User Reviews

Director Herschel Daugherty utilizes the friendly chemistry between Gary Clarke's Steve and Clu Gulager's downtrodden deaf mute Jud in a simple, affecting story that shines a positive light on the disabled. Although Steve offers Jud a helping hand out of pity, he soon notices what others don't bother to see, that Jud is a man of intelligence and character who needs opportunity more than pity. Jud flourishes at Shiloh, and his growing confidence helps him cope with the adversity that keeps coming his way. The teamwork of Clarke and Gulager leaves the viewer wanting more, but Gulager joined the cast of regulars as deputy Emmett Ryker in season three just as Clarke was leaving it.

Before he was Emmet Riker, Clu Gulager made a couple of appearances on The Virginian and in this one he plays a deaf mute who Gary Clarke befriends and gets a job at Shiloh.

Some drovers from another spread lose bad at poker and then kill the gambler who took them. As Gulager had an altercation with the deceased before he's a suspect number 1. Besides he can't really defend himself.

Besides Clarke , Gulager makes only one true friend spinster woman Gail Kobe. If Kobe likes the strong silent type she's got one.

Good scenes with Gulager and Kobe highlight this episode.

When the Virginian aired in the UK in the mid-1960s I must have missed the first two series. I would not have overlooked Gary Clarke as the exuberant Steve Hills, and I remember Clu Gulager only as Sheriff Ryker. Yet here he is playing a young man whose profound deafness has rendered him mute. Unable to argue verbally against the injustice his disability encourages, he uses his fists, which makes his situation worse. Steve throws Jud a lifeline in the form of a friendship as steadfast as Clarke's support of Gulager in a remarkable and affecting performance. Without uttering a word, Gulager conveys Jud's vulnerability, his innate intelligence and his generosity. The boys are nearly outshone by Gail Kobe as Ruth Ferris, proudly holding herself together after being painfully jilted and defrauded by a former beau. She is as tetchy and defensive as Jud but equally vulnerable. Kobe and Gulager have great chemistry and a good script to work with, given added strength by the fact that it does not have to be manipulated to take account of the ongoing character arcs of the regular cast.

The script is fantastic. The actors make it seem very real. Clu and Gary are great. One would think that Clu's character could write thing down for better communication. But who knows? At any rate, this episode has everything. And there is nothing like a great American Western to teach the importance of a good justice system and the importance of being innocent until proven guilty.