The plot is already covered, so let's concentrate on what fine acting can do for a run-of-the-mill "Wagon Train" episode. Agnes Moorehead shows why she was a great actress. She takes the role of Mrs. Halstead and takes it from ordinary to extraordinary. She shows the value of underplaying, for one thing. She delivers lines simply and believably, and we engage with her character. This is the essence of fine acting, but Agnes Moorehead went beyond reading lines intelligently and believably,. When we look at her career, we see her ability to make her characters different, and that is ultimately what separates good from great. Many could give a credible reading of Mrs. Halstead; Agnes Moorehead makes her memorable.
2 Reviews
Living Only To Be Reunited With Kin
bkoganbing7 September 2008
Agnes Moorehead plays the title role in this episode of Wagon Train as a woman gone west to find her son who ran away west many years ago. She's a widow now and this is her one goal in life to find her kid and be reunited with him.
A young man played by Tom Pittman is rescued from an outlaw camp after he shoots the leader, Tom Laughlin, and is wounded himself. Moorehead takes pity on him and takes him into her wagon. The two bond, but later it turns out the outlaw Pittman killed was her son who now goes by the moniker, The Laramie Kid. And the outlaw band he headed wants revenge for their leader.
Agnes Moorehead is touching as the widow who lives only for seeing her son again. Young Tom Pittman died the following year in a terrible automobile crash. In his memoirs, Them Ornery Mitchum Boys, John Mitchum speaks very highly of him, apparently they were close. Young Pittman had disappeared and for about a week no one knew what had happened to him until the wreckage of the car and Pittman's body were found at the bottom of a canyon.
Pittman and Moorehead have some good scenes together and it was nice to see Moorehead as a nice woman for a change. Probably the change was good for her too.
A young man played by Tom Pittman is rescued from an outlaw camp after he shoots the leader, Tom Laughlin, and is wounded himself. Moorehead takes pity on him and takes him into her wagon. The two bond, but later it turns out the outlaw Pittman killed was her son who now goes by the moniker, The Laramie Kid. And the outlaw band he headed wants revenge for their leader.
Agnes Moorehead is touching as the widow who lives only for seeing her son again. Young Tom Pittman died the following year in a terrible automobile crash. In his memoirs, Them Ornery Mitchum Boys, John Mitchum speaks very highly of him, apparently they were close. Young Pittman had disappeared and for about a week no one knew what had happened to him until the wreckage of the car and Pittman's body were found at the bottom of a canyon.
Pittman and Moorehead have some good scenes together and it was nice to see Moorehead as a nice woman for a change. Probably the change was good for her too.
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