User Reviews

I find it curious that the debut episode of Rawhide which is ostensibly set on a cattle drive takes trail boss Eric Fleming and ramrod Clint Eastwood away from the drive. I guess what happens here strengthens Gil Favor's resolve to get the herd through whatever they encounter.

What they encounter here is a prison wagon with a real group of specimens among lower types of the homo sapien. A break is attempted but the deputy killed and the marshal in charge wounded.

So trail boss Favor does one for the wounded marshal. He and Rowdy Yates take the wagon on to its destination. But one of the passengers is outlaw wife Terry Moore and her husband is burning saddle leather riding to her rescue.

One of the other passengers is Tom Conway the brother of George Sanders and best known for playing the title role in The Falcon series. He's on the surface as charming as ever. But he also happens to be a serial killer of women Moore truly interests him.

You know it all works out because Eric Fleming and Clint Eastwood got back to the herd for the next several years.

Although I agree with the other reviewers that this particular episode and storyline is a very odd choice for the premiere episode, I'm sure there were reasons for it.. and furthermore I would disagree and say that it's a fantastic first episode. The expansive cast is great, each of them have an interesting story. Although it has nothing to do with a cattle drive, I think it's a good episode that introduces some main characters, and gets you interested for episode 2 which introduces the traditional cattle drive storyline and characters. A great episode in my opinion and worthy of a modern remake.

This episode is indeed a strange choice for Rawhide's debut, and I doubt that it was the pilot for the series. Perhaps some production issue forced the producers to make this the first episode, or maybe they felt its expansive guest cast (including perky Terry Moore) would garner a wider audience. In any case, the story isn't to my liking -- it's a bit creepy, has nothing to do with the cattle drive, and has a pat ending that made me wince.

About the episode isn't much to say. It is not a bad story but none you want to start out with. Though it's the start episode the roles aren't introduced, what makes the whole thing kinda difficult to understand. You really soon realises that the actors don't stick together very well. Lucky, I watched the series ahead cause later it becomes very much better. So don't get rid of Rawhide by the first episode. Watch ahead!