You have questions. I have some answers.
I wonder if you know why Apple TV+ is misspelling the title of their big new movie “Wolfs.” The dictionaries I’ve consulted say the only proper plural form is “wolves.” I watched the movie, and I didn’t see anything that explains what I assume is a deliberate error. Any ideas? I just find it very strange that a film starring Brad Pitt and George Clooney has a misspelled title.
The film stars Pitt and Clooney as nameless fixers — the kind you call when you need to get rid of a dead body and any traces of it. The fixers have long worked solo, relishing their uniqueness, and the movie draws on the exasperation they feel when discovering someone else like them. More than one review said that each character sees himself as a lone wolf. And, as Owen Gleiberman wrote in Variety, “They have no desire to mesh like ‘wolves.’ ”
In the ’70s there was a show on NBC about a guy who traveled the country on a motorcycle, called “Then Came Bronson.” I believe Michael Parks starred in it. Is it available anywhere?
“Then Came Bronson” (1969-70) indeed starred Parks as Jim Bronson, a man who shed his daily obligations in favor of traveling the country — encountering people and adventures along the way. Although it lasted just one season, the show has a cult following. It also yielded a hit song, “Long Lonesome Highway,” sung by Parks.
There has been an authorized release on DVD of the series’ TV-movie pilot, which includes a pivotal performance by a young Martin Sheen. I have not found full episodes — other than in bootlegs, which I do not endorse. There are some clips on YouTube.
Can you recall a series that ran in the late ’50s or early ’60s about two railroad detectives, a man and a woman, who tracked down train robbers in the Old West?
I think you are remembering “Stories of the Century,” a Western that first ran in syndication in 1954. It starred Jim Davis (later famous as Jock Ewing on “Dallas”) along with Mary Castle and then Kristine Miller as his detective partners. Alex McNeil’s book “Total Television” notes it was the first syndicated show to win a major Emmy — for best Western or adventure series. (Other nominees that year were “Annie Oakley,” “Death Valley Days,” “The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok” and “The Roy Rogers Show.”) Streaming locations for “Stories” include Tubi and Pluto TV, and there are DVDs.
One of the first miniseries I remember is “Rich Man, Poor Man.” Nick Nolte was in it, maybe his first big role. I have heard nothing of it since and it’s been 50 to 60 years I think. Why? I thought it was excellent. Would like to see it again.
When “Rich Man, Poor Man” first aired in 1976, it was not the first miniseries, but it was an influential early one, demonstrating how readily prime-time audiences could be drawn to a serialized epic. (The point would be made even more strongly the following year with “Roots.”)
Based on Irwin Shaw’s novel and starring Nolte and Peter Strauss, the series spawned a sequel, “Rich Man, Poor Man – Book II,” and had a long life in reruns; the 1996 movie “Beautiful Girls” has characters praising the miniseries and celebrating a replay of it. But when it comes to finding the series today, your best bet is probably a DVD, including a set with both the original miniseries and “Book II.” (“Book II” is also on YouTube.) Amazon has the DVD set for sale, and your local library may have it.
