Rich Man, Poor Man (1976) Chapter 9

The brothers of "Rich Man, Poor Man" seem to be going through a change.  Who is good and who is bad?  It's hard to tell.  Sure, Nick Nolte has to leave the country for pissing off the Mafia, but it's self-protection.  It's Peter Strauss as the hard-nosed businessman who is becoming less attractive.  Age and money have given him an ego, but then again, the people around him (his mother, his boss, even Susan Blakely) are also fairly unpleasant people, nothing like the hopeful innocents who celebrated the end of World War II.  As we pick up the story in 1962,  it's unclear who is to be admired anymore.

Peter is breaking up the financial partnership with Ray Milland, who is as upset as Peter's mother.  "Who retires at 35?" Ray asks.  "He has no time for anything, not even his mother," Dorothy complains.  The next step is politics, as local bosses try to draft him into running, not caring what party he's affiliated with.  He also proposes to Susan AGAIN and she puts him off AGAIN, though her reasons are wearing awfully thin, so thankfully this time, she agrees to marry him!  Yes, in fact, here is a television moment that is different: a wedding begins the episode rather than ending it.  


I'm not entirely sure what Susan's outfit is all about: turban on her head, fur-ringed around the neck.  Dorothy talks during the wedding, telling an uninterested Ray she wishes her other son were there, but "he's in South America, the merchant marines."  Give that about eight seconds to settle in and we're doing 70s stereotyping without apology.  Nick gets off his ship and there is a man resting on the ground with his sombrero over his face.  


Nick sees a fight going on at the wharf, where insanely muscular William Smith almost kills a guy with his bare hands.  They take an instant dislike to each other.  


In high contrast, Peter is on the golf course, the ultimate rich man's enclave.  He's playing with his old pal Tim McIntire, who wants to replace him at the company and is also dating Kim Darby.  Peter tells him Kim is seriously mentally wigged out, but Tim doesn't believe him.


From there, Peter goes to meet the political bigwigs, headed by none other than Van Johnson (wearing a big wig on his head, FYI).  They want Peter to run, but Peter takes the high road: no deals or anything without his knowledge.  Basically, he doesn't want to be in any one's back pocket.  You have to laugh at that sort of naiveté, and I'm sure audiences in 1976 did, as they would elect unknown Jimmy Carter over known quantity Gerald Ford, their first chance to blot the stain of Watergate.  Unctuous Van agrees to the terms, though with a glint in his eye that says, "yeah, whatever."


Nick meets another seagoing reject, Herbert Jefferson Jr.  Herbert is friendly, but Nick tries to keep to himself.  In comes William Smith, who slings every racial epithet at Herbert Jefferson, with whom he refuses to be in the same room.  Nick doesn't say a thing, but finds Herbert Jefferson later to explain that he can't be caught fighting or else someone will recognize him.  


Still going with the fur theme, this time on her peignoir, Susan is very pregnant and very ill-tempered.  She yaps at Peter any chance she gets and though she denies missing her old life, she clearly does.  As Peter is about to leave for the day, Susan starts having horrible pain.  She's lost the baby.  


Waiting outside his home when Peter gets there is nutso Kim Darby, who tells him, "I wish it were her who died," not at all what Peter wants to hear, and she continues shouting through the door when he locks her out.  Alone, he can have his first breakdown of the entire miniseries.  However, he always makes conversation swing back to himself, even with Susan at the hospital where he offers to get out of politics if she doesn't like it, but since he feels he can fix the entire system from within, he wants to keep at it.  She has no choice but to agree.  


At a stopover in the French Riviera, Nick (who kind of speaks a bit of French) and Herbert Jefferson decide to buy a boat in order to give charter tours so they can live there the whole time.  However, the boat costs $15K.  Nick somehow thinks he can get the money and his son and live comfortably there.  


Despite Peter's warning, Tim marries Kim, giving Dorothy and Ray a chance to bitch to each other again.  Even at her wedding, Kim starts in on Peter.  It's at the wedding that Susan gets to meet Van and the rest of the political team.  They have their own ideas about what to do with Susan during the campaign, none of which seem to thrill her.

Rich Man, Poor Man (1976) Chapter 8

"Rich Man, Poor Man" is a whole lot more exciting for the poor man right now.  Attracting trouble like a magnet, Nick Nolte re-entered the boxing world, still intent on finding his wife and kid, only to come up against Mafia-backed boxing superstar George Maharis, not to mention George's sexually voracious wife.  By the time Episode 7 ended, Nick needed to leave the country quickly.  As for Peter Strauss, he's become a bland businessman, though a rich one, still wanting Susan, though he makes no effort to see her unless they happen to end up at the same party where he finds out she's divorced.

Susan is dealing with a cantankerous son, who has a rather bad attitude and still doesn't understand why his parents are divorced.  He's supposed to go on a field trip, giving Susan an excuse to spend the day with Peter.  "You're right on time," Susan tells him when he arrives.  "Give or take 13 years," Peter chirps, as in love with her as ever.  Their day consists of Charlie Chaplin movies and a goony Italian restaurant with checkered table cloths and a man with an accordion.  They argue at dinner for absolutely no reason, except to postpone yet again the two of them having more than two minutes of possible happiness.  But, a kiss softens the moment and leads to Peter and Susan FINALLY having sex for the first time...ever!

Peter proposes, but Susan prevaricates over and over, substituting witty remarks for real answers.  When Susan returns home, she finds Bill Bixby there, much to her son's delight, but the dread of the set designer, because Bill loves nothing more than to chew the scenery.  He even turns on the waterworks in a grand piece of manipulation.  He livens up things, that's for sure, but his style is on a different planet than rock-ribbed Susan and Peter.  "I want to come home," Bill tells her, and if she agrees, there goes Peter's latest attempt to be with Susan.  But, you knew that was coming, because "Rich Man, Poor Man" is nothing if not stalwart in its plotting: when people are happy, the universe steps in to botch it up.

Nick had been sent to NYC by his boxing manager Norman Fell to escape the mob and the police, and instead of going to Norman's friend to get him immediately into the merchant marines, Nick pays a visit to the private investigator he's been using to find his wife and son (not that the guy has done anything but soak Nick).  The PI tells him there are people looking for Nick and he wants nothing to do with him.  It will take $500 to get Nick into the merchant marines.

The only place he can go for that kind of cash is his brother.  Peter isn't at home but Dorothy McGuire is.  Peter's new found wealth has been a boon to her, as she now dresses like a fancy lady, wearing jewels and even plays cards with the maid.  When Nick arrives at the house, Dorothy is so shocked she faints.  There's a lot of catch up to do, and Dorothy goes into her poor little old lady routine that she's so honed on Peter, but Nick is tougher than his brother and hits her up for the money he needs.  She assures him Peter will not find out, "not the way he pinches pennies these days."  Despite the problems Nick has caused over the years, Dorothy does tell him "I wish we had longer."

Dorothy is not at all happy when Peter brings Susan Blakely.  The old lady finds Susan's behavior, divorce, parenting skills and just about everything else shameful.  She thinks Susan is after Peter's money.  "What's she doing, looking over the place before she moves in?  And where do I go? Into the maid's room...?" Dorothy wonders, the annoying personality of the character front and center, a long way from the loving and understanding mother who helped her horrible husband run a bakery while she proudly raised her sons.  "I will not have that slut in my house!" she demands.  "She is not a slut and this is not your house," Peter replies angrily.  When Dorothy refuses to even speak to Susan, Peter threatens to cut her off financially, more proof that he's become a scary self-focused businessman.

Also not happy with Peter is his boss, Ray Milland.  His scheming daughter, Kim Darby (the one who poisoned Dorothy against Susan), has convinced him that Peter has "seduced" her and Ray insists they get married, complete with full partnership and stock.  Peter develops a spine and tells Ray off with huge gumption.  "I'm sick and tired of dragging you into the 20th century with you fighting me every step of the way," he begins, then tossing everything at Ray that's been built up over the years, not to mention quitting.  Maybe there is a bit of an idealist left in this character after all.  Somehow, this tirade works and Ray way too suddenly realizes his daughter has been lying and gets over his anger.  It's a very bizarre scene that spins way too fast.

Digging his new-found cojones, Peter offers to "take care" of Bill Bixby for Susan, so he summons Bill and offers him a job that will keep him from New York City.  The money he tosses at Bill is attractive, but Peter forbids him from even saying goodbye to his son.  "You can write him a nice letter," Peter snarls before Bill asks for a car too.

Hours before he's supposed to ship out, Nick is cornered by the mob (in a movie theater, no less).  However, he manages to evade all 428 goons and get to his ship.

Rich Man, Poor Man (1976) Chapter 7

Chapter 6 of "Rich Man, Poor Man" wasn't good for couples.  Talia Shire took the baby and left Nick Nolte, which is actually a plus for the story.  Unfortunately, Susan Blakely's sick child brought her and wayward spouse Bill Bixby closer together, pushing off the romance with Peter Strauss for which they both had been pining since high school.

It's now 1958, another four years gone by.  Peter gets a bizarre call from his old friend Lawrence Pressman to meet him the next day because he's in trouble.  The phone rings mom Dorothy McGuire too, asking who called.  "You mean that Bolshevik?" she pipes in before setting off one her zillionth tirade about her husband having faked his death, still alive somewhere.

Nick heads to Los Angeles to reconnect with boxing manager Norman Fell, after having abruptly left him, desperate for work. At the gym, he meets Norman's current big deal, arrogant and obnoxious George Maharis and his wife Lynda Day George.  Rusty Nick gets knocked around by cocky George, but blond stunner Lynda takes a liking to Nick.  Lynda tells Nick that she and George "don't sleep together" when he's preparing for a fight, which Nick takes as a veiled invitation.  That's exactly how she meant it.

Over the years, Peter has become a very big deal at what has become an empire fashioned from Ray Milland's department store.  What hasn't changed is Ray's daughter Kim Darby, who still pines for Peter.  To trap him into some time together, she's moved heaven and earth to secure tickets to "West Side Story" on Broadway.  Broadway fans will know that's a factual absurdity as "West Side Story" was not a gigantic hit and a year into its run (of less than two years), tickets would have been pretty easy to come by.  "Afterwards, you can take me to supper...that's so you won't feel so emasculated," Kim tells him.  Uh huh.  Luckily for Peter, company lawyer Dick Sargent calls, so Kim has to scoot.

Then comes the mysterious lunch with Lawrence, clearly on edge.  He's up for tenure, but his leftist politics may kill that.  He swears he's not a Communist, but he can't simply admit that because he feels it's a violation to be asked.  So, he wants Peter to tell the board for it.  "I'm taking a principle stand but I want you to bail me out," he says frankly.  Making it even more difficult is that Peter's boss is on the tenure board and his future is in jeopardy if he helps Lawrence.  Success is starting to turn Peter into a member of the stuffy old guard.

Dick throws a party and Susan Blakely is there, but Kim clings to Peter and tries to assert rights over him, getting awfully clingy.  "No wife, nothing like that?" Susan asks him.  "I don't even have a dog," he replies.  Susan has also finally shed her drunken husband, but her date to the party is an oaf that sets Peter on edge.  "You and I are going to be married one of these days...it's ordained, it's inevitable," Peter crows, having waited so long for her.

However, Kim isn't playing nice.  Peter takes the drunken girl to her hotel, but she starts getting aggressive in the cab.  When he rebuffs her, and she screams that he only used her to get in good with her father.  "I just wanted you to make love to me," she tells him when they get to her destination.  Peter still doesn't fall for it and Kim launches into a tirade that ends with, "I'll get you, you bastard," but starts with another condemnation of his status as a stuffed shirt, the second time in this episode that accusation has been lobbed against him.

Norman and his boxing boys are in Las Vegas for George Maharis' big fight, a sold out affair.  Nick is still being used as a sparring partner for George, though both he and Norman know Nick could easily beat the hell out to him.  There is a lot more going on with them, such as the scary dude who seems to have control over George and the hotel employee who follows Lynda and reports on her movements to George.  That means he must know all about the tawdry affair Lynda and Nick are conducting.

Meanwhile, Nick has hired a private eye to find his son, but he's always short on cash and the PI dangles details in front of him as a way to extort money from gullible Nick.

As expected, George has found out about his wife and Nick, so he beats the stuffing out of her in a surprising bit of gore for this miniseries, but one that sets the stage for lots of upcoming brutality in the next 20 or so years.  Lynda tries to warn Nick that George will come after him, claiming George "is a murderer."  Indeed, George races over to Nick's motel, but Nick is prepared for him.  In fact, Nick baits George and George lunges at him.  The two scuffle and Nick finally gets to show his real boxing talent.  Normal shows up and tells Nick that George is being supported by the Mafia, so Nick better leave town go as far as the ocean, "cross that ocean and don't come back for 10 years."  That's going to hurt his plans to find his son.  The people in the next room have called the police, so now the mob and the cops will be after Nick, still attracting trouble every time he blinks.