Route 66 (TV Series) An Absence of Tears (1961) User Reviews

An Interesting take on Justice Versus Vengeance

[rwint1611 · 6/10 · 27 July 2008]

A blind woman becomes intent on killing the men who murdered her husband and uses the unsuspecting Buz and Tod as pawns in the process. This is a very thought provoking episode as it analyzes the thin line that there is between victim and perpetrator, justice and vengeance, as well as sympathy versus disdain. Tod and Buz are also forced to confront their All-American motives here as they find that sometimes being generous and helpful does not always lead to the desired results. The eventual showdown is filled with drama and irony.Hyer, as the blind woman, plays a great character. She overcomes her obvious disabilities with a steely determination that literally reaches out from the TV screen and slaps you across the face.

Grade: B

3/3/61: "An Absence of Tears"

[schappe1 · 14 April 2015]

The boys are still living it up at the mansion they've been given the run of at the need of ""Sleep With Four Pillows". Tod seems to have given up on his computer course and Buz is no longer a door-to- door salesman. Why bother when you are living the good life? In a classic example of the awkward segues this show sometimes has to use to get their heroes into the middle of someone else's story, Tod gets drunk at a party and decides he needs dancing lessons. He goes to a dance studio where the teacher is a blind lady, (I kid you not: she was a dance teacher before she went blind and still knows the steps).Tod falls for her, (the lovely Martha Hyer). Amazingly she asks him to buy a gun. Her husband has been killed in a robbery and wants to use the gun to kill the men who did it. She can recognize their voices.

It's a strange story but has some real drama and suspense if you're willing to go along with it.

Would be one star without Maharis and Milner

[Bronco46 · 3/10 · 3 March 2012]

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.

Martha and Rinty: a powerhouse team

[lor_ · 24 October 2023]

With Martha Hyer and Rin Tin Tin as guest stars, this revenge saga is a most unusual segment of the series, more than the usual challenge for our well-meaning heroes to deal with. Absent, along with any tears, is the usual story about a specific place and population for the usually nomadic road movie.

Instead, Milner is still taking his computer class at UCLA, while Maharis is basically goofing off, humorously arranging a surprise birthday party for his buddy with a boatload of private school girls as guests.

A crime story has Hyer as a blind bride whose groom is killed in a bungled gas station holdup, causing her to vow revenge. The boys get involved trying to help her and humor her, leading to a rather contrived climax and sudden "happy ending".

Along the way, we witness Martha working as a dance teacher (the dance academy gets the weekly "thank you" credit from the production) and a minor subplot with good bad guy Paul Richards (who later starred memorably in the series "Breaking Point") as an ex-boyfriend who helps Martha. And superstar Rin Tin Tin is a guaranteed scene stealer as Martha's seeing-eye guide dog.