Due onesti fuorilegge

In the UK this gentle, unassuming western series stormed straight into viewers' hearts; garnered enormous audiences, and generated many fond memories... how many among us still recall the 'five pat-hand' poker trick? Lots and lots, I'd wager.

What made it so successful, in retrospect, was the thoroughness of the script preparation and the subsequent chemistry between the two leads. Roy Huggins' (aka John Thomas James) thoughtful and professional approach was everywhere. Many of the most memorable moments within the series were based upon fact and/or documented historical incidents e.g. soap selling dodges, poker escapades, safe-cracking attempts, and - although I was unaware of this as a child - it explains why so much of the series' background 'hung true'. Toss in the amiable, laconic tit-tat verbal interplay between Hannibal Heyes (Pete Duel) and Kid Curry (Ben Murphy)... and you ended up with small-screen magic.

Heyes followed the silver-tongued, 'I can talk us out of this calamity' approach, with endless undinted confidence and zest, but varying success; Curry, meanwhile, was content to watch him 'wing-it', then stepped in when catastrophe threatened - as it often did.

It was the 'little things' that made this series soar, the consistency of character, the fallibility, the kicks of fate that tweaked Heyes and Curry into two magnetically likable 'pretty good bad men'. The delicate interplays between two men who would 'do to ride the river'.

It was often the smallest stories that were the most successful, the ones where technically 'not a lot was happening'. For example, in one episode they got snowed-in, for the whole winter, in a remote mountain cabin... all very static? nope, just the opposite... what you got, was a heck of a lot of Heyes and Curry getting on with the business of making the best of a bad deal. Fantastic.

This is the 'less is more' approach; so often lauded - but oh so rarely allowed onto the screen. The actors gelled with their characters; the characters enthralled; the writing created an environment within which the ensemble could thrive.

So okay... some episodes were better than others, a couple were great, and a couple were not-so great; but through it all Smith & Jones bantered and bickered, won, lost, and kept on trying. It was joyous entertainment. Joyous.

What's that, you said? Naw... can't be... d'you mean, you really don't know the 'five pat-hand' poker trick?!

Watch and Enjoy!

This is the first time I've written a review, and it's for a show 40+ years old - talk about 'timely'! I was 11 when Pete Duel killed himself and cried myself to sleep for a week at least. I have such a clear memory of coming downstairs and seeing the paper that my father read each morning with a picture of Pete and the horrible news. This show is obviously nostalgic and sentimental for me - a comfort food if you will - however, after repeated viewings of every episode of the Pete Duel version I think it is amazing that the chemistry of the two leads shines through regardless of whether the episode is one of the great ones, or one of the silly - Ben & Pete rose above their material week after week. What an amazing legacy to leave behind - along with countless others I marvel at how much Pete Duel is still missed and thought of by his fans. I am thrilled to have the series available on DVD anytime I need it to brighten my life. My other 'go to' series from the 70s whose leads also had a chemistry that defies explanation - especially since neither of the 2 pairs of actors in either show were close friends or socialized in real life - is the UK series The Professionals. I highly recommend that series to anyone not already familiar with it!

In the world of "Smith and Jones" nothing and no one can be trusted. Heyes and the Kid are wanted outlaws, but compared to the respectable citizens - lawyer, sheriff, banker, nun - who swindle, lie, betray and try to kill them, they are new-born innocents. No matter how brilliant Heyes' latest scheme, it's bound to end in disaster, and even if they DO make a little money, someone will steal it. Not that WE are any better at knowing what will happen next:

"Everything's under CONTROL!" cries the harassed deputy, and the Bank explodes.

Heyes and the Kid are not great romantic rebels like Butch Cassidy and Sundance; they are just, like the rest of us, trying to earn an honest living in a treacherous world. But they ARE inspiring nonetheless in the depth of their friendship - at a crisis, they never have to confer -and in their empathy with other outcasts:

"We like to think there's a little bad in everyone," says Heyes, enjoying the joke.

While earlier Western series may have tended to sermonize, "Smith and Jones" never takes itself too seriously, but charms us with its modesty into acceptance of the values it recommends.

The cable channel, WESTERN, is re-broadcasting all the episodes of this series. My husband, a Jones, and myself, formerly a Smith(!), have been enjoying watching these shows again. We saw them when they originally aired when we were kids. We think they have aged well and are still fun. We like seeing Smith & Jones getting into trouble and always finding a way out. And spotting guest actors who have gone on to become famous is a fun game to play. We had guessed that Roger Davis was the narrator for the first two seasons but weren't sure until we saw the credit listed on this site. We also like the fact it's a show we can watch with our 9 year old who has become a fan too!

I'll always wonder: had he lived, could Pete Duel have rescued the TV Western from oblivion? Gunsmoke and Bonanza, the hoary old legends of the genre, already were teetering on their ancient last legs, with but a few more seasons to be squeezed out of them, when, out of the blue, as I remember it, came Alias Smith and Jones, whose fresh and jokey episodes became pretty wildly popular, especially with young people (that would be the likes of *me*, as I was 16 at the time). Alas, as others have already noted, Pete Duel committed suicide just as the series was hitting its stride. (The story of Duel's death made headlines across the country in a way contemporary viewers of TV dramas cannot imagine.) Roger Davis came in as a replacement and the series slid right downhill immediately thereafter--although I did like the episodes with Michele Lee. At any rate, about the only TV Western afterward to generate anything similar to Alias Smith and Jones' excitement was Kung Fu. Sidenote: James Garner's marvelous, and utterly forgotten series, Nichols, should have been the next great Western after Alias . . .

What made Alias Smith and Jones tick? I always thought it was a sleek updating of what had already been a semi-comic TV Western success a few years earlier, Maverick. In fact, you can spot touches of the Bret Maverick characterization in both Heyes and Curry, along with some similar story lines and plot developments. Not to mention the lifting of the "five pat hands" trick, which Bret Maverick employed more than once. All of which should not be too much of a surprise, however, as Roy Huggins was instrumental to both series.

Otherwise, watch out for the handful of episodes with Slim Pickens. "Exit from Wickenburg", the one where Slim works as the crooked bartender of a saloon/casino, is a masterpiece. It just wouldn't be a proper 1960s Western without Slim popping up every now and then.

What a pity that Pete Duel succumbed to his demons. What a loss for network TV, the Western, and the many fans of Alias Smith and Jones. Who knows what could have been . . . .