Sunday, March 9, 2014

Check it Out! - "Alias Smith and Jones"

Back during the time that "Gilligan's Island" was one of the most popular shows on TV, a pretty frequent question for guys was "Who's your type, Ginger or Mary Ann?"  As far as I know, there was no female equivalent to that question, but it could have been "Who's your type, Hannibal Heyes or Kid Curry?"  This question refers to the main characters of the early '70s TV show "Alias Smith and Jones".


The show is about two Western outlaws in the 1880s (Heyes and Curry, who are played by Pete Duel and Ben Murphy, respectively).  During the show's pilot, they begin to realize that with all the advances in train and bank safe technology that it might be a good idea for them to get out of the thieving business while they still have a chance.  They ask the governor of Wyoming for amnesty, hoping that, since they've never killed anyone during any of their robberies, they will get off easy.  The governor agrees to give them amnesty eventually, but until he does they have to stay out of trouble AND not get arrested for what they have previously done.  So for the rest of the series the fellas travel around the West under the aliases of Joshua Smith and Thaddeus Jones, trying to avoid being recognized, get money in an honest way, and clearing their names whenever they are falsely accused of a crime.  The show is fun to watch with a good mix of humor and suspense (as well as some pretty good plot lines), and Duel and Murphy played off of each other perfectly.

The only sad thing about this show is that part way through the series Duel shot himself and died.  The show's producers recast the character of Heyes with actor Roger Davis, who had originally been the narrator for the show's opening credits.  After that cast change a bunch of fans quit watching the show, because to them Pete Duel WAS Hannibal Heyes, and they didn't think that the show had the same quality (my dad was one of those fans).  I've personally told myself that at some point I should watch one of the episodes with Davis playing Heyes, but I keep putting it off.  I guess a part of what bugs me about it is that Davis didn't even look or sound a thing like Duel, so how could he be the same TV character?  (In my opinion, if the producers and writers had done a plot twist where Heyes died on the show and then had Davis come in as a different character, like maybe Heyes' brother or something, then a bunch of fans would have kept watching the show.  That's what I think, but then I wasn't around to give my opinion when the show was aired). 

Update 10/2015:  I have finally watched a few shows with Roger Davis playing Heyes.  He does a good job, and is fairly enjoyable to watch, but his Heyes is definitely different from Duel's Heyes, and not just in the looks category.

A part of what made the show so wonderful was the differences in characteristics between Heyes and Curry.  Like with Ginger and Mary Ann, if one of them wasn't your type, the other one probably was.

Hannibal Heyes: He was dark, had dimples and a deep voice, and was very, very smooth.  He was the brains of the partnership, and he could talk his way out of *almost* anything (nobody's perfect).  Most of the schemes he came up with were successful, but occasionally he took a bit too big of a risk and got his hand burned.  He was the more refined of the two and a bit more educated.  A card shark, "subtle" and "sharp" were two words that described him perfectly.  It was when he couldn't figure out the combination of a safe that they started thinking about getting amnesty, because if he couldn't crack it, then NOBODY could.  (He's my mom's favorite).  ;)

  
Jedidiah "Kid" Curry: He had curly blond hair, blue eyes and a Western drawl.  As one of the fastest guns in the West, he was more brawn to Heyes' brain, and while he could be stubborn, he was loyal *almost* to a fault (as I said with Heyes, nobody's perfect).  He could be a hothead at times, but most of the time he had a pretty amiable personality.  He was also a bit of a softy for "damsels in distress", which occasionally got him in to trouble and usually ended with him getting a broken heart by having to leave her behind.  In all other areas he was pretty practical and down to earth.  (That's my boy! <3)


You can find pretty much all of the episodes from all three seasons on both YouTube and Hulu, and you can get them on DVD as well.  Pete Duel died part way through season 2, but he was still in more than half of the episodes (one other thing to note is that Roger Davis played the bad guy in one of their earlier episodes, "Smiler with a Gun".  He did do a good job with that role). 

To entice your interest, here are a couple short video clips and quotes from various episodes. Starting off with their opening sequence:



Heyes: You see men doing this kind of work [ranching] for all their lives?
Curry: I'm havin' a little trouble seein' me do it for another week.
(from the episode "Journey from San Juan") 


from the episode "The Posse that Wouldn't Quit"
(Side note: I'm glad Kid Curry had that mustache for only a few episodes).


Heyes: Kid, did your mother think you were perfect?
Curry: As a matter of fact, she did.  Did yours?
Heyes: Yeah, but yours was wrong.  
(from the episode "Everything Else You can Steal")
 

from the episode "Jailbreak at Junction City"



So, who's your type, Hannibal Heyes or Kid Curry?  ;)          

No comments:

Post a Comment