Excellent character study featuring a very violent prone man (Janssen) who takes a very personal disliking to Todd after Todd starts seeing his girlfriend.

At first this episode seems very routine as the boys are always running into brooding characters with a dark past, but this one digs much deeper than most and gets into some very dark issues that are not usually handled. It is also fun to see Janssen in the uncharacteristic role of the heavy and his character's eventual revelation is quite well done.

The only downfall of this episode is the tidy wrap-up that seems a bit phony and almost defeats the story's main purpose. Signe Hasso is also wasted in a small and dull role, however she does appear in another later episode 'A Feat of Strength'.

Grade: A-

There are several great episodes of Route 66, but "One Tiger to a Hill" is the best. The setting is Astoria, OR, and its reputation as a sea town plays an important role in the plot. Its rich history by the early 1960s had been based around logging in the summer and fishing in the winter, and both physically-taxing professions required rough people with a special kind of single-minded toughness. David Janssen plays the role of Karno Starling to perfection. His angry pursuit of Tod borders on the psychotic, and viewers know something deeper is going on because Karno's rage is supposed to be over a beautiful girl - Toika Gustafson, played well by Laura Devon in one of her two appearances on the show - but Karno had rejected Toika prior to Tod's and Buz' arrival in town. [It's important to note this episode features the return of George Maharis, who missed four episodes at the end of season two due to illness.] Eventually viewers learn Karno's real anger is about Tod personally, but that revelation is just a cover for Karno's more deeply-rooted problems, which unfold as the show progresses. "One Tiger to a Hill" is a mystery wrapped in a mystery, with a resolution that makes perfect sense. Janssen plays a crazed force so well that there are moments when viewers will wonder what Tod can possibly do to get away from him. This is a serious and great episode from start to finish, with a memorable payoff. It's the best Route 66 has to offer.

Buz is back, but unfortunately Stirling Silliphant saddles him with a sidekick role to a segment dominated by Tod, not exactly what the fans deserved after Season Two ended with a thud in its Maharis-missing final episodes.

The beauty of Laura Devon is perhaps the best element here, as guest star David Janssen seems miscast in a rather cryptically downbeat role as a WW II vet who has given up on the world after a fateful encounter with some stereotypical nasty Nazi officer. His vendetta against Milner borders on meaningless, even though Silliphant's dialogue is typically crisp and meaningful.

Perhaps, in view of the many violent fisticuffs battles, that lead role was written for Maharis, but he wasn't up for it. At any rate, the main problem here is one that was most clearly evident in the concept of "The Fugitive". On that later series, Janssen's brooding mien was perfect for the character, but the structure of TV series meant that all those women he would run into week after week with a love affair developing had to lead nowhere, since his character had to leave for a new location and new adventure on the run at the end of each show. Similarly, our M & M Route 66 heroes have to hop in the 'vette and leave, so the budding romance of the hour must end, however phonily that is achieved in the script.

I recently finished watching The Fugitive series and was curious to see other performances by David Janssen. I've caught a couple of Route 66 episodes on TV when I came across it in the past, but haven't bothered to watch the whole series through before. This episode however made me buy the dvd series because it left me wanting to see more of it. I enjoyed it that much.

As for Janssen's performance, I found it to be exceptionally good, especially during the final emotional scene. What I found surprising while watching that scene was how we never really saw his Fugitive character Richard Kimble show this kind of emotion over the course of the series, (and someone on the run convicted of a murder he didn't commit should be angry as hell) but it was very clear from this episode that Janssen did have it in him and was fully capable of it.

Until now, I thought maybe he just didn't have the chops for getting too emotional in scenes so the writers never made him to go too heavy with emotion, but his performance here proved that theory wrong. I just wish we had seen his Fugitive character show this kind of angry emotion over that show's 4 seasons like we saw him do in this episode.

I liked the story as well, and in the beginning I wasn't sure what the hell was going on from the way things slowly unfolded. I wondered why Karno had such a strong and sudden hatred for Tod seemingly at first sight. It was obvious that he was a troubled soul, but in the beginning I didn't know why he was the way he was and wondering why he was being so hateful to everyone, especially Tod.

It all unfolded nicely though and I especially liked how the whole story wrapped up in the end and now I want to watch the whole series due to the strong performances all around. I think that 1960's television had some of the best dramas made, and the sad offerings we have in the 2020's just pales in comparison. 10 stars for this episode and I like the title.

EDIT: I watched this episode over again tonight (11/30/23) 6 months from my first viewing, and this time around I understood Karno's initial hatred for Tod since he felt threatened that he was seeing his girl (even though he acted like he didn't want her). I don't know why that seemed to go over my head on the first viewing.

Watching it again, I do think Tod was overstepping his bounds with Toika and really should've just backed off after realizing there was history between her and Karno.

When Tod went to the bar to purposely pick a fight with Karno I thought that was overstepping of him, but I guess it was needed to advance the story and it also gave David Janssen a great dramatic scene where he reveals his war history.

I have to say I enjoyed this episode so much more the second time around and the emotional final scene where Karno appears had me teary eyed right along with Toika. (I'm a sucker for this kind of drama!)I have now watched the first 2 seasons of Route 66 (when I first wrote this review 6 months ago I hadn't yet viewed the series) and for me this is definitely one of the series most strongest episodes and David Janssen's performance as Karno was top notch. It's a shame the producers of The Fugitive didn't allow him to display the range he showed here. 10/10....and I still love that episode title!