User Reviews

"The Bequest" marked the long awaited return of John Carradine to the role of Elmer Dodson, editor and publisher of the Mason City Bulletin, the inspiration for Johnny Yuma's yearning to be a writer. Celebrating one glorious month back home in Dodson's employ, Johnny learns of bad news for local prospector Jeremy Hake (Elisha Cook), whose daughter back east has suffered two broken legs, and whose gold claim has proved to be fallow. In desperation, and terminally ill with a heart condition, Jeremy steals Johnny's scattergun and attempts to rob the incoming stagecoach, panicking when the rider reaches for his gun. Now on the run for murder, and with a $1000 bounty on his head, Jeremy implores Yuma to bring him in and make certain his needy family gets the reward: "my whole life's been wasted, don't let me die for nothing too." Having no other choice than to grant the dying fugitive his last request, Johnny must now contend with the angry townspeople, who only see him as a traitor selling out a friend for blood money, and also a pair of bounty hunters all too willing to claim the reward for themselves. By its conclusion, the rebel must once again leave behind his hometown, awaiting the time to return once his notoriety fades away. Another superb entry for a series full of them, this was the second and, sadly, last appearance of Carradine's Dodson, who again provides comfort for his beleaguered employee by publishing the truth as written by Yuma in a single edition that no one else will see: "The Life and Death of a Failure" by John Yuma.