If anyone out there knows where I can obtain a copy of The Savage Eye or The White Birch both of which feature Pete Duel, I would really appreciate it. I guess I'm asking for the IMPOSSIBLE. Like a lot of fans out there I'de love to have all episodes of this great show. Also looking for The Bobby Currier Story. Thanks!!
shareSorry....I think there are some online TV Archive websites you might want to check out (Beware though...they can be Expensive & NO guarantees of decent quality !!)
This show is crying out for a decent DVD release by Universal (plus the 1966 pilot TV movie: 'Fame Is The Name Of The Game' Starring Tony Franciosa).
The full three seasons - with maybe the pilot put on the third season at the end as Franciosa only did THREE episodes in that season...thus balancing it up more.
'The Savage Eye' was a 'Robert Stack' episode I believe....while 'The White Birch' was a 'Gene Barry' instalment - Pete Duel played a Czech Resistance fighter in the 1968 Russian invasion (a most topical episode) if I remember correctly...Roddy McDowall & Boris Karloff also were in it...and Susan Saint James was Glenn Howard's (Barry) Research Assistant Peggy Maxwell (Peggy was mostly with Tony Franciosa but occasionally also with both Gene Barry and Robert Stack as well).
'The Bobby Currier Story' was a Robert Stack episode (Gene Barry making a brief cameo 'as Glenn Howard' having a phone conversation with Bob Stack's Lead Reporter character Dan Farrell) - it is loosely based on the Charlie Starkweather fifties killing spree in Lincoln Nebraska (as is the film 'Natural born Killers')...Steve Forrest was the sherriff...and Brandon DeWilde was Bobby Currier - Dan Farrell gets himself kidnapped by the two spree killers...to get Bobby Currier's own story first hand...
This series was superb...Tony Franciosa (as 'Jeff Dillon') current affairs stories...Gene Barry (as 'Glenn Howard') Big Business/Political intrigue & occasional offbeat tales....Robert Stack (as 'Dan Farrell') crime adventures....
...plus the featured Special Guest Stars: Robert Wagner, Peter Falk, Robert Culp, Darren McGavin, & Vera Miles too....mostly in season three.
Robert Stack, Tony Franciosa, Gene Barry, each so compelling a screen presence gave a really distinctive style to their episodes, making the series have a three faced identity....
Complete with Great differing storylines....guys like Steven Spielberg ('Jaws', 'Close Encounters','Raiders' etc) , Steven Bochco ('Hill Street Blues','L.A. Law', etc) , Gene L.Coon ('Star Trek'), Dean Hargrove ('The Man From U.N.C.L.E.' / 'Perry Mason Returns...'/ 'Diagnosis: Murder' etc) & Richard Irving....plus Dave Grusin's classic Theme tune....and umpteen famous guest stars...made 'The Name of The Game' a Classic TV show
- many of the seventies 'Mystery Movies' like Columbo, McMillan & Wife, McCloud , Banacek etc...plus 'Alias Smith & Jones' (a young Ben Murphy played Robert Stack's assistant Joseph Sample)....had their clear links back to this 1968-1971 show & it's style (Even the yellow episode credits are identical to the later 'Mystery Movies' !)
NBC Universal are crazy NOT to spot the DVD potential they have in their archives...
Maybe Susan Saint James & Ben Murphy could be interviewed for DVD re the show......?
...and any such future DVD Box set release could be done in tribute to the Three Famous Leading actors, all true Stars:
GENE BARRY / ROBERT STACK / TONY FRANCIOSA - as sadly now each are no longer with us...!
Thank you for the archive information. I've checked out a few websites and yes you are right about the questionable quality and overpricing of these DVD'S. Just about all of these sellers do offer for sale The White Birch and The Bobby Currier Story but curiously not one them has The Savage Eye for sale. Universal is sitting on a goldmine and yet we wait and wait and .....
shareYeah I have seen a few 'Rip off' websites selling these episodes at HIGH prices....!
At last NBC Universal ARE starting to explore their TV Archive - 'The Virginian' and 'McCloud' later seasons plus 'Alias Smith & Jones' later seasons HAVE now appeared as DVD sets (some only in Region one so far)....so there IS a hope they may put 'The Name of The Game' out in the next few years.....we wait and hope !
Both Robert Stack's classic earlier series 'The Untouchables' & Gene Barry's 'Burke's Law' (season one) all in Black & White have been issued as DVD box sets....so their later sixties work may be on the cards in the not too distant future...we hope !
I belive both Pete Duel AND his brother Geoffrey were in 'The Savage Eye'
Pete Duel and his brother Geoffrey did appear together in this episode and it was the only time they worked together in television. Also, Geoffrey Deuel didn't change the spelling of his last name. Pete Duel did it for professional reasons but never legally changed it.
shareBoth episodes are now on YouTube, although The Savagev Eye isn't a very good copy. Loved Pete Duel back in the day!
shareOver 50 episodes available at www.robertsvideos.com
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