Episode 17: Bobby’s Hero

Hello again dear readers! Thank you for joining me today to review “Bobby’s Hero”. The episode first aired on February 2nd, 1973. It is one of the more dramatic episodes of The Brady Bunch, but well done and relevant enough that fans typically do not bemoan it airing. The only pain point I recall others sharing is in regards to the dream sequence that occurs near the episode’s end. I enjoyed reviewing this episode as it gave me a chance to do some research on the famed outlaw Jesse James. Let us begin our review of “Bobby’s Hero”.

The episode begins in Mike’s den. He is again wearing the patriotic themed shirt we saw him wear in Hawaii. Carol brings her man a cup of coffee and slices of bread. She cracks a joke that she doesn’t want to disrupt a genius at work, so she isn’t worried about bothering Mike. The very minor subplot about a speech Mike is to give is introduced here. The conversation is interrupted by a phone call. It is the principal of Bobby’s school, Mr. Hillary. The look on Carol’s face when answering suggests this is not good news. Mike and Carol are asked to come to the school right away and meet with Mr. Hillary. As they leave, they bid Alice goodbye. They share they are going to see the principal, but give no further details. Alice says to herself, “I wonder which kid has done what to who and where.”

 

The next scene begins in Mr. Hillary’s office.  He has called Mike and Carol there to discuss a composition Bobby wrote for class.  The students were to write about their hero.  Bobby wrote about Jesse James.  The principal laments how the press will glorify and give celebrity status to those who break the law.  This remains very relevant today.  While today’s young people are not idolizing outlaws of the old west, there remains a celebration of those who break the law or live life in a most destructive manner.  Recently Snoop Dogg released an album titled “Make America Crip Again”.  The album’s cover shows him standing alongside Donald Trump’s body in a morgue.  Regardless of how one feels about the current president, to glorify his death (or anybody else’s) is just wrong.  While this is just one example, all genres of music and entertainment are guilty of celebrating lawlessness and violence.  What prompted the meeting, other than the composition, was Bobby running about the playground with a cap pistol pretending to hold people up.  What a different time 1973 was!  Even a toy firearm on a school campus today would result in a lockdown and large scale police intervention.  Sadly, in today’s times this would not be an over the top response to a suspected firearm on campus.  Another sign of a past era sits on the principal’s desk.  There appears to be an ashtray there.

Okay friends, I will try to keep the rest of this review relevant to this week’s episode and not the sad state of affairs today. 

Mr. Hillary was played by Richard Carlyle.  His television career began in 1950 and he appeared on countless shows in the decades that followed.  His only recurring role was on the 1951 series Crime Photographer.  His appearances in films were few and far between.  The most notable of these was the Paul Newman film “Harper”. His last IMDB credit was a 1994 TV movie.  Richard Carlyle died in 2009.

 

Back at home, Bobby and Cindy play outside.  Bobby is pretending to be Jesse James and holding up Cindy.  She pursues Bobby inside and he claims he has crossed the border into Mexico.  Ever the fun and obliging housekeeper, Alice pretends to be the president of Mexico and grants Cindy permission to pursue Bobby across the border.  Bobby questions if Cindy has extradition papers.  Mike interrupts playtime and says he has extradition papers that will see Bobby extradited to his den.  It was a well timed and well done scene.

The episode’s talking-to follows.  Bobby compares Jesse James to Robin Hood.  A classmate even wrote about Robin Hood being his hero and caught no flack for it.  Mike explains that Jesse James was no western hero, he was a criminal.  Bobby will hear none of it.  Mike and Carol conclude that Bobby will likely outgrow his infatuation with the famed outlaw.

The dramatic and solid nature of this episode offers little to poke fun at or question.  It did provide a great opportunity to research Jesse James a bit.  I love history and research.  Per the information I read, there is no record of Jesse James ever sharing any of his plunder with the poor.  Some of the documentaries that I viewed showed that some still view Jesse James in a sympathetic light.  Some people spoke of the famed outlaw as a victim of circumstance and his times.

As the Bradys enjoy dinner, we see them praying before the meal.  This is the first time we’ve seen religion play into the Bradys’ lives since season one’s “The Voice of Christmas”.  Close examination showed that Greg kept his eyes open during the blessing.  The solemn prayer ends and Bobby’s cap pistol goes off.  Bobby is scolded for having a toy at the dinner table.  Why he had his finger on the trigger during the prayer is not called in to question.

 

The dinner table discussion is heroes.  Cindy declares her own hero to be Joan of Arc.  Another subtle religious reference is made as she notes sainthood among Joan of Arc’s merits.  Bobby says he has no chance of being a woman.  Peter touts George Washington as a hero worth having.  Bobby says he has no chance of being father of his country.  At this point, maybe a few other of Washington’s accomplishments could have been shared.  Bobby could aspire to be a general or even president.  Greg comments how many heroes exist today.  He gives Wilt Chamberlain as an example.  Bobby replies he has no chance of being seven foot four and black.  I have heard this line has been cut from syndication in recent years.  Watching this episode in the 1990s, Greg’s comment gave me pause.  By this time, Wilt Chamberlain was remembered as a great basketball star and quite the ladies’ man.

 

That night, Bobby asks permission to stay up late and watch a movie called  “Jesse James On The Vengeance Trail”.  Mike and Carol initially balk at allowing Bobby to watch the film.  The movie exists only in the Brady Bunch universe. It is an excessively violent film with a death count that would raise the eyebrows of Quentin Tarantino.  Considering the amount of bloodshed, his parents decide Bobby seeing the movie may in fact be a good thing.  The film looks to be nothing but a collection of stock footage from westerns.  As Bobby watches it, we hear no dialogue and get nothing resembling a plot.  To Mike and Carol’s dismay, all of the violent scenes are edited out of the film.  The scenes of Jesse James killing bank customers and a prospector are not shown.  This leaves Bobby to conclude that Jesse robbed a bank without firing a shot and was only giving his kidnapping victim a ride on his horse.  With their plan in tatters, Mike and Carol decide they will just have to allow Bobby to grow out of his Jesse James obsession.  One must wonder why the TV station would even bother to air this film if so much content had to be cut.

 

The b-plot surfaces again when Mike can’t find the speech he has written.  He offers a bounty of $1 to the kid who can find it.  Scenes of the kids searching for it are mingled with Bobby obnoxiously imitating Jesse James.  We get a dumb Cindy moment as she asks her sisters if she may help search the trash cans, begins searching and then asks what they are looking for.  The Bradys sure kill a lot of trees!  All three of those trash cans appear to be full of nothing but loose paper!  Bobby pretends to rob his sisters while they search.  Greg and Peter are going to search the coats in the front closet.  When Bobby pretends to hold them up, they close him up in the closet.  Mike happens upon this and orders the Jesse James games to cease immediately.  The scene closes with Carol finding Mike’s speech and asking for her dollar.

Mike returns some books to the library.  He asks if the library has any non-fiction books on Jesse James.  The librarian says there are several.  I love libraries.  It is sad how they now seem to be nothing more than internet cafes with shelves of books for decoration.

The helpful librarian was played by Ruth Anson.  This was one of two Brady Bunch appearances for her.  Her other acting credits are few.  She had previously appeared on My Three Sons.  Her fourth and final acting credit on IMDB was a 1979 episode of Quincy, M.E.  As recently as 2008 she has a writer and producer credit for “Desperately Seeking Paul McCartney”.

The book Mike checks out, “The Real Jesse James”, gives great detail about the fiendish life the outlaw lived.  Mike notices the author lives not far from the Brady home in Sundale.  A Google search lists Sundale as a “former settlement” in California and also as a neighborhood in the state.  The author’s close proximity gives Mike an idea.

The book’s author, Mr. Collins (listed in the credits as Jethroe Collins), comes to visit Bobby.  The elderly writer is delighted to make the house call and happy somebody read his book.  Mr. Collins shares a very sad and somber story about Jesse James.  The famed outlaw killed his father while he travelled aboard a train bound for California. Mr. Collins states that Jesse James shot his father in the back.  This episode seems to drive home Jesse James shooting people in the back, but the research I did does not suggest this was his common practice.  The scene with Bobby and Mr. Collins is very well done.  Next to the Pearl Harbor scene as the USS Arizona, it is among the most somber and serious The Brady Bunch offered.

The late great Burt Mustin

The powerful scene could not have been accomplished without the great talent of Burt Mustin.  This man’s acting career could be a blog in itself.  He did not begin appearing before the camera until he was 67 years old.  He had a very busy career thereafter.  He appeared in over 150 film and TV productions.  Fans of any classic sitcom likely saw him appear on it once or twice.  He is well remembered as portraying the fire captain Gus on Leave It To Beaver.  He appeared on The Andy Griffith Show a few times too.  Burt Mustin passed away in 1977 at the age of 97.  He was still appearing on television the year before!

 

The talk with Mr. Collins penetrates deep into Bobby’s psyche.  That night, he dreams of being on a train with his family when it is held up by Jesse James.  Opinions on this scene vary amongst fans and my own feelings on it are conflicting.  In the positive column, Mike Lookinland acted this scene very well.  He looks genuinely horrified as Jesse James shoots each member of his family.  The idea that Bobby would dream such after his talk with Mr. Collins is some good writing.  However, the cardboard train the Bradys are riding in this scene just seems like laziness on the part of the production.  The effort that went into making that corrugated wonder probably cost as much as it would have to just have the Bradys sit on a real train from one of the other productions Paramount was a part of.  Jesse James’ gun in this scene looks like another cardboard creation.  Bobby’s cap pistol from earlier in the episode was a more convincing firearm.  Considering the time and effort that was put forth to adorn the Bradys and Jesse James in period costumes, why could they not put forth the effort to have a realistic pistol?  The scene’s conclusion is where things really get complicated.  I completely understand that a show like the Brady Bunch could not have realistic gunshots being fired into the Brady family.  I’ve thought that just the sound of gunshots would suffice, but even that might have been too much for a show like this.  However, Jesse James just yelling “Bang!” with each shot would not have been my solution to avoiding the use of gunshots in the production.  An alternative I came up with would have Jesse ordering the family to their feet with their hands on the wall.  As he raises the gun to fire those fatal shots, Bobby is consumed with horror and fear and pleads for the lives of his family.  Jesse with an evil grin just says, “Sorry kid.  I am Jesse James after all” and cocks the hammer on his revolver.  Here Bobby could wake up and come to the realization that Jesse James was no hero.  Instead, we get the Bradys giving exaggerated gestures as they each die at the sound of Jesse James yelling “Bang!”.

Gordon DeVol

Jesse James was played by Gordon DeVol.  IMDB states he is the son of Frank DeVol who composed the Brady Bunch music.  Gordon DeVol enjoyed many TV appearances.  He was in the feature films “Harold and Maude” and “The Killings At Outpost Zeta”.  IMDB lists no acting credits from 1980 to 2012.  In 2013 he appeared as an anchorman in the TV movie “Phil Spector”.

 

With the end of Bobby’s horrific dream comes the end of his love for Jesse James.  He visits Mike and Carol in their bedroom and hands in his cap pistol.  He says he no longer considers Jesse James a hero.  Mike and Carol are pleased with this news.  The epilogue has Mike leaving to deliver his speech and Carol pitching a bad architect joke. Her joke is so bad, Mike initially leaves without giving her a goodbye kiss, but quickly returns and does so.

Thank you for reviewing “Bobby’s Hero” with me.  Of all the episodes light on comedy, I feel this one was the best.  The conflict Mike and Carol experience with Bobby’s admiration of an outlaw was realistic.  Bobby’s initial blind eye to the foul deeds of the famed outlaw was believable as well.  Your own thoughts on this episode are most welcome!  Next week, we enjoy another well remembered episode as we review “The Subject Was Noses”.  See you then!