The Healing Woman (12 Sep. 1959)

Josh embarks on a mission of mercy when he pleads with the parents of a boy with appendicitis to let the doctor operate. The father, embittered against modern medicine, trusts only the local witch to cure his son's sickness.

Director:

Don McDougall

Writers:

Charles Beaumont (teleplay), Charles Beaumont (story),

Stars:

Steve McQueen, Mort Mills, Virginia Gregg

Cast

Episode complete credited cast:
Steve McQueen	...	Josh Randall
Mort Mills	...	Tom Summers
Virginia Gregg	...	Amanda Summers
James Westerfield	...	Dr. Langland
Helen Kleeb	...	Mag Blake
Paul Engle	...	Ted Bridges

Storyline

Josh embarks on a mission of mercy when he pleads with the parents of a boy with appendicitis to let the doctor operate. The father, embittered against modern medicine, trusts only the local witch to cure his son's sickness.

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Plot Keywords:

witch | appendicitis | fistfight | home surgery | folk medicine

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Genres:

Western

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

12 September 1959 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Four Star Productions, Malcolm Enterprises, Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

30 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Quotes

Amanda Summers: Tom isn't here. He's out getting medicine for the boy.
Josh Randall: Yeah, I know. I passed him up in the woods. He was tryin' to catch some frogs. Is that the kind of medicine you mean?

User Reviews

What's Up, Doc?

Like the opening episode, this deals with a 12-year-old but unlike the first week, this boy is sick. He has a ruptured appendix and needs an operation, pronto.

Josh found the very ill boy out in the woods and brought him into town. At first, someone tells him that no doctor for a hundred will touch this kid. Soon, we find out why. His hot- tempered father had a bad experience with doctor's once in which his dad died after an operation. Now, he wants no doctor handling his kid. He says "all doctors are butchers" and won't listen to reason, and says if his boy dies he's going to hold Randall responsible because he didn't bring the kid right to him. (Randall didn't know there was a family nearby, only seeing the sick kid and bringing him straight to town to a doctor.)

The father wind up bringing his boy to some mystical-type "healer," some woman who really has no medical knowledge, just some crackpot, but this boy needs an operation which is a lot more than this woman can offer Josh has to do what he can to help save the kid. Well, he doesn't "have" to but, being the good guy he is, "wants" to help because it's the right thing to do.

He thinks he might get somewhere with the boy's mother, hoping she isn't as pig-headed as the father. Mort Mills and Virgina Gregg, two regulars on TV, play the father and mother, respectively.

These Wanted: Dead Or Alive stories are not your typical westerns with gunslingers every week. Many times, such as the first two weeks of this season, they involve other things, very human stories.