Route 66 (TV Series) The Stone Guest (1963) User Reviews

ANOTHER Cave-In story--but this one is different.

[lrrap · 7/10 · 28 February 2020]

It's odd that most every other Route 66 episode that's similar to this one: lots of moralizing, a neurotic female or two, characters who must "find themselves", etc, etc...are a real bummer for me. But this one-- largely due to the dramatic, engaging direction of Allen Miner, kept me very involved.

Imaginative concept of combining Mozart's Don Giovanni (1787) and the "real world" story of Lee Philips--who was surprisingly effective playing a tough, nihilistic thug. The scenes in the bar are engrossing-- dark, densely packed with people, country music playing non-stop; you can almost smell the place wafting out of your TV screen.

Jo van Fleet is very good, yet her performance always seems on the verge of an emotional collapse; less would have been more in this case, since the actress certainly had the skill to do anything the director asked.

As a result, the emotional extremes of the two major characters, fascinating and unpredictable as they are, often strain our sense of credulity. Ultimately, Lee and Jo seem to be symbols of the author's own artsy pretensions, which makes for some pretty frustrating viewing.

What I appreciate was the fact that the much-overused "Trapped-in-a-Cave-in" scenario worked very well in this show; the big cave-in was surprisingly realistic, and--overall-- there wasn't an excess amount of time spent on the ordeal, since there was too much else going on in the show: the opera with Tod backstage, Lee Philip's son (with the charcoal-stained black eye), the relationship of Lee to Linc, AND...the excellent performance of Marion Ross as the abandoned wife; you real feel her pain.

About Tod's final lecture to the son: his moral equivalence and ambivalence towards the kid's father, IMHO, weakens the impact of the show's closing moments. In fact, Don Giovanni as portrayed in the opera is a totally amoral reprobate and rapist, a lying, manipulative, devious (but very attractive) creep who uses the rank of his nobility to seduce practically every woman he encounters (as his servant Leporello recounts in the outrageous "Catalogue" aria). And in the final scene, Giovanni remains defiant to the bitter end, and thus is rewarded by a one-way ticket to Hell. Yet Tod Stiles, in an intriguing twist on the concept of morality, leaves us scratching our heads wondering what in the world he's teaching the kid about right vs. wrong.

The final denouement and closing scene were unexpected and powerful (except that no opera house could perform Don Giovanni 7 nights a week, unless it's entirely double cast; the vocal rigors are too demanding).

A flawed, but pretty unique show. LR

The Darkest Episode of Route 66

[robwoodford-83390 · 8/10 · 28 March 2021]

"The Stone Guest" is as bleak as Route 66 ever gets, but that doesn't mean it's a bad episode. In fact, it's one of the most philosophical and honest episodes in the entire series.

"The Stone Guest" centers around a friend of Linc's - Ben Belden, played excellently by Lee Philips in one of his two appearances in the Route 66 series - having trouble readjusting to regular life in his hometown after returning from the war. Tod tries to chalk up Ben's failure to Ben's character but, in a rare twist, Tod realizes and admits he's wrong to judge. Tod's conversion is complete when he finds a way not just to accept but, ultimately, validate the life of Ben Belden for the sake of Belden's son, David, who's dealing with anger and confusion over his father.

Christopher Votos plays David and is powerful to watch. He appears to be about seven years old but his face, complete with a black eye from fighting over his father, says everything a person need to know about anger and depression. It's surprising to find that, according to IMDB, this is the only role Votos ever played.

"The Stone Guest" does not have a single happy moment. Not one. It's relentless as it paints a dark picture of how lonely, unjust, and unhappy the world can be. That makes it sound like this episode doesn't have much to offer, but nothing could be further from the truth.

A Very Somber Account of Two Lost Souls Searching for Answers

[rwint1611 · 5/10 · 10 August 2008]

This is a very somber episode (even for ROUTE 66 standards) detailing a lonely spinster of 41 (marvelously played by Jo Van Fleet) who in a impulsive moment hooks up with a married man and father who has a penchant for fooling around. Together they sneak into a mine shaft and then become involved in a cave in. The rest of the story involves their attempts to get out as well as the rest of the town's efforts to free them.

Although the issues that are brought up are overwhelmingly sad they are still very real and done in a honest way. It is interesting how the two lead characters seem quite the opposite at first, but are eventually exposed to be a lot alike. Namely two very lost souls searching for answers, but finding only more confusion in the process. This is also one of the earliest story lines anywhere that touches on the difficulties of the returning veteran to civilian life and the overall statement that is made is surprisingly tolerant and sophisticated.

Christopher Votos as the young son of the man who is trapped in the cave is a real stand out here as he creates a great deal of empathy with the viewer. His insistence at continuing to stand up and love his father even though the man is seriously flawed is quite touching.

Grade B

11/8/63 "The Stone Guest" (spoilers)

[schappe1 · 28 January 2016]

Now they are in Colorado, where Tod has a job working behind the scenes in an opera house. He's befriended a young boy whose father, (Lee Phillips), is the town brawler. He also happens to be an old Army buddy of Linc's, who tries to get him on the straight and narrow. Phillips' one sign of hope in life is an old gold mine he's been working.

Tod explains the plot of Mozart's opera Don Giovanni to the young boy: Don Giovanni kills a beloved man in a duel and the statue his friends erected of him somehow comes alive and visits Don Giovanni's house, demanding Don Giovanni repent or be sent to Hell. He doesn't and he is. The young boy sees his father as Don Giovanni. (The animated statue provides the episode's title.)

Meanwhile Phillips has picked up a lonely middle-aged woman, (Jo Van Fleet), in a bar and taken her to the mine to show her his work there. There's a cave-in and they are trapped- far below the rest of the world, just as Don Giovanni wound up.

There's also a poignant but basically unnecessary sub-plot about Phillip's wife having a baby that Phillips didn't want.

Again, we see an episode you are unlikely to see in any other series. Who else would connect the plot of a Mozart opera to a modern TV melodrama? And who else would eschew the happy ending and instead use the nihilistic one this episode finishes with?

wrong headed "morality" play

[lrldoit · 3/10 · 20 April 2017]

Here we have a war buddy of Linc's who, after the war, decided that he didn't like being married. He became a two timer and brawler with a chip on his shoulder. While he didn't leave his wife, he spent a lot of time away from her and their son. The boy continued, naturally, to defend his father.

Mozart's great opera, Don Giovanni is playing. Todd tries to explain away the father's behavior to his son. The rake picks up a girl and they both go into a mine shaft, that is known to be in danger of caving in. The girl, played by the great Jo Van Fleet, choose danger over the safe responsible life she has led. When it caves in condemning both of them to almost certain death, she says that for the first time in her life, she is happy. Danger leading to death is preferable to a boring responsible life? Even our rake tries and fails to rescue them.

When his wife finds out about the cave in, she blames herself for getting pregnant again and trying to keep her husband, instead of telling him to go if he wants to. Todd gives a lecture to the son about how his father should be understood and not condemned. Supposedly the people who know right from wrong and set others straight have never had a hard life or been to war. Todd condemns moral people as unthinking or unfeeling. The better ones are those who (unlike the good people) have feelings.

Of course if you looked at this from a real life perspective, what society would we have? Those who stay, fulfill their responsibilities can make the difference between whether or not others survive.

This episode whitewashes those who walk away and let their loved ones fall in a hole. The poor woman who never had an exciting life prefers death to boredom? Stirling Silliphant wrote his worst episode.

Viewers should listen to the opera and forget this episode. This episode spits on every person who has ever passed up a good time in order to help one in need. Shameful.

Dreadfully pretentious..

[BatonRougeMike · 5/10 · 26 September 2019]

And portentious. Dropped in to see Jo Van Fleet's performance which verges on the ridiculous (think Joan Crawford in Straitjacket, without the axe nonsense) and sitting through it was relatively hard work. Route 66 had some dreadful episodes and this is one of them. Watched, by the way, on an Oculus Go which made it all encompassing, a strange claustrophobic experience!