Then Came Bronson

Just saw Then Came Bronson on SpeedChannel. This is Route 66 on two wheels and classic television when the writing and story lines were at the top of their form. I was just off to college and had read Travels With Charlie and On The Road. The road down to Big Sur, even the gas station and store looked the same a few years later when I traveled the same route. The look, the feel of this movie is pure 60's. Less harsh than Easy Rider, Then Came Bronson captures the flip side of the 60's that did not include drugs. Brings back memories or Route 66, It's A Man's World, The Sterile Cuckoo, The Film Flam Man, Thunder Road, and others.

BRONSON reran on TV for awhile in the 1970s and then simply disappeared, It would be great to catch up with the show someday on A&E or Bravo or TV Land. A young Michael Parks, who was already an established TV and movie actor, played a James Dean-ish character in a knit cap who traveled the U.S. on his hog, learning little life lessons through the people he met each week. Old formula (think ROUTE 66 and THE FUGITIVE) with a bit of a twist, and a very appealing lead in Parks. GREEN LANTERN and GREEN ARROW were to follow BRONSON's lead with a memorable story arc in the 1970s that had them riding hogs and traveling the nation. Parks also got to sing on the show, and wasn't half bad. Parks has aged badly over the years, but his lined face and booze-and-butts voice has played to his credit, particularly in stone cold killer roles in THE CHINA LAKE MURDERS and on WALKER Texas RANGER.

In 1969 I had recently bought my first used bike. When the kids came along i gave up riding. when i retired recently, like so many others ,i bought a new bike a cruiser

Then and now i still hear that song in my head. "gion down that long lonesome highway bound for the mountains and the sky. Going down that long lonesome highway going to do things my way". "My way" hasn't always been possible but it's what i dream about as i ride along Its a dream that we all should have. Its the dream that counts not whether you make it all or not.

Thanks to Michael Parks and to whoever put the words to that song.

The sort of show that simply wouldn't make it to television today, "Then Came Bronson" told quiet, lyrical, sometimes comic, sometimes dramatic stories about a young man traveling through America in search of personal meaning; unlike many attempts at this theme, the show was never heavy-handed, offering intelligent, often quirky character portraits of the people Jim Bronson encountered. The viewers always came away with a rewarding, thought-provoking experience. It's a pity both the pilot film & the individual episodes aren't available on video or DVD. Shows of this caliber may be born of their particular time, but their substance is timeless.

Thirty three years after seeing the episode with the troubled young man on the white Electra-Glide I rode my new white big twin home. Sad my Dad didn't live to see it. My Dad and I never saw eye to eye, but for that one hour a week this show was on we were side by side, living out the same dream. This series has touched a lot of lives and inspired countless others. Jim Bronson was a real man who cared about others and went about making things right where he could. The co-star was a mildly customized Sportster. A great list of guest stars and beautiful scenery complimented a show that some couldn't understand. It left us all too soon. There are countless baby-boomer-bikers that would buy the DVD's at any price. Quality TV from our youth.