Pete Duel was the coolest man on Earth in 1971. I don’t remember a single kid in my elementary school who didn’t know Pete Duel in 1971 courtesy of his starring role in the tragically short-lived TV show Alias Smith and Jones. That comedy-drama was the last great western TV show before the genre died forever the day after Star Wars was released into theaters. Alias Smith and Jones would have died quickly as the Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid ripoff it would have been had it not for the presence Pete Duel.
