User reviews

Veteran actors Ralph Bellamy, Gloria Talbot and James Garner star in this strange story which has a good mix of action and melodrama. I also saw afterward in the closing credits that "Dick" Farnsworth and Beverly Wasburn - more well-known names to classic film and TV buffs - were also in it.

Farnsworth, better known as Richard, had a line or two at the very end and I would never have recognized his face or voice. This was one of his first "credited" roles. Washburn was much more of a child actress, doing a number of famous TV show appearances and must have been befriended by Loretta Young, who had the youngster on many of her shows.

Anyway, Bellamy, Talbot and Garner form the bulk and a strange "triangle" in this story, which features quite a bit of action. Garner's role is particularly interesting and he seems to be the one to watch in this story. Is he a good guy or a bad guy? Stay tuned.

In addition to all this, host Dick Powell presents his normal entertaining-and-informative introduction, telling us all about the uncomfortable covered wagon, which was the "schooner of the West."

The episode begins as we see a covered wagon making its way across the rural part of land that will soon be known as Texas. Joel Todd (Ralph Bellamy) is a middle-aged man making his way from Tennessee to settle in the new land out west. Joel also has a much young wife, Caroline (Gloria Talbot), that has accompanied him on the trip. They also have picked up a small girl on their trip, when they came across her after her parents were killed.

Joel and Caroline had just been married and it was basically set up by her father that wanted her to marry a honest man. But the age difference is clearly a problem with the young Caroline. And obvious to the viewer.

During the trip the wagon is protected by a group of cavalry officers. One of the officers, Lt. Collins (James Garner), is a young man that sees the problem with the new married couple. Collins tries to move in on Caroline which stirs interest in Caroline and also Joel.

Even though this story has been performed many times throughout history, it seemed to be the actors that made this show seem fresh. Ralph Bellamy, the beautiful Gloria Talbot and James Garner made this production interesting with the way each gave their skill to the script. A show that was made better by the gifted talent.

Ralph Bellamy is the first billed in this Zane Grey Theater story where Bellamy has married the much younger Gloria Talbott and both have picked up Beverly Washburn whose folks were killed by Indians.

Said Indians are still around and a gallant young cavalry lieutenant offers to escort Bellamy and company for a bit. Talbott who is treated more like a live in maid than a wife gets more than taken with the young lieutenant played here by James Garner before Maverick, The Rockford Files and big screen stardom struck. You'll find none of the Garner comic cynicism on display here.

The best comparison I can make for this film is the classic RKO frontier drama Rachel And The Stranger with Loretta Young, William Holden, and Robert Mitchum in the same plot situation. But I have to say it was handled much better there.

Yes, only the action scenes, and the climax in particular, justify the watching of this episode directed by Lesley Selander, one of the most prolific western maker in Hollywood. With such a director, it would have been useless to ask him to make a gentle oater, as LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE, a scheme unfortunately proposed from time to time in this TV show. No, with Lesley Selander as director, the producer could only propose him a plot with gunfights, Indians- as here with the final sequences - no matter the rest, which is not interesting at all. Only the face off between James Garner and Ralph Bellamy can be OK for a movie buff. But that's all.