155. The Stalking Horse

Lee Barrington, Marie Roska, Yanos Lobler: Espionage.

Original air date: 10 January 1971.

Inspector Lewis Erskine goes undercover to stop enemy agents from obtaining a top-secret nuclear formula.

But the story goes beyond this. It boils down to a midlife crisis turned dangerous. Lee Barrington (Steve Forrest) falls for a lady who turns out to be a spy. And Barrington is married to the daughter of a company that Vincent Millard (Harold Gould) runs. Millard suspects espionage, and calls in the Feds for this.

Because the action is set in Dallas, does this episode rank as a precursor to the CBS soap opera that ran from 1978 to 1991? Maybe not, but it makes one think. Watch for a good end sequence involving a chase in a backyard.

• Note the “Control Data” computer. It was HUGE! and would not do as much as a modern-day PC. Progress is relentless.
• Interesting car at the beginning: A 1971 Ford Thunderbird. Inspector Erskine drives this as part of his undercover act.
• By this date, mustaches had come into vogue. Both Steve Forrest (Lee Barrington) and Harold Gould (Vincent Millard) sported them by this time. In real life, Harold Gould was only one year older than Steve Forrest.
• Steve Forrest is the younger brother of actor Dana Andrews. He went on to star in the ABC crime series SWAT, and had a role in the movie version as well.

NOTE: I just purchased the video capture card for the computer the day that American Life TV aired this episode on 11 March 2005..