Even in the 60s I never really quite understood why the Virginian episodes had to run to 75 minutes, other than the novelty of such a thing at the time. The strain on script writers, cast and crew of creating thirty such episodes each season must have been enormous. And the corners that were sometimes cut are evident in this episode. There's nothing wrong with the acting or the story, but Steve Hill's search for a killer mountain cat would have had more punch without the random scenes of wildlife poached from other films. Then there's the matter of his horse...
Now I'm no expert. Every time I tried riding a horse I was quickly unshipped. Such is my affinity with things equine that I'm a pretty good ornithologist. But I'm not blind. When Steve sets out after the cat, he is seen riding a truly beautiful golden brown horse with a blonde mane and tail. He also leads a white packhorse. As he treks over the countryside, the packhorse vanishes and his mount turns into a nondescript brown horse with a brown mane and tail, then into one with a black mane, and then back onto the brown maned animal. Eventually, arriving at Jack Klugman's farm, there he is again on the horse with the blonde mane. Steve's shaggy appearance, and the explanation he gives for the loss of the white pack horse, rules out the fact that he kept returning to Shiloh for fresh mounts, where of course, he could also have had a shave! Clearly, stock footage of Gary Clarke riding was used as padding. Filmed in high quality colour, the lack of continuity is glaring.
On the subject of shaving, another thing which sticks out like a sore thumb throughout the episodes I have viewed is dodgy facial foliage. In the 60s designer stubble was not fashionable as it is today. I don't know what the turnaround time was for each episode, but it surely gave none of the regular actors time to grow their own whiskers when an episode called for it, even if they'd wanted to.
This series is now over half a century old. The original concept was ground breaking, and the fact it was filmed in colour amazing. But I can't help thinking the producers strained too hard to maintain the long running time, when aiming for an hour or less would have given them more time to spend on the detail. Tighter stories would have created stronger episodes, making The Virginian even more memorable because when it was good, it was very very good.
