Jim Hardie has been sent to the town of Bridger to present a reward check to a man named Joseph Owen, who helped prevent a stagecoach robbery. Upon his arrival, Hardie encounters several friendly townspeople until he mentions the name Owens. At the mention of the man's name the townspeople change immediately, from friendly to frightened and surly. Hardie is already suspicious, when a local rancher, Chuck Latimer, tries to force him to leave town, which confirms Hardie's suspicions. Hardie determines defiantly to stick around to find out the truth about Joseph Owen.
One thing is for sure, this script is nowhere near original. TV plots get rehashed and reused, and it's still happening now. But this plot is one of several that are nearly ubiquitous in the Westerns genre. Pretty much every western from the era included a variation of this same plot, where someone from the main cast pays a visit to a town and nearly the entire population is against them. Cheyenne, Gunsmoke, Laramie, The Virginian, and many more series used this story, with some differences in the details of course. Unfortunately, many of these stories could only be termed pedestrian.
On the good side, the episode contain a good deal of intrigue, and Hardie takes considerable punishment from some of the nastier citizens. As is typical, Hardie can dish it out in return with the very best of them.
The cast included the usual assortment of character actors from the era, some with hundreds of roles, but mostly unknown today. One comment about that. The actors in supporting roles for shows in the 50s had typically been in the business for decades, working steadily year after year. Unfortunately, the majority of them drifted into obscurity over the years. I try not to dismiss them without some comment if I can, but even famous stars from the past can be little known today.
Allan "Rocky" Lane appeared as Chuck Latimer, and was quite well-known for his heroic character in western pictures, as well as providing the voice of Mr. Ed. Marcia Henderson appeared as June Latimer. She had 52 credits, mostly from the 50s, but none were particularly noteworthy with the exception of The Hypnotic Eye, a B-level picture which has been elevated to cult status over the decades. Hank Worden appears as the stable worker, and was very prolific with 227 roles. He appeared in a lot of John Wayne pictures, such as The Searchers, Red River, or The Alamo, but a *lot* more going back over the decades, such as The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.
Not a particularly great episode, but still an enjoyable watch...EWIBIG, y'know...
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