EPISODE: The Last Haircut

Reviewed by Michael

Season 4, Episode #119, First aired: February 3, 1963

Guest star: Perry Lopez

Written by Charles Lang

Directed by William Claxton

SUMMARY:

The story is about a little boy named Paco who loses his father after the father is shot in a barber. While in the barbershop, a group of out of town thugs, come into the shop for some ointment to sooth the ego of one Duke Miller, the leader of this group. Little Joe is in the shop and observes Pedro Rodriguez, father of Paco, gets pushed around. Joe tries to even things out, but is knocked unconscious. When Joe comes around, he finds Pedro dead, a victim of a bullet from the Duke Miller gang.

Duke Miller is charged with murder, and a trial ensues. Because Little Joe was unconscious when the shot that murdered Pedro is fired, Duke is found innocent. Little Joe is inconsolable. Ben, knowing how upset Joe is, calms him down. “Joseph," he says, "Duke Miller was tried in a court of law and found innocent. There is nothing you can do. If you do anything to him, you will be accused of assault or murder. The best thing you can do is to take little Paco and find his grandparents. If he loses you, he will lose his only friend."

Realizing that his father was right, Joe sets out to find the boy's grandparents. In visiting the barbershop before setting out on this arduous journey, Joe encounters Duke Miller, who again wishes to comb his ego. Duke orders his 2 friends to "teach" Joe a lesson.

Sensing a fight, Joe sends Paco out of the barbershop. Little Paco wants to help, but Joe insists that everything will be all right. Joe takes a few blows but soon gains the advantage when he knocks out one the goons.

The other one is a little antsy because he now has to fight Little Joe one on one. Joe's adrenalin is pumping and refuses to lose this time. His fist busts the remaining goon, sending him sprawling on the floor. Duke Miller tries to come out of his chair but the barber grips tight the cloth covering Miller's chest and chokes him.  When his remaining goon runs, Duke is allowed to come out of his chair. Joe is too much for him, though, and lands a couple of blows to the jaw of Miller and lands back in the barber chair.

Joe says, "Let's give Duke a SPECIAL haircut."  When Miller comes around, he has a towel around his head. "Let's show Duke his special haircut." To his horror, Duke discovers that his head has been shaved. By now there a big crowd of townspeople has formed in front of the barbershop. Little Joe says, "Let's show everyone Duke's haircut. I'm sure they would love to see it." Duke begs Joe not to take him outside, but Joe "insists".

Once outside, Miller is thrust into the crowd and vainly tries to cover his head. The crowd laughs and mocks him. He is thoroughly humiliated. In a touching scene, Paco could no longer control his emotions. He rushes to Miller and repeatedly hitting him. "You killed my father, you killed my father." Seeing this Little Joe goes to Paco and holds him tenderly and tightly to his chest and says, "You go ahead and cry, Paco, let it all out.

REVIEWS:

“Brilliantly conceived and brilliantly done, The Last Haircut is a beautiful story about murder and justice, anger and compassion and love and hate.” Michael

“This episode did show tremendous emotional growth on the part of LJ. He went from an angry young man, who had to be restrained by his father in court, and convinced not to seek revenge by Ben in a touching scene, to a more mature adult, who did what was right for young Paco, so that he wouldn't live his live full of hate. I still didn't like that Duke Miller got away with murder with his only punishment being the humiliation of everyone seeing him bald, but I did like Joe handling this in the only mature way left open to him after the court found Duke not guilty.“ Leesa

“It is also one of those episodes that mark the transition of Joe. He grows from a hot headed kid, with everyone reining him in, to the more mature, thoughtful adult trying to control his temper and be a caretaker to a more hot headed kid.” Robin

“It does highlight that LJ was growing up, as he was able to take what Ben said to him about revenge and pass it on to Paco, instead of going off half cocked. I loved the bit when Pa gets LJ to promise not to go after Duke and makes sure that he says he won't on the way to the grandparents, or on the way back, he knows his boy, only too well. I do feel that Duke gets off very lightly, with only having his head shaved, after killing a man, but I suppose that can happen, life is not always fair. Lovely chats between Pa and LJ and I like the way Ben restrains him in the courthouse and then pleads with the judge not to send him to jail.” Lynne (Little Joe Forever)

“It's an interesting ep in that Joe matures from a youngster playing with the other children, to the man caring for a younger child at the end.” Pat

“The scene I really like is when Joe is taking milk up to Paco, and Ben stops him. He makes Joe realize that he could very well "poison" Paco with his hatred. Then Joe goes up to Paco and explains to him why he isn't going to kill Miller, and why they should go to Mexico to find Paco's grandparents. I think this scene really shows the power of words, both for good and evil. Pa uses words to convince Joe, and Joe in turn uses words to convince Paco. If Ben hadn't convinced Joe, Joe very well could have turned Paco into a bitter, vengeful boy.” Susan Grote

“In thinking about the Pa/Joe scene it almost brings tears to my eyes. They worked so well off each other.’ Judy

“It made me think that Joe would have made a great father someday. He was such a nice young man as all the boys were. They weren't prejudice and were always kind to the kids. Joe really showed how much he respected his father and the advice he gave him. You could tell it was hard on him to explain it to Paco even though you could tell he wasn't 100% positive he agreed with it totally.” Deb

“This is your classic underdog being abused and afflicted, and the hero, "Little Joe Cartwright" coming to the physical and moral rescue.  The scene is touching thought where Paco cries his heart out and Joe holds him in the street.  You can tell that LJ/ML has natural paternal instincts.” Nancy

“The Last Haircut isn't one of my favorites because the Joe/Paco scenes make me squirm - a bit too syrupy for me.  But I like the ending.  Several times during the episode they make a point of letting us know how vain Miller is, so the justice dispensed by Joe is perfect.  Public humiliation may not make up for a hanging, but it comes close for the arrogant Duke Miller." Sue W.

“The shaving of Miller's head echoed something that happened to ML when he was fourteen.” Ann

“At least, they showed the boy's grief instead of some shows where the child is riding off to live with an unknown relative and everyone lives happily ever after.” Prairie Susan