About 5 years too late, Route 66 goes for a "mod", angry teen/juvie show that really falls flat.
The show takes FOREVER to get going, and is simply too contrived to spark any real, honest emotional interest. After so many "Crazy-Lady" episodes, it was time for a final "Crazy Lad" to take center stage, and the obligatory quirkiness and teen "alienation/loner" thing is just too predictable, and fails to build anything beyond a moderate level of tension. You can tell that the energy and spark had really gone out of the series at this very late date.
Almost laughable are the scenes with the teenage mob on the move, with mostly amateur kids choreographed in an obviously pre-staged, phony way; "West-Side Story" it ain't.
Then there's Nelson Riddle's funky, cool, "TEEN/HIPSTER" underscore that kicks in for these scenes-- the sort of Elmer Bernstein, Pete Rugolo-Kenyon Hopkins sound that worked MUCH better in the "angry young rebel" era of the late 5o's. I groaned every time that nasty electric bass and Stan Kenton-style brass kicked in. Really BAD. stuff.
But the interactions between Martin Milner and Bert Freed were interesting, and the final scene was good. LR.