Incident of the Slavemaster Nov 11, 1960
Incident on the Road to Yesterday Nov 18, 1960
Incident at Superstition Prairie Dec 2, 1960
Incident at Poco Tiempo Dec 9, 1960
Rawhide's 5th ever episode is called "Incident on the Edge of Madness". In it, Gil Favor finds that his commanding officer in the Confederate Army has formed a private army of his old war buddies and wants to use it to create a kingdom in Panama. Now, in the 5th episode of season 3, (the 'Slavemaster' he encounters the former commandant of a Confederate prison camp who is still running a prison camp and won't let his prisoners go, while he lives a life of luxury. This is generally a better episode than the first one, except for two things. One is that security sees amazingly lax at the camp. Gil and Pete, guests in the house, easily climb through a window and walk all over the place, finding a mine where the prisoners work and are not caught. Secondly the prison camp commandant is played by the now-corpulent Pete Lorre, who was more threatening when he was young and skinny and kind of weird. Now he's old and dumpy and kind of pathetic. He died three years later of a stroke at age 59.
He might have wanted to be on the Road to Yesterday but that's the path of Frankie Laine, (who, of course, signs the series' theme song over the credits of each episode). He plays a former robber who, after a long time to think about it in prison, has made a legitimate financial success of himself and is now paying back the money he stole, from victim to victim. Favor was one of the victims, from a stagecoach robbery. But the final stop is hometown, where he stole $250 from the bank. He pays that back, only to find out that he's wanted for the theft of $11,000 and a murder. He's taken in but notices that a local businessman, (Chester Morris) has his name on every sign in town - and that his old girlfriend is married to the sheriff.
When Frankie signs the theme, he also cracks a whip. I've yet to see any of the drovers use a whip in any episode but it makes for a dramatic sound.
At Superstition Prairie, (where do they get these names?), Wishbone violates a taboo by attempting to save an old Indian, (Australian actor Michael Pate, who had played the Aztec in 'Incident of the Challenge', the second episode of this season), who has been left to die by his tribe. It turns out he's not as used up as they suppose: when the creek suddenly runs dry, he knows why, remembering an incident from his youth. It's a good episode about honoring the knowledge and wisdom of older people. (I'm 70 and am not used up, either.)
Poco Tiempo is the name of a town where another robbery has occurred. A man's been killed and much of the town has been destroyed by a fire the thieves started. A posse encounters Rowdy and Pete and takes them in as potential suspects. (Lucky they didn't do what the posse did in "The Ox Bow Incident" from 1943.) What the posse doesn't know is that the bandits are holding a priest hostage in the basement of a church, with two nuns covering for them lest the priest be harmed. The two nuns are Agnes Morehead and Gigi Perreau, the latter of whom has yet to take her final vows.
The bandits tell them to deliver their take via a stagecoach to another member of the gang in the next town. Also on board is the local prostitute, played by Carolyn Hughes, (who had been George C. Scott's first wife), who gets along well with the nuns despite their differences. Rowdy suspects something and joins them. Gigi falls for him and decides not to complete her vows, which makes Rowdy feel guilty. So he proposes to the prostitute to get Gigi to change her mind. Meanwhile the two bandits have killed the priest and rendezvous with their colleague, leading to a fight between Rowdy, Wishbone, (who is along for the ride), and the bad guys won by the good guys. The nuns go back to their church and Rowdy has to tell the prostitute he didn't really mean it. She walks away and the nuns ride a way in the stagecoach. Rowdy says of the lead nun that "she's quite a lady". Wishbone looks at the prostitute walking away and says "So is she." A very effective ending.
Rawhide's 5th ever episode is called "Incident on the Edge of Madness". In it, Gil Favor finds that his commanding officer in the Confederate Army has formed a private army of his old war buddies and wants to use it to create a kingdom in Panama. Now, in the 5th episode of season 3, (the 'Slavemaster' he encounters the former commandant of a Confederate prison camp who is still running a prison camp and won't let his prisoners go, while he lives a life of luxury. This is generally a better episode than the first one, except for two things. One is that security sees amazingly lax at the camp. Gil and Pete, guests in the house, easily climb through a window and walk all over the place, finding a mine where the prisoners work and are not caught. Secondly the prison camp commandant is played by the now-corpulent Pete Lorre, who was more threatening when he was young and skinny and kind of weird. Now he's old and dumpy and kind of pathetic. He died three years later of a stroke at age 59.
He might have wanted to be on the Road to Yesterday but that's the path of Frankie Laine, (who, of course, signs the series' theme song over the credits of each episode). He plays a former robber who, after a long time to think about it in prison, has made a legitimate financial success of himself and is now paying back the money he stole, from victim to victim. Favor was one of the victims, from a stagecoach robbery. But the final stop is hometown, where he stole $250 from the bank. He pays that back, only to find out that he's wanted for the theft of $11,000 and a murder. He's taken in but notices that a local businessman, (Chester Morris) has his name on every sign in town - and that his old girlfriend is married to the sheriff.
When Frankie signs the theme, he also cracks a whip. I've yet to see any of the drovers use a whip in any episode but it makes for a dramatic sound.
At Superstition Prairie, (where do they get these names?), Wishbone violates a taboo by attempting to save an old Indian, (Australian actor Michael Pate, who had played the Aztec in 'Incident of the Challenge', the second episode of this season), who has been left to die by his tribe. It turns out he's not as used up as they suppose: when the creek suddenly runs dry, he knows why, remembering an incident from his youth. It's a good episode about honoring the knowledge and wisdom of older people. (I'm 70 and am not used up, either.)
Poco Tiempo is the name of a town where another robbery has occurred. A man's been killed and much of the town has been destroyed by a fire the thieves started. A posse encounters Rowdy and Pete and takes them in as potential suspects. (Lucky they didn't do what the posse did in "The Ox Bow Incident" from 1943.) What the posse doesn't know is that the bandits are holding a priest hostage in the basement of a church, with two nuns covering for them lest the priest be harmed. The two nuns are Agnes Morehead and Gigi Perreau, the latter of whom has yet to take her final vows.
The bandits tell them to deliver their take via a stagecoach to another member of the gang in the next town. Also on board is the local prostitute, played by Carolyn Hughes, (who had been George C. Scott's first wife), who gets along well with the nuns despite their differences. Rowdy suspects something and joins them. Gigi falls for him and decides not to complete her vows, which makes Rowdy feel guilty. So he proposes to the prostitute to get Gigi to change her mind. Meanwhile the two bandits have killed the priest and rendezvous with their colleague, leading to a fight between Rowdy, Wishbone, (who is along for the ride), and the bad guys won by the good guys. The nuns go back to their church and Rowdy has to tell the prostitute he didn't really mean it. She walks away and the nuns ride a way in the stagecoach. Rowdy says of the lead nun that "she's quite a lady". Wishbone looks at the prostitute walking away and says "So is she." A very effective ending.
