RETRO TV - ALIAS SMITH AND JONES

Bargain - picked up in W H Smith's for the sum 0f £9 - can't be bad. Amazing value when you think the four disc set contains each and every season one episode including the ninety minute pilot.

I used to enjoy this when it was shown on British TV during the seventies and eighties, and I've seen the odd episode from time to time, but I'm looking forward to watching the entire season over the next week or so.

Alias Smith and Jones originally started out as a TV movie, The Young Country which was made in 1970 and directed by Roy Huggins who would later act as executive producer on Alias Smith and Jones as well as writing many of the episodes under the name, John Thomas. The original TV movie was about two conmen in the Old West and starred Roger Davies as Stephen Moody, while Pete Duel played Honest John Smith. However when the TV movie was developed into a series there were many changes, the main one being that the two heroes now became outlaws desperate to reform. Peter Duel remained but this time recast as Hannibal Hayes while Ben Murphy signed on to play Kid Curry. Interestingly when Pete Duel committed suicide Roger Davies was his short lived replacement. It is also interesting to note that the narration at the beginning of the show was also done, except in the pilot, by Roger Davies. Both The Young Country and the pilot for Alias Smith and Jones were originally aired as ABC TV-Movies of the week.

The show owed much to the successful 1969 movie Butch and Sundance which starred Robert Redford and Paul Newman - indeed Ben Murphy was cast because he was considered a Paul Newman lookalike. The real life Kid Curry (Harvey Logan)  was actually a member of Butch Cassidy's gang. And the outlaw gang our heroes used to ride with are known as The Devil's Hole Gang which is obviously linked to Butch's Hole in the Wall Gang.

ALIAS SMITH AND JONES MK2

ALIAS SMITH AND JONES: WITNESS TO A LYNCHING

I'd never seen any of the episodes of Alias Smith and Jones after original star Pete Duel was replaced by Roger Davies - I used to love the show when it was shown on BBC TV when I was a kid. I'm guessing I missed the original run since I would have only been six at the time. So maybe I saw repeats in the mid-seventies and the latter non-Duel episodes were not shown or at least not shown as often.

Pete Duel had filmed two-thirds of the season 2 episode, The Biggest Game in the West when he committed suicide. The word came down: continue filming. (Ben Murphy was told of Duel's death and decided to stay home for the day's filming, which consisted of pickup shots). When Roger Davis was brought in as Duel's replacement, he had the unenviable task of replicating Duel's every move (except for a few shots where only Duel's back is seen) before doing the last two days of filming on his own. (Davis also re-filmed the opening, with Ralph Story replacing him as narrator).

This episode which I stumbled across on one of the Freeview channels was apparently the last ever episode filmed, though it was shown as the tenth episode of season three. The storyline is that Smith and Jones are told to protect two witnesses to a lynching - a travelling con man and his daughter. And I enjoyed it. It was good solid entertainment with some great riding scenes and a major shoot out contained in its fifty minutes or so. There was also some well staged comedy when Smith and Jones get drunk on a bottle of the travelling con-man's tonic - Cure-all, guaranteed to cure alcoholism, made from 60% natural herbs and flower juices and 40% pure alcohol.

This is the only episode I've seen with Roger Davies so I can't say if there was any dip in quality when Duel went. The chemistry between the leads seems the same as ever, but Davies only did seventeen episodes before the show was cancelled. However this was 1973 and TV westerns were being replaced with cop shows - Bonanza also aired its final episode three days after Smith and Jones, leaving Gunsmoke as the only TV western running and then mostly only in the US. But I'd like to see more of these later episodes and maybe find out more about the show. Information on the web is minimal - I know that fellow Black Horse writer Joanne Walpole (Terry James) is a huge fan so perhaps I'll badger her for some info. I've just this minute ordered the season one box-set and I'm looking forward to reintroducing myself to this evergreen TV western classic

WILD WEST MONDAY GUEST BLOGGER - JOANNE WALPOLE

Today's guest blogger is Joanne Walpole who gushes of her love for Heyes and The Kid from the TV show Alias Smith and Jones, and tells us of how the show has influenced her own work. Joanne writing under the name of Terry James sees a novel out at the end of the month LONG SHADOWS and it can be ordered now to ensure delivery - HERE

Joanne also maintains her own blog HERE


And so The Tainted Archive hands you over to the lovely Joanne

My love affair with Alias Smith & Jones by Joanne Walpole

It’s truth time. Alias Smith & Jones was THE biggest influence on me writing westerns. There. I’ve said it. It’s no secret that I’m a big fan of Alias Smith & Jones (TV, 1971). They form my earliest recollections of the genre, although I was only five or six years old at the time when they were first shown in the UK. As soon as I could hold a pencil, I wrote episodes for my mum. Given a few spare minutes, I’ll still whip up an unlikely tale.

As time has gone by, I have been asked on numerous occasions what the attraction was, and still is. Being a deep thinker, I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s the strong bond of friendship between Heyes and the ‘Kid’. Add this to the simplistic, non-violent and ultimately satisfying alls-well-that-ends-well plots and you have that most wonderful beast – the timeless western.

Obviously as the years go by, my tastes change, and so does my choice of favourite episode. If I had to choose now, it would be a toss up between The Girl in Boxcar #3 and The Fifth Victim. Strangely, these are both Kid Curry biased episodes, which is why I am surprised I single them out since my preference is the Hannibal Heyes character. Why? Because he’s intelligent, good with cards and easy on the eye. Not that Kid Curry doesn’t have equally attractive qualities being fast with a gun, a bit more serious and highly likely to get into trouble.

Look closely enough at my writing and you’ll find something of Alias Smith & Jones in there, whether it be the stance of a gunfighter or the luck of a gambler. It may not be a literary or cinematic masterpiece but it holds high the essence of what a western is to me – good vs. evil, honesty, integrity, friendship and that ‘leave you with a smile’ ending.