"A Long Piece of Mischief". Buzz and Todd find themselves working at a rodeo in Mesquite Texas. They happen to see a cruel practical joke perpetrated on the deformed rodeo clown, Albert Salmi, and Buzz does all in his power to stop it. The clown still smiles after the cruel joke and immediately forgives his transgressors. Buzz is disgusted by the clown's reaction and respects no part of the clown's forgiving and easy going ways. The jokes get crueler and the clown is going to leave the rodeo and no longer forgive his tormentors, but realizes he needs to stay true to his basic essence and remains appealing to his better nature and forgives and turns the other "cheek" (using Buzz's word. Buzz realizes that the clown's ways are worth emulating and tells him how he will try to be more like him because when you no longer forgive you only hurt yourself. Ben Johnson and Slim Pickens are the two actors who play the clowns principal tormentors. Johnson's character hates the clown because the joy the clown brings to others is more than enough to bring him contentment for his own life, and cruelty of the others only hurts the others and to help them best he wishes nothing but goodness upon them. Dub Taylor is the rodeo owner and is disgusted by the tormentors and tells them how the clown before his accident was one of the finest cowboys the rodeo ever had and the tormentors were never even half the man the clown was let alone is now.
There's a B story going on in tandem with the main story of the clown. A lady horse performer is suffering her own private hell and wants nothing more than to die to end her suffering. The clown and his forgiving nature go a long way towards healing her.
There's a B story going on in tandem with the main story of the clown. A lady horse performer is suffering her own private hell and wants nothing more than to die to end her suffering. The clown and his forgiving nature go a long way towards healing her.