Route 66 (TV Series) The Cruelest Sea of All (1963) User Reviews

Route 66 Fairy-Tale; Too Bad About Tod

[lrrap · 7/10 · 13 January 2020]

Route 66 produced its share of "whimsical", light-hearted episodes, but who would have expected an actual, honest-to-goodness FANTASY that has no rational explanation? And, of course, Tod goes and ruins it.

Too bad. The show was imaginatively written for its setting- the famous Florida mermaid tourist attraction we all used to hear about in the '60's. It's imaginatively filmed--with plenty of underwater footage, and features a charming and alluring performance by Diane Baker...which I'm sure sent legions of young male viewers in 1963 into orbit. She's just lovely--- a perfect dream girl for our manly hero Mr. Stiles, who manages to SCREW IT UP with all of his condescending, wise-guy, slick, philosophizing gunk.

Way to go, man. Of course, if Elyssa had stayed with Tod, the series would have taken a REAL novel turn---- maybe even predating "Bewitched" and "I Dream of Genie" as a TV comedy-fantasy series. But I just hated to see the innocent, childlike "Sea-lass" treated like she was...for no good reason.

Nelson Riddle's musical theme for this episode was clearly based on the name "E-lys-sa"---and maybe Burton Lane's 1965 hit tune ON A CLEAR DAY "borrowed" it.....just a little?

Also, Ed Binns' role was pretty thankless, basically providing Linc with something to keep himself occupied. I thought Ed would get more involved with Tod's dilemma.

Overall, a unique episode in the series, a bit rushed in its ending resolution, but well done. LR

The Only Decent Blockhead-Linc Episode

[TheFearmakers · 7/10 · 1 June 2023]

This series started out so great, with perfect chemistry between the average guy and intense guy working so well, but having George Maharis being replaced by Glenn Corbett, who was one of the dullest dumb-jock type actors ever, would be like if they replaced Martin Milner's partner Kent McCord on Adam 12... you can't imagine that... it is unimaginable... and yet this show lasted another season, somehow... although understandably it was running on empty...

Great episode here, however, and it's the first to be truly fantastical... an actual fantasy, veering off the proverbial road melodrama series that was supposedly inspired by Jack Kerouac (who George Maharis ironically resembled the younger version of)...

Diane Baker was one of the cutest actresses ever, and this role as a mermaid was perfect... And while it's being called an early Splash, it's more like a feature that would come out a few months later, Night Tide.

The Original "Splash"

[AudioFileZ · 10/10 · 25 April 2012]

This is a very engaging episode of Route 66. It's has most of the best ingredients that made the series so iconic. Whenever the show does the travelogue with fantastic local color it excels. And when it adds a good story, this time a doomed Shakespearian romance, it really tops itself.

Tod and Linc find themselves employed at Weeki Watchee in Florida. In the early 60's it was a place I dreamed of going to as a kid, a real enchanted place since there weren't any mermaids in my small town. Fact is, this place quickly became one of the greatest roadside attractions in the United States as it was uniformly loved by kids and adults. Folks, this is the "toppermost of the poppermost" when it comes to post WWII Americana! Tod is absolutely giddy about this gig!

Linc takes a boat out of the lagoon into one of the channels to catch a gator. He thinks he sees a woman swimming under the water, but decides it would be impossible partly due to no one being crazy enough to swim with gators all around as well as not coming up for air. Tod is cleaning the underwater theater glass back at attraction and notices a young woman who swims through into the staging room's tunnel. Naturally curious as to who would do such a thing he follows and in the staging room he meets Elissa. Knowing there is no such thing as a real mermaid Tod nonetheless is suddenly smitten by her. In short order she's in his arms and they are enthralled in a passionate kiss with Elissa's eyes wide open with a sense of wonder! Caught in the act by his boss, Ann, Tod stumps for Ann to hire his amazing find.

The body of the story starts after this truly inspired introduction by the writers, it revolves around Tod trying to romance Elissa while not believing Elissa is a mermaid from Tyre. Everything in Tod's world is new and foreign to Elissa and difficulty ensues. There are some wonderful scenes including Elissa drinking too much "grog", Elissa trying to wear high-heels, Elissa wanting dresses (being naked for so long must be a factor here), Elissa thinking lipstick is blood, and Elissa disliking drinking water until she adds salt! Soon things turn dark as Tod loses patience and Elissa despairs to the point of attempting to drown herself. Elissa survives and Tod won't believe she really is not of this world;in spite of Linc telling him the doctors who save her find that she breathes less than a third of the normal rate, her blood is of unknown type, and she can hold her breath for just over seven minutes. Afterwards, Elissa realizes she must return from whence she came even as Tod is getting closer to accepting he loves her even if he can't understand her. Just like she swam in she suddenly jumps back in the water and is gone. Tod is stunned and heartbroken.

"The Cruelest Sea" predates the movie "Splash" by a good twenty years, but it most certainly is a template expanded upon by that movie. In under an hour though it delivers the same great melancholy story of doomed love and adds the fantastic Route 66 panache of period Americana. One of the absolute must-see episodes and strongly recommended. Lastly, it must be mentioned that Diane Baker is amazing in the part of Elissa, so natural I believe she is a mermaid from Tyre!

Route 66 at its very best and my favorite episode

[dmdavidsonhome-267-593710 · 10/10 · 13 June 2012]

I celebrate the release of the entire series of Route 66 on DVD. It has long been one of my favorite shows ever since I first watched it in the 1980's on Nick-at-Nite. I was sad when they took it off in 1987. Although the series was originally aired on CBS-TV during my lifetime, I was a young child at the time and have no memory of it. The Cruelest Sea of All has remained in my memory ever since I first saw it and it has been my favorite episode ever since. I will be visiting the area of Florida where filming took place (Weeki Wachee Springs and Crystal River) in less than a month from now and have long wanted to do so. Route 66 is the only show of its kind, in that it was filmed all over the USA and even in parts of Canada. It remains a unique and worthwhile series to this day. While some may view it as being very dated, it offers a look at the early-to-mid 1960's and with each episode you not only meet new characters (many played by well-known stars of the day and many by later to become well-known stars) but also ride along with Tod and Buz and later Tod and Linc as they travel the roads of America in a classic Corvette. No show has ever compared to Route 66 before or since and it is doubtful that any ever will. To me Route 66 is much like The Fugitive in one sense, the main characters in both shows travel from place-to-place, meeting new people and getting into new situations, but for different reasons. It remains unique however that Route 66 filmed each episode on real locations all over the country. And finally, to me Route 66 in this context represents the highway of life, as the main characters travel and meet new people and have new experiences.

4/5/63 "The Cruelest Sea of All"

[schappe1 · 5 December 2015]

This is the strangest episode of all, one that suggests that there are more things in heaven and Earth than Tod Stiles has dreamt of. He and Linc are working at a "Sea World" type of place complete with mermaids. One day a mermaid, (Diane Baker), shows up who seems to have an unlimited capacity for breathing and swimming underwater. She talks strangely, as if she's seeing things she's never seen before, suggesting that she actually lives in the ocean. The down to earth Todd is fascinated by her but assumes she's just using this as ruse to get a job at the place. The more open-minded and thoughtful LInc thinks she may be the real deal.

It's an interesting turn-around from the old days of Todd and Buz where Todd was the dreamer and Buz the more down-to-earth guy. The only other episode I can think of that wasn't firmly grounded in reality was the season one finale, "Incident on a Bridge", where it's suggested that Divorovoi and Anna have climbed into the sky. Here Baker, having failed to convince Tod of what she is, jumps into the sea and disappears. Tod wants to get a boat and search for her. Linc says not to bother: she's back where she belongs. Before leaving, she describes Tod's world as "The Cruelest Sea at All".

Despite the downer ending, this is a rather light, dreamy episode amid a run of dramatically over-wrought stories so it's welcome for that reason. But it also suggests the writers were running out of conventional ideas and having to think outside the box of reality to come up with something.

The Mermaid Fantasy Episode

[StuOz · 20 April 2021]

Tod (Martin Milner) falls for a swimmer (Diane Baker) at Florida's famed mermaid tourist attraction.

Route 66 enters The Twilight Zone (1959) as, unlike the rest of the series, the episode is totally grounded in fantasy. When a TV show suddenly does a totally out-of-place hour, that hour sometimes becomes the most memorable episode of the series - that is the situation here.

People remember just one episode of Dynasty 2: The Colbys (1985), the final hour when the UFO landed. Because it was so different from other shows. People remember just one episode of Lost In Space (1965), the talking carrot episode - because it was just so amazingly stupid.

The Cruelest Sea of All is not just different, it is well made - with knockout location filming at a real Florida mermaid attraction.

Interesting that Diane Baker also appeared in the most memorable episode of sister series of the day, QM's The Fugitive (1963) - the final episode.

If you seek another 60s mermaid hour I would watch a third season Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1964) episode just titled - The Mermaid.