This episode of Baretta had the magnificent pairing of Strother Martin and Gary Busey as the crooks long after the former had established himself as one of Hollywood's go-to character actors and during the early gestation period of the latter in one of his typical hyped up bad guy performances. This is all to say that the duo really gave viewers something to look at among many other great Season 2 episodes of the series. A must-see! In one scene (spoiler alert), Martin and Busey get leading man Blake liquored up and tied up in a semi truck they've hijacked. It's his duty to come to his senses, break free of his restraints, and stop them while they are off committing more crime. How he brought himself to perform this against-the-odds heroics was nearly implausible when I first saw this episode during its first prime time airing. That only added to the enjoyment it gave me, and it made me a big fan of the series in general. Say what you will about the now retired Blake, but he was born to play Baretta, and his underplaying of the role in this episode was efficiently on task. Good stuff here.
Review of On the Road
