Well, that’s not quite true. I watched an episode of Dark on Netflix with Case. It’s time travel with a macabre, very German twist. We’re on the third season now and the show’s mysteries are truly intriguing.
And then I watched the final episodes of Cobra Kai, also on Netflix. If we’re going to be honest, Cobra Kai probably went on a season or two longer than it should have. Towards the end, the show really was stuck in a repeating loop. That said, I still got a little teary-eyed while watching that final episode. I feel like I’ve really watched these characters grow up and that includes the ones who should have grown up decades earlier, like Johnny Lawrence. I hope William Zabka is cast in more movies and shows after this. If he’s not, at least Johnny got his chance at redemption.
Otherwise, I was sick this week and I watched nothing. But fear not, I’ll be watching the Oscars in about 19 more hours!
It also made me nostalgic for the day when my best friend Evelyn and I would joke about starting a band. It never happened, mostly because I’m a dancer, not a singer. I can dance to a tune but I can’t carry one to save my life. Still, it’s always fun to play What If? and listen to good music.
On Monday, when I watched The Seven-Upswith Jeff, Leonard, Bradley, and his wife Sierra (as well as one of our favorite TSL commenters, Dougie Cooper), I was struck by the fact that the film’s score sounded a lot like the score forThe French Connection. At first, I figured that it was just a sign of how influential The French Connection was but later, I learned both score were composed by the same man, Don Ellis.
I’ve been thinking about The French Connection a lot since I first heard that Gene Hackman had passed away. A few years ago, I was lucky enough to attend a secret showing of The French Connection at the Alamo Drafthouse. The film worked wonderfully on the big screen, with that car chase leaving me totally breathless. Gene Hackman’s performance as Popeye Doyle was undeniably powerful, his hyperactive and self-destructive pursuit of Charnier filling the entire theater with both dread and excitement. Even though we knew how the film would end, those of us in the audience still couldn’t look away.
Anyway, this is all my rambling way to brag about going to a secret screening of The French …. no wait, wait. Actually, this is my rambling way of introducing today’s song of the day. Here is Don Ellis’s Theme FromThe French Connection.
So, some may have noticed a lack of retro television reviews this week. I wish I had a better excuse than me being sick to give you but seriously, I’ve just been under the weather big time this week. I went from 9 degree temperatures at Lake Texoma to 67 degree temperatures back home in Dallas and my asthma has basically just been kicking my ass for a week and a half now. Plus …. well, I won’t go into the gory details but let’s just say this is not my week when it comes to feeling well.
I was going to try to get caught up on my television reviews today but then I realized that would essentially mean writing and posting 9 television reviews in one day and it would also mean that I would inevitably have to rush to get them all completed. That, along with me being tired and ill, would probably lead to some badly written reviews on my part. Add to that, the Oscars are approaching this weekend and Oscar Sunday is a big tradition around these parts. It’s a tradition that also requires a bit of focus from me.
Long story short: I’m bowing to reality. I’m sick and the world’s not going to end if there’s a week’s delay in reviewing the next episode of Malibu, CA. I’m accepting that what Erin always tells me about taking care myself is true and that I need to perhaps get a little rest so I can get back to being 100% healthy and alert. Retro Television Reviews will return on March 3rd with Miami Vice! Thank you for your understanding and patience!
Episode 9 begins with Shane (David Carradine) riding his horse up to a family looking over some dead cattle. It seems their water source has become poisoned and the patriarch of the family, Tom Gary (Robert Duvall), blames Rufe Ryker (Bert Freed). He believes that Ryker is trying to force him off of his land. After Shane heads off to get the family some fresh water, Gary grabs his shotgun and heads to Sam Grafton’s bar looking for Ryker and some payback. When Shane finds out that Gary is going after Ryker, he and Tom Starett (Tom Tully) take off to try to stop a killing. They get there just in time to stop Gary. Ryker tells them that he had nothing to do with the water becoming poisoned, that it’s just a drought and the area is subject to getting alkaline in the water. That’s what actually killed his cattle.
Three weeks later, Shane, Tom, Marian (Jill Ireland), and Joey (Christopher Shea) are sitting around the table talking about the Garys. Nobody has seen them for a few weeks, so Marian decides she’s going to go visit Ada Gary (Phyllis Love) to check on the family. Ada tells Marian that her husband has become completely obsessed with the idea that Ryker is trying to steal his land and that he spends every night outside with his shotgun. The next day, Ryker rides up and tells Shane that Tom Gary took a shot at him as he was riding his horse along the trail. Moments later, the Gary’s little girl runs up to the ranch and tells Shane and Tom that her pa has shot her mom. When they get to the Gary ranch, Ada is shot but she’s still alive. She tells them that her husband believes everyone, including her, is out to get him, and that he has headed off into the hills with guns and supplies. Shane and Ryker head off to get him, with Ryker wanting him dead…
Episode 9 starts off like a normal episode. It’s very normal for a sodbuster to be into it with Ryker at this point. But after watching the first eight episodes, we believe Ryker when he says he didn’t poison the water supply. We know that’s not his style. As the episode progresses, we begin to learn more about Tom Gary. We hear from his kids and his wife about how scary he is when he’s angry. His kids even tell Joey about their special hiding place outside of the house that they go to when their dad gets mad. We find out that they’ve spent many nights outside hiding from their dad because it’s not as scary as being in the house with him. This is when we realize the episode is going in a completely different direction. Tom Gary isn’t a victim of Ryker and his desire to own all of the land in the valley. The truth is that Tom Gary is abusive and clearly suffering from a mental illness, and the valley is not the place for a man with a violent mental illness. Can you imagine what living hell it must be for his wife and his kids? To be honest, I haven’t ever thought of what it must have been like for those suffering from mental illness, and for those who loved them, back in the old west. And this is from a guy whose wife works with the mentally ill week in and week out. Tom Gary has no help, and his family has no way out. Robert Duvall gives a good performance as Tom Gary, and we definitely see him as a man who has lost control of his faculties and is no longer capable of living in normal society. The writers even go so far as showing Shane as the person who wants to bring him in alive, and Ryker as the person who thinks it will be better for everyone, especially Ada Gary, if he’s dead and she doesn’t have to deal with him any longer.
Overall, Episode 9 is not an easy episode to watch, and it doesn’t provide any easy answers, which is honestly how it should be. I wasn’t expecting the show to go in this direction, even if just for one episode. This episode makes you uncomfortable and makes you think of things you don’t really want to think of, and I’m guessing that’s probably the point. I give the show credit for that, but I’m also hoping episode 10 will get back to more familiar territory.
Arkansas’s own Johnny Cash would have been 93 years old today so it seems appropriate that his voice should also be featured in our song of the day. Here is Folsom Prison Blues, a song that Johnny actually sang while performing at the prison for people who very may have shot a man in Reno just to watch him die.
Really, that’s what makes Johnny Cash such an American icon. On the one hand, he was a religious country boy who wrote songs about his spiritual troubles and his everlasting faith. On the other, he could make you cheer at the idea of shooting a man in Reno just to watch him die.
That’s talent.
I hear the train a comin’ It’s rolling round the bend And I ain’t seen the sunshine since I don’t know when I’m stuck in Folsom prison, and time keeps draggin’ on But that train keeps a rollin’ on down to San Antone
When I was just a baby my mama told me “Son, always be a good boy, don’t ever play with guns” But I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die When I hear that whistle blowing, I hang my head and cry
I bet there’s rich folks eating in a fancy dining car They’re probably drinkin’ coffee and smoking big cigars Well I know I had it coming, I know I can’t be free But those people keep a movin’ And that’s what tortures me
Well if they freed me from this prison If that railroad train was mine I bet I’d move it on a little farther down the line Far from Folsom prison, that’s where I want to stay And I’d let that lonesome whistle blow my blues away
Through the Shattered Lens 