Reviews

Plagues & Pleasures is a top-notch social documentary with a cast of characters (and I mean characters) that will certainly keep movie-goers amused and engaged. But there is a substantial historical component to the film that hipper fans of historical docs will be drawn to, too. The Salton Sea itself was created by man by mistake, and evolved -- indeed, continues to evolve -- unlike any other conventional place. In fact, I could not help but think that this movie was recording the progress of some twisted, super-sized laboratory experiment that used real people, instead of mice. Trust me, this all makes for fascinating history. I highly recommend this film.

I, too, loved this show as a kid, but as other posters have written, no one else seems to remember it. Its setting -- an Arizona town at the twilight of the wild west era, but before the First World War -- was one reason that made it so compelling. Another was the odd horn solo theme music that I could still hum decades after the last time I heard it. A couple of years ago I managed to track down a recording of the tune from an online guy who specializes in old TV show themes. He was not familiar with the show or its music until I asked him to find it. He later told me that a few episodes had recently aired on TV Land or some other nostalgia TV channel. Years after Nichols was canceled, I read or heard somewhere that it was James Garner's favorite show. Go figure.