60 minSeason 4 • Episode 21
LatestTod is vacationing by himself in Canada near Niagara Falls. He meets a professional assassin who looks exactly like him. Middle-Eastern plotters have hired the assassin to kill their king and he plans to do so with a high-powered sniper rifle. The assassin complains to Tod that his deprived childhood has caused him to become what he is. Filming Location: Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada
After discovering that his late father has gone through most of the family fortune, Tod Stiles hits the title trans-America highway in his Corvette in search of adventure with friend Buz Murdock, a survivor of New York's mean streets. The two work odd jobs as they meet and interact with colorful characters and find themselves plunged into one situation after another, some of them romantic, some of them very dangerous. Later, Linc Case, a Vietnam war hero trying to find himself, takes over as Tod's travel companion.
Writing
Stirling Silliphant's punchy, poetic dialogue before he did In the Heat of the Night.
Cinematography
Shot on location across actual Route 66 — a vanishing America in real time.
Production
Corvette product placement so blatant it's practically a third lead.
Creators
Herbert B. Leonard, Stirling Silliphant
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Route 66 premiered months before Kerouac's On the Road hit shelves, making it accidental beatnik television.
Despite the title, most episodes were filmed nowhere near the actual highway due to budget — they faked the Midwest with California backroads.
US
