Post by niecie on Jul 28, 2013 19:16:14 GMT -5
I like the way Elisha Cook uses his foot on the wheels of the pump cart to control the cart.
This was the second episode actually filmed, the first after Inferno. So there's a lot of establishing stuff going on here. Apparently the idea (at first) was that Artie would have a couple of weaknesses: booze and women. That's why Jim admonishes him to stay away from both. Now, when Tennyson brings in the coffee on a tray, notice that there's also a glass of something that Artie sniffs of, then smiles and adds to his coffee. Looks like he liked his coffee Irish.
Tennyson was one of those ideas from early in the series that fell by the wayside quickly, but because the shows aired in a different order from which they were produced, he shows up and disappears several times throughout the first season.
Artie just about stays in disguise throughout the first half of the episode, doesn't he? First he's the 'tame' Indian, then he switches to the old codger disguise. I love watching him put on the disguise in the parlor, using a toothbrush to add powder to his eyebrows. Then he applies the mustache. I once did some research on spirit gum, how to apply it and how to take it off. Artie/Ross is very likely actually using spirit gum to attach the mustache. He does the proper procedure, if I remember: he makes sure the area is clean, then brushes on the spirit gum, then uses his finger to pat the gum which makes it tacky. And then on goes the mustache.
And suddenly he's in character, being the old codger. I like how, as he's leaving the varnish car, he's grumbling along, then turns back to Jim, presses the mustache down firmly, and puffs out the mustache. Ah, the little things!
American Knife has a rocking chair. That makes me smile. Little Willow as the torturer, and all that fake groaning Jim does -- yeah, that makes me wince. Such a silly scene!
Btw, the paleness of American Knife's lips seems to distract me on this viewing.
You know, in the scene where Artie is in the camp and gets introduced to American Knife, no one bothers to explain to him that the Bad Guys are fake Indians. He seems to know it though. Great stuff, osmosis.
Three disguises for Artemus this time, since he gets to be the dead fake Indian very briefly.
You know, this is the first time I've seen this episode since I started watching Mr Lucky, and it suddenly hit me that Artie's old codger hat looks like the hat he would wear as Andamo on Mr Lucky!
Cute how they put certain lines in American Knife's mouth, such as him speaking of the 'savage whites' and how whites have incomprehensible names (well, he was talking of the name Artemus!) and how all whites look alike.
I love the kissing scene! Now, keep in mind the first scene between Jim & Artie this episode, when Jim told Artie no whiskey and no women. So here Artie stumbles across a couple kissing, and the girl instantly starts flirting with him. The other guy decides to knock Artie's block off, and what does Artie do? First he tries to talk the guy out of it -- which is so Artie; his mouth is his best weapon! Then he ducks the other guy's fists, and takes him out with two punches -- I wish the later writers for the first season remembered that, because they usually had Artie get knocked out at the start of the fight and not come to till the fight was over.
Anyway, Artie knocks the guy out and tries to get back to work, but that girl isn't making it easy. She kisses him, and you can see him trying to obey Jim's orders and not get distracted with the girl. But then she calls him shy and I look the way his face changes in response!
We don't see Artie again until the next day. Makes me wonder what may have happened off camera between him and the girl. *ahem*
Anyway, on to Jim...
Oh, btw, Artie is still in his old codger disguise clothes, but where did Jim get his disguise? He's not in his usual bolero jacket outfit, but some sort of generic cowboy getup. Where did that come from?
The cave the Bad Guys go into is well hidden, in my opinion. The smoke coming out of it, on the other hand, is a dead giveaway, and a great listening post for Jim to overhear the Baddies' plans. And then we learn that the Baddies planned it that way, and we also learn who the Big Bad is.
I wonder how much each of those barrels of gold spikes would really weigh. Probably far more than one man could lift by himself (as one of the Baddies does late in the episode). In the office scene, two men carry one barrel with difficulty, which I suspect is far more realistic.
This is, as best I recall, the only episode to actually feature the engineer Orrin Cobb as a speaking role. (Ah, I take that back! The engine crew is in the final section of Inferno with at least one of the men speaking.) Still, I think this is the only time Orrin Cobb is listed in the acting credits.
Where did that Bad Guy get the list of the places Jim would have hidden weapons?
Artie picking the fight with the Bad Guy, his foppish style of challenging him and then dancing about with his dukes up is hilarious. What I wonder though is how the Bad Guy never caught on that Artie had lifted the knife from his boot? Didn't he miss it?
I always wonder if the gold train is simply the same train that plays the Wanderer?
The Big Bad, like so many Big Bads in books and movies/tv, has a highly inflated view of his own intelligence and cannot resist monologuing about his plans in the supreme assurance that it doesn't matter what Jim knows, since Jim is his helpless captive. Apparently no one has yet missed that boot knife, and so shortly Jim is no longer a helpless captive. Cue the action!
Somehow, I think Artie finds Tennyson's 'Well done, sir!' a touch perturbing. But it's nice that the Cheyenne get a chance to take on the guys who have been telling lies about them and using them for scapegoats.
I like the Quaker fellow, with his idiomatic manner of speaking and the fact that the writers knew to put it in that he does not drink. Tennyson offering the drink to American Knife as 'Firewater' is squelched so perfectly by American Knife's correction to 'Firewater and soda.' (A later episode, TNOT Howling Light, will make the point that it was against the law at the time to offer an Indian anything alcoholic to drink.)
Artie's lascivious 'Oh-ho-ho!' always puzzled me, until just this moment. It follows Jim's line about 'Wine, women, and some off-key harmonizing.' I just now got it: Jim's prohibition against women and whiskey has just been lifted, and Artie is anticipating indulging in both.
But it's Jim who gets both the girls. When I was watching this episode for the first time since I was a kid, when the galley door sprang open, it really startled me. I didn't remember there being two doors at that end of the parlor. Then the women come out with their specialties and want Jim to sample them. A bit of double entendre goes on -- apparently Jim's 'Both' isn't just referring to the food.
But why are the girls on the train anyway? What, are they going along with the men all the way to Chicago?
This was the second episode actually filmed, the first after Inferno. So there's a lot of establishing stuff going on here. Apparently the idea (at first) was that Artie would have a couple of weaknesses: booze and women. That's why Jim admonishes him to stay away from both. Now, when Tennyson brings in the coffee on a tray, notice that there's also a glass of something that Artie sniffs of, then smiles and adds to his coffee. Looks like he liked his coffee Irish.
Tennyson was one of those ideas from early in the series that fell by the wayside quickly, but because the shows aired in a different order from which they were produced, he shows up and disappears several times throughout the first season.
Artie just about stays in disguise throughout the first half of the episode, doesn't he? First he's the 'tame' Indian, then he switches to the old codger disguise. I love watching him put on the disguise in the parlor, using a toothbrush to add powder to his eyebrows. Then he applies the mustache. I once did some research on spirit gum, how to apply it and how to take it off. Artie/Ross is very likely actually using spirit gum to attach the mustache. He does the proper procedure, if I remember: he makes sure the area is clean, then brushes on the spirit gum, then uses his finger to pat the gum which makes it tacky. And then on goes the mustache.
And suddenly he's in character, being the old codger. I like how, as he's leaving the varnish car, he's grumbling along, then turns back to Jim, presses the mustache down firmly, and puffs out the mustache. Ah, the little things!
American Knife has a rocking chair. That makes me smile. Little Willow as the torturer, and all that fake groaning Jim does -- yeah, that makes me wince. Such a silly scene!
Btw, the paleness of American Knife's lips seems to distract me on this viewing.
You know, in the scene where Artie is in the camp and gets introduced to American Knife, no one bothers to explain to him that the Bad Guys are fake Indians. He seems to know it though. Great stuff, osmosis.
Three disguises for Artemus this time, since he gets to be the dead fake Indian very briefly.
You know, this is the first time I've seen this episode since I started watching Mr Lucky, and it suddenly hit me that Artie's old codger hat looks like the hat he would wear as Andamo on Mr Lucky!
Cute how they put certain lines in American Knife's mouth, such as him speaking of the 'savage whites' and how whites have incomprehensible names (well, he was talking of the name Artemus!) and how all whites look alike.
I love the kissing scene! Now, keep in mind the first scene between Jim & Artie this episode, when Jim told Artie no whiskey and no women. So here Artie stumbles across a couple kissing, and the girl instantly starts flirting with him. The other guy decides to knock Artie's block off, and what does Artie do? First he tries to talk the guy out of it -- which is so Artie; his mouth is his best weapon! Then he ducks the other guy's fists, and takes him out with two punches -- I wish the later writers for the first season remembered that, because they usually had Artie get knocked out at the start of the fight and not come to till the fight was over.
Anyway, Artie knocks the guy out and tries to get back to work, but that girl isn't making it easy. She kisses him, and you can see him trying to obey Jim's orders and not get distracted with the girl. But then she calls him shy and I look the way his face changes in response!
We don't see Artie again until the next day. Makes me wonder what may have happened off camera between him and the girl. *ahem*
Anyway, on to Jim...
Oh, btw, Artie is still in his old codger disguise clothes, but where did Jim get his disguise? He's not in his usual bolero jacket outfit, but some sort of generic cowboy getup. Where did that come from?
The cave the Bad Guys go into is well hidden, in my opinion. The smoke coming out of it, on the other hand, is a dead giveaway, and a great listening post for Jim to overhear the Baddies' plans. And then we learn that the Baddies planned it that way, and we also learn who the Big Bad is.
I wonder how much each of those barrels of gold spikes would really weigh. Probably far more than one man could lift by himself (as one of the Baddies does late in the episode). In the office scene, two men carry one barrel with difficulty, which I suspect is far more realistic.
This is, as best I recall, the only episode to actually feature the engineer Orrin Cobb as a speaking role. (Ah, I take that back! The engine crew is in the final section of Inferno with at least one of the men speaking.) Still, I think this is the only time Orrin Cobb is listed in the acting credits.
Where did that Bad Guy get the list of the places Jim would have hidden weapons?
Artie picking the fight with the Bad Guy, his foppish style of challenging him and then dancing about with his dukes up is hilarious. What I wonder though is how the Bad Guy never caught on that Artie had lifted the knife from his boot? Didn't he miss it?
I always wonder if the gold train is simply the same train that plays the Wanderer?
The Big Bad, like so many Big Bads in books and movies/tv, has a highly inflated view of his own intelligence and cannot resist monologuing about his plans in the supreme assurance that it doesn't matter what Jim knows, since Jim is his helpless captive. Apparently no one has yet missed that boot knife, and so shortly Jim is no longer a helpless captive. Cue the action!
Somehow, I think Artie finds Tennyson's 'Well done, sir!' a touch perturbing. But it's nice that the Cheyenne get a chance to take on the guys who have been telling lies about them and using them for scapegoats.
I like the Quaker fellow, with his idiomatic manner of speaking and the fact that the writers knew to put it in that he does not drink. Tennyson offering the drink to American Knife as 'Firewater' is squelched so perfectly by American Knife's correction to 'Firewater and soda.' (A later episode, TNOT Howling Light, will make the point that it was against the law at the time to offer an Indian anything alcoholic to drink.)
Artie's lascivious 'Oh-ho-ho!' always puzzled me, until just this moment. It follows Jim's line about 'Wine, women, and some off-key harmonizing.' I just now got it: Jim's prohibition against women and whiskey has just been lifted, and Artie is anticipating indulging in both.
But it's Jim who gets both the girls. When I was watching this episode for the first time since I was a kid, when the galley door sprang open, it really startled me. I didn't remember there being two doors at that end of the parlor. Then the women come out with their specialties and want Jim to sample them. A bit of double entendre goes on -- apparently Jim's 'Both' isn't just referring to the food.
But why are the girls on the train anyway? What, are they going along with the men all the way to Chicago?