The Thin White Line

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!!!

"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.

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.

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.

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.