Is "Night of the Fatal Trap" too conventional a Western for WWW's own good? Well, we have an amusingly seedy and double-dealing bad guy, memorably played by Ron Randell, and the hilarious Mojave Mike (played past the hilt by Ross Martin), plus a very suspenseful subplot involving a shady lady who recognizes West from a former encounter. Luckily, it turns out that the lady, Linda Medford, regards Jim as an expert confidence artist, and nothing more. Which Jim, to her credit, certainly is, but she doesn't even put things together upon visiting Jim and Artie's ritzy train accommodations. At any rate, this is one of those eps in which the bad gal isn't bad enough to turn over to the law--she's more oblivious than nefarious. The bad guy, meanwhile, is as bad as bad gets, and Randell's snaky, nearly nonstop grin has us wondering all the way: How much does he know? What does (or doesn't) he suspect? Not enough, clearly, since he fails to smell a trap until he spots the real Frank Slade wanted poster. Then, a race to freedom, the usual fight, and a fatal wreck. Pure cliché all the way, but pulled off so well, I'm giving it an 8.
Review of The Night of the Fatal Trap
