Alias Bart Maverick VS The Savage Hills
Today I watched Alias Bart Maverick which introduces Cindy Lou & Gentleman Jack Darby for the first time. It was my 1st ep with Darby but my 2nd with Cindy Lou (I had watched Passage to Fort Doom previously). Although I like both Darby and Cindy I felt this episode was a poor imitation of Savage Hills one of my absolute favorites of the series (and my definite favorite of the 1st season). In fact I am rewatching it again right now.
Alias Bart Maverick starts off really well with Darby and Cindy Lou conning Bart out of money into jail. These early scenes are classic Maverick. Although I think Darby and Cindy Lou are not quite as strong characters as Dandy and Samantha (my two favorites) I like them well enough (and they are certainly much stronger that the 5th season supporting character Modesty Blaine and Doc Holliday).
The problem with Alias is it spends way too much time with Cindy Lou and Bart trying to escape the Indians w/ Cindy in her dance hall outfit (I am sure the male fans loved that). The ending of the episode is cute but it's a bit too little too late. I still have 2 more Darby eps to watch (especially looking forward to The Goose Downder) but as for Cindy Lou I actually think Arlene Howell's best ep is when she doesn't play Cindy at all but Ladybird in Island of the Swamp
Now Savage Hills also has Bart and this time Samantha having to escape through Indian country, I admit I don't like this aspect much either but Jack Kelly and Diane Brewster had so much chemistry in every scene that they were still very enjoyable in these scenes.
Pretty much every scene in Savage Hills was a winner for me with great dialog and again CHEMISTRY. The ending was also absolutely perfect. I am glad the show wasn't afraid to have the hero lose from time to time and hey what better character to lose to than Samantha. She may be a crook but she was intelligent and honorable. I don't blame Bart for falling for her and getting bamboozled in the end.
Why we never got a full ep with Bart & Samantha again seems like a drastic mistake. But at least I have this hour (and their small scene together in Shady hills) to treasure.
* Note: I also highly enjoy Samantha 2 eps with Bret According to Hoyle & The Seventh Hand but Savage Hills is definitely my favorite of her 3 as it is pretty much perfection from beginning to end.
Alias Bart Maverick starts off really well with Darby and Cindy Lou conning Bart out of money into jail. These early scenes are classic Maverick. Although I think Darby and Cindy Lou are not quite as strong characters as Dandy and Samantha (my two favorites) I like them well enough (and they are certainly much stronger that the 5th season supporting character Modesty Blaine and Doc Holliday).
The problem with Alias is it spends way too much time with Cindy Lou and Bart trying to escape the Indians w/ Cindy in her dance hall outfit (I am sure the male fans loved that). The ending of the episode is cute but it's a bit too little too late. I still have 2 more Darby eps to watch (especially looking forward to The Goose Downder) but as for Cindy Lou I actually think Arlene Howell's best ep is when she doesn't play Cindy at all but Ladybird in Island of the Swamp
Now Savage Hills also has Bart and this time Samantha having to escape through Indian country, I admit I don't like this aspect much either but Jack Kelly and Diane Brewster had so much chemistry in every scene that they were still very enjoyable in these scenes.
Pretty much every scene in Savage Hills was a winner for me with great dialog and again CHEMISTRY. The ending was also absolutely perfect. I am glad the show wasn't afraid to have the hero lose from time to time and hey what better character to lose to than Samantha. She may be a crook but she was intelligent and honorable. I don't blame Bart for falling for her and getting bamboozled in the end.
Why we never got a full ep with Bart & Samantha again seems like a drastic mistake. But at least I have this hour (and their small scene together in Shady hills) to treasure.
* Note: I also highly enjoy Samantha 2 eps with Bret According to Hoyle & The Seventh Hand but Savage Hills is definitely my favorite of her 3 as it is pretty much perfection from beginning to end.