Another excellent episode, due in large part--pun intended--to Alan Hale Jr. as Bill Poe aka Shawnee Bill. While this side of the 1960s we see Hale as the Skipper on GILLIGAN'S ISLAND, to 1958 audiences Hale was just coming off his one-season series CASEY JONES and was primarily a Western star. He plays the part well in his corduroy jacket, handlebar mustache, and authentic beard stubble.
Minus the minor roles played by the poker player, bartender, and sheriff in Trinidad, this is a taut three-man story featuring Randall, Poe, and Galt. Poe dominates the story, and deserves credit for pulling a successful con job on Josh--no mean feat.
Double crosses and cons play a big role here. Shawnee Bill cons Josh into advancing half the reward money, then later Josh cons Galt by using Bill's corpse strapped to the horse as a distraction. I was surprised Josh shot Galt in the back, but perhaps he felt he had no choice with so skilled a gunman. The surprising conclusion finds Josh learning just how outsmarted he was, losing the reward money plus thousand dollars, though earning the town's gratitude and helping support a five-year-old orphan. Small consolation, it seems, as Josh rips up the wanted poster with resignation.
If only Shawnee Bill had shared the full story of his family's woes with Josh instead of trying to trick him, the results may have been less tragic. But such soul-baring was not standard operating procedure in the Old West.
Incidentally, Poe implied Josh cheated in that poker game, having three kings up his sleeve. Josh never denied it. Perhaps Josh was originally envisioned as a card sharp a la Bret Maverick?
Galt, the half-Indian tracker who dogs Josh and Bill was played by Lewis Charles, who I initially mistook for Gerald Mohr, knowing Mohr would be turning up in an episode. Charles was good as Galt, having that hardbitten, trail-wearied look to him. John Galt was the protagonist of Ayn Rand's 1957 bestselling philosophical novel "Atlas Shrugged," and I wondered if that was the source of the name (though the pocket Galt had Josh and Bill holed up in fell far short of Galt's Gultch!).
This would be Hale's sole appearance on WANTED: DEAD OR ALIVE, which is a shame since he and McQueen enjoyed an appealing chemistry. Hale's calm and cool nature contrasted nicely with Randall's intensity, especially evident in the scene where Poe watches the stagecoach pull away and declares the game over. Lewis Charles will turn up a couple more times as will David Lang as scripter. The series achieved liftoff from its opening episode and was soaring to great heights even this early in the first season, with this and the next episode providing proof positive.
Minus the minor roles played by the poker player, bartender, and sheriff in Trinidad, this is a taut three-man story featuring Randall, Poe, and Galt. Poe dominates the story, and deserves credit for pulling a successful con job on Josh--no mean feat.
Double crosses and cons play a big role here. Shawnee Bill cons Josh into advancing half the reward money, then later Josh cons Galt by using Bill's corpse strapped to the horse as a distraction. I was surprised Josh shot Galt in the back, but perhaps he felt he had no choice with so skilled a gunman. The surprising conclusion finds Josh learning just how outsmarted he was, losing the reward money plus thousand dollars, though earning the town's gratitude and helping support a five-year-old orphan. Small consolation, it seems, as Josh rips up the wanted poster with resignation.
If only Shawnee Bill had shared the full story of his family's woes with Josh instead of trying to trick him, the results may have been less tragic. But such soul-baring was not standard operating procedure in the Old West.
Incidentally, Poe implied Josh cheated in that poker game, having three kings up his sleeve. Josh never denied it. Perhaps Josh was originally envisioned as a card sharp a la Bret Maverick?
Galt, the half-Indian tracker who dogs Josh and Bill was played by Lewis Charles, who I initially mistook for Gerald Mohr, knowing Mohr would be turning up in an episode. Charles was good as Galt, having that hardbitten, trail-wearied look to him. John Galt was the protagonist of Ayn Rand's 1957 bestselling philosophical novel "Atlas Shrugged," and I wondered if that was the source of the name (though the pocket Galt had Josh and Bill holed up in fell far short of Galt's Gultch!).
This would be Hale's sole appearance on WANTED: DEAD OR ALIVE, which is a shame since he and McQueen enjoyed an appealing chemistry. Hale's calm and cool nature contrasted nicely with Randall's intensity, especially evident in the scene where Poe watches the stagecoach pull away and declares the game over. Lewis Charles will turn up a couple more times as will David Lang as scripter. The series achieved liftoff from its opening episode and was soaring to great heights even this early in the first season, with this and the next episode providing proof positive.
