Trapper Will Cary (Pat Hingle) ambles into a Cherokee hunting camp on his way to see his old friend Daniel, but over the opening title break the hunters are killed and their pelts stolen. Daniel is obligated by treaty to find the killer to prevent a war with the Cherokee from breaking out.
No TV series big-production budget lasts a full season, so its time for DB, Season 1 to turn to an around-the-fort bottle episode. Carrying the hour is character actor Pat Hingle, who played a multitude of roles 1954-2008 and will stay around in the minds of younger viewers as Commissioner Gordon in the 1989 amd 1997 "Batman" movies. Nice to see him in a younger role here, though a homespun character we are turned against fairly rapidly when he comes on touchy-feely to Becky (In 1965! "Peyton Place" ethics are starting to seep into prime time!) and admits his inner demons come out on occasion.
Mingo threatens retribution if amends are not made for the murders, so credits to the writers for breaking Ed Ames out of the Tonto template on occasion. Fess Parker does little long hunting here, but has to apply different skills to discern the truth. This allows for some character growth in the persona, an opportunity often forgone by Fess Parker in late series bottle episodes when he deigned to stay around for most of the hour and simply delegated to sidekicks.
Curiously, the Cherokee look more authentic as mid-South tribesmen in the black and white episodes than they do in the color ones. And in an exception to the series bible, Cincinatus is seriously injured, if only to validate the villain's credentials.
This is a familiar trail for 1960's Westerns - nominally friendly outsider shows up in the community, is found unable to fit in through one or more faults, and usually has to be dispatched via exile or violence. In DB, Hingle is the first of several visiting trappers who will provide the requisite protagonists. But overall, as a bottle episode this is pretty low-powered moonshine.
No TV series big-production budget lasts a full season, so its time for DB, Season 1 to turn to an around-the-fort bottle episode. Carrying the hour is character actor Pat Hingle, who played a multitude of roles 1954-2008 and will stay around in the minds of younger viewers as Commissioner Gordon in the 1989 amd 1997 "Batman" movies. Nice to see him in a younger role here, though a homespun character we are turned against fairly rapidly when he comes on touchy-feely to Becky (In 1965! "Peyton Place" ethics are starting to seep into prime time!) and admits his inner demons come out on occasion.
Mingo threatens retribution if amends are not made for the murders, so credits to the writers for breaking Ed Ames out of the Tonto template on occasion. Fess Parker does little long hunting here, but has to apply different skills to discern the truth. This allows for some character growth in the persona, an opportunity often forgone by Fess Parker in late series bottle episodes when he deigned to stay around for most of the hour and simply delegated to sidekicks.
Curiously, the Cherokee look more authentic as mid-South tribesmen in the black and white episodes than they do in the color ones. And in an exception to the series bible, Cincinatus is seriously injured, if only to validate the villain's credentials.
This is a familiar trail for 1960's Westerns - nominally friendly outsider shows up in the community, is found unable to fit in through one or more faults, and usually has to be dispatched via exile or violence. In DB, Hingle is the first of several visiting trappers who will provide the requisite protagonists. But overall, as a bottle episode this is pretty low-powered moonshine.
