Tubi | Through the Shattered Lens

How many of y’all can say that you’ve met Dale Evans, the wife of Roy Rogers?! I can. She was in Perryville, Arkansas to watch one of my fellow high school students play basketball. I don’t remember if he was her grandson, nephew or what exactly the relationship was, but she was there, and I went and introduced myself to her. This would have been in the early 90’s and she was around 80 years old or so. She was so sweet to me, and I’ve always appreciated that I got to meet her.

Today I decided to watch the episode of “The Roy Rogers Show, Season 2, Episode 8, THE KNOCKOUT,” where Charles Bronson is the special guest star. In the episode, Roy notices strangers digging on an isolated section of his land. When he investigates, he discovers that the handlers for prizefighter Willie “Killer” Conley (Bronson) have set up a training camp for the champ. However, Roy begins to suspect that quite a bit more than training is going on there. Before long the fists and bullets are flying as Roy and Dale take down the bad guys. Bronson’s character may be called Killer Conley, but he is a decent guy who’s gotten himself in too deep with the bad guys, and he ends up joining the good guys when the rubber meets the road at the end. That made me happy. With that said, Bronson and Rogers punched it out multiple times before everything worked out well in the end!

This was my first ever viewing of The Roy Rogers Show. From what I understand, it’s a pretty standard entry in a series that consistently displays a simple story with clear morals and a dependable resolution. However, when you consider that this episode was one of the early TV appearances of Charles Bronson, billed as Charles Buchinsky at the time, it emerges as a piece of cinematic history. A couple of decades later Bronson would be the biggest male movie star in the world. At this point for me, it’s nostalgia at its finest!

The Roy Rogers Show is currently streaming on Tubi.

I watched Christmas Caper with Lisa and, as always, it was a wonderful time. It’s weird to have a friend who is way cooler than you, but I’ll take it! “Christmas Caper” had some great lines and a clear story arc, but was what really stands is its similarity to “Dazed and Confused” in this way: it was a springboard for many careers attached to it. April Blair, the writer, went on to write for… everything and the actors all had bright careers for decades. I’m used to Hallmark, which is A LOT more strict. I was in talks to have script made for Hallmark, but it was funny and had Mrs. Claus as the heroine and they just couldn’t wrap their heads around a female lead like that. Here, we have Cate Dove (Shannen Doherty), a gentlewoman thief, who is the heroine- Hallmark would say – BLASPHEMY!!!! Needless to say, I was primed to enjoy this movie.

The film opens with Cate and Clive (Conrad Coates) who are doing a “Mission Impossible” style heist at a home that has A LOT of security. For a plot device, both Cate and Clive remove their masks for the security cameras. (Note: To the homeowner, maybe you should move? I get that you have this fancy pants gem in your house and the schools are a 10/10 on “SchoolDigger,” but if you have this many problems with crime, have you considered another neighborhood or starting a neighborhood watch? I understand it’s hard to move, but I had to pull the trigger on that and leave my beloved Seattle. It’s ok bro, let’s hug it out and call Remax.) They steal a precious gem, but Clive runs off with the gem, leaving Cate to escape as best she can, but there’s a APB out for her with a picture of her everywhere.

Cate flees to NYC to go to her fence Duffy (Michael Northey) to figure out her next move. The inciting incident is that Cate has a goody too shoes sister Savannah (Sonya Salomaa) who is trapped in the Caribbean with her husband Brian and they need child care. Cate is Savannah’s last choice because she’s a degenerate, but Cate decides to watch her niece and nephew because she needs to lay low. Cate goes to Comfort, USA and watches the kids. She rekindles a relationship with her ex who is Sheriff Harrison (Ty Olsson). The mixture of family time, romance, and Christmas puts her on a good character arc.

However, when she tries to get the gem back from Clive, she involves her niece and nephew. I didn’t really that for stranger danger issues, but it added some good comic relief and key plot point. When Cate thinks she has no money to escape and avoid arrest, she steals everyone’s Christmas presents like the Grinch, BUT her heart grows three sizes that day and she returns them all – sort of.

The movie has a nice ending and I liked the act breaks a lot. The movie had clear plot points and that makes sense because the writer, April Blair, had a HUGE career writing for television. I absolutely recommend watching this film on Tubi. It really is a lot of fun!