Smithereens

Sam Casey reports to work at Intersect, only to have to rescue a man who is ambushed by two attackers on Intersect’s own grounds. The victim of the attack is Dr. Hale, inventor of a fuel additive known as tripolodene, capable of increasing gas mileage to 70 miles per gallon with no modifications to the vehicle in question. Hale believes that oil companies both foreign and domestic are trying to silence his invention, and needs Intersect’s help getting a sample of the tripolodene to safety so it can be patented. Sam, posing as a truck driver, will transport Hale and his tripololodene incognito, while a heavily armed military convoy will draw the attention of those who attacked Hale. Unless, of course, someone inside the operation has already blown Sam’s cover…

written by Frank Telford
directed by Alan J. Levi
music by Lee Holdridge

Cast: Ben Murphy (Sam Casey), Katherine Crawford (Abby Lawrence), William Sylvester (Leonard Driscoll), Andrew Prine (Luther Stark), Alan Oppenheimer (Dr. Hale), Jim Stafford (Buffalo Bill), Lawrence Bame (Worker), Jeannie Wilson (Girl Guard), Gil Serna (Mechanic), Nicholas Lewis (1st Embassy Guard), Raymond O’Keefe (2nd Embassy Guard)

Notes: The first episode of Gemini Man as a weekly series, Smithereens is best known to post-1970s TV fans as one half of the syndicated TV movie Riding With Death, assembled by Universal from this episode and a later, unaired Gemini Man episode, Buffalo Bill Rides Again. That movie, in turn, was riffed by Mike and the ‘bots in a fan-favorite 1997 episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000. This was the first acting role for country musician and comedian Jim Stafford, who had already hosted his own variety show in 1975. He went on to guest star on Fantasy Island and The Love Boat, among others, but in 1990 opened a theater in Branson, Missouri and began concentrating most of his time on that career.