This is one of my favorite "Big Valleys" because it's so bad. I am surprised Barbara Stanwyck let this go to air. The plot is old (Stanwyck goes to a women's prison under cover to expose mistreatment and horrible conditions). The plot then thickens.
Don't get me wrong. I love Barbara Stanwyck and I love Susan Oliver, but this plot is so contrived and the dialogue is so lame, it's funny. The mistreatment isn't so bad, either -- not by today's standards anyway. You have to love both Stanwyck's and Oliver's mascara and eye shadow. How bad can the conditions be when you get to wear Revlon inside the big house? And do we really believe Oliver "washes in the trough with the others" when her face and hair (if not her prison clothes) look like she's ready to walk the ramp in a beauty pageant? Stanwyck's Irish brogue isn't consistent (maybe she thought after reading the script, "Why bother?"); Gavin McCleod does a cartoonish "Snidely Whiplash" type; the list goes on.
"Do you think Kate traveled miles with a bullet in her leg just to tell that ridiculous story?" Just one of many memorable lines that will keep you in stitches.
Don't get me wrong. I love Barbara Stanwyck and I love Susan Oliver, but this plot is so contrived and the dialogue is so lame, it's funny. The mistreatment isn't so bad, either -- not by today's standards anyway. You have to love both Stanwyck's and Oliver's mascara and eye shadow. How bad can the conditions be when you get to wear Revlon inside the big house? And do we really believe Oliver "washes in the trough with the others" when her face and hair (if not her prison clothes) look like she's ready to walk the ramp in a beauty pageant? Stanwyck's Irish brogue isn't consistent (maybe she thought after reading the script, "Why bother?"); Gavin McCleod does a cartoonish "Snidely Whiplash" type; the list goes on.
"Do you think Kate traveled miles with a bullet in her leg just to tell that ridiculous story?" Just one of many memorable lines that will keep you in stitches.