In watching the entire Route 66 series chronologically, I preview the acting credits for each episode and just had to see the first IMDb entry for Joey Heatherton at age 16Y. One could imagine her star development with experience over time. Overall, my expectations for the usual Route 66 content in the episode were met. Thank you.
7 Reviews
Eye- Catching Locations, Spotty Acting
dougdoepke23 August 2014
Be sure to catch the opening scene of Buzz and Todd tooling along a country road. There they discuss for one of the few times why they're following life on the road instead of settling down like everyone else of the 1950's. In this entry they end up in Grant's Pass, Oregon, with a dysfunctional family of a prominent hops grower, yes, hops! Trouble is the boy (Bolster) can't stay out of trouble, which he can't handle. So Buzz ends up fighting his fights for him. Then too, the daughter (Heatherton) works at being a rural Lolita in overdone fashion. Overall, I agree with reviewer zsenorsock: the episode might work if Bolster and Heatherton could act. Unfortunately, both border on parody. Nonetheless, the Oregon locations are persuasive, while the whitewater rafting down the Rogue River amounts to a scenic and dramatic highpoint. All in all, however, the entry is only average, at best.
(For an exciting Technicolor adventure down the Rogue catch up with Rogue River {1950} with Peter Graves.)
(For an exciting Technicolor adventure down the Rogue catch up with Rogue River {1950} with Peter Graves.)
Off Roading
zsenorsock1 March 2008
Warning: Spoilers
Despite some excellent writing, bad casting sinks this episode.
Buz and Tod are still way off the beaten trail in Orgeon (where route 66 does NOT go) and walk into the middle of a fight between Tony (Johnny Seven) and the young Emerson boy (Steven Bolster) who didn't like the way Tony was eying his sister Karen (Joey Heatherton in her first TV role).
The head of the Emerson clan is played by E.G. Marshall. Because his dad was a strict disciplinarian, he's let his kids run wild. In gratitude for the boy's help and because he needs help harvesting the crop, he hires them on to help. As time goes by, Buz and Tod see what a dysfunctional family the Emersons are, which leads to death, drinking and a lot of fights.
The producers must have spent all their money getting E.G. Marshall, because nobody else is convincing in their roles. Not for a second is Steven Bolster believable as the tormented son who has turned to booze (the rest of his career he would spend doing soaps). Johnny Seven also is unable to create a real character as Tony (the fact he was 34 at the time and his love interest, Joey Heatherton was 16 doesn't help). And for some reason ALL of Joey Heatherton's dialogue has been obviously dubbed in post, making for a huge distraction. From what I can see though, it's not like any great performance was lost.
Buzz and Todd don't get a lot of scenes in this one, but when they do, they are effective, telling Mr. Emmerson about their own fathers and how they turned out the way they did.
Buz and Tod are still way off the beaten trail in Orgeon (where route 66 does NOT go) and walk into the middle of a fight between Tony (Johnny Seven) and the young Emerson boy (Steven Bolster) who didn't like the way Tony was eying his sister Karen (Joey Heatherton in her first TV role).
The head of the Emerson clan is played by E.G. Marshall. Because his dad was a strict disciplinarian, he's let his kids run wild. In gratitude for the boy's help and because he needs help harvesting the crop, he hires them on to help. As time goes by, Buz and Tod see what a dysfunctional family the Emersons are, which leads to death, drinking and a lot of fights.
The producers must have spent all their money getting E.G. Marshall, because nobody else is convincing in their roles. Not for a second is Steven Bolster believable as the tormented son who has turned to booze (the rest of his career he would spend doing soaps). Johnny Seven also is unable to create a real character as Tony (the fact he was 34 at the time and his love interest, Joey Heatherton was 16 doesn't help). And for some reason ALL of Joey Heatherton's dialogue has been obviously dubbed in post, making for a huge distraction. From what I can see though, it's not like any great performance was lost.
Buzz and Todd don't get a lot of scenes in this one, but when they do, they are effective, telling Mr. Emmerson about their own fathers and how they turned out the way they did.
Those that can, do, Those that can't, overdo
toyguy-3151913 September 2021
Lousy acting, grossly overused script and so many loose strings it could be used as fringe. I've always been a fan of Route 66 and have the complete series. I've never been a fan of Martin Milner and this episode validates my opinion. How he, Todd, just flat out tells a family how to conduct temselves and delivers lines like a cross between Shirley Temple and Jack Webb. I beg for someone to tell him to Butt out and Shut up. Fortunately, we don't have to see that sorry sport coat of his in this episode. George Maharis is as always on target.
Three Sides - Description
chris_patx31 July 2007
Warning: Spoilers
Tod (Martin Milner) and Buz (George Maharis) arrive in Grants Pass, Oregon looking for someplace quiet after the adventures they have had in previous episodes. They walk in on a fight in a bar and break it up while stopping to eat. They help a young lady (Joey Heatherton) get her brother (Stephen Bolster), who was in the fight with the local tough guy (Johnny Seven), home and the father (E.G. Marshall), who owns a hops factory, offers Buz and Tod work as a reward for their kindness. The daughter is a flirt and the local tough guy wants her. She knows it and teases him all the more. (Unrealistic, as Joey Heatherton is 16 at this time and Johnny Seven is 34, a large difference in age.) The son is a product of no discipline and his life is a mess. He is involved in an accident in which someone dies, the workers quit the factory because of the accident, and the father needs the help of Tod and Buz to get everything right again.
I hope this is the right place for this as IMDb wants me to verify with an Amazon account, which I don't have, a credit card, which I won't give them, or a text message, which I do not use.
I hope this is the right place for this as IMDb wants me to verify with an Amazon account, which I don't have, a credit card, which I won't give them, or a text message, which I do not use.
11/18/60 "Three Sides"
schappe13 April 2015
Warning: Spoilers
The boys help out a guy who's getting beaten up in a bar. It turns out he's the wastrel son of hops farmer, (E. G. Marshall), who hires them to work on his farm and look after his son and playgirl daughter, (Joey Heatherton, who was born 9/14/44 and thus was no more than 16 years old, possibly still 15 at the time this would have been filmed, but plays a woman who is obviously a several years older than that). The son, Kurt, played by someone named Stephen Bolster who doesn't seem much like a wastrel- or a hops farmer. His irresponsibility causes the death of a beloved foreman and a strike by the (unseen) workers) so some Tod, Buz, and E. G. have to try to harvest the crop themselves. They are soon joined by the now humbled children. Not one of the better episodes.
For some reason, perhaps to make her seem older, Joey's lines are dubbed by an actress with a lower voice. Per the IMDb, this is her acting debut, at least before the cameras.
For some reason, perhaps to make her seem older, Joey's lines are dubbed by an actress with a lower voice. Per the IMDb, this is her acting debut, at least before the cameras.
A coin and plenty of hops
lor_14 September 2023
As the Corvette motors down a scenic mountain highway, the boys reminisce about past adventures, rattling off the small towns spotlighted in prior "Route 66" episodes. With only $219 saved up after a journey of thousands of miles, they wonder if the trip was worth it.
They arrive at Grant's Pass, Oregon, with the next shot showing teenage Joey Heatherton dancing sexily atop the bar -a star is born! Her protective brother gets into a fight with a lecher ogling Joey and wouldn't you know it, Maharis arrives just in time to knock out the lech. The siblings' rich father hires M & M to work on his hops harvest, but mainly to look out as role models for the kids.
Lovely scenery's on display in an impromptu race in row boats over the local white water rapids: the lech versus Joey's brother, a quickie setup toward melodrama to come. The plot thickens when the brother, Curt, turns out to be somehting of a daredevil, taking a delivery truck in the hops operation out for a dangerous spin, with M & M needed to chase him down with the trusty Corvette. A fine chase scene climaxes with a violent climax, killing the foreman as Curt drives off the cliffside.
A sense of fatalism hangs over this story, once again depicting people in a small town cut off from the cares of the outside world, while our pair of heroes are "just passing through". Marshall delivers a strong monologue about his authoritarian father and how he had swung to the other extreme and brought up spoiled children.
It's time for Curt to leave town, hated as a "killer". That leaves Marshall's business falling apart when his mill employees all quit (in solidarity with the dead foreman) and Joey's aimless life going nowhere fast. Milner fetches Curt from a local bar, hoping they will all pitch in to save the harvest and the business. But Curt's given up, and so's her dad, leaving Joey to try and save the day.
Her teenage friends to the rescue, but melodrama lingers as the lech is ready to go to work on virginal Joey (don't worry, Maharis is always the violent savior!).
Silliphant's story is a bit schematic this tiem, but seeing Joye is worth it, no doubt about it. And it was fun listening to Milner, of all people, as the boys drive away, waxing philosophically (explaining the meaning of the episode's title, regarding the edge of a coin as metaphor) in the "My daddy used to say..." vein.
They arrive at Grant's Pass, Oregon, with the next shot showing teenage Joey Heatherton dancing sexily atop the bar -a star is born! Her protective brother gets into a fight with a lecher ogling Joey and wouldn't you know it, Maharis arrives just in time to knock out the lech. The siblings' rich father hires M & M to work on his hops harvest, but mainly to look out as role models for the kids.
Lovely scenery's on display in an impromptu race in row boats over the local white water rapids: the lech versus Joey's brother, a quickie setup toward melodrama to come. The plot thickens when the brother, Curt, turns out to be somehting of a daredevil, taking a delivery truck in the hops operation out for a dangerous spin, with M & M needed to chase him down with the trusty Corvette. A fine chase scene climaxes with a violent climax, killing the foreman as Curt drives off the cliffside.
A sense of fatalism hangs over this story, once again depicting people in a small town cut off from the cares of the outside world, while our pair of heroes are "just passing through". Marshall delivers a strong monologue about his authoritarian father and how he had swung to the other extreme and brought up spoiled children.
It's time for Curt to leave town, hated as a "killer". That leaves Marshall's business falling apart when his mill employees all quit (in solidarity with the dead foreman) and Joey's aimless life going nowhere fast. Milner fetches Curt from a local bar, hoping they will all pitch in to save the harvest and the business. But Curt's given up, and so's her dad, leaving Joey to try and save the day.
Her teenage friends to the rescue, but melodrama lingers as the lech is ready to go to work on virginal Joey (don't worry, Maharis is always the violent savior!).
Silliphant's story is a bit schematic this tiem, but seeing Joye is worth it, no doubt about it. And it was fun listening to Milner, of all people, as the boys drive away, waxing philosophically (explaining the meaning of the episode's title, regarding the edge of a coin as metaphor) in the "My daddy used to say..." vein.
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