User Reviews

The opening of this second epusode gives a thumbnail bio of the characters. Early on one sees how cantankerous Wishbone is. Then, background that Rowdy had been a Confederate soldier imprisoned in Yuma, with Buzz Travis, played by Troy Donohue (later to be in Surfside Six). The ending, following a long gun battle, is abrupt.

...was the creator of "Rawhide", the violence and just plain nastiness of this episode would give it away. It's right out of "Gunsmoke".

The villain is almost as rotten as any "Gunsmoke" bad guy -- a true "Meston maniac". What's amazing is that the script is by... David Swift? Swift is best known as a writer of sappy drivel. But he really gets into the "Gunsmoke" spirit here.

Martin Balsam -- as a priest! -- strikes an unintentionally discordant note, as I can never see him without thinking of him as one Mrs. Bates' victims.

The final gunfight isn't well-choreographed; it's sometimes hard to tell who's on which side, and where they're (physically) standing. But it's way above average for a TV series. ("Rawhide" had the highest production values of any Western I've seen.)

This 2nd episode of Rawhide has the trail herd stopping at Father Martin Balsam's mission to fill up the water barrels. As it turns out the padre is performing a wedding ceremony for Clint Eastwood's old army buddy Troy Donahue to Suzanne Lloyd, daughter of Joe DeSantis who is the local Ponderosa owner. The drovers get to go to the reception.

But on the way there they meet a most unwelcome guest Lloyd's half brother Peter Mark Richman, one mean and nasty gunfighter who just loves his work. He wants no one cutting in on his share of the ranch and he's gunning for Donahue and Eastwood who stands up for him.

Richman steals this story, he's just pure evil and glories in it. And not above breaking the code that gunfighters had somewhat in the old west. Not particularly squeamish about backshooting.

The final gun battle between Eric Fleming and Clint Eastwood with Richman is a classic. This one should have been saved for a feature film.

It's interesting to see how early in the series Rowdy seems to be portrayed as a lot tougher. In this episode (e2) he delivers his lines quite hard. His demeanor and his character in general appears a bit more easy going in later seasons.