Route 66 (TV Series) Build Your Houses with Their Backs to the Sea (1963) User Reviews

The Old Man, The Sea, & The Sons

[AudioFileZ · 8/10 · 28 May 2012]

Frank Pierson wrote and directed this episode in the forth season of Route 66. Pierson strikes me as a fearless writer first and foremost. He has a vision and many times it is a bit harrowing. As a director he may have been as great, but he seemed to butt heads along the way such as he did when he directed the 70's remake of "A Star Is Born" in which he and Barbara Steisand endured a painful shoot of which he was highly critical of her in the press. Frank Pierson gravitated to mainly producing which complimented his razor sharp writing skills. All in all, Pierson couldn't compromise as a director.

Pierson, when given full rein, takes no prisoners. Witness his lone darkly written Route 66 episode which he he also directed. There's lots of melodramatic glimpses of the underside of a seemingly peaceful town and it's inhabitants. Do the inhabitants of this small town love one another or only live and work around their distrusts and fears? One thing is for certain, there's an invisible black cloud infecting the place.

Pierson coaxes powerful performances from Pat Hingle and William Shatner in their portrayals of an estranged father and son whose only final solution is a deadly reunion fueled by their mutual feelings over Shatner's long absence and the death of his brother. These two are a bit "over-the-top" in their smoldering uneasiness. Shatner's being assumed dead only to return with a mind for retribution is the catalyst for a final solution; perhaps, after which, it is believed a kind of healing may finally be embraced?

This isn't television entertainment by rote, but a painful look at a fractured family in an unforgiving town inhabited by a population with a strange detachment forged by the hard scramble life of lobstering.

This episode is fairly strong with Pierson manning the helm and the standout performance of William Shatner. Pat Hingle's excellent performance is the centerpiece of what makes the town tick as a thriving source of lobster, but where humanity is in short supply as silent suffering is confused for strength. Glenn Corbett, as Linc, turns in a restrained rendition of an outsider who struggles between the problems of a father and son attempting to bring reason as he can see the futility of it all. Linc's "interference" isn't welcomed as the locals make it known they are openly glad he'll soon be leaving. Martin Milner is barely featured this time out. "Build Your Houses With Their Backs To The Sea" ultimately works even if it is devoid of joy. Pierson's fearless style is much in evidence in this black story and, within, there lies a flash of brilliance.

Didn't See This One Coming....

[lrrap · 8/10 · 24 February 2020]

A very strong episode, thanks to writer/director Pierson, with only a few drawbacks.

The chief problem, I feel, is the casting of Shatner in the pivotal role. And while his performance is very good, it's still hard to see him as the offspring of the the rough-and-tumble, hearty, weather-beaten, stalwart clan of lobster fisherman that dominate this tale. Much too yuppy-ish, IMHO.

Still..it's a whale of a tale, as Shatner, Linc (and Tod, to a lesser degree) confront a severe, draconian system of ethics, a tradition that values loyalty to the professional trade ABOVE that of blood relationships. When the mortally wounded Mayhew, suspected of sabotaging the other worker's lobster traps, is abandoned to die by his lifelong friends, the strict, unforgiving code by which they live becomes ominously clear.

There is great heartache in the scenes between the lovely Louise Sorel and her toddler son---which reminds me of the similar scenario of the excellent "Burning for Burning" of Season 2: both plots involve harsh, uncompromising families (which both happen to include Pat Hingle), a forlorn daughter by-marriage who is humiliated and rejected by the family, and her innocent child caught in the middle of the hostilities.

On a related topic--as much as I respect him, I feel that Pat Hingle is something of a liability in most everything I've seen him in. It's silly for me to bring this up, because he was an extremely successful, in-demand actor..and I'm an observer, sitting at a computer 50-some years later "reviewing" his performance....but there's just something stage-y and slightly bogus about him. In fact, his Bible-quotin', fire-and-brimstone chicken farmer is the one unfortunate element of the aforementioned "Burning for Burning" episode, which rings absolutely true in every other respect (like....say...the withering intensity of Beulah Bondi's performance).

Still, Pat Hingle carries his role here very well, and is genuinely touching in his scene with Louise Sorel and the little boy on the swing--made all the more poignant when we later realize it was his way of saying "farewell" to them.

OVERALL-- one of the series' more powerful episodes, rich in the interplay between characters, their relationships, and their traditions.

And the FINAL SCENE is beautifully written, directed, acted (and musically scored). ALSO-- a wise decision to nix the familiar Theme Song for the final credits, using instead the episode's noble, elegiac main theme to accompany the ceremonial "Cortege" onscreen. LR

(But...the names of the father-and-son menfolk: Thayer, Menemsha, and....ROBBIE???)

It's a bunch on BillShat ! Just kidding ...

[rcaliendo-424-345328 · 30 June 2020]

Whenever I see an iconic actor working outside the role that made him iconic, I always end up focusing almost exclusively on the actor and their differences from the more familiar surroundings, instead of focusing on the current show itself. This episode, with the appearance of William Shatner, just a few years prior to his seminal role in Star Trek, is no exception. In this case, that's actually an unwanted distraction because this is a very well done and impassioned episode of R66. While Shatner is actually very good in the role, the one considerable flaw I see is that, in manner, speech, and dress, he hardly looks as though he could be the son of a grizzled lobster fisherman. He frankly looks more the part of a Palm or Newport Beach trust fund ne'er-do-well. Superficialities aside, this is a tough, sad story, well written, directed and acted. Back to Shatner for a moment, it's very interesting to see him in his many pre-Trek roles. Growing up, I saw him almost exclusively in the context of Kirk, indulging all too often in his scene-stealing, ham acting kitsch that made him as infamous as famous. His prior roles though, such as this one show him to ... (surprise !) ... be a very good actor. Although, to be fair, he did have a significant number of restrained, well crafted performances on Trek, which are often overlooked. As long as he tones down his oddball staccato speech patterns and strange jerky movements, like in these roles, he's actually a pleasure to watch, instead of just being funny to watch.

10/25/63 "Build Your Houses With Their Backs to the Sea" (spoilers)

[schappe1 · 26 January 2016]

They are now back in Maine, (I have been unable to discern a reason why the producers or network refused to show these episodes in the order in which they are filmed). Pat Hingle plays a lobster boat captain, (a role he would also play on "Murder She Wrote" about 30 years later). William Shatner plays his estranged son, who has returned to town to confront his father over the death of his brother, who had always been scared to go to sea and find out that his wife, (Louise Sorel), has had a baby in his absence.

Shatner spends the episode wandering around town giving poetic speeches about the grimness of life. Sorel seeks acceptance by Hingle and his family. Finally, Shatner and Hingle take to sea in a rowboat, which is later found empty. And that, believe it or not is the end of the story. They were swallowed up in a sea of mutual contempt, or something like that. Shatner in no way resembles the grizzled Hingle and his obviously literate character hardly seems like the son of a lobster fisherman.