Baretta (TV Series) On the Road (1975) User Reviews

The Best Episode of BARETTA

[TheFearmakers · 10/10 · 6 November 2018]

An episode chockfull of cult actors, either known for playing crazy, unpredictable characters or living an unpredictable, crazy life:

Gary Busey, Strother Martin, Mackenzie Phillips and of course, Robert Blake. And for the entire episode they're stuck together in close proximity.

The first two kidnapping the second two. Busey is a heroin addict and his strung-out performance is intense and spooky. Strother Martin is the ultimate wild card looney with a gun, and even though Blake, when forced drunk, does that movie-slur-voice, when he talks about his mom to mom-to-be, Mack Phillips, it's quite moving.

An episode that, like its title, goes out of the city, out of the proverbial box and into the sticks in a mack truck. This is not only a fan favorite but a popular bootleg as well.

It Didn't Get Any Better Than This

[mpescajeda · 9/10 · 4 November 2016]

This episode of Baretta had the magnificent pairing of Strother Martin and Gary Busey as the crooks long after the former had established himself as one of Hollywood's go-to character actors and during the early gestation period of the latter in one of his typical hyped up bad guy performances. This is all to say that the duo really gave viewers something to look at among many other great Season 2 episodes of the series. A must-see! In one scene (spoiler alert), Martin and Busey get leading man Blake liquored up and tied up in a semi truck they've hijacked. It's his duty to come to his senses, break free of his restraints, and stop them while they are off committing more crime. How he brought himself to perform this against-the-odds heroics was nearly implausible when I first saw this episode during its first prime time airing. That only added to the enjoyment it gave me, and it made me a big fan of the series in general. Say what you will about the now retired Blake, but he was born to play Baretta, and his underplaying of the role in this episode was efficiently on task. Good stuff here.

Strange journey for Baretta

[searchanddestroy-1 · 28 January 2016]

The opening scene is outstanding. Two petty hoodlums - Busey and Martin - rob a liquor store and kill the two cops who drop by just at the same moment. They put their uniform and get aboard the patrol car, impersonating the cops. And in the same moment, Baretta nails a female pickpocket and asks the police car to bring him and the girl to the headquarters...And that's when the cop abduction case begins. Strother Martin and Gary Busey, the veteran and the rookie in the business, what a surprise for the movie buff as I am. And this story is absolutely crazy. One of the two hoodlums - Busey - is a frantic drug addict who needs his dose at any cost, and this strange gang of the two hoods and the abducted cop will have to purchase the dope for the runaway cop killer. I won't spoil it any further, but it is an episode to remind of. Directed by Jeannot Szwarc, one French director who, like Jacques Tourneur, made most of his career in the USA.