This is one of those TV episodes that was meant to launch careers. Big things were expected after this one. This episode is about a motley group of robbers, five men with nothing in common, who come together for a once in a lifetime play.
And they were, for a while, but actors need more than great talent and great films. They also need great luck. While this was a major show, known to most kids on the street, and most people you would work with, for many years, it got shuffled back behind the many other "serious endeavors".
Henry Jones was the key actor as the professor. Like a tragic Shakespearean protagonist, we watch him with great interest. Larry Storch was to take over Vegas as the greatest impersonator in the business. All five actors who played the band of misfit robbers expected this show to make their careers inevitable successes.
And it should have. It was a dramatic show, and full of animation, if not action. We were rarely given "dull" settings. Most of it was on a desert road.
What probably hurt them in the long run is that they didn't try to get a good take on Storch doing his impressions. Larry Storch could do impressions very well, but the director obviously meant to show him trying to do it in an agitated state, and the impressions were not the vintage "Storch impressions." That was the fatal mistake here.
Purists would disagree, saying that "reality" of the situation called for Storch's amateur character to fumble around in a stressful attempt to stop a cop from searching his truck. However, I think it's what ultimately put this great episode onto the back burner, and what put Storch on a back burner to Little.
While they all did great acting jobs, it probably would have been better to let Storch do what he headlined to do.
Still, if you get a chance, watch this. It will come back into popularity some day. It has classic potential.