User Reviews

In this episode the Barkley boys take on the railroad as they help a lonely Greek farmer take his peaches to market.

It begins when Bodos, the Greek farmer, and his son take their peaches down to the Stockton Railroad to have the peaches shipped to San Francisco. When the train station manager hears how much Bodos plans to make for the peaches, he raises the price of the freight to over 70% the usual fare. (At this time it seems that the station manager could set any price he wished) It just so happens that the Barkley boys are in town and they hear some fighting in the train station. They pull Bodos off the train manager and side with Bodos over the amount that he would have to pay.

Bodos decides to take the peaches by wagon. But along the way he meets some people, hired by the railroad manager, to stop the wagon. During the confrontation Bodos's son is killed.

Bodos decides to try to make the wagon trip again but this time the Barkley boys will going along. And we get to see what length the railroad manager will take to stop the convoy from making it to San Francisco.

The episode started out so well but by the middle was getting way to predictable. There would have been much more excitement if they had left Jarrod back at his office and let Nick lead the convoy- but that did not happen. A good show but nothing really impressive.

Note- When Bodos and the Railroad manager, Steve Minter, get in a fight in the train station. The double they used for Mr Minter did not look anything like the person playing the character. Mr Minter was about 50 the double looked 20. ---- And a must see is early into the show we get to see Nick to a Greek dance at the saloon. It appears that the director just told him 'Have fun with it'-- because he tried. Boy, did he try.

In this episode of The Big Valley we deal with one of the burning issues of the day in post Civil War America, railroad shipping rates. Many states tried to put limits on what the railroads could charge and it was why the Interstate Commerce Commission was founded eventually by the federal government.

Because peaches are out of season railroad stationmaster Karl Swenson feels he can rook peach farmer Tige Andrews with an exorbitant charge. He also feels he can do the same to the Barkleys as these fruit are a perishable item.

Andrews really goes to town with his portrayal of this Greek immigrant farmer. He's an excitable cuss ready to fight at the drop of a hat. But he's got all three Barkley brothers on his side in his fight to beat the railroad. That evens the odds.

Andrews does some really good work in this Big Valle story.

Tige Andrews deserved an Emmy for his portrayal of the spirited Greek guy. Unforgettable performance! I live in the S.F. Bay Area and it was interesting when they said they would take the Sunol trail to San Francisco. This trail was used widely in those days, and now it is a very scenic highway. It goes through very steep hills and cliffs on either side and a river meanders alongside. This scenic route is known as Little Yosemite. But the desert terrain and rock formations in this episode was all wrong. The land here in the Bay Area is lush and green with thick foliage wherever you go, all the way from Stockton to San Francisco.