Editing Alias Smith and Jones (section)

===Development===
''Alias Smith and Jones'' began with a made-for-TV movie of the previous year called ''[[The Young Country]]'' about con artists in the [[American Old West|Old West]]. It was produced, written, and directed by [[Roy Huggins]], who served as executive producer of the show.  Under the pseudonym John Thomas James, Huggins shared the writing credit on most episodes of the series that followed.  It was broadcast on 17 March 1970 in the ''[[ABC Movie of the Week]]'' strand.

Roger Davis starred as Stephen Foster Moody, and Pete Duel had the secondary but significant role of Honest John Smith. [[Joan Hackett]] played a character called Clementine Hale; a character with the same name appeared in two ''Alias Smith and Jones'' episodes, played by Sally Field.<ref>{{cite book| last= Yoggy| first= Gary A.| title= Riding the Video Range: The Rise and Fall of the Western on Television| publisher= [[McFarland & Company|McFarland & Co.]]| year= 1995| pages= 477–478}}</ref> This pilot was rejected, but Huggins was given a second chance and, with [[Glen A. Larson]], developed ''Alias Smith and Jones''. As with the previously rejected pilot ''[[The Young Country]]'', this series pilot proper also aired as an ''[[ABC Movie of the Week]]''.

It was made in the same spirit as many other American TV series of the time, from Huggins' own ''[[The Fugitive (1963 TV series)|The Fugitive]]'' to ''[[Renegade (TV series)|Renegade]]'', about fugitives on the run across America who get involved in the personal lives of the people they meet. The major difference was that Hannibal Heyes and Kid Curry were guilty of the crimes for which they were accused, but were trying to begin a noncriminal life.

The series was modeled on the 1969 film ''[[Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid]]'', starring [[Paul Newman]] and [[Robert Redford]]. (Universal contract player Ben Murphy was offered to the producers because he was considered a Paul Newman lookalike.)<ref>[[Glen A. Larson]], audio commentary on ''Alias Smith and Jones'', Season One, Disc One, the pilot, Universal DVD, 2007.</ref> A number of similarities are seen between the film and the TV series: one of the lead characters in the film was called [[Harvey Logan]] (played by [[Ted Cassidy]]). In real life, Harvey Logan, also known by the nickname of Kid Curry, was an associate of the real [[Butch Cassidy]], and unlike the TV version, was a cold-blooded killer.

The TV series also featured a group of robbers called the Devil's Hole Gang, loosely based on the [[Hole in the Wall Gang]] from which Cassidy recruited most of his outlaws. To lend them an element of audience sympathy, Heyes and Curry were presented as men who avoided bloodshed (though Curry did once kill in self-defense) and always were attempting to reform and seek redemption for their "prior ways".

The names "Smith" and "Jones" originated from a line in the 1969 film ''[[Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid]]'', when before one of their final hold-ups, the characters are outside a bank in [[Bolivia]] and Sundance turns to Butch and says: "I'm [[Smith (surname)|Smith]] and you're [[Jones (surname)|Jones]]."