ALIAS SMITH AND JONES: PILOT {SERIES PREMIERE} (TV)

Summary

The premiere of this western series about a pair of notorious outlaws attempting to reform via a secret deal with the governor.

Hannibal Heyes and “Kid” Curry are a pair of outlaws in the Old West known for their daring bank and train heists, and for conducting their criminal activities in a non-lethal fashion. After their latest train robbery goes awry when they prove to be unable to open a safe, Heyes and Curry have second thoughts about their criminal lifestyle, and Wheat, a member of their gang, is displeased and plans to take over the operation himself. They take the entire safe away from the train and attempt to jolt it open by throwing it off a mountain, but this proves to be unsuccessful. Wheat attempts to take over and try to open the safe, but ends up accidentally plunging it into a river. As they attempt to salvage the situation, a large posse approaches their position. Heyes and Curry attempt to leave before the posse arrives, but Wheat insists that they can still get the safe. They contemplate turning themselves in to the authorities in exchange for amnesty, and ride off in a hurry when the posse arrives.

They arrive in Porterville, Colorado, where they visit the town sheriff, Lom Trevors, who has been looking to arrest them for years. Lom was once a member of their gang before he reformed and took up the office of sheriff. They explain to him their plan to gain amnesty from the governor, and ask that he represent their case for the governor, much to Lom’s incredulity. During their conversation they are visited by the woman in charge of the local bank, Miss Porter, whom Heyes and Curry find quite charming. Lom introduces them as “Mr. Smith and Mr. Jones.” She asks for more security at the bank for a particularly large payroll, and Lom promises to see to it. Their comments about bank safes lead Miss Porter to conclude that they are security experts, and Miss Porter asks that they assist with their security systems, and they agree to it. Lom reluctantly allows them to remain in town, recognizing that they never entered Porterville so as not to trouble him during his stint as sheriff. He agrees to try to speak with the governor about their amnesty.

The next morning, Lom leaves by train to see the governor, and Heyes and Curry prove unable to open Miss Porter’s safe, demonstrating its operation to her. While coming out of the bank they encounter the deputy sheriff, Harker Williams, who arrests them and seizes their guns as per Lom’s instructions. He also explains that they will be arrested and imprisoned if any misdemeanors occur in Porterville during their stay, even ones not perpetrated by them. They are let back on the streets without their guns, believing that Lom is somehow testing them to see if their desire to reform is genuine. Miss Porter offers the two of them work in the bank, and Curry quickly accepts, although Heyes wants time to consider the offer. They visit the local saloon and Curry gets recognized by two other patrons. They confront him and attempt to challenge him to a shootout, but Curry resists the temptation and they defuse the situation, although one of the patrons threatens him if they cross paths again.

They end up taking the bank jobs, and try to explain this to Deputy Williams in order to keep him off of their case and retrieve their guns. Heyes and Curry begin their jobs as bank tellers, but they are hard-pressed to resist their natural larcenous impulses. That night, Curry rides out and tracks down the bar patron who insulted him earlier, camping out just south of town. He asks him to divert his herd of cattle away from Porterville, and intimidates him into complying. Meanwhile, Wheat and the rest of the gang ride into Porterville with designs on robbing the bank. They move in to try to rob the bank, and Wheat is shocked to find Heyes staring back at him from the other side of the teller’s window. Heyes and Curry quickly stop their robbery attempt and speak to Wheat in private, explaining their plan to gain amnesty. They offer to try to obtain amnesty for Wheat and the rest of the gang as well, and Wheat seems quite pleased with this arrangement. He agrees to have the gang leave town and lay low while the situation is resolved. However, Wheat lies to the gang, claiming that Heyes and Curry are planning to rob the bank themselves.

That night, Curry takes up Miss Porter on her offer to go out to dinner with her. Their evening is interrupted by Deputy Williams bringing them in to the saloon, where Wheat and the gang are playing cards, and have been for many hours. Williams suspects that they are linked in some way, although Heyes and Curry deny this. He attempts to confront the gang and confiscate their guns, and succeeds with some surreptitious aid from Heyes and Curry. Wheat reluctantly admits that the gang is down to their last few dollars and cannot afford a place to stay, and Heyes and Curry instruct them to remain there until Lom returns. However, they are secretly digging a tunnel underneath the poker table in the saloon leading to the underside of the bank. The next morning, Deputy Williams reports to Heyes and Curry that Wheat and his men are still sitting around the poker table.

Three hours before Lom’s train is to pull in to Porterville, Wheat and his men finally exit the saloon and head over to the sheriff’s office. Heyes and Curry spy this and head on after them as they retrieve their guns from Deputy Williams, claiming that they are about to leave town. Before Heyes and Curry can find out more, Deputy Williams receives a telegram from Lom instructing him to arrest them, and he imprisons them without explaining the charges. Heyes believes that Lom set them up from the beginning; Curry swipes the keys to their cell and they escape, intending to rob the bank after all. Heyes wants to keep Wheat and the others out of it so as not to spoil their chances at amnesty. The two of them steal boxes of dynamite from a mining supply depot and rappel on to the bank roof with an improvised zip line. Meanwhile, Deputy Williams confronts Wheat and the gang playing poker again and narrowly misses noticing Heyes and Curry. Both they and Wheat’s men enter the bank at the same time, the former from the ceiling and the latter from the floor. Both of them set their dynamite charges simultaneously, unknowingly planning to detonate them at the exact same instant.

Just as Lom pulls in to the train station the dynamite goes off, completely demolishing the bank and damaging the saloon. The bank vault’s money flutters down from the sky, and Wheat and his men waste no time in trying to collect it all. Heyes and Curry spot them and hold them at gunpoint. A gunfight ensues and they drive Wheat and his men out of town with gunfire. Miss Porter witnesses this and commends Heyes and Curry for “saving the bank” by themselves, explaining as much to Lom when he runs in. Lom brings them in to the sheriff’s office and tells them that the governor has agreed to grant them amnesty, but only upon fulfillment of certain conditions. The governor’s reputation would suffer if he granted them amnesty immediately, and so it is provisional until they can prove that they “deserve” it; until then it will remain a secret for a period of one year until the amnesty becomes permanent. They realize that this means they will still be wanted men for that time, and are displeased with the challenges the coming year is sure to bring, taking assumed names to try to find a measure of peace. Commercials deleted.

Details

• NETWORK: ABC
• DATE: January 5, 1971 7:30 PM
• RUNNING TIME: 1:14:02
• COLOR/B&W: Color
• CATALOG ID: B:54050
• GENRE: Drama, western
• SUBJECT HEADING: Drama, western
• SERIES RUN: ABC - TV series, 1971-1973
• COMMERCIALS: N/A

CREDITS

• Frank Price … Executive Producer
• Glen A. Larson … Producer, Writer
• Gene Levitt … Director
• Matthew Howard … Writer
• Billy Goldenberg … Music by
• Pete Duel … Cast, Hannibal Heyes
• Ben Murphy … Cast, Jebediah "Kid" Curry
• Forrest Tucker … Cast, Deputy Harker Williams
• Susan Saint James … Cast, Miss Porter
• James Drury … Cast, Sheriff Lom Trevors
• Jeanette Nolan … Cast, Miss Birdie Pickett
• Earl Holliman … Cast, Wheat
• Dennis Fimple … Cast, Kyle
• Bill Fletcher … Cast, Kane
• John Russell … Cast, Marshall
• Charles Dierkop … Cast, Shields
• Bill McKinney … Cast, Lobo
• Sid Haig … Cast, Outlaw
• John Harper … Cast, Outlaw
• Jon Shank … Cast, Outlaw
• Peter Brocco … Cast, Pincus
• Harry Hickox … Cast, Bartender
• Owen Bush … Cast, Engineer
• Julie Cobb … Cast, Young Girl