An Absence of Tears (3 Mar. 1961)

Still in the Los Angeles area with Tod struggling over his computer class at UCLA and Buz enjoying the "sights", a beautiful blond woman enters their lives. She was recently married and ... See full summary »

Director:

Alvin Ganzer

Writers:

Stirling Silliphant, Herbert B. Leonard (creator),

Stars:

Martin Milner, George Maharis, Martha Hyer

Cast

Episode cast overview:
Martin Milner	...	Tod Stiles
George Maharis	...	Buz Murdock
Martha Hyer	...	Donna Stevens
Rin Tin Tin II	...	Rex (as Rin Tin Tin)
Herb Armstrong	...	Poke Hansel
Joseph Ruskin	...	Blinky Ober
Mary Webster	...	Midge Foster
Herman Rudin	...	Lt. Cobb
Lewis Charles	...	Cab Driver
Joe Abdullah	...	Chico
Paul Richards	...	Rudy

Storyline

Still in the Los Angeles area with Tod struggling over his computer class at UCLA and Buz enjoying the "sights", a beautiful blond woman enters their lives. She was recently married and almost immediately widowed. The lady will stop at nothing to find the men who killed her husband-despite being blind.

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Genres:

Adventure

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

3 March 1961 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Lancer-Edling Productions, Screen Gems

Technical Specs

Runtime:

60 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Goofs

When the blind lady is using the pay phone, she tells her dog to sit. Just after that you can hear a man's voice tell him to sit again.

User Reviews

Would be one star without Maharis and Milner

A poorly written attempt at creating a plucky blind women who's a victim of random crime; and is looking to avenge the wrong doing. I started getting upset with this episode almost from the beginning. This was a very lame attempt a portraying a blind person first and foremost. And the dog and the way the actress used the dog was ridiculous. Using Rin Tin Tin probably seemed like a good ratings move; but a dog with behaviors like those seen in this episode would never make it as a leader dog. Leader dog's don't usually need a voice command just to move forward; and this dog was way to anxious to be believable as a leader dog. Martha Hyer's portrayal of the blind lady was dated and beyond believable. She's a very pretty lady, so I guess they didn't want to put sunglasses on her; so someone decided she would maintain an absolutely fixed gaze. This method of portraying a blind person went out with silent films. Completely unrealistic. The list of unbelievable things in this episode is a long one. For some reason Buz and Todd can't seem to figure out a way disarm a blind woman; this scene was painful to watch. Maharis and Milner had to work very hard to add any quality to this scene at all. And some how a not very well trained (never uses a cane) blind woman manages to do a better job then the police at first figuring out who killed here husband; she also manages to break into an office and hide herself; and subdue the criminals. Just ridiculous. And if this sounds ridiculous in my description; it's much worse to actually spend 60 minutes of your life watching. I stayed out a morbid curiosity for how bad this could get. And it got pretty bad. Maharis and Milner try very hard to resuscitate this episode; but I have to think they knew how bad this mess really was. Since there is a limited amount of words here I can't get into all the things that make this bad. If you decide to throw away 60 minutes of your life to watch this you'll see what I mean. This has to be the most poorly written episode of Route 66; it was a real dog.