The Amos Gibbon Story (20 Apr. 1960)

After an argument with Major Adams, Flint leaves the wagon train and cozies up to a bar at a nearby town. What he doesn't know is the locals are shanghaiing strangers for slave labor in the mine and no one on the train knows where he went.

Director:

Joseph Pevney

Writer:

Gene L. Coon

Stars:

Ward Bond, Robert Horton, Frank McGrath

Cast

Episode cast overview:
Ward Bond	...	Major Seth Adams
Robert Horton	...	Flint McCullough
Frank McGrath	...	Charlie Wooster
Terry Wilson	...	Bill Hawks
Charles Aidman	...	Amos Gibbon
Arthur Shields	...	Judge Tremayne
Bob Hopkins	...	Hank Morton
William Schallert	...	Miles Van Vander
Francis McDonald	...	Tom Duncan (as Francis J. McDonald)
John Ashley	...	Bill Collier
John Daheim	...	Mr. Wilkus (as John Day)
Mickey Finn	...	Moose
Darlene Fields	...	Sophie

Storyline

Flint wore out and sleep deprived takes Adams offer to quit when Adams wants him to help with a busted wagon. He rides to the nearby town of Silver Creek. He has a few drinks with the saloon girl Sophie who gives him a knock out drug. He is shanghaied to work in a tunnel for a future railroad. The regular workers left when the work turned dangerous due to hot water springs. He is in with a rag tag group of men who are hoping escapee Amos Gibbon will bring help but the hopes are dashed when he is returned severely whipped and beaten. Flint and the men agree on a scheme to capture the guards but Gibbons informs on them resulting in the death of Miles. Flint develops a second plan for gaining their freedom using a piece of gold ore Tom found and dynamite Tom stole to trap the Judge and Morton with them. The plan works but the men are trapped in the mine due to an explosion. Adams, missing Flint, decides the men should go to Silver Creek finding a strange man claiming ownership of Flint's...

---

Plot Keywords:

explosion | tunnel | dynamite | drugged drink | forced labor | 

---

Genres:

Drama | Western

---

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

20 April 1960 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Revue Studios, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Revue Studios

Technical Specs

Runtime:

60 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

User Reviews

A so-so re-hash of an old plot

One of the standard plots found in TV westerns had the leading man arrested on trumped-up charges and then sentenced to perform slave-labor on some sort of chain-gang project, usually a mine. Since there'd obviously be no release from this servitude, our hero had to plan an escape for himself and his fellow prisoners. Two of the prime examples for this plot could be found in a "Cheyenne" episode featuring Clint Walker titled "The Trap" (12-18-56) and a "Cimarron City" episode featuring George Montgomery titled "Terror Town" (10-18-58).

One advantage of this plot involved the "beefcake" factor. While laboring in that mine, the leading man could appear in all his sweaty, bare-chested glory, with the adding "bondage" factor of often having to work in chains.

Robert Horton had his chance to go this route in "The Amos Gibbon Story" in which, after being given a drugged drink by a saloon girl, he wakes up inside a tunnel where guards armed with guns and a whip intend to put him to work with other prisoners finishing the tunnel for a future railroad extension. Curiously, though, despite Horton's flair for bare-chested scenes, particularly those involving bondage, he keeps his shirt on throughout this episode, and that guard with a whip never gets around to using it on Horton's back. (Horton's bare back finally tasted the lash in an episode from December of 1961 called "The Traitor.") This reluctance to show off Horton's photogenic torso makes the whole episode seem a bit of a tease and the predictability of its plot and its lack of a memorable villain offer little in the way of other compensations.