"The Thin White Line" had all the earmarks of going embarrassingly over the top but, instead, Martin Milner gives his best performance in the entire series playing the accidentally drugged-up victim of a prank gone awry. After Tod is drugged he wakes into a psychotic break and, for the rest of the show, I was waiting for Milner to go over the top with affected behavior. Somewhat surprisingly he rides a perfect edge, giving a believable and very out-of-body performance, different from anything he did in the series before or after. Tod's break with reality is scary and, at moments, absolutely hilarious. Those who love Buz won't see much of him in this episode but his final scene with Tod is well done and, as often happens on Route 66, solidifies the strength of his relationship with Tod. This is a truly great episode. Someone has to explain to me, however, why a vendor is on an empty street selling hot dogs in almost complete darkness.
13 Reviews
Route 66 pushed televisions early 60's limits
jim_852589 May 2019
Warning: Spoilers
Route 66 was way ahead of its time and this is one of those episodes that I think set the show apart from its neighboring channels completion. Timothy Leary conducted experiments under the Harvard Psilocybin Project in 1960-62 (LSD and psilocybin were still legal in the United States at the time) and Dr. Bernard Anderson(Murray Hamilton) reminds me of Leary. The writers obviously used a fictional Leary as the basis for an episode of Route 66. Pure genius in my opinion especially for early 1960s TV. Bravo!
Good, not bad...pretty good.
lchaim71 May 2018
I don't see this as one of the best episodes but it's still pretty good. Tod's behavior after taking the drug kind of reminds me of Frank Sinatra's character in a movie where he tries to kick the heroin habit. Sinatra's character is much more profound but his character still comes close to the one Milner plays here as Tod. I guess that this episode was very dramatic and realistic when it was shown back in 1961. The shock value is no longer there because this kind of problem has become so common in the US with much more lethal effects by more potent drugs. We're just too used to seeing and knowing about this kind of topic because society has been experimenting with all kinds of drugs ever since the early 60s. We've become desensitized. It stands to reason that the drug in this episode is LSD. It was a commonly prescribed medication in the late 40s. It's obvious after reading literature about LSD when it became popular in the US before it was made illegal. It was once legal to take as a recreational drug around the late 50s or early 60s. It started as an experimental drug at universities by the CIA in the mid 50s for mind control and chemical warfare, but it soon became popular among the young kids. Only after too many reports by police of nude people climbing trees and other drug induced behaviors did the government decide to make it illegal.
Milner performance of a lifetime
james10121 November 2007
I think this is the best episode of Route 66. Martin Milner shines an as the unwitting victim who ingests a dangerous drug. He plays every emotion flawlessly. I think it is his greatest performance on film.If you can only see one episode of Route 66, let it be this one. You will be hooked on this show forever.This is long before his days on the hit TV show Adam 12. He was just beginning his long run as an actor.The supporting cast which includes the great Murray Hamilton is a don't miss episode.Look for this show on e-bay amazon.com or any where else you can find it. I am surprised it is not out on DVD yet. This show is filled with many great guest stars. Slim Pickens, Ben Johnson. Just to name a few.
Milner's best
wfavreau22 March 2019
Milner gives a realistic gritty look of drug addition after he takes a drug hidden in beer. With date rape this topic is still relevant today. He looks at all the emotions paranoia, manic depression, euphoria, and suicidal thoughts.
With Philadelphia as the perfect setting and great characters he meets this is a great place for an intense thriller. This is a warning against science and , drugs like LSD. This came out in 1961 as drugs were just coming out and becoming more popular and for its time this show was shocking. People today should think of how science and drugs have badly affected the world and made many people like this today. This shows how the 60s were a dividing era in American culture. Maharis at the end makes a good speech how we should enbrace God and living each day. However, Milner steals the show and should have an award for this episode
Tod has personality changes, with the last stage being suicidal depression; he runs through the city, as Bud and the police try to find him.
mvcombs2 July 2017
Martin Milner's genius as an actor shines bright in this episode, perhaps the best of all the episodes. I can't imagine how he prepared for this show without entering a drug ward and going through the drug addiction. Various stages were portrayed so realistically at times that it was scary to watch. I had a sister and a brother who became alcoholics and went through drug use at various times, so I have seen real effects in people and their friends first hand already. One friend wound up living in an old van with the floor rotted out, before he was finally found dead. This is a show all young people should watch to see why they should never put anything in their body that does not belong there, especially chemicals and drugs. Three cheers to Martin Milner for his great portrayal of the effects of drugs in this episode!!!
this series really does seem to be going somewhere
seasideroses3339 April 2022
Warning: Spoilers
At times, it's felt like these episodes had become formularic; they always help some poor woman, they freely give away their hard-earned money, one or both falls in love, they have to fight some guys-you know-stuff like that. But in between, I notice their relationship. They seem to really watch out for each other and to care for each other. Well, in this episode, Buz's real feelings inadvertently get exposed. He sees Todd getting ready to jump, and the first words out of his mouth are "I love you-don't do it!" So, I wonder where this is going to go next. Todd probably is trying hard not to remember hearing that, but if he does, it could ruin the friendship. But, what really makes these kinds of series interesting is how everything "evolves", so now I'm more interested in continuing the series. Thank God for Tubi! It's allowing me to watch things I never watched in my youth.
Tod's Drug Trip
rwint161123 June 2008
Tod mistakenly drinks a beer that is laced with a hallucinogenic drug that sends him into a near psychotic state and running out into the night streets of Philadelphia. Yet it is Buz that seems almost as volatile as he threatens to beat up the perpetrators as well as anyone else that doesn't answer, to his liking, as to Tod's whereabouts.
Some consider this one of the better episodes of the series, but it doesn't completely hold up. One of the problems is the fact that there aren't more special effects showing Tod's state of mind and the ones that are shown aren't all that exceptional. It would have also been better had he gone through some more recognizable parts of the city instead of just dimly lighted side streets and back alleys.
Tod's trip to a neighborhood bar becomes the most interesting sequence of the episode as he goes from hostile psycho to a carefree spirit and then back again almost instantaneously. Al Lewis is good in the role of a bartender who can't quite decide if he finds Tod amusing or someone that he should throw out. Sylvia Miles also has a nice part playing the role of a woman who takes Tod home with her. She is then made out to look like a witch during one of Tod's hallucinating episodes although in Miles's case no type of special make-up was needed. In the end the most notable aspect about this episode is simply seeing Milner, who is normally a very stiff and one dimensional actor, playing a more demanding and unique part.
Grade: B
Some consider this one of the better episodes of the series, but it doesn't completely hold up. One of the problems is the fact that there aren't more special effects showing Tod's state of mind and the ones that are shown aren't all that exceptional. It would have also been better had he gone through some more recognizable parts of the city instead of just dimly lighted side streets and back alleys.
Tod's trip to a neighborhood bar becomes the most interesting sequence of the episode as he goes from hostile psycho to a carefree spirit and then back again almost instantaneously. Al Lewis is good in the role of a bartender who can't quite decide if he finds Tod amusing or someone that he should throw out. Sylvia Miles also has a nice part playing the role of a woman who takes Tod home with her. She is then made out to look like a witch during one of Tod's hallucinating episodes although in Miles's case no type of special make-up was needed. In the end the most notable aspect about this episode is simply seeing Milner, who is normally a very stiff and one dimensional actor, playing a more demanding and unique part.
Grade: B
Nerd Zombie from Outer Space
toyguy-3151914 September 2021
I applaud the producers of Route 66 for their pioneering efforts of bringing social issues
To light. I don't understand how they could miscast and ruin an opportunity to make a great iconic episode. Had George Maharis been the victim of being slipped a "mickey", this would have been a great memorable show. No, instead we have Todd the victim who walks around like Nerd Zombies from Outer Space. I don't know what school of acting he came from but when he says " Deeeeeeelicious" I'm embarrassed for everyone and I cringe. The over exaggerated bulging eyes and zombie like walking is only laughable. ( What a Yutz ) This is not one of the best episodes ever but it does have Todd wearing his new old stale sport coat.
Trippin' Tod and Grandpa Munster
AudioFileZ15 January 2012
Warning: Spoilers
First, I do not take lightly the fact the evil than sometimes men do by slipping a drug laced drink as it is a criminal act plain and simple. That said, this episode is a treat - of sorts...Tod and Buz are working as steel hangers in Phily and they are relaxing with some local color at a small house party. There happens to be a geek and his friend with a grudge against another party goer who is a bit of an overgrown bully. The geek and his friend decide to "fix" the bully by giving him a drug laced beer, only Tod sees the beer on a tray and drinks it instead. Tod immediately, after a short sleep, becomes a trippin' raw nerve complete with hallucinations and emotional responses that are quite "off the chart" in severity. Tod becomes paranoid and runs away after punching the bully in the kisser. After this, a bit of a hokey start, things get much more interesting if not somewhat dangerous too.
Interesting is sort of like under-rating this, I'd say this episode begins to evolve into a superb palate in which Martin Milner really gets to stretch out into some fine (yes, melodramatic) acting as he portrays a psychopathic madman under the influence of some kind of experimental chemotherapy drug with psychotropic side effects ( I have no idea if this is based on a real drug or not...it seems a bit "off" so I am guessing it must be true or the writers would have tagged the drug as something else). Regular viewers know many episodes, though grounded on Tod and Buz's experiences, offer a showcase that centers on a guest star...This episode is almost 100% Tod/Milner's showcase. Milner steps up and delivers the required insanity and menace needed to keep the viewer rapt as to what will happen at any moment.
The real "meat-and-potatoes" of this episode unfolds on the streets of Phily as we see the highs and lows of Tod as he trips out. There is a cool hallucinogenic panache where Tod sees multiples of himself all laughing at him. As the hallucination goes further we see a nicely done scene where the ticking of his wristwatch becomes like a blaring cacophony spreading to a menagerie of clocks which are quite threatening to Tod. A note here, this pre-dates Pink Floyd's song "Time" by twenty- something years, but it sounds eerily like the clock segment! Like I say, it gets more interesting and culminates at Joe's bar where Tod comes in and gives the height of his inspired performance as he menaces the bartender who is none other than Al Lewis, or Grandpa Munster. Al Lewis is really cool opposite Milner in the extended segment. Milner is so good in this part of the episode I'd wager Quentin Tarantino was inspired for his "Honey Bunny" restaurant robbery segment of "Pulp Fiction" by Milner here. I know it's probably not so, but I can picture Quentin telling Tim Roth to watch this for inspiration. Tod finally leaves the bar with the piano chartreuse, "Red", played by the exotic looking Sylvia Miles. The final phase of Tod's trip begins as Red and Tod sip champagne in front of a fireplace and its a doozy. Taking advantage of Mile's prominent facial features the director scores "gold" here as Tod sees her as some kind of monster (you've got to see this - run Tod run!).
After fleeing Tod wakes up under an outdoor stair well in a slum area and due to the final phase he is suicidal. After some tense moments, including attacking a policeman and taking his gun, Tod decides he needs to climb a bridge and jump. Buz is effective in talking him down. Wow, this humble starting episode really ended up delivering! A very interesting episode stepping out of the usual in a good way.
Interesting is sort of like under-rating this, I'd say this episode begins to evolve into a superb palate in which Martin Milner really gets to stretch out into some fine (yes, melodramatic) acting as he portrays a psychopathic madman under the influence of some kind of experimental chemotherapy drug with psychotropic side effects ( I have no idea if this is based on a real drug or not...it seems a bit "off" so I am guessing it must be true or the writers would have tagged the drug as something else). Regular viewers know many episodes, though grounded on Tod and Buz's experiences, offer a showcase that centers on a guest star...This episode is almost 100% Tod/Milner's showcase. Milner steps up and delivers the required insanity and menace needed to keep the viewer rapt as to what will happen at any moment.
The real "meat-and-potatoes" of this episode unfolds on the streets of Phily as we see the highs and lows of Tod as he trips out. There is a cool hallucinogenic panache where Tod sees multiples of himself all laughing at him. As the hallucination goes further we see a nicely done scene where the ticking of his wristwatch becomes like a blaring cacophony spreading to a menagerie of clocks which are quite threatening to Tod. A note here, this pre-dates Pink Floyd's song "Time" by twenty- something years, but it sounds eerily like the clock segment! Like I say, it gets more interesting and culminates at Joe's bar where Tod comes in and gives the height of his inspired performance as he menaces the bartender who is none other than Al Lewis, or Grandpa Munster. Al Lewis is really cool opposite Milner in the extended segment. Milner is so good in this part of the episode I'd wager Quentin Tarantino was inspired for his "Honey Bunny" restaurant robbery segment of "Pulp Fiction" by Milner here. I know it's probably not so, but I can picture Quentin telling Tim Roth to watch this for inspiration. Tod finally leaves the bar with the piano chartreuse, "Red", played by the exotic looking Sylvia Miles. The final phase of Tod's trip begins as Red and Tod sip champagne in front of a fireplace and its a doozy. Taking advantage of Mile's prominent facial features the director scores "gold" here as Tod sees her as some kind of monster (you've got to see this - run Tod run!).
After fleeing Tod wakes up under an outdoor stair well in a slum area and due to the final phase he is suicidal. After some tense moments, including attacking a policeman and taking his gun, Tod decides he needs to climb a bridge and jump. Buz is effective in talking him down. Wow, this humble starting episode really ended up delivering! A very interesting episode stepping out of the usual in a good way.
The Trip.....
Reviewed2 July 2023
Warning: Spoilers
.......proves nothing at all except that Tod & Buz are excitable when under duress. There is no final resolution, except the doctor giving Tod a clean bill of health, who then waltzes out of the hospital with nothing more than a day's growth. No mention of any charges against Buz for his behavior, busting up a bar, or Tod for shooting a police officer, or the culprits for spiking Tod's drink. The best part? The old cars. They're the real stars. Oh, and George Maharis is cute. Boring and dated, as is the whole series. Not sure why they require so many characters for a review. I was forced to give spoilers.
12/8/61: "The Thin White Line"
schappe110 May 2015
This is one of those episodes people remember years later. The boys are at a party in Philadelphia. One of the other guests is a brutish football player that some psychology majors from a local school want revenge on for the way he's treated them by spiking his beer with a powerful drug that produces hallucinations, confusion, euphoria, paranoia and then suicidal depression. The guy pushes them away and Tod grabs the beer and drinks it instead. He goes off the deep end and charges out into the night. Buz charges after him but loses him.
The result is a tour-de-force for Martin Milner, a much under-rated actor, as he goes through the various stages. A long scene in a bar where he threatens and then converts everybody to some kind of religion based on his visions and the need for charity plays like something from Eugene O'Neill. It's been suggested the drug involved is LSD. It may be and it may also be that the symptoms demonstrated here are not authentic and that someone with real knowledge of this drug would see this episode as a sort of "Refer Madness". I don't know and I don't particularly care. It's a strong performance and a strong episode nonetheless.
It's also the perfect vehicle for Stirling Silliphant's penchant for poetic prose. What's amazing is that he didn't write this. Instead Leonard Freeman, later the creator of the rather unpoetic Hawaii Five-O, was the writer. The episode is also cleverly directed, with things like a scene where Tod looks in a store window full of mirrors and his laughing face in all of them. But it's not directed by Sam Peckinpaugh or Robert Altman. This one's directed by one David Lowell Rich, who did a lot of work on TV in those days but never really broke through as a film director. He went on to direct "Cat Ballou" and "A Man Called Horse" but whose career then petered out for reasons that are unclear.
I would have added one line for Buz to say at the end. Tod threatens to jump from a bridge. Tod announces that the two great adventures of life are birth and death and that he's ready to experience the second- and greater- of those. I'd like to have heard Buz ask him about all the adventures in between.
The result is a tour-de-force for Martin Milner, a much under-rated actor, as he goes through the various stages. A long scene in a bar where he threatens and then converts everybody to some kind of religion based on his visions and the need for charity plays like something from Eugene O'Neill. It's been suggested the drug involved is LSD. It may be and it may also be that the symptoms demonstrated here are not authentic and that someone with real knowledge of this drug would see this episode as a sort of "Refer Madness". I don't know and I don't particularly care. It's a strong performance and a strong episode nonetheless.
It's also the perfect vehicle for Stirling Silliphant's penchant for poetic prose. What's amazing is that he didn't write this. Instead Leonard Freeman, later the creator of the rather unpoetic Hawaii Five-O, was the writer. The episode is also cleverly directed, with things like a scene where Tod looks in a store window full of mirrors and his laughing face in all of them. But it's not directed by Sam Peckinpaugh or Robert Altman. This one's directed by one David Lowell Rich, who did a lot of work on TV in those days but never really broke through as a film director. He went on to direct "Cat Ballou" and "A Man Called Horse" but whose career then petered out for reasons that are unclear.
I would have added one line for Buz to say at the end. Tod threatens to jump from a bridge. Tod announces that the two great adventures of life are birth and death and that he's ready to experience the second- and greater- of those. I'd like to have heard Buz ask him about all the adventures in between.
Z-level horror movie time
lor_11 April 2024
Route 66 jumps the shark with this tedious gimmick episode, significantly the first to OMIT entirely the iconic Corvette: Milner is accidentally slipped a mickey at a party and gives the viewers a preview of those Acid Trip psychedelic adventures so commonly filmed in the late '60s. It throws out the whole point of the series.
Most disturbing to me was not the holey camera angles, zooms and other schtick to simulate hallucinations, but the quick summoning of the cops by Doctor Murray Hamilton, who's been experimenting on this psycotropic drug; As we all know too well now, the cops shoot first and instead of questions stage a coverup later when dealing with innocent folks who are behaving crazily -though white bread Milner is in far less danger than a minority victim. However, on this show the cops only want to help him, treating Marty with kid gloves.
The one and only Sylvia Miles provides some sexploitation here as a piano player at a tiny cocktail lounge (with Al Lewis ever-smiling as the put-upon bartender) while Milner's one-man show drones on. I couldn't wait for Maharis to get the chance to also overact in a pretentious suicde-prevention climax and put me out of my viewing misery.
The show has none of the series' virtues: no human interest drama, no exposure of M & M to a weekly dose of a new bit of Americana and some unseen subculture thrust into the spotlight. A good old exploitation movie is fun to watch, but not this slumming edition of the usually highbrow Route 66.
Most disturbing to me was not the holey camera angles, zooms and other schtick to simulate hallucinations, but the quick summoning of the cops by Doctor Murray Hamilton, who's been experimenting on this psycotropic drug; As we all know too well now, the cops shoot first and instead of questions stage a coverup later when dealing with innocent folks who are behaving crazily -though white bread Milner is in far less danger than a minority victim. However, on this show the cops only want to help him, treating Marty with kid gloves.
The one and only Sylvia Miles provides some sexploitation here as a piano player at a tiny cocktail lounge (with Al Lewis ever-smiling as the put-upon bartender) while Milner's one-man show drones on. I couldn't wait for Maharis to get the chance to also overact in a pretentious suicde-prevention climax and put me out of my viewing misery.
The show has none of the series' virtues: no human interest drama, no exposure of M & M to a weekly dose of a new bit of Americana and some unseen subculture thrust into the spotlight. A good old exploitation movie is fun to watch, but not this slumming edition of the usually highbrow Route 66.
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