has to have his right leg in what appears to be a very awkward and uncomfortable position on the brake. Those men must have been down for the count for romance after using the adductor and groin muscles like that on a long drive! Man. I have to assume there were some unsatisfied wives of stagecoach drivers in the 1880s. Oh, maybe I’m wrong. Did men have a clue or even care if their women were satisfied in the 1880s?
• The blasé sheriff leading the posse kills me. Totally deadpan and it works.
• What a blast to hear the entire Alias Smith and Jones theme song as we watch the first leg of the journey in the stagecoach.
• Ok, I am totally turned on by the fact that PETER is actually driving the stagecoach in some of the shots. What a man! I won’t comment on his inner thigh and groin muscles…Oh, my, is it hot in here…?

• There’s one of those shove-it-down-your-throat jokes I am none too fond of: “Alice, didn’t anyone ever tell you every cloud has a silver lining?” asks Heyes. Alice replies, “The last man who told me that was killed by a cloud…with a tornado in it.” I can almost hear the vaudeville drum accompaniment…kaboom...
• Poor Ben beans himself walking under the tree branch, but luckily he apparently misses his actual noggin.
  
• The flirting between Alice and the boys after they find the gold is delicious. She tells them she could fall in love with both of them…”together or separately?” Heyes wants to know. Have mercy…that could conjure up an image or two. Mmmmm….
• I love how Alice hides behind Heyes when Briscoe holds them at gunpoint. Protect herself and stroke his ego at the same time…smart woman.
  
• Heyes in an Old West doorag. Hot. Reminds me of my hippie days and my boyfriend Stephen. Sweet.

• I love when Heyes loses hope…Kid asks him if he has any last ideas and he replies, “One. We’re goners.”

  

• I’m sorry, but men just don’t look very sexy riding plow horses! Not even Hannibal Heyes and Kid Curry can pull off looking alluring on big old thug horses like that.

• I have nothing to say. I simply fell in love with this picture.
  
• Sweet, adorable, tasty little kisses goodbye for each of our heroes. I will have to watch The Young Country again now because I am keyed up for a real kiss between Joan Hackett and Peter Duel, and that movie certainly has a couple worth watching!
• *sigh* A beautiful left profile moment of Peter as Heyes looks on as Alice and Kurt leave in their wagon. I simply cannot get enough of Peter at this angle. *another sigh*