Jim Hardie escorts an Indian prisoner. And he gets to deal with a half cooked Cavalry Sergeant. Only Hardie can handle such a challenge. That doesn't make it easy. These dramas are always entertaining largely because of Hardie. Water is always in short supply, when the desert is involved. And it's a reminder of how important water is. Little did these film makers know what a big business water would become. This is more a look at good versus evil, and it shows how those doing the work of the government can do bad things, too. It makes you wonder when Jim ever gets a break. He has tremendous endurance. Whether it seems realistic isn't as interesting compared to the example of resourcefulness we get to see once or twice a day.
2 Reviews
"I thought I saw something move out there!" "If you saw something, it wasn't a Yaqui."
ben-thayer12 October 2023
Jim Hardie is sent to Mexico to pick up a prisoner, the Yaqui Kid, in the hopes he will reveal the location of money stolen from Wells Fargo before being tried and likely hanged. Travelling through Yaqui territory with an Army patrol and Rita, the kid's wife who would've killed herself had she been left behind, their horses are stolen by Yaqui braves. The group soon find themselves stalked and picked off, one by one.
This is one of the very best episodes of ToWF, easily in the top five, written by Samuel A. Peeples, who wrote the 2nd pilot of Star Trek:TOS, Where No Man Has Gone Before. Director Sidney Salkow helmed the episode expertly, along with 37 other episodes of the series. These two veterans of the Westerns genre team up for a superior effort resulting in a truly great episode.
Peeples really rose to the occasion with this script, which is a tense psychological drama with copious amounts of suspense and action. There was a considerable amount of brisk, derisive dialog, as Hardie had to deal with threats from within the group as well as without. Director Salkow should be commended equally, as the cast under his direction ramped up the tension and mental/emotional strain with each subsequent scene.
There are only 2 Yaqui braves following, but they're not Hardie's only problem. He not only has to deal with the Yaqui Kid and Rita, the Army patrol has includes quarrelsome, contemptuous soldiers who cause him nearly as much trouble as the Yaquis stalking them. The leader of the patrol, Sgt. Tyler, has made it clear that he'd rather take the Kid in dead, but Hardie needs him alive. When another of the soldiers, Bedell, decides to force himself on Rita, Hardie has to slug it out with him to prevent it. More trouble ensues.
As the episode progresses and men begin to be picked off, the mental strain increases. From the beginning the group was fighting among themselves as much as with the Yaquis, if not more. These hostilities made it very easy for their pursuers to create a diversion to separate the group more than once, which typically ended with a man getting picked off. Factor in the loss of the horses and the lack of water and the situation becomes dire. Viewers will find themselves wondering how Hardie will make it out of this one alive. I admit that I began to wonder myself.
The cast is excellent. Miriam Colon appeared as Rita, the Yaqui Kid's wife. She was extremely busy the year of this production (1959), and would appear later in pictures such as One Eyed Jacks and Scarface. George D. Wallace appeared as dastardly Trooper Bedell. He had an extensive list of credits with 237 appearances, in tons of well-known pictures such as Forbidden Planet, Minority Report, and The Towering Inferno, as well as pop culture serials like Radar Men from the Moon (as Commando Cody), not to mention his long list of TV appearances. Gregory Walcott appeared as the contemptuous Sgt. Tyler. He was also a busy actor, appearing in four Clint Eastwood pictures as well as pictures such as Norma Rae and Plan 9 From Outer Space, and was equally busy on the small screen.
As I mentioned, one of the very best episodes of the series, absolutely not to be missed!
This is one of the very best episodes of ToWF, easily in the top five, written by Samuel A. Peeples, who wrote the 2nd pilot of Star Trek:TOS, Where No Man Has Gone Before. Director Sidney Salkow helmed the episode expertly, along with 37 other episodes of the series. These two veterans of the Westerns genre team up for a superior effort resulting in a truly great episode.
Peeples really rose to the occasion with this script, which is a tense psychological drama with copious amounts of suspense and action. There was a considerable amount of brisk, derisive dialog, as Hardie had to deal with threats from within the group as well as without. Director Salkow should be commended equally, as the cast under his direction ramped up the tension and mental/emotional strain with each subsequent scene.
There are only 2 Yaqui braves following, but they're not Hardie's only problem. He not only has to deal with the Yaqui Kid and Rita, the Army patrol has includes quarrelsome, contemptuous soldiers who cause him nearly as much trouble as the Yaquis stalking them. The leader of the patrol, Sgt. Tyler, has made it clear that he'd rather take the Kid in dead, but Hardie needs him alive. When another of the soldiers, Bedell, decides to force himself on Rita, Hardie has to slug it out with him to prevent it. More trouble ensues.
As the episode progresses and men begin to be picked off, the mental strain increases. From the beginning the group was fighting among themselves as much as with the Yaquis, if not more. These hostilities made it very easy for their pursuers to create a diversion to separate the group more than once, which typically ended with a man getting picked off. Factor in the loss of the horses and the lack of water and the situation becomes dire. Viewers will find themselves wondering how Hardie will make it out of this one alive. I admit that I began to wonder myself.
The cast is excellent. Miriam Colon appeared as Rita, the Yaqui Kid's wife. She was extremely busy the year of this production (1959), and would appear later in pictures such as One Eyed Jacks and Scarface. George D. Wallace appeared as dastardly Trooper Bedell. He had an extensive list of credits with 237 appearances, in tons of well-known pictures such as Forbidden Planet, Minority Report, and The Towering Inferno, as well as pop culture serials like Radar Men from the Moon (as Commando Cody), not to mention his long list of TV appearances. Gregory Walcott appeared as the contemptuous Sgt. Tyler. He was also a busy actor, appearing in four Clint Eastwood pictures as well as pictures such as Norma Rae and Plan 9 From Outer Space, and was equally busy on the small screen.
As I mentioned, one of the very best episodes of the series, absolutely not to be missed!
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