McCloud (TV Series) Top of the World, Ma! (1971) User Reviews

McCloud meets another fish out of water in the Big Apple...and, as usual, he ignores the Chief!

[planktonrules · 9/10 · 18 February 2020]

When this episode begins, McCloud is relegated to stolen car detail by the Chief to try, as usual, to keep him out of trouble. The first case ends up being a strange one....a HUGE guy named Bubba White (Bo Svenson) is in town with a car reported stolen back in Dayton, Ohio. But it's a weird case...he's not just some punk car thief but a man on a mission to find Mr. Farraday (Robert Webber) and make him pay him money he thinks he's owed. But this quest is a serious problem, as Farraday is a super-dangerous character...so McCloud decides to try to find Bubba before Farraday's goons.

This is a very unusual episode....and one of the better ones I've seen so far from the series. Much of it is because it is so unique and it's also really nice to see Svenson and Stephanie Powers guest starring...along with the classic film star, Joan Blondell, in a small role. Well written and interesting...and I hope more episodes are as good as this one.

By the way, if you have a chance, read Svenson's IMDB bio...it's VERY interesting and very unusual.

McCloud isn't almost in it, only a few minutes

[trashgang · 6/10 · 1 October 2012]

This is a weird episode into the McCloud franchise because McCloud himself is not that much in this entry. He does solve the problem but it's more about the Ohio boy coming to New York to collect his money he earned from a mobster.

Another thing is that you can see that McCloud was big back then in the early seventies. For the first time we so common names from the genre acting in McCloud. Robert Webber and Stefanie Powers have an important part. It's also for the first time that I've noticed blood running from persons being shot.

Another thing that is a must see is the retro look of New York, parts that have been erased and demolished nowadays. We do see a part of 42nd street and you can easily spot the advertisements for horror flicks (Vincent Price) and the start of the grindhouses.

This really had a good story and do involve McCloud here and there with his typical stories and jokes. Even his whole department isn't almost in this episode. strange but a good story.

Gore 0/5 Nudity 0/5 Effects 1/5 Story 3/5 Comedy 0/5

The Country Boy and The Mobster

[profh-1 · 6/10 · 21 October 2012]

Bubba White's in town to collect ten thousand dollars. He drove all the way from Dayton Ohio with his mother (in a car--ahem-- "borrowed" from his collection agency boss), booked her into the most expensive hotel suite he could find, then went looking for the people who stiffed him his 10%. What he doesn't realize is, the man he's looking for is a high-level racketeer the NYC cops have been after for at least 7 years, and his own boss-- who works for the racketeer-- is the one who really stiffed him. No surprise-- turns out the guy's been stealing from the racketeer for 3 years!

When Bubba's (stolen) car runs out of gas, he just grabs another one... which brings him to the attention of Sam McCloud & Joe Broadhurst, assigned to stolen car detail. A young boy who saw Bubba helps point Sam in the right direction, and soon he & Joe are interviewing Mrs. White, who's worried about her son. When Sam promises her to find Bubba, Joe points out, "McCloud, you're still assigned to stolen car detail!" "He stole a car, didn't he?" (There's that lateral thinking again!)

When the investigation-- and Bubba's somewhat violent activities-- lead to mobster Jack Faraday, Captain (or is that "Chief"?) Clifford tells Sam to get back to stolen cars, since Clifford CAN'T tell the Police Commissioner the job of nailing the city's biggest racketeer has been assigned to "an exchange student from Taos, New Mexico". "Guess I'll have to make the best of it, Chief." Of course, we know what that means.

Before long, Bubba's boss, who came in at the request of the cops to pick up his car, has been found out by HIS boss, and winds up DEAD in a sleazy hotel room, as part of a frame-up to make Bubba look like the killer. But even a bullet wound in the shoulder is not enough to stop this ex-football linebacker, and, with info gathered by a photographer's model Bubba's befriended, he goes after Faraday. She winds up calling Sam, and HE arrives moments before the rest of the cops do (with warrants), in just in time to save Bubba's life.

The "laid-back" tone of the 2nd season continues here. While this story takes place in far more "gritty" surroundings than the last one did, it still has a "COLUMBO" sort of feel to it, with the focus being more on Bubba and the gangsters than McCloud and the rest of the police. Sam even goes into his "country Columbo" routine when he interviews Faraday in his fancy office, managing to get on his nerves while telling a story about a Taos crook which ends with the abrupt punchline, "They HUNG him." --just trying to shake things loose.

A lot of familiar faces in this one! You've got Robert Webber (12 ANGRY MEN, THE SILENCERS, THE DIRTY DOZEN, REVENGE OF THE PINK PANTHER) as Faraday, the main villain; Stephanie Powers (THE GIRL FROM UNCLE, HART TO HART) as Jackie Dawn, the tough-as-nails photo model; Joan Blondell (HERE COMES THE BRIDES) as Ernestine White, Bubba's Ma; Bo Svenson (WALKING TALL, Dan Curtis' FRANKENSTEIN) as Charles "Bubba" White; Vincent Gardenia (ALL IN THE FAMILY and countless guest-shots on TV shows) as Barney Sweetwater, Bubba's boss who really caused the whole problem; Milton Selzer (countless TV appearances) as Flynn, the sleazy hotel manager who tries to frame Bubba for murder; Val Avery (another longtime TV vet) as Gruber, Ed Peck (who I recognized as "Col. Fellini" in the STAR TREK episode "Tomorrow Is Yesterday"-- "I'm going to lock you up for two hundred years!!") as the bartender whose bar gets trashed by Bubba; and Antony Carbone (A BUCKET OF BLOOD, CREATURE FROM THE HAUNTED SEA, PIT AND THE PENDULUM) as Dave, Faraday's hit man.

Watching episodes from this season really brings back memories for me, of a time when it seemed TV became a haven for "kindler, gentler", more "human" TV shows. It didn't last. After Viet Nam ended and Watergate happened, it seems to me the whole mood of the country got more cynical and callous. Oh well!

Following this season, producer Dean Hargrove would move on to MADIGAN, followed by-- appropriately enough-- COLUMBO. In the years since, his credits have included PERRY MASON, FATHER DOWLING MYSTERIES, MATLOCK, JAKE & THE FATMAN, and DIAGNOSIS MURDER. And to think it all started with these 7 "low key" McCLOUDs! Meanwhile, Peter Allan Fields' later work included executive story consultant on THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN, RETURN OF THE SAINT (a real favorite of mine), STAR TREK THE NEXT GENERATION and producer of STAR TREK DEEP SPACE NINE.

All this has is Dennis Weaver's charm

[VetteRanger · 6/10 · 9 March 2020]

The plot here is tedious -- a mentally challenged debt collector trying to collect his commission from a big city gangster. You'll quickly get tired of Bo Svenson's scenes, which vary little as the script progresses.

Weaver is outstanding, as usual, but he had very little here to work with.

Country boy can't be that naive

[bkoganbing · 5/10 · 7 April 2015]

I couldn't quite buy Bo Svenson's country boy act as the ex-football player doing collections out in Ohio for mobster Robert Webber. I also couldn't buy Webber not paying someone who was ostensibly an employee. Bad for business and definitely with a guy like Svenson you don't want him mad at you.

Anyway he steals Vincent Gardenia's car and heads for New York. Gardenia was his immediate boss puts out a report his car was stolen and heading for the Big Apple.

I will say though that Stefanie Powers as a hard hearted street girl was quite a change in cast. Stefanie usually such a goody goody. Highlight of the episode for me was Dennis Weaver gaining the confidence of Svenson's mother played wonderfully by Joan Blondell.