This wasn't strictly speaking a TV series like you know, this is a cast of actors and actresses who in each episode play different characters.
Theme music is by Henry Mancini. He did not score any episodes.
Attention readers: I have been implementing a system that is nothing more than a note to myself; for cues that I want to include in a suite one day, for now on I will denote them with ^ symbol. It has no special meaning to anyone else but myself. No, the lack of an up arrow symbol doesn't mean the cue is bad (it just may have too much SFX or FX for suite use or just isn't worth my time to edit and include). Hence forth this system will be in all future threads and pre-exiting threads that I go back to for missed episodes. Anything in ( ) are just notes to the arrow and you need not bother with that. The system does not mean that I will make a suite or that one has been made, it's simply for my own reference if and when I do decide to.
This episode has little scoring and goes on for long stretches with no score. I think I only skipped one cue. I might as well say the entire score should be released.
Shores provides a more "hip" effort for the times (1963). Perhaps on of the series' best scores. I probably cited the entire score, so I might as well say the entire score should be released.
This is the only effort by Almeida for the series.
Highlights:
Nothing.
Meandering unremarkable solo Spanish guitar score that sounds completely improvised. Nothing here needs to be released. A low point musically for the series. Didn't really help the episode either. "Music Composed and Played by"
32:26 in. And the restaurant source cue that immediately follows it.
34:40 in.
44:50 in. And the short montage cue that follows very shortly.^
47:39 in.
Cleave provides a delightful score. One of the show's best.
Jeanette Nolan guest stars. God, she looked old in "Gunsmoke", but a decade earlier in this, she looks old too. I guess its possible somebody can be born already looking super old. ;-)
Out-of-context quotes... Sexy Blonde Girl: "The thing to do is keep experimenting until the right bell rings."
Sexy Blonde Girl: "That's the first thing my mother taught me: men love to experiment."
The end credits are cut off every load I could find, until I found this one. It just states theme music by Henry Mancini. Not even a music supervisor credit. And none of this sounds like it's from any of the episodes of the series. In fact, I think the harmonica cues are original cues.
This is the only effort by Schifrin for the series.
Highlights:
0:31 in. Sounds like a more edgier "Psycho" driving away cue with a tubular bell.^
1:18 in.
2:55 in.^
6:14 in.
10:50 in.
19:47 in. An experimental cue more in the 1970's Goldsmith vein such as "Frued".
29:37 in.^
39:08 in. Opens with lower octave piano work before being joined by a cello bass and some unsettling string work.^
45:46 in.^
46:34 in.
Just shy of being one of the series' best scores (in my opinion).
Robert Blake plays a man who kills a girl and deals with a priest. Later in life that would be reversed, where he played a priest on "Helltown" and murdered his real-life wife.
According to his IMDb credits as of August, 2023, this was the third project Schifrin scored, as well as being his first episode of any TV series. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0006277/fullcredits
A two-sided private LP can be found, though obscure, called: "The T.V. Music of Bernard Herrmann" (CSR-301)
Side A contains the complete score to the episode "The Last Grave Socorro Creek" from "The Virginian". Side B contains cues from two episodes of this series that he scored: this one and the below episode "A Tough Man to Kill" (as well as Mancini's theme music).
Another LP with no specific title, contains the same two episodes and also cues from "Statement of Fact", as well as the "Gunsmoke" episode score "Harriet".
I do not have a copy of either, otherwise I'd have suites up for all three episodes already.
This is the final effort by Herrmann for the series.
Highlights:
0:39 in.^
4:09 in. And the cue after the commercial break.^(second)
6:18 in.
14:18 in.^
16:56 in.^
19:16 in.
28:34 in.
32:28 in.
35:11 in.^
36:34 in. Brass ostinatos and some timpani for a fine action cue.^
39:16/40:45/42:38 in. An instance where scoring is unmistakably by the composer.^(first two)
48:07 in.
One of the series' best episode scores. The entire score should be released.
I had problems playing this load. It would error and say it could not be played, so I would have to click on it, wait for it to load again, then click back to where I was, repeatedly. Maybe you'll have better luck.
Actor Harry Morgan -- one of the main cast members in this series -- makes his directorial debut with this episode. He would later go on to direct the final episode as well. He did some miscellaneous series and concluded his directing work on "M*A*S*H" (directing nine episodes). By the way, did you know that on "M*A*S*H" he notoriously replaced the character Henry, but that in real life as far as 1963 -- according to his IMDb credits -- he was going by Henry Morgan?
