Cannon

Country Blues
(First aired: 1971)

This is one of Mark Hamill's earliest performances. His role is a minor one - no more than 5 minutes. It's a very young Mark Hamill at the start of his career. A nice coincidence is, that in this Cannon episode, Mark plays a farm-boy, a character by which he gained his worldwide fame in later years.
     The story tells of Frank Cannon's investigation of Woody Long's death. The famous country singer has died in a plane crash.
     In the introduction, a drunken Woody Long is leaving on a small plane. During the flight the pilot, Woody's trustee, Pete, runs into problems handling the plane. He tries to make an emergency landing on a farm, where a farm-boy (Mark Hamill) and his father are at work. Both watch the aircraft swaying up and down and finally crashing behind the trees.
     We hear Mark yell, and father and son run to the crash site. When they arrive, the farm-boy recognizes the expensive boots of Woody. Woody Long is dead!
     Frank Cannon, by order of the insurance company, turns up at Woody Long's funeral. He forces a ride from the singer's brother, BJ Long. Both go to the crash site, where the farmer has taken advantage of the accident by charging money to visit the site. When asked, the farmer tells that the plane has been ripped apart by the crowd. Only the last bigger remnants are stored in his barn. His son silently follows the conversation between his father and Frank Cannon. He brings Cannon to the barn to investigate the wreck. Still silent, he watches while Cannon looks for clues. When Cannon asks him if there's more, he denies it, but when asked a second time, he reluctantly shows Cannon the parachute he has taken from the plane. He apologizes, saying he has taken the parachute away, so his mother could make herself a nice dress.
     As Cannon investigates the parachute, he finds the cords have been cut.
     Frank Cannon continues his investigation. Step by step, he uncovers the rights and wrongs of the crash, but not without difficulties and opposition of BJ, Joan, Woody Long's widow, and Francine, Pete's fiancee..
     For a short moment we see Mark Hamill back. After the plane is put together again in the farmer's barn, Cannon discovers that Pete was smuggling cocaine by order of Woody's producer, Jimmy Winters. Cannon discovers Pete wanted to quit with Winters, to start his own business. Therefore Jimmy Winters made arrangements to murder Pete on his next flight, not knowing that Woody - after a flaming row with his wife - would join Pete on that final flight.