Child's Play: Season 1 Episode 2

First telecast: 9/20/60
Starring Frank Overton, Bethel Leslie, Tommy Nolan.
Written by Robert Dozier.
Directed by Arthur Hiller.

Young Hank (Nolan) has quite an imagination. He believes he's being pursued by Black Bart while vacationing at a cabin with his parents. Dad (Overton) is a journalist (named Bart) who needs to finish some articles, while Mom (Leslie) needs some peace and quiet - but they both seem to spend all of their time arguing. While left to his own devices, young Hank runs around firing a rifle, terrorizing a local fisherman. Is young Hank just in need of a little parental love, or is he a homicidal maniac in training?

JS: Things get off to a promising start with some nice location footage of our boy Hank running around firing his rifle and threatening a fisherman he identifies as Black Bart. As you don't yet know if he's just playing, or perhaps crazy, it makes for an interesting opening. Once we get to the cabin, it would seem Hiller was intent on punctuating every other line of the Divorce Court transcripts with BANG! - intercut to another gunshot. I have to wonder if the episode was scripted this way, or if this was an editor's attempt to make something interesting with very little to work with.

PE: I detect the presence of a thriller here but it’s buried deep and often interrupted by a very long conversation between Bart and his wife about their doomed marriage. I can’t figure out which of the two I dislike more. Bart’s not a good dad, he’s a lousy husband, and Gale makes it abundantly clear he’s D. B. Cooper in the sack (“I can’t remember the last time you…touched me”). Gale has hidden a very important incident from Bart concerning their son, another kid, an apple and a gun (“Just a silly stunt” is Gale’s excuse). Bart needles his wife so much that if this were Tales From the Crypt, Gale would bury a hammer in her husband’s head and string his entrails across his typewriter.

JS: And what a welcome relief that would have been! Speaking of the candid relationship banter, my wife (who sat in on the first few episodes with promises from me that there really are some good ones coming up) was quick to point out that the conversations seemed to be pretty progressive for the time.

PE: Your wife is very intuitive. Or is it just that she's so happy to be watching a movie with you that has grown-ups in it? There is one nice moment in this otherwise deadly dull saga: when Bart discovers that Hank has snuck the spare rifle, he takes down his own rifle and heads for the door until he’s stopped by the steely gaze of Gale. He sheepishly places the weapon back in its rack.

JS: Yeah - I actually thought they were setting up a big showdown between Hank and the 'real' Black Bart. Now that would have been interesting.

PE: I hate to keep bringing up Alfred Hitchcock Presents, but the master himself would direct essentially the same story the following year (“Bang, You’re Dead” with Billy Mumy as the precocious pre-teen) and a whole hell of a lot better, I hasten to add.

JS: Sure, and Tim Lucas hates to bring up references to Mario Bava. We're still quite a ways away from "A Hitchcock a Day," so try to temper your enthusiasm to write about other shows and focus on the Thriller at hand.

PE: Your interruptions are Bava-esque, filled with nonsense and bright colors, young man, and if they don't halt, you'll be sent back to your room in your Stormtrooper jammies. Now, where was I? Ah yes, have I mentioned that director Hiller never met a close-up he didn’t like? For you trivia buffs out there, Overton later starred on the TV version of “Twelve O’Clock High.”

OUR RATING:

We plan to rate each episode on a scale of 0 to 4 Karloffs, with the occasional half-Karloff as necessary. We're just warning you in advance so you don't freak out.