Once again, Boone has given himself a terrific show to direct.
Paldin is hired by Commodore Gilder (Ken Lynch) for $15,000 to escort him and his trophy wife Juliana (Miranda Jones, quite a trophy!) through Indian territory where a half breed named Quanah Parker (Brad Weston) ants to kill him. When the coach they are riding on is ambushed at Adobe Wells, Paldin tries to keep everyone alive while bargaining with Parker.
There's lots of good action, suspense and twists in this one. This episode has traces of Bogart's "Sahara" (in which Bogie holds a waterhole that the Germans, who are dying of thirst desperately want) and westerns like "El Dorado" where they're pinned down by the enemy. Boone does a great job building the tension. He's helped by a good script that reveals the reason the Indians are after Gilder and a hunter they find already at Adobe Wells is because they're buying Indian scalps for $1 a head. Paldin is naturally disgusted by the whole thing, including his own employer.
The only thing I didn't like was the casting of Ken Lynch, a very New York kind of guy who seems completely and totally miscast as a western character. He's been good in things like "The Rockford Files" where he gets to play tough modern gangster types. But he stands out here like a sore thumb.
Paldin is hired by Commodore Gilder (Ken Lynch) for $15,000 to escort him and his trophy wife Juliana (Miranda Jones, quite a trophy!) through Indian territory where a half breed named Quanah Parker (Brad Weston) ants to kill him. When the coach they are riding on is ambushed at Adobe Wells, Paldin tries to keep everyone alive while bargaining with Parker.
There's lots of good action, suspense and twists in this one. This episode has traces of Bogart's "Sahara" (in which Bogie holds a waterhole that the Germans, who are dying of thirst desperately want) and westerns like "El Dorado" where they're pinned down by the enemy. Boone does a great job building the tension. He's helped by a good script that reveals the reason the Indians are after Gilder and a hunter they find already at Adobe Wells is because they're buying Indian scalps for $1 a head. Paldin is naturally disgusted by the whole thing, including his own employer.
The only thing I didn't like was the casting of Ken Lynch, a very New York kind of guy who seems completely and totally miscast as a western character. He's been good in things like "The Rockford Files" where he gets to play tough modern gangster types. But he stands out here like a sore thumb.