In 1946, Dana Andrews was almost the son-in-law via Susan Hayward of an open-minded Robert Keith, whose equally open-minded son Brian Keith's Bill Davis from a 1969 FAMILY AFFAIR episode THE SINGS OF AN ANGEL let old friend Dana's Harv Mullen into his home... until the kids and Mr. French thumb their noses at an ex-con living under their fancy roof, while Sissy gives Harv a progressive school interview about prison-life, all ultimately driving Dana's character batty enough to leave, that is, before the 11th hour sit-com lecture resolution... and this right before Dana had his own soap opera BRIGHT FUTURE, which he remained on for an entire year of afternoon melodrama.
The seventies' Western TAKE A HARD RIDE seemed to have several sub-genres at play, and yet, despite a small yet important role, Dana Andrews is the best representation since it's not a Blaxploitation despite stars Jim Brown (as Dana's friend), Fred Williamson and Jim Kelly, nor a Spaghetti Western with Lee Van Cleef on their trial, but more a modernized version of the kind of classic rough-and-tumble cowboy picture that Dana himself was a veteran of, from CANYON PASSAGE to THREE HOURS TO KILL, and before and beyond, including his last starring roles, TOWN TAMER and JOHNNY RENO.
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