Alias Smith and Jones

*Alias Smith and Jones*
Alias Smith and Jones
	Alias Smith and Jones title card
Genre	Western
Created by	Glen A. Larson
Starring	Pete Duel; Ben Murphy; Roger Davis;
Narrated by	Roger Davis; Ralph Story;
Theme music composer	Billy Goldenberg
Composers	Billy Goldenberg; Robert Prince; Pete Rugolo; John Andrew Tartaglia;
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	3
No. of episodes	50 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer	Roy Huggins
Producers	Glen A. Larson; Jo Swerling Jr.;
Cinematography	William Cronjager; Gene Polito; John M. Stephens;
Camera setup	Single-camera
Running time	45–48 minutes
Production companies	Universal Television; Universal/Public Arts Production;
Original release
Network	ABC
Release	January 5, 1971 –; January 13, 1973
Related
	The Young Country;

Alias Smith and Jones is an American Western television series that originally aired on ABC from January 1971 to January 1973.

Plot

Kid Curry and Hannibal Heyes are outlaws who wish to go straight. Through a friendly sheriff, the pair negotiate an amnesty with the governor of Wyoming. The amnesty will be turned in a full pardon as long as the pair stay out of trouble for 12 months. The deal is complicated by it remaining a secret between the four men, so during the 12 months the pair are still wanted men. To try and obtain the pardon they adopt the pseudonyms Joshua Smith (Heyes) and Thaddeus Jones (Curry). The series follows their exploits in evading capture and avoiding any crimes.^[1]

Cast and characters

The original casting had Pete Duel as Heyes/Smith and Ben Murphy as Curry/Jones. During the three series Murphy appeared in all 50 episodes.

In the early morning hours of December 31, 1971, series star Pete Duel died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound at the age of 31. He was reportedly suffering from depression and had been drinking heavily when he shot himself. Upon learning of Duel's death, executive producer Jo Swerling Jr. initially wanted to end the series, but ABC refused.^[2]^: 27–28 Swerling later stated:

ABC said, "No way!" They said, "You have a contract to deliver this show to us, and you will continue to deliver the show as best you can on schedule or we will sue you." Hearing those words, Universal didn't hesitate for a second to instruct us to stay in production. We were already a little bit behind the eight ball on airdates. So, we contacted everybody, including Ben (Murphy), and told them to come back in. The entire company was reassembled and back in production by one o'clock that day shooting scenes that did not involve Peter — only 12 hours after his death.^[2]^: 28

Series writer, director, and producer Roy Huggins contacted actor Roger Davis (who provided narration for the series, and who had also appeared in episode 19 "Smiler with a Gun") the day of Duel's death to fill the role of Hannibal Heyes, and actor/voice man Paul Frees came in to loop Duel's unfinished ADR on "The Men That Corrupted Hadleyburg" (episode 33) Davis was fitted for costumes the following day, and began reshooting scenes Duel had previously completed for an unfinished episode the following Monday. According to Swerling, the decision to continue production so soon after Duel's death was heavily criticized in the press at the time.^[2]^: 29–30

Davis played Heyes for the rest of the series.

Production

Joan Hackett played a character called Clementine Hale; a character with the same name appeared in two Alias Smith and Jones episodes, played by Sally Field.^[3]

Universal contract player Ben Murphy was offered to the producers because he was considered a Paul Newman lookalike.^[4]

Parts of the television series were filmed at Castle Valley and Professor Valley in Utah.^[5]

Episodes

Season	Episodes	Originally released
Season	Episodes	First released	Last released
1	15	January 5, 1971 (1971-01-05)	April 22, 1971 (1971-04-22)
2	23	September 16, 1971 (1971-09-16)	March 2, 1972 (1972-03-02)
3	12	September 16, 1972 (1972-09-16)	January 13, 1973 (1973-01-13)

Home media

The entire series has been released on DVD.^[6]

DVD set	Episodes	Release date	Company
Alias Smith and Jones: Season 1	15	February 20, 2007 (2007-02-20)^[7]	Universal Home Video
Alias Smith and Jones: Seasons 2 & 3	35	April 13, 2010 (2010-04-13)^[8]	Timeless Media Group
Alias Smith and Jones: The Complete Series	50	October 19, 2010 (2010-10-19)^[9]	Timeless Media Group

Universal Studios Home Entertainment released the complete first season of Alias Smith and Jones in Region 2 on June 11, 2007.^[10]

References

^ Aaker, Everett (2017). Television Western players, 1960-1975: a biographical dictionary. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company. p. 139. ISBN 9781476662503.
^ ^a ^b ^c Snauffer, Douglas; Thurm, Joel (2008). The Show Must Go on: How the Deaths of Lead Actors Have Affected Television Series. McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-3295-0.
^ Yoggy, Gary A. (1995). Riding the Video Range: The Rise and Fall of the Western on Television. McFarland & Co. pp. 477–478.
^ Glen A. Larson, audio commentary on Alias Smith and Jones, Season One, Disc One, the pilot, Universal DVD, 2007.
^ D'Arc, James V. (2010). When Hollywood came to town: a history of moviemaking in Utah (1st ed.). Layton, Utah: Gibbs Smith. ISBN 9781423605874.
^ DVD release info Archived 2015-11-22 at the Wayback Machine at TVShowsOnDVD.com
^ Lacey, Gord (December 12, 2006). "Alias Smith and Jones - Heyes and Curry become Smith and Jones this Feb!". tvshowsondvd.com. Archived from the original on March 12, 2010. Retrieved November 19, 2010.
^ Lambert, David (March 11, 2010). "Alias Smith and Jones - TMG's Seasons 2 and 3 Release Gets Closer Date, Lower Price and Package Art". tvshowsondvd.com. Archived from the original on June 16, 2010. Retrieved June 16, 2010.
^ Lambert, David (August 30, 2010). "Alias Smith and Jones - All 3 Seasons Come Together for The Complete Series 10-DVD Set". tvshowsondvd.com. Archived from the original on September 3, 2010. Retrieved November 19, 2010.
^ "Alias Smith And Jones - Series 1 - Complete [DVD] [1971]". amazon.co.uk. June 11, 2007. Retrieved November 19, 2010.

External links

[1] Aaker, Everett (2017). Television Western players, 1960-1975: a biographical dictionary. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company. p. 139. ISBN 9781476662503.

[go_on-2] Snauffer, Douglas; Thurm, Joel (2008). The Show Must Go on: How the Deaths of Lead Actors Have Affected Television Series. McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-3295-0.

[3] Yoggy, Gary A. (1995). Riding the Video Range: The Rise and Fall of the Western on Television. McFarland & Co. pp. 477–478.

[4] Glen A. Larson, audio commentary on Alias Smith and Jones, Season One, Disc One, the pilot, Universal DVD, 2007.

[5] D'Arc, James V. (2010). When Hollywood came to town: a history of moviemaking in Utah (1st ed.). Layton, Utah: Gibbs Smith. ISBN 9781423605874.

[6] DVD release info Archived 2015-11-22 at the Wayback Machine at TVShowsOnDVD.com

[7] Lacey, Gord (December 12, 2006). "Alias Smith and Jones - Heyes and Curry become Smith and Jones this Feb!". tvshowsondvd.com. Archived from the original on March 12, 2010. Retrieved November 19, 2010.

[8] Lambert, David (March 11, 2010). "Alias Smith and Jones - TMG's Seasons 2 and 3 Release Gets Closer Date, Lower Price and Package Art". tvshowsondvd.com. Archived from the original on June 16, 2010. Retrieved June 16, 2010.

[9] Lambert, David (August 30, 2010). "Alias Smith and Jones - All 3 Seasons Come Together for The Complete Series 10-DVD Set". tvshowsondvd.com. Archived from the original on September 3, 2010. Retrieved November 19, 2010.

[10] "Alias Smith And Jones - Series 1 - Complete [DVD] [1971]". amazon.co.uk. June 11, 2007. Retrieved November 19, 2010.

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