This was possibly the most memorable of THE LUCY - DESI COMEDY HOUR episodes, as it actually had a central situation that was really funny. As pointed out in the other review currently on this thread, the Ricardos, the Mertzes, and guest star Fred MacMurray get involved in a claim jumping chase.
As pointed out it is a precursor to the chase to the buried treasure in IT'S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD. But this episode is from 1958, and that comedy classic from 1963. Actually this is also a comic version of the confrontation in THE TREASURE OF SIERRA MADRES in 1948, where the three prospectors are replaced by the two couples and their guest star.
MacMurray has lost $100 at the gambling tables of Las Vegas, and his wife (June Haver) will not be able to accept such a heavy loss (it does not seem much to us today, but it is 1958*). He ends up accompanying the Ricardos and Mertzes in trying out a Geiger counter that Lucy bought. But soon they find evidence that there is uranium on the spot. They begin to dig for the uranium, but soon the personal idiosyncrasies of the couples and MacMurray get on each other's nerves, and finally they all start off in their cars to try to get to a claim office miles away in Las Vegas (run by Chales Lane, of course) first to get their claim in before the others.
(*There is a side issue that people in the know may realize added to the joke - MacMurray was notoriously cheap in his real life (thrifty may be the polite way of saying it). The $100.00 loss is really meaningless to people like him given his income, but he is terribly upset about it's affect on Haver - in reality he'd never have gambled that much, and maybe nothing at all).
The chase follows problems of regular road blocks, bad conditions, and weather with the three groups sabotaging each other's cars at every opportunity. Not only sabotaging the cars but jeering at each other while they do so. To me the funniest moment is when MacMurray's car is wrecked, and he's left in the middle of no-where. Subsequently the Ricardos and Mertzes (in their separate cars) stop at a railway crossing miles away, stopped by a signal to allow a freight train to pass - and just at the train leaves we see MacMurray on a handcar pumping down the track in it's wake.
The conclusion is suitably ironic for all three - and Haver shows up, not too happy about what happened. Our last sight is of MacMurray and Lucy fleeing Haver and Ricky as fast as possible.
Because of it's concentration on that crazy chase this was the best of the episodes in terms of humor. Which is why I give it a "10".
As pointed out it is a precursor to the chase to the buried treasure in IT'S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD. But this episode is from 1958, and that comedy classic from 1963. Actually this is also a comic version of the confrontation in THE TREASURE OF SIERRA MADRES in 1948, where the three prospectors are replaced by the two couples and their guest star.
MacMurray has lost $100 at the gambling tables of Las Vegas, and his wife (June Haver) will not be able to accept such a heavy loss (it does not seem much to us today, but it is 1958*). He ends up accompanying the Ricardos and Mertzes in trying out a Geiger counter that Lucy bought. But soon they find evidence that there is uranium on the spot. They begin to dig for the uranium, but soon the personal idiosyncrasies of the couples and MacMurray get on each other's nerves, and finally they all start off in their cars to try to get to a claim office miles away in Las Vegas (run by Chales Lane, of course) first to get their claim in before the others.
(*There is a side issue that people in the know may realize added to the joke - MacMurray was notoriously cheap in his real life (thrifty may be the polite way of saying it). The $100.00 loss is really meaningless to people like him given his income, but he is terribly upset about it's affect on Haver - in reality he'd never have gambled that much, and maybe nothing at all).
The chase follows problems of regular road blocks, bad conditions, and weather with the three groups sabotaging each other's cars at every opportunity. Not only sabotaging the cars but jeering at each other while they do so. To me the funniest moment is when MacMurray's car is wrecked, and he's left in the middle of no-where. Subsequently the Ricardos and Mertzes (in their separate cars) stop at a railway crossing miles away, stopped by a signal to allow a freight train to pass - and just at the train leaves we see MacMurray on a handcar pumping down the track in it's wake.
The conclusion is suitably ironic for all three - and Haver shows up, not too happy about what happened. Our last sight is of MacMurray and Lucy fleeing Haver and Ricky as fast as possible.
Because of it's concentration on that crazy chase this was the best of the episodes in terms of humor. Which is why I give it a "10".
