THE RIFLEMAN – Stopover – 1962
Chuck Connors headlines this 1958 to 1963 western series that ran for 168 episodes. Connors is a world class hand with a Winchester rifle. This of course ends up getting him in no end of trouble.
There is a raging blizzard going on and Chuck Connors and his son, Johnny Crawford, are bedding down their horses in the barn. As they head for the house, the North Fork stage rumbles onto the grounds. The driver, Joe Higgins, is a friend of Connors. He asks Connors if he and his passengers could stay the night. There is no way he can make it to North Fork that night. The horses are dead beat and the snow drifts are getting huge.
Connors agrees and shows the passengers into his house. Connors and Higgins then unhitch the team and put them under shelter in the barn. After more wood is piled on the fire, and a big bowl of beef stew wolfed down, the group soon warms up. The passengers are made up of Adam West, Gordon Jones and the pretty, Bethel Leslie.
Jones is a whiskey salesman who is hitting his sample case with abandon. Half bombed, he blurts out that West is a gunfighter with eight men to his name. Jones adds that Leslie is a "scarlet woman." Connors tells Jones to be quiet or he will find himself spending the night with the horses.
Adams turns out to be not so bad a fellow. He had taken up the gun after his wife had been shot by a man. After that, men would call him out to see just how fast he was. Miss Leslie recounts how she was a mail order bride from out east. She had come west to marry but the groom to be never showed. She was forced to become a fallen woman to support herself. She is going back to St. Louis.
Adams keels over several times during the night clutching his side. It seems he has collected a bullet wound that did not heal right. Adams is also going to St. Louis where he is to see a specialist. Jones continues to drink and nearly gets himself killed when he pulls a gun. The next morning, the weather improves and they again set out for North Fork.
This is a much better episode that I am making it sound. It is a well done story of three world weary travellers trapped together by circumstances beyond their control.
The episode was directed by master western film helmsman, Budd Boetticher. Boetticher handled the reins on the many superb dusters. These include, THE CIMARRON KID, HORIZONS WEST, BUCHANAN RIDES ALONE, WESTBOUND, SEVEN MEN FROM NOW, COMANCHE STATION, RIDE LONESOME and THE TALL T.
Adam West of course would become famous as BATMAN in the campy 1960's series.
Chuck Connors headlines this 1958 to 1963 western series that ran for 168 episodes. Connors is a world class hand with a Winchester rifle. This of course ends up getting him in no end of trouble.
There is a raging blizzard going on and Chuck Connors and his son, Johnny Crawford, are bedding down their horses in the barn. As they head for the house, the North Fork stage rumbles onto the grounds. The driver, Joe Higgins, is a friend of Connors. He asks Connors if he and his passengers could stay the night. There is no way he can make it to North Fork that night. The horses are dead beat and the snow drifts are getting huge.
Connors agrees and shows the passengers into his house. Connors and Higgins then unhitch the team and put them under shelter in the barn. After more wood is piled on the fire, and a big bowl of beef stew wolfed down, the group soon warms up. The passengers are made up of Adam West, Gordon Jones and the pretty, Bethel Leslie.
Jones is a whiskey salesman who is hitting his sample case with abandon. Half bombed, he blurts out that West is a gunfighter with eight men to his name. Jones adds that Leslie is a "scarlet woman." Connors tells Jones to be quiet or he will find himself spending the night with the horses.
Adams turns out to be not so bad a fellow. He had taken up the gun after his wife had been shot by a man. After that, men would call him out to see just how fast he was. Miss Leslie recounts how she was a mail order bride from out east. She had come west to marry but the groom to be never showed. She was forced to become a fallen woman to support herself. She is going back to St. Louis.
Adams keels over several times during the night clutching his side. It seems he has collected a bullet wound that did not heal right. Adams is also going to St. Louis where he is to see a specialist. Jones continues to drink and nearly gets himself killed when he pulls a gun. The next morning, the weather improves and they again set out for North Fork.
This is a much better episode that I am making it sound. It is a well done story of three world weary travellers trapped together by circumstances beyond their control.
The episode was directed by master western film helmsman, Budd Boetticher. Boetticher handled the reins on the many superb dusters. These include, THE CIMARRON KID, HORIZONS WEST, BUCHANAN RIDES ALONE, WESTBOUND, SEVEN MEN FROM NOW, COMANCHE STATION, RIDE LONESOME and THE TALL T.
Adam West of course would become famous as BATMAN in the campy 1960's series.
