JOHNNY STACCATO Right Here! Right Now!

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Dewey1960
Posts: 2493
Joined: April 17th, 2007, 7:52 am
Location: Oakland, CA

Re: JOHNNY STACCATO Right Here! Right Now!

Post by Dewey1960 »

Congrats on your Xmas bounty, Red! That set will provide you with many years
of repeated use. All the eps are great, some exceptionally so. My own personal
faves are SOLOMON (with the incredible Elisha Cook and Cloris Leachman in
guest roles), NATURE OF THE NIGHT, Cook again in EVIL, MURDER FOR CREDIT
with Charles McGraw, the Twilight Zone-ish A NICE LITTLE TOWN, the Woolrich-
esque A PIECE OF PARADISE, and the epic heroin addict shocker THE WILD REED
with Harry Guardino and Olive Deering. Taken all at once, it's nothing less than an
extended journey to the Planet Noir.
As for the shifting of titles from STACCATOto JOHNNY STACCATO, that
came about midstream when the show, with rock-bottom ratings jumped networks in a last
ditch attempt to salvage things. But by the time that first and only season drew to a close,
Cassaetes seemed ready to move on to other things--like SHADOWS.
RedRiver
Posts: 4200
Joined: July 28th, 2011, 9:42 am

Re: JOHNNY STACCATO Right Here! Right Now!

Post by RedRiver »

Having put it aside for a while, I watched six more episodes last night. Most of Disc Two, if that means anything to anybody. Really liked the addict story. And the Beat poet who fell in with the wrong crowd. Young Elizabeth Montgomery is reminiscent of the manipulative Brigid O'Shaughnessy. And Holy Mackerel, that girl was gorgeous! If she ever needs a THIRD Darrin, I'm ready!
RedRiver
Posts: 4200
Joined: July 28th, 2011, 9:42 am

Re: JOHNNY STACCATO Right Here! Right Now!

Post by RedRiver »

After getting this collection as a gift LAST Christmas, I finally finished watching all the episodes. Very entertaining. There were better TV shows. But this is one that was heretofore unknown to me. It made for a terrific gift! Last night I watched young Mary Tyler Moore, before she married Rob and had Richie, in a sensitive and cruel episode about a disfigured man. This was one of the better ones. There was also an obvious anti-McCarthy story about the killing of a "commie lover". This was too blatant for my tastes, but I imagine that was the intention. The final episode concerned a musician on the run from Soviet authorities. They never mentioned Russia by name. But they kept talking about The Iron Curtain. It's 1950 all over again!

Two of these episodes were directed by Paul Henreid. I found that interesting. Wonder what my brother will give me this Christmas!
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