Copy of 'Hard Case of the Blues'

Is that the one with Sharon Farrell playing a Janis Joplin type singer?

"We can't stop here. This is bat country!"

Sal Mineo is absolutely superb in this episode and it may be one of his last performances. I'd love to see this one again too. I would really like to see them all out on DVD and will wait a few more years before I go the bootleg route. Many great actors appeared on this show, including a young Donald Sutherland. And many great scripts were written. In a way the show was just hitting its stride in '71 when it was cancelled. The scripts were daring and more mature. Leaving out I Love You, Billy Baker.

I think Sharon Farrell was nominated for an Emmy. Anne Baxter was nominated the previous year for her portrayal of the wizened mother of serial killer Bobby Currier in the Robert Stack episode The Bobby Currier Story. She is almost unrecognisable but a later appearance on an episode of Columbo proved she was still a stunningly beautiful woman. All great performances that may seem over the top now, but that was the style then.

Sharon Farrell herself left some fun trivia about this episode on her IMDB Message Board. Under the Sharon Farrell page (not Name of the Game page). Apparently the part WAS offered to Janis Joplin first. Then to Angie Dickinson (who thankfully had the good sense to turn it down). I was able to track this episode down at a website TVConfidential.com. It was every bit as wonderful as I remember and Sharon Farrell was truly magnificent. See my Comment about TCM playing it back to back with The Rose.