The Pilot - Longstreet (1971) Discussion

[–] john-640-823676 10 years ago

It was sent by members of a European based acrobat troupe, that were touring the USA. They read about his incredible record as an investigator, and wanted Longstreet out of the way before their next caper. At the end of the pilot, when Duke tells Mike that the group was captured, he mentions they said the bomb was meant for Mike, and that they were sorry about what happened to his wife.

As a side note, did you know that John McIntire - the actor who played the doctor, and Jeanette Nolan - the Actress who played Mike's mother, were actually marries in real life? And their son Tim McIntire - who was also an actor - played a character in Longstreet who kidnaps Nickie in another episode! All were very popular and regular actors back in the 1970's.

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[–] LesterFester 10 years ago

John McIntire - the actor who played the doctor

James also played opposite John in "Naked City" Accident? or is there another link between them?

' Fighting A Never Ending Battle For Truth, Justice & The American Way '

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[–] Clintessence 7 years ago

The other link between James Franciscus and John McIntire is the that both "Longstreet" and "Naked City" were created and produced by the same man - Stirling Silliphant.

I believe Franciscus also guest starred on "Wagon Train" when McIntire was the wagon master.

Clintessence

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[–] CarolTheDabbler (517) 2 years ago

Note: I originally (a couple of months ago) put the following three posts in a new thread entitled "Episode Tidbits" (which I have now deleted), but since they involved only the pilot, I finally decided they're a better fit here.

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[–] CarolTheDabbler (517) 2 years ago

Here are some things I've jotted down while rewatching the pilot (first part):

The pilot's original air date was 23 February 1971.

Alice Longstreet is Mike's mother. She calls him Michael at around the 15-minute mark (so that's apparently his legal name), but otherwise calls him Mike. She teaches philosophy (as she has done since Mike was a child), currently in Atlanta. She is a terrible driver. When she arrives at the hospital, Duke greets her with a forehead kiss and calls her "Alice," so they already know each other fairly well.

Charles Longstreet (1890-1961, according to his grave marker) was Mike's father. He is buried in Pine Acres cemetery.

Ingrid Longstreet was Mike's wife. She has a sister living in Stockholm (we meet Hannah later, in "Let the Memories Be Happy Ones"). Ingrid was killed by the bomb that blinded Mike, and is buried next to Charles in Pine Acres. Her grave marker says born 1948, died 1971, so she was only 22 or 23 -- and assuming that everything we see in the pilot had taken place by the time it was aired on February 23rd, she was more likely just 22 (whereas "Field of Honor," AKA the football episode, implies that Mike is in his mid-30s). Note: Since Mike takes a cab to meet up with Nikki at Pine Acres, it's apparently a fictitious cemetery in or near New Orleans (rather than the real Pine Acres in Macon, Georgia, nearly 500 miles away).

When he's able to leave the hospital, Mike moves into Oakhurst, where recently-blinded people can re-learn to deal with the world, and stays there till nearly the end of the pilot. This is where he meets Nikki Bell, who is his Braille teacher. At one point she says, "Once I was very, very famous" (which I don't recall ever being explained).

The bomb had contained parts of a Russian land mine, which the police later find in the debris. Land mines can indeed cause blindness, but usually by "peppering the cornea with multiple small foreign bodies," which doesn't jibe with the effects on Mike (see the "How did the bomb cause Mike's blindness?" thread).

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[–] CarolTheDabbler (517) 2 years ago

Pilot notes (second part):

It's a dimly-lit night scene, but the bomb appears to have exploded in the courtyard of Mike & Ingrid's house, the same one he lives in during the series. (Note that when Hannah enters Mike's house in "Let the Memories Be Happy Ones," she talks about Ingrid having described it in her letters.) At the end of the pilot, Nikki has (at Mike's request) found a different building for his office, but by the time the series begins (seven months later?) he's working out of the house he already owned instead. (This leaves me wondering whether he had initially planned to sell the house, since he had already told Duke to sell the furniture.)

Mike wears a ring on his left ring finger, but it does not appear to be a wedding band, more like a simple gold signet ring. (It actually appears to belong to James Franciscus, since a number of his other characters also wear it.)

Mike wears his tactile wristwatch with its face on the inside of his wrist, but this is another Franciscus thing. His other characters wear their ordinary watches the same way (whereas a friend of mine wore her "Braille" watch facing outward).

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[–] CarolTheDabbler (517) 2 years ago

I had wondered why Pine Acres (the cemetery shown near the end of the pilot) had so many above-ground tombs, and may have stumbled across the answer in a novel, where one character remarks (apropos of nothing much) that in New Orleans, "... it's so wet underneath the ground they have to bury their dead on top."

This also presumably explains why Mike's house apparently has no basement.

Coincidentally, the novel happens to be The Last Express, Baynard Kendrick's first story about Duncan Maclain, the fictional blind private detective who apparently provided some of the inspiration for Mike Longstreet.

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[–] CarolTheDabbler (517) 2 years ago

I'm trying to work out the timeline of the pilot, and would be interested in your thoughts on it. Here are mine so far:

Ingrid's grave marker says she died in 1971, so the earliest that the pilot could possibly begin is New Year's Eve 1970/71, with her death occurring after midnight. The final scenes take place no later than the evening of Tuesday, February 23rd, when the pilot was aired. This means that everything happens within less than eight weeks.

I don’t see any New Year’s decorations, so I doubt that the pilot actually begins on New Year’s Eve – however December 31, 1970 was a Thursday, creating a long weekend. So my best guess is that the pilot starts on either Friday evening January 1st or Saturday the 2nd, thus allowing as much time as possible for everything else to happen.

Presumably Mike's neighbors hear the bomb go off and call the police, so he’s taken to the hospital shortly afterward. Either he gives them Duke’s phone number or they get it from his wallet. Then there’s an unspecified time gap while Mike is asleep (presumably sedated). Duke has already phoned Alice, who is driving down from Atlanta “tonight.”

Mike’s other injuries appear to be fairly minor, so he is presumably in the hospital only a few days before going to Oakhurst.

According to several internet sites, learning to work with a guide dog generally takes two to four weeks. Mike is also learning Braille, plus what’s called “orientation and mobility,” and various other things, so I’m guessing he’d need to be at Oakhurst for about four to six weeks. (Input from someone more knowledgeable would be greatly appreciated!)

Then it takes Nikki an unpredictable amount of time to find a suitable place for Mike’s headquarters (though by the time the series starts, he’s decides to use his house instead).

Comments, please!

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