The Thin White Line

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.

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.

Milner gives a realistic gritty look of drug addition after he takes a drug hidden in beer. With date rape this topic is still relevant today. He looks at all the emotions paranoia, manic depression, euphoria, and suicidal thoughts. With Philadelphia as the perfect setting and great characters he meets this is a great place for an intense thriller. This is a warning against science and , drugs like LSD. This came out in 1961 as drugs were just coming out and becoming more popular and for its time this show was shocking. People today should think of how science and drugs have badly affected the world and made many people like this today. This shows how the 60s were a dividing era in American culture. Maharis at the end makes a good speech how we should enbrace God and living each day. However, Milner steals the show and should have an award for this episode

Tod mistakenly drinks a beer that is laced with a hallucinogenic drug that sends him into a near psychotic state and running out into the night streets of Philadelphia. Yet it is Buz that seems almost as volatile as he threatens to beat up the perpetrators as well as anyone else that doesn't answer, to his liking, as to Tod's whereabouts.

Some consider this one of the better episodes of the series, but it doesn't completely hold up. One of the problems is the fact that there aren't more special effects showing Tod's state of mind and the ones that are shown aren't all that exceptional. It would have also been better had he gone through some more recognizable parts of the city instead of just dimly lighted side streets and back alleys.

Tod's trip to a neighborhood bar becomes the most interesting sequence of the episode as he goes from hostile psycho to a carefree spirit and then back again almost instantaneously. Al Lewis is good in the role of a bartender who can't quite decide if he finds Tod amusing or someone that he should throw out. Sylvia Miles also has a nice part playing the role of a woman who takes Tod home with her. She is then made out to look like a witch during one of Tod's hallucinating episodes although in Miles's case no type of special make-up was needed. In the end the most notable aspect about this episode is simply seeing Milner, who is normally a very stiff and one dimensional actor, playing a more demanding and unique part.

Grade: B

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.