Terror in a Tiny Town: Part 1 (5 Jan. 1966)

Director:

Murray Golden

Writers:

Marc Brandell, Frank D. Gilroy (creator),

Stars:

Gene Barry, Harry Basch, James Edwards

Cast

Episode credited cast:
Gene Barry	...	Capt. Amos Burke
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Harry Basch	...	Harlan O'Brien
James Edwards	...	John Norton
Don Haggerty	...	Policeman
Skip Homeier	...	Paul Lynnaker
Joan Huntington	...	Joan Lynnaker
Monica Keating	...	Ruth
Lynn Loring	...	Ann Rogers / Anna Rodriguez
Kevin McCarthy	...	Bill Adams
Troy Melton	...	Taylor
Robert Middleton	...	Jed Hawkes
Patricia Owens	...	Sharon O'Brien
John Qualen	...	Richard Prince

Storyline

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Crime | Drama

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Details

Language:

English

Release Date:

5 January 1966 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Four Star Productions, Barbety

Technical Specs

Runtime:

60 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

User Reviews

Town of terror

After fifteen episodes, Amos Burke's final caper as secret agent was this two-parter, scripted by Marc Brandel.

Harlan O'Brian ( Harry Basch ) goes berserk in a restaurant after the counter man casually insults his home town of Sorrel. A policeman shoots him dead. O'Brian, Chief Security Officer at the town's atomic power plant, had also been a Government agent.

Burke finds the townspeople have been subjected to some form of mass brainwashing. The local radio station is pumping subliminal messages into listeners' heads via music. Its symptoms manifest themselves in the form of extreme oaths of loyalty to Sorrel, and blind hatred of outsiders. A Communist-backed organisation called 'The Friends Of Progress' appears to be behind it.

Congressman Jed Hawkes ( Robert Middleton ) wants to take over as leader of the country, and is planning 'the biggest surprise since Pearl Harbour'. He commands that the people eliminate Burke. Fleeing from an angry mob ( even a mother with a pram turns against him at one point ), he takes refuge in a laundromat. Inside one of the machines is the corpse of its owner, Richard Prince, who had previously given Burke information...

If you think the sight of a dead man swirling about amidst a mass of clothes funny, you'd be wrong. Its done in pretty chilling fashion.

Taken as a single story, 'Town' is a superb finale to the series, and makes one regret that no more were made.

The notion of the 'community-where-things-are not-right' had been done before, of course, most notably in John Sturges' superb 'Bad Day At Black Rock' starring Spencer Tracy. Sorrel is a typical mid-West American town, yet the atmosphere is so thick with evil Burke confides to 'The Man' that he feels as though he is 'behind enemy lines'. The seemingly innocent radio broadcasts, graffiti warning outsiders to 'Get Out!', and policemen who laugh and drive off when crimes are reported, there is far more menace here than in say, the recent remake of 'The Prisoner'.

The good supporting cast includes Kevin McCarthy ( 'Dr.Bennell' from Don Siegel's 'Invasion Of The Body Snatchers' ), Skip Homieier, Lynn Loring, and Joan Huntington.

To be continued...