Hey! I Know That Guy Episode #4

 

 

Hey! I know that guy!

 

Here we go with another installment of the ongoing series.  To refresh your memory, the plan is to discuss an episode of The Twilight Zone and highlight one of the actors or actresses appearing in the episode and talk about their career before and after their role in the episode.  Usually I will be taking a secondary character as my focus, not one of the stars.

In the last two installments I went with major characters in the episode.  But this time I found a treat. 

A Hundred Yards Over the Rim was a second  season episode, and once again, a bit of time travel was a major part of the story.  Except, as opposed to the previous episode (Hey! I Know That Guy Episode #3), the time travel is in the reverse, with a guy from the 1840's who stumbles into modern day and fortuitously changes his future.

On a trip across the desert dividing Chris Horn (Cliff Robertson) and a group of settlers from Ohio to the promised fabled land of California things are looking rather bleak.  They are almost out of water and there is a bit of dissension  among the travelers.  Some are considering going back, but Chris insists they will be dead before they reach Ohio if they do that.

Among those advocating for a return to the safety of home is Charlie, played by our focal actor for this episode, John Astin. 

Astin (2nd from right) w/ Cliff Robertson et. al.

 

Astin, who is probably more well remembered for his comedic roles, played a fairly sedate and serious character in his albeit short screen time here. But as most of you will remember, he is much more well-known for such roles as Gomez Addams in the classic The Addams Family TV series, as well as later in life as the father (and part-time mental patient) Buddy Stone to Judge Harry Stone (Harry Anderson).  And, in case you didn't know, he took over the role of The Riddler in season 2 of the 60's camp superhero series Batman.

What you may not know, and it's one of my fondest memories of childhood, he played the lead role in a comedy western TV movie, Evil Roy Slade.  This was a comedic take on the Old West theme, one which followed a notorious bad guy as he struggled to become a good guy to win the love of a goody goody schoolmarm who had just moved to town.

Astin, who is still with us as of this writing (95 years young), has had a phenomenal career, He got is start as a secondary character in a film version of one of Ed McBain's 87th Precinct detectives along side the star Robert Lansing. Much of his subsequent output was in TV, sometimes as a guest character on such shows as Maverick and 77 Sunset Strip. But between 1962 and 1966 he was the headliner for two of his own TV shows. The first was I'm Dickens, He's Fenster, which failed to find an audience and lasted only one season. (Have never even seen one episode, but it might be the role that really got him into primarily comedic roles afterwards).

The second, of course, was The Addams Family. As lead character Gomez Addams, he garnered a cache of recognition, even though the show lasted only two seasons. It was one of two attempts to connect with an emerging fan base of people who were discovering (or re-discovering) the classic Universal Monsters from the 30's and 40's, which had just started airing for free on TV at the time/ (The other was CBS's The Munsters, both of which aired in a brief period from 1964-66).

In the second season of The Twilight Zone a group of people, in the late 1800's,  are journeying across the desert heading to a new life in California. But hard times are pressing on them. They are out of water, not much luck in finding food, and to top it off, the leader, Chris' (Cliff Robertson) son is sick. Most of the band, including Charlie (John Astin) is pressuring Chris to give up and go back to civilization. But Chris is still hopeful.  He finally agrees to turn back, but he is going to try one lass ditch effort bay going across a nearby rim to see if there is any hope on the other side.

What happens is Chris crosses the rim and into the future (or present day).  Seeing many odd things, like a huge behemoth of a monster (a semi) and a way station (a gas station), Chris is as confused as the modern day people,  He gradually comes to realize he is in the future and tries to escape back to his own time, and ostensibly a saner world.  When he finally gets back to the wagon train he is told he has only been gone a few minutes (even though at least a half a day passed while he was in the future. With medicine (penicillin) he brings back with him he is able to cure his son (and proceeds on to California, where we now know his son will become a famous doctor).

Astin's role here is brief, but it's interesting to see what he has the potential to become,

In only a few more years (after his stint as Gomez Addams), Astin starts to really become a presence in the industry.  He gets one of his first film star roles on 1972 in a made-for TV western comedy called Evil Roy Slade. Both my sister and I fondly remembered seeing this when it aired (we were just barely 10, so memory of that is impressive, at least it is for me,)

Roy is a kid whose family was attacked by Indians, leaving him the only survivor.  As the narrator (played by Pat Buttram) tells us "nobody wanted this child". He is rejected not only by the Indians, but even by the wild animals, so he grows up on his own. Even learning how to change his own diapers. (Did I mention this was a comedy?)

Un the present day, Roy and his gang survive by robbing banks. Especially the ones owned by Nelson Stool (Mickey Rooney). Stool makes several attempts to lure a famous lawmen named Bing Bell {was that the doorbell?}  (Comedy... remember?) 

Roy meets up with the new local schoolmarm, Betsy (Pamela Austin) and falls head over heels in love.  And because he is in love, and she is dead set against him continuing in his life of lawlessness, he decides to go straight.  

But after a lifetime of just plain orneriness, he has a tough time of it.  But you gotta give him credit for trying.  You have to see him trying to be a respectable salesman.  (Threatening people to make them buy the product is probably not the best bet...)

With guest appearances by the likes of Milton Berle, Henry Gibson, Dom DeLuise, Penny Marshall and John Ritter, the film has a wealth of talent to compete with Astin, but I think, as well he should, that Astin takes home the prize for the best portrayal.

This is a cheesy TV comedy (and a comedy from the early 70's to boot), so some of it comes off a little dated by today's standards, but it will warm your heart. And who wouldn't want Pamela Austin for an enamorata...?

Well, until next time, safe journeys.

Quiggy