The Fall Guy

Why can I still remember, word for word, the theme song for The Fall Guy? Because Lee Majors as Steve Austin fought Bigfoot, became his friend and then married Farah Fawcett. That iconic Farah poster hung in my barber, Ralph's, shop. One day he caught me staring at it, and he said, "she's beautiful, eh?". I did my best to shrug indifferently, as a disinterested conoisseur would (wasn't I, after all, still having a crush on Elizabeth Taylor from the movie National Velvet?) and stare more covertly. Sure, she was alright, but that hair had to go.

Then Lee Majors became Colt Seavers: a stuntman and a bounty hunter who got to drive a really cool 4x4 truck around with criminals stashed in a secret compartment in the bed. And, as consolation for not being married to Farah Fawcett anymore, he got to have Heather Thomas on his show who would occasionally run around in a bikini. This was pretty interesting stuff, and her official iconic poster was much more compelling than that other one. Yes, but still--even then--I felt distracted by the terrible hair.

It's kind of weird that I wasn't allowed to watch the Dukes of Hazzard, but was allowed to see Smokey and the Bandit and Greased Lightning. My grandmother thought that "Dukes" was a stupid show and forbade it in her home. One night, when she was gone and Gramps was asleep, I went ahead and watched an episode and I had to grudgingly admit she was right. There were some compelling scenes featuring the eponymous short-shorts, etc. And better hair, as I remember.

I am reminded of the time that my friend Phong talked his wonderful Vietnamese mom into taking us to a double feature of The Outsiders and My Tutor. She was really, really mad about halfway through My Tutor, and Phong was pleading, "I didn't know it was going to be like this! I didn't know!". She let us stay and watch the whole thing anyway, but boy did he get a royal Vietnamese chewing out on the car ride home, which was kind of awkward for him but entertaining for me.

Anyway...