Dan Duryea, once again playing the part of an over-the-hill Ne'er-do-well, brings a great sense of class to this episode. Upon watching it a second time and REALLY paying attention to the relationship between Stefanie Powers and Dan (plus Tod as a "third party"), I was totally sold on it.
As Dan looks back and assesses his life, he makes the moral decision to confess to his past crime, and thereby help a younger, deserving person whose own life is going "off-track" by making her his financial heir, so to speak. Stephanie Powers (incredibly gorgeous) is his "Chosen One."
The plot, only a little far-fetched, is written, directed and acted in a totally legitimate way, with Duryea providing several impressive scenes of recollection and regret..which have lead him down the path to his own reformation and..maybe... redemption.
His sincerity gradually begins to impress Ms. Powers, whose own safety is imperiled by her youthful, criminal indiscretions; she even begins to fantasize about Duryea's past criminal exploits, so vivid and compelling the impression their encounter has made on her.
Then, as if to "try out" her newly awakened outlook on life, she becomes briefly involved with Tod.....which plays out in a nicely staged Square Dance scene-- excellent, imaginative scripting.
The show then moves quickly to it final scenes; Mr. Duryea's self-sacrifice---which will provide a hefty $25,000 reward for his "chosen one"--ultimately proves to be futile---- BUT HE DOESN'T REALIZE IT. Thus, Stephanie (+ Tod and Linc) play along in their final meeting, so that Dan's moral turn-around and generosity will not have been in vain. It's VERY emotional.
A FEW OBSERVATIONS:
1.) This episode may be the ALL-TIME WINNER for most outdoor (URBAN) Location shooting in the series. I'd say 85% was filmed outdoors--and it's a great document of the look and feel of the era.
2.) The brief shots of Dan Duryea in the 1933 robbery-flashback scene are very impressive---he LOOKS 30 years younger! I almost thought they might have found footage of him from the '40's and edited it in. But no..it's Dan in '63.
3.) Every Route 66 episode (and Naked City) had its OWN musical score. Nelson Riddle would write a basic theme or two, and the orchestrator would create the entire score based ON THOSE TUNES. The result is often an ENDLESS repetition of the main theme (there are 2 in this show; one rather dour and ominous, the other more lyrical). It really gets overdone in this show. But, considering the episode's impressive strengths, it's a minor point. LR