User Reviews

This episode of ROUTE 66 is, above all, a fascinating visual glimpse of the Dallas, Texas of a half century ago. As someone who's spent a lot of time in Dallas over the last 30+ years, I've always wanted to see what the earlier Dallas was like. And this episode is a better visual record of that earlier Dallas than anything I've yet found. I would say this was shot around December of 1961. So circa 1961, here's what the Dallas Love Field airport looked like, here's what the Dallas Trade Mart looked like, here's a good look at the downtown skyline, the large Marriott Motor Lodge that used to sit just north of Oaklawn next to the "brand new" Stemmons Freeway (or I-35)...there's a lot of Dallas history captured in this episode. And, for the Dallasites out there, well worth studying.

And oh, by the way, there's quite a good morality play suspense thriller here as well, with good performances from the series leads and an excellent one from David Wayne, wonderfully underplayed.

Enjoy.

Clever premise trading on a religious fanatic, something rarely seen on commercial TV of the time. Caine (Wayne) is obsessed with moral degradation, believing he's been chosen to wake up the world to the necessity of the Ten Commandments. Trouble is he's become a methodical killer in pursuit of his aim. Moving from city to city, he takes on the identity of his latest victim, who he threatens to sacrifice if people don't start reforming. In Dallas, he's kidnapped Buzz who now looks doomed by the fanatic.

Kudos to the writers. They could easily have parodied Caine's character, but they don't. Instead, he's normal acting and well-spoken, no different from the average man, at least on the outside. On the inside, however, he's obsessed with reforming the world, no less. Good thing that fine actor David Wayne was hired. He's quite persuasive as Caine (note the Biblical name of the man who slew his brother; how apt). Caine's literate explanation in the car with a captive Buzz comes across as the entry's high point. In fact, Caine's manner is so intelligently restrained, you have to listen carefully to his words to realize how demented he is.

Good views of Dallas, especially the trade mart where the guys work that also appears state of the art for the time. Anyway, it's a strongly original premise, well played out in the narrative. All in all, the series again shows its cutting edge strengths.

(Check IMDb's Trivia for the historical significance of the Dallas Trade Mart.)