Although there is a quite obvious influence from BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID, this TV pilot has an energy and humour that made it thoroughly entertaining in its own right. Duel and Murphy (as Hannibal Heyes and Kid Curry) establish a quick rapport and Duel in particular delivers some priceless lines. Holliman is also deliciously funny as gang member Wheat, who challenges Duel's Heyes for leadership of the gang. The opening twenty minutes provide the set-up for Duel and Murphy to seek amnesty for their crimes. Drury is suitably deadpan as an old-friend, now a sheriff, who is their spokesperson with the governor and there is much fun with how the pair cope with temptation as they are hired as guard and teller at a bank run by Susan Saint James. Forrest Tucker also shines as a dozy deputy in an excellent supporting cast. The following series was the last in a run of classic TV westerns and was the best of its lightly-comic style since "Maverick".
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stevenaldous22 September 2003
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tbrittreid14 February 2000"Alias Smith And Jones" is actually a reworking of an earlier pilot/movie, called "The Young Country," about con artists in the Old West. It starred Roger Davis AND Pete Duel and was quite good. If it has ever been shown anywhere since its original ABC network airings (I assume they reran it once) it got by me. Apparently an ABC executive said "Not bad, but make it more like 'Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid'" and a Universal studio exec added, "Here's a sort of Paul Newman look-a-like we've got under contract you can use, so lose one of those guys." So Ben Murphy replaced Davis in the second pilot and the rest is history. If you doubt me, note that in "Country" Joan Hackett plays a character called Clementine Hale, the same name given to Sally Field's two-time guest role in the "AS&J" series. It is a shame that Roger Davis is thought of as the guy that flopped as Duel's replacement, because he was very effective in the original.
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mcp66610 November 2003A great series back in the day. I watched it on Sunday afternoons (I think?) when I would otherwise have been intolerably bored. Smith & Jones gave me 30 minutes of humorous escapism and left me with a smile on my face. I remember the shock of Pete Duel's untimely death only too well. It was like losing a good friend. The memory of 'Alias Smith & Jones' washes over me like the first sunny day of springtime. I wonder if it would stand up if I actually watched it again. Nostalgia... it ain't what it used to be.
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tinman-77 May 1999This 1970 ABC movie was very well received and done in the Butch Cassidy/Sundance Kid vein. The Pete Duel/Ben Murphy chemistry was excellent as they built strong scenes together. Their characters, Hannibal Heyes (Duel) and Jed Curry (Murphy) were trying to go crime free. The governor would grant them amnesty if they could do it for one year. The bad deal is they would still be wanted by the law. They could be killed, but could not kill. It was interesting to see how they would talk their way out of numerous situations (some which were very funny). This was so well received that they made it into a series which featured frequent guest star Sally Field as Clementine Hale. Sally Field and Pete Duel had starred in "Gidget" together.
Around New Years 1972, midway through their second season, Pete Duel lost his long time battle with depression and took his own life. ABC promptly replaced him with the show's narrator, Roger Davis. Even though Davis did an excellent job as Heyes, viewers had a hard time making the mental switch without thinking about the Pete Duel tragedy. ABC renewed the series for a Third Season (1972-73), however it was canceled in February of 1973.
When TNT or TVLand air the reruns of Alias Smith & Jones, whether it is the Duel/Murphy or Davis/Murphy chemistry, it is worth watching. -
zagethe7 June 2005This series came about on the coat-tails of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and offers that same flavor of camaraderie and larceny in the old West. With just enough humor and angst throw in to make it a cult classic. I say cult because its not what you'd call a "straight" Western. It has drama, adventure, humor, and a bit of good ole fashion crime. It's well written and the two leads are perfect in their respective roles. I think the show would have lasted longer if not for the sudden death of one of its stars. No disrespect to Roger Smith but the chemistry was lost when Pete was replaced. Alas its not available on DVD (YET!) but you can find VHS eps on ebay and other sites. It's well worth a look!
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RussianPantyHog22 April 2004The story of Hannibal Hayes and Kid Curry, 2 fictional outlaws who robbed many banks and trains but, famously, never actually hurt anyone. They're finally captured, but offered an amnesty if they can.... No, I'm not giving the plot away to anyone who hasn't seen it. Let's just say the "amnesty" has quite a few strings attached to it. I watched this series as a kid in the early 70s and really enjoyed it. Every episode. Quality scripts, well directed and a real chemistry between the 2 stars, Pete Duel (Hayes) and ben Murphy (Curry). I never much liked many other "western" tv shows (The Virginian etc) but Alias Smith & Jones always kept me glued to the tv. I guess it was the good humour of the show, and that the action had no real violence. I remember how sad I was in December '71 when we heard Pete Duel had taken his own life. I couldn't understand how someone so handsome and successful could be unhappy; still can't. Anyway. I haven't seen the show for over 30 years but now it's being shown again on British Channel 5. It hasn't "aged" at all and I'm glad to see a whole new audience is seeing it, as well as oldies like me who saw it the first time round.
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An extremely successful pilot for a TV series that lasted nearly three seasons, this TV movie is a Western comedy that in spite of its flaws is quite enjoyable. Pete Duel and Brad Murphy are Smith and Jones, incompetent bank robbers and safecrackers who seem to have some sort of humorous angel over their shoulder, trying to make them see right from wrong and giving their initial schemes of safecracking comical twist as they fail to grab the money and run.
The opening sequence deals with the robbery of a safe on a train which they attempt along with their gang to crack on the rocks that lead to a lake below, and bing, bang, boom, the safe is gone, going where, you guessed it, right in the lake. It's a comical moment straight out of a abugs Bunny cartoon, and sure enough, that feeling continues when they are hired by Susan Saint James to protect her bank safe.v but they're gang returns, determined to crack the safe, and Duel and Murphy are there when the attempt results in another road runner/coyote moment.
The plot line is absurd in many aspects, but it is entertaining from start to finish with the lovely Saint James' husky voiced young lady stealing many moments with her naive innocence and Duel and Murphy burlesquing their characters. There's also Forrest Tucker as the easy going local law and in a pointless Cameo, veteran actress Jeanette Nolan as a feisty old lady in the opening scene on the train. She gets one good line, credit in the beginning, and is never seen again. But, there was a lot of fun to be had, and I can see why this was turned into a weekly series. A bouncy musical score helps, and the witty script is a plus. -
h-breckmann10 April 2009I don't know what this TV western make so special. Of course the Pete Duel en Ben Murphy chemistry as already mentioned by other comments, is a fact. But could it be most episodes of this series are so exiting because the episodes have very good plots. good stories with adventure, special kind of humor and also tension. I consider most episodes to be of a higher quality than many western movies. Season 1 is available now in the Netherlands. I hope Universal will also release the other seasons.
Glen Larson really made something that will not age. There simply were outstanding TV series made like "The Prisoner" in the UK. Alias Smith & Jones is also one of them if you like the genre. -
ingemar-423 January 2013To establish a TV series, you must start with a good pilot. That's what the pilot for Alias Smith & Jones is. It takes us through the critical move from outlaws to negotiating for amnesty (with a former gang member, Lom Trevors) and getting a deal on a test period, which is then what the rest of the series is all about, two outlaws who must stay straight even if they keep getting into trouble. And it is all great fun.
The series is clearly based on Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid (to the extent that Ben Murphy looks very much like Paul Newman and there is a Kid Curry in BC&SC), but without the violence. Not that Alias Smith & Jones is without action, there is quite a bit, but as is stated in the intro of every episode, "they never killed anyone". (I learned here at IMDb that there was also an earlier pilot, "Young Country", related to this, but I have yet to watch it).
In the pilot, the whole deal gets complicated by the rest of the gang showing up while Heyes and Curry is working, in the very bank that the gang plans to rob. When Heyes and Curry believes that Lom Trevors plans to break their deal, it all ends up in the greatest bank robbery I have ever seen, and despite their involvement in robbing the bank, our heroes manage to get back into the deal and make it seem like they really tried to stop the robbery - and the deal is formalized, and the series started.
The pilot has several really funny scenes, from the initial train robbery with futile attempts to open a safe (vaguely recognizable from the Rick O'Shay comic), to the poker table taking air in the climax.
(I note that most reviews here review the whole series, but are written in the wrong place. This is the place for reviews on the pilot if I am not mistaken.) -
ShadeGrenade24 September 2010As I've noted in other reviews, whenever a successful movie appears you can be sure that television will try and ape it one way or another. In 1969, George Roy Hill's splendid 'Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid' - starring Paul Newman and Robert Redford - cleaned up at the box office. Two years later, co-writer/producer Glen A.Larson gave us 'Alias Smith & Jones'. If 'Butch' was, as some have claimed, the perfect Western for those who normally hate Westerns, 'Alias' then is the perfect Western series for haters of Western series. Pete Duel plays 'Hannibal Hayes' and Ben Murphy ( who bears an uncanny resemblance to a young Newman ) his sidekick 'Kid Curry', outlaws who head up an incompetent gang. As the opening narration says, they never ever shot anyone, making them very popular with everyone except the railroads and the banks. When we first see them, they are robbing a train. but the dynamite they try to blow the safe door open with fizzles out, so they take the whole thing with them, and twice push it off a cliff. It eventually sinks into a river, and they finally give up. Hayes spots a poster promising amnesty for crooks in nearby Porterville. Tired of forever running from the law, he suggests to Curry they go there and give themselves up. On arrival, Sheriff Lom Travers ( James Drury of 'The Virginian' ) tries to throw them in jail. He leaves to go and see the Governor, putting useless Deputy Wilkins ( Forrest Tucker ) in charge. Calling themselves 'Joshua Smith' and 'Thaddeus Jones', our heroes attempt to adjust to a new crime-free lifestyle ( Hayes even gets a job in the local bank ). But then, their former gang - now headed by surly Wheat ( Earl Holliman ) - ride into town, intending to rob the very same bank...
While never equalling its inspiration for entertainment, this is nonetheless a decent enough pilot, and Duel and Murphy captivated audiences as the wisecracking duo. At the end, the Sheriff tells them they must stay out of trouble for a year in order to qualify for amnesty. Susan Saint James, who plays 'Miss Porter', later went on to partner Rock Hudson in 'MacMillan & Wife'. In his excellent book on '70's television 'Nice To See It, To See It Nice', Brian Viner devotes the best part of a chapter to the show, and relates his shock when the grisly news of Pete Duel's suicide ( he was only 31 ) got out. He said it mystified him that such a chirpy and resourceful character as 'Hayes' could have been portrayed by someone so disturbed.
The role went to Roger Davis, but viewers did not accept him and the show was scrapped. Had Duel lived, there is a good chance it might have been scrapped anyway as television Westerns were dying out and police shows such as 'Kojak' and 'Starsky & Hutch' taking over.
The British comic 'T.V. Action' carried a strip based on the show, but did not change Pete Duel's face to that of Roger Davis. 'Hayes' stayed the same throughout. Duel, a likable, good-looking actor, may have possibly had a great future ahead of him. We shall never really know. -
pduel16 July 2000I have watched this movie many times over the years and I can tell you it is very good. Makes you laugh. makes you root for the 2 guys who are trying to go straight. Pete Duel is terrific and I have always been sad to know he is no longer with us. I cried for days after his death, so much so that my parents were worried as to my fate. They watched me like a hawk but I would of never did as he did. I still love him and watch all of his old movies and tv stuff either it be on tv land or the video tape I have of Alias Smith and Jones. I never could accept Roger Davis as his replacement, I tried to watch really I did but it wasn't the same without Pete. I was always reminded of why Roger was there instead of him. Thank you, Pete, for the time you did give us.
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piratecat-23 January 2007Lever action style comedy. I must of been 6 or so when this aired. I knew these dudes are the heroes. Noble cowboys liven fancy free. A true American Western with TV cult status. I grew up thinking how cool would that be riding in the west saving the day. It hit a mark with the young people because of the style. My oldest sister was in high school and we both could watch it. While Gunsmoke was mom and dad's show this was ours. A fun hour of action, humor, and villains. The only show since then to capture what Kid Curry and Hannibal Heyes had is another cult favorite Firefly. The feel of it is the same. Briscoe County Jr is good but not like Smith and Jones. I can't wait for DVD set to come out on this TV classic. Worth watching any chance you get.