User Reviews

I have to say that Rawhide is one of my favorite shows. I usually always enjoy the plots, the interchanges between the actors, the great outdoor scenes, and the rigors of living on the ground and managing the cattle. I also like the surprises that crop up during the episodes. That said, I have to say that Damon's Road, Parts 1 and 2 are the worst episodes of a good TV show that I have seen in a long time. Fleming's mugging was unfunny and outlandish, and the Favor portrayal was completely out of character and not in keeping with the Rawhide character that we have come to respect. Favor has had many opportunities for relationships with beautiful women, but the cattle always claimed his allegiance, until Damon's Road, where he fell head over heels for a dance hall floozy. The characters played the farce to the end, but there is nothing more unfunny than a farce without a sense of humor. It was as if everyone of the cattlemen had been infected with a Mushy virus. The show was inconsistent. The cattlemen are roped into working for the railroad by Damon using the law to do his dirty work, but Favor regained control of his men by having a fist fight with Damon. Two stars, and that is generous.

The later seasons of Rawhide degenerated into the overall morass of mid-60s crap (e.g., Beverly Hillbillies, Green Acres, etc. in the sitcom arena). Dramas were hardly immune, as this episode illustrates. Producer Bruce Geller, a decent writer, was nonetheless responsible for such unrealistic pap as Mission: Impossible, Mannix and Bronk. In this silly, over-the-top pseudo-drama, he turns Gil Favor into a buffoon who is so far removed from his well-established character that he may as well be a mentally-challenged twin brother. The opening scene pits Fritz Weaver (hardly a tough guy) in a fist fight against 20 moronic townsmen, all of whom eventually flee in terror. Later, for what seems like an eternity, a love-struck Favor ineptly chases his preferred female around a bedroom. The closing shot is of Favor ranting like a loon, a prisoner in the local jail. Needless to say, the entire premise is pathetic, and extending it to two hours is simply nuts.