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Private Notes
Matt Denning (Robert Lansing), a good friend of Emmett Ryker's, believes his younger brother Will (Andrew Prine) innocent of a crime and breaks him out of a military jail where he is awaiting execution, accidentally killing a guard in the process. Along with Matt's wife (Jan Shepard) and son (Kurt Russell), they escape into an area where many Sioux Indians are out for blood, and are trailed by Ryker, army Sgt. Cohane (Myron Healey) and three soldiers. They find the escapees but the party is attacked by the Sioux. Will is killed, confessing as he dies that he was guilty as charged and leading Matt to realize all has been for nothing. Despite the fact the guard's death was clearly an accident, and the fact Emmett and Cohane testify on his behalf, Matt is found guilty and Emmett is forced to uphold the law and turn Matt over to the Sheriff who will escort him to prison.
An Australian, Adam Tercell (John Anderson), has bought a local ranch and plans to graze sheep on open range, a strategy which would destroy it as grazing land for cattle, so the locals want to negotiate an area set aside for sheep. However, Tercell's bullying son, Abel (Jon Locke), refuses and even stockwhips a local rancher (Edward Faulkner) which brings him into conflict with the Virginian. Abel tries to bullwhip the Virginian and falls and is accidentally killed when he hits his head on a rock. Adam Tercell arrives in Medicine Bow and tries to get the Virginian charged with murder but is unsuccessful and things become complicated when Tercell's daughter Reagen (Maura McGivney) begins to fall in love with the Virginian. Events continue to escalate and eventually lead to a fateful confrontation between Adam Tercell, his estranged daughter, and the local ranchers.
After release from prison, Bert Kramer (Bruce Dern) comes to Medicine Bow to find his estranged wife who is the new school teacher, Martha Perry (Susan Oliver). A Shiloh hand, Rafe Simmons (Albert Salmi), tells the Virginian he is quitting. He goes to town, get a job in the harness shop and gets Martha to teach him to read. Bert Kramer arrives in town and is spotted by Emmett Ryker who recognizes him as a hired gun. Rumours are spread that Rafe and the schoolteacher are having an affair. A local barber, Cal Beeson (Harry Townes), who has had a run in with Rafe, and Bert Kramer plot together to ambush the harness shop worker. However, Rafe manages to get the upper hand. In a struggle over a gun, Bert is killed but Rafe is cleared by the actions of the Virginian and Martha who get Beeson's young son to own up to the plot.
Trampas becomes discouraged with being a ranch hand and sets off with an old friend, Luke Milford (William Shatner), to Deadwood City in the Dakotas where gold strikes are reported. They learn that most of the gold is off limits in Sioux territory but they meet and help a man named Finley (Strother Martin) who claims to have a gold strike outside of Indian land and who agrees to cut them in if they will stake him for equipment. They do strike gold but it turns out it is on Indian land. Trampas runs into trouble not only with the Sioux but inevitably ends up in a showdown with Luke who has become fixated on finding and retaining the gold.
A destitute former Minister, David Henderson (Glenn Corbett), who has had a crisis of faith, comes to Medicine Bow just as a dispute breaks out at a local mine over safety issues. Emmett Ryker entreaties Judge Garth to try and find a solution to the problem. When an accident occurs at the mine David's assists in a rescue attempt but hurts his leg. He is taken to Shiloh where Betsy Garth nurses him and they become romantically involved. David's actions gain him the respect of the miners, he becomes their leader, and he calls a strike over the working conditions. Despite an attempt to intimidate the miners by importing scab labour, with Judge Garth's help the owners and miners manage to reach an agreement. David rediscovers his calling and asks Betsy to marry him. They are married at Shiloh Ranch and head off to start a new life at a parish David has been assigned in Pennsylvania.
Emmett Ryker is amongst a group of stagecoach passengers and crew waylaid by and trapped in an isolated cabin by a group of Mexicans from a small cross-border town. The Mexicans want one of the passengers, a cowboy named Wylie (Earl Holliman), for murdering a woman but Emmett believes Wylie should be turned over to the American authorities for a proper hearing. A siege and gun battle ensues but in the end, the Virginian and Trampas, who are waiting for Emmett in a nearby town, come to the rescue of their missing friend.
A telegram arrives at Shiloh revealing Judge Garth's late sister's daughter, Jennifer Sommers, will be arriving shortly from Boston. Meanwhile, in nearby Tylerville, Johnny Bradford (James MacArthur) leaves a saloon and is watched by a man (Hal Needham) who trails him into a nearby warehouse. However, Johnny shoots and kills the man. The stage headed for Medicine Bow arrives in Tylerville with Jennifer aboard and she meets Johnny who is boarding the stage to travel beyond Medicine Bow. She admits to him that she is going to live at Shiloh but does not know Judge Garth and they become friendly. Arriving in Medicine Bow, Jennifer is met by the Judge and Randy. At Shiloh, the Judge admits he was not close to his sister and Jennifer admits she came only because she had no place else to go and is not necessarily enamoured of the idea. The next morning the Virginian takes Jennifer on a tour of Shiloh and they come across an old cabin which the Virginian says was the first house Judge Garth a
New area rancher Ben Justin (Charles Bronson) is branding a calf when Trampas and Randy Benton and nearby rancher Tom Suchette (George Kennedy) arrive. Trampas politely informs the newcomer that following Stockmen's Association rules no calf should be branded until roundup but Ben says he will brand any calf found on his own land. Tom is less polite and threatens Ben if he does it again. Trampas tells the Virginian what happened so the Virginian visits the Justin ranch. On the way he notices some of Ben's cattle have broken through Justin's fence so Ben rides off when informed by the Virginian. The Virginian tells Ben's wife Mary (Lois Nettleton) that if her husband does not follow Stockmen's rules he will be denied access to the railhead to get his cattle to market and Mary tells him that Ben's young son Will (Bob Random) is her stepson. Ben returns to his ranch in the evening and has a hard time stopping himself from drinking. We learn he thinks he can not trust anyone because back E
In Denver, Midge Conway (Lee Patterson) visits Paul Leland (Ken Lynch), head of Leland Enterprises. Leland sends him to Eagle Rock, Wyoming. He wants that town just as he has taken others in the past and tells Midge he will have to muscle in on local Frank Colter. Trampas meanwhile is riding back to Medicine Bow when he comes upon a runaway freight wagon which he manages to stop but injures his horse in the process. The wagon driver reveals himself to be Frank Colter (John Beymer) who tells Trampas to come with him to Eagle Rock where they can get the horse treated. Trampas is surprised because Eagle Rock had long been a ghost town. At Eagle Rock the blacksmith, Bert Devlin (Mort Mills) deduces the horse has a strained tendon but with treatment it can be healed in four or five days. Attorney Keith Bentley (Leonard Nimoy) arrives and he and Frank discuss the small amount of supplies Colter has brought back. The townspeople can not get more credit and some people are leaving. Trampas ask
The Virginian and Trampas head to Mexico to purchase some palominos for the Judge. At a saloon in San Christian near the Mexican border, Trampas tries to make the acquaintance of Maggie (Joan Staley) but is warned off by several men led by Cal (Gregg Palmer) and is told she is "Zack Wheeler's girl" by the bartender (Jimmy Lee Cook). The Virginian is feeling ill so they go to a hotel. After they leave Zack Wheeler arrives (Michael Forest). It is clear Maggie feels Zack is neglecting her. Zack tells her she will be taken to his friend Fidencio's place to wait for him until his business is finished. Cal drives Maggie to the Mexican cantina and hotel owned by Fidencio (Thomas Gomez). We learn Zack Wheeler is involved in criminal activities including robbery. Trampas and the Virginian have rented horses and entered Mexico but the Virginian gets much sicker and clearly needs help.
Judge Garth visits middle-aged widower Stavros Karos' (Michael Constantine) who, along with his two young children, Sophie (Vicki Malkin) and Yanko (Joey Russo), is digging a well which he hopes to use to irrigate his fig trees. Charlie Cousins (Russ Conway), who owns the adjacent ranch, had for no apparent reason refused to allow Stavros to divert water from a stream on his property. The Judge takes the children to Shiloh while Stavros goes to the train station to pick up his bride to be, a woman he has never met. In town, Trampas lounges around while Randy does all the work picking up supplies and meets his friend Sam Cousins (Anthony Hayes) on the street. They both note the arrival on the train of the young, beautiful Eleni (Louise Sorel) and the two, especially Sam, try to chat her up. Stavros arrives to pick up his promised bride and does not realize Eleni is the woman as he expects someone older. He also has a run-in with Sam who derides him about the young Eleni. Sam returns hom
Two hoboes, Harry Lightfoot (Leslie Nielsen) and Crouch (Berkeley Harris), pass a rural farmhouse where only Mrs.Clinchy (Marge Redmond) and son Timothy (Rory Stevens) are home. Mrs. Clinchy gives them some food but they want more and try and force themselves into the house. Timothy escapes through a window to get his father as Crouch threatens Mrs. Clinchy with a knife. In the Medicine Bow saloon, Deputy Emmett Ryker celebrates his birthday with good friends Ezikiah the blacksmith (Claude Akins) and bar worker Ev Clinchy (Harold J. Stone). Timothy arrives and tells his father what has happened and they all ride, along with Sherriff Brannon (Harlan Wade) to the ranch and find Mrs. Clinchy stabbed to death. With the help of the Virginian, the hoboes are captured crossing Shiloh and returned to the town jail. The two deny killing Mrs. Clincy, claiming some Indians did it, and Crouch manages to hide his knife in the jail cell. The town is outraged by the crime and there is talk of lynchin
Sam Willock (Harry Guardino), a legendary breaker of horses, goes to Shiloh with a promise to two companions, Mace (Kelly Thordsen) and Albie (Don Dubbins), that they will meet in three days time. It is clear they are planning some crime together and Sam promised his companions he will not back out. At Shiloh, Judge Garth is leaving for Denver and he tells Jennifer to take good care of a young hand who has been injured trying to break horses and specifically tells her to warn anyone against trying to tame a wild black stallion. The Virginian hires on Sam to break horses based on his reputation and appoints novice Randy Benton as his helper as Sam does not want anyone with preconceived notions about ""horse fighting"" interfering with his methods. Sam's abrupt manner puts him at odds with most of the hands, especially Trampas, but he begins to like the guileless Randy who, like Sam himself, has long dreamed of having his own horse ranch. Sam meets Mac and Albie in town and it is revealed
Judge Garth and Jennifer appeal to the governor for the release of Curt Westley (James Best), a man they believe was unjustly convicted of a train robbery – but the governor (David McLean) refuses their request. Meanwhile, the Virginian is on a train returning to Medicine Bow which is robbed by a lone gunman (James Doohan). The Virginian and train conductor (William Tannen) follow the robber and manage to find him before he can ride off. In the ensuing gun battle, the man is shot by the Virginian but before he dies reveals to his pursuers that his name is James Francis O'Banion, that he, not Curt Westley, robbed the train, and that the money is hidden at Crystal Falls. The Virginian and Emmett Ryker ride to the falls and find all the money save $10,000. The governor paroles Westley, but does not exonerate him, saying the confession of one thief does not clear another. Westley arrives at the Medicine Bow train station where he is met by his wife Joan (Davey Davison), the Virginian and E
Trampas meets local rancher and former Sheriff Bill King (Leif Erickson) and his daughter Judy (Joan Freeman) riding into Medicine Bow. Trampas asks Judy to the dance but she is reluctant to go with him even though she eventually acquiesces. At the bank, banker Bert March (Noam Pitlick) refuses Bill a loan saying he was not a good credit risk even if he had spent 20 years as the town Sheriff. He also refuses to take for credit the gold watch Bill got from the town for his service as Sheriff. Bill goes to the saloon for a drink with Emmett Ryker and afterwards, as they leave, the money wagon arrives driven by Ben Wallace (Karl Swenson), an old friend of Bill's, who announces he has been robbed of its gold shipment. Emmett organizes an unsuccessful posse to find the three robbers. Trampas picks up Judy for the dance and as they leave the King ranch they are watched by a young man, Sam Coates (Michael Sarrazin). Coates enters the ranch house with his gun drawn on Bill. He reveals he had b
One-armed civil war veteran and photographer Ansel Miller (Peter Whitney) takes photos of the Shiloh hands at work as Judge Garth arrives. It is revealed Miller lost his arm at Andersonville prison which was run by Captain Piper Pritikin (James Whitmore) and that Pritikin has been released from Leavenworth penitentiary and is coming to Medicine Bow. His wife, Laura (Virginia Grey), and their son Davis (Steve Carlson), have been living in town under her maiden name of Beaumont. It is also noted that Judge Garth was appointed as Pritikin's attorney at his trial and that it was largely due to the Judge's efforts that Pritikin was not hanged for war crimes. As Pritikin is about to arrive by train a crowd gathers and Judge Garth tries to get them to disperse but Ansel Miller, fueled by three days of drink and pent-up hatred, berates him for protecting the Captain. Pritikin arrives and his son says Judge Garth does not want to see him but Pritikin says he is owed something by the Judge. On
The Sheriff of New Hope (Douglas Kennedy) and his men evict Ernie and Pearl Packer (Andy Albin and Colleen Gray) from their home saying Colonel Bliss (Telly Savalas) will pay for the moving wagon. As the townspeople watch, Ernie asks if the Colonel is paying the Sheriff too, draws a gun in resistance, and is shot dead. The wagon leaves town with Pearl, Ernie's body and their things, accompanied by local woman Gina Larsen (Brenda Scott) who will take Pearl to relatives in the next town. Outside town, Trampas and Randy Benton come across the dejected Pearl sitting in the wagon and nearby they find Gina burying Ernie. Pearl drives off and the two cowboys give Gina a lift back to town. They tell her they are there to pick up some Arabian horses from Colonel Bliss for Judge Garth. In town Colonel Bliss and his son Lem (Buck Taylor) visit the restaurant and wine bar owned by Gina's father Eric (Robert F. Simon). The Colonel tells him that he and all the townsfolk are squatters on his land a
Medicine Bow storekeeper, Benjy Davis (Quinn Redeker), a friend of the Virginian, is sentenced to death for murdering Hobey Kendall (Robert Karnes), a man who sexually assaulted his wife. However, Benjy says he had met a man near the murdered man's home named Jonah McIntosh (John Cassavettes) and the Virginian traces that man to a colony of mountain men near Wind River. Jonah admits he killed Kendall in self-defence but will not return to clear Benjy. The Virginian takes Jonah a prisoner but has a difficult time getting Jonah back to Medicine Bow due to the pursuing mountain men and an encounter with a murderous trapper (Dub Taylor). He manages to accomplish his task thanks to the help of a beautiful young Shoshone widow, Hapamawa (Pilar Seurat) and to a growing respect and trust between himself and Jonah.
The Sheriff of Laramie orders an itinerant family of con artists, Micah Ellis (Ed Begley), his son Clifford (Tony Bill) and daughter Becky (Linda Lawson), to leave town. In doing so they are forced to leave in jail Micah's brother Clemmet (Lonny Chapman). Their wagon breaks down near Medicine Bow. Clifford goes hunting for a rabbit. He shoots a steer and is heard by Randy Benton and Jennifer who are riding nearby -- but Clifford claims the steer had a broken leg and he was only putting it out of its misery. Randy and Jennifer help them temporarily fix their wagon and they go to Shiloh ranch to make permanent repairs. The Judge is away and the Virginian is in charge. They say they need work and Jennifer offers them jobs, much to the Virginian's chagrin who warns Jennifer to be careful. Becky stays in the house while the male Ellis' are put up in the bunkhouse. Becky, who is used to the high life of saloons, finds staying with Jennifer stifling and tries to get the others to leave ...
At Shiloh, the Virginian pays off hand Niles Tait (Lou Antonio) and offer him a full-time job which he says he will think about. As he leaves he picks up a little girl's bonnet won by Randy Benton which had been damaged in some tomfoolery with the hands. Jennifer sees him and he says the bonnet is for his sister. Jennifer assumes she is a little girl and offers him some of Betsy's things but he refuses out of pride. Meanwhile, Niles' sister Marcy (Stacey Maxwell), who is a mentally-challenged 16 year old, plays near a waterfall on the Tait ranch where she surreptitiously observes the arrival of Brodie (Jack Dodson) and a wounded Gully (Robert Petersen) who have robbed the local bank. Brodie figures the Sheriff will be looking for two men and that the wounded Gully will slow him down so he shoots and kills him and hides the robbery money nearby. Ma and Pa Tait (Angela Clarke & Anthony Caruso) discuss their daughter ...
Shiloh Ranch hands Randy Benton and Belden (L. Q. Jones) stop at the Medicine Bow saloon on their way to deliver baggage and furniture to the train station. They meet Emmett Ryker and discuss the fact their load is being sent to Judge Garth who has been named as theTerritorial Governor. Emmett also learns that the Shiloh men are disgruntled because Judge Garth has brought in someone named Morgan Starr to run Shiloh instead of appointing his long-time foreman the Virginian. The scene flashes to Morgan Starr (John Dehner) leading a cattle drive from Texas to Dodge City, Kansas. We learn quickly that Starr is a hard, tough man with little sentiment: he runs off a group of men who try and stop him taking the cattle across what they claim is their land; his head hand, although given a bonus, refuses to come to Shiloh to continue working for Starr; and in Dodge City Starr dismissed an old flame (Peggie Castle) who expresses affection for him. Starr arrives at the Medicine Bow train station.
At the hotel, Sheriff Emmett Ryker gets ready to leave Medicine Bow on business and is seen off by several citizens including Regan (Geoffrey Horne) who has been appointed a deputy while Emmett is away. Also at the hotel on business are Morgan Starr and the Virginian who encounter, and are flirted with respectively, by Constance Burns (Jan Shepard) who works at the saloon and by the snobbish Louise Deavers (Barbara Turner) who is engaged to a man in San Francisco. As Emmett leaves on the train, a group of heavily armed Metis arrive (mixed blood Indians and French Canadians) led by Jean (Fabrizio Mioni) and Shilton (John Anderson). Smelling trouble, Regan resigns as deputy and the town leaders are wary of the strangers even though Starr and the Virginian tell them the are simply fearmongering. The owner of the hotel, Charlie Davis (Willard Sage) is reluctant to give rooms to the newcomers except at exhorbitant prices and certainly to those he perceives as ""Indians"" who are forbidden to
Trampas accidentally becomes the custodian of two young children who are being sought by men in the hire of their Mexican grandfather, ""El Supremo,"" a powerful landowner. Trampas attempts to return the children to their American mother who lives in Laramie. Along the way he meets a woman card dealer, Melinda (Nita Talbot), who agrees to assist him in his task. With the children they pose as a homesteading family. Not only do they have to elude El Supremo's armed men but they must also avoid a Sioux war party which is operating in the area.
Bounty hunter Bowers (Warren Oates) trails a Sioux Indian, High Sun (John War Eagle), who has left the reservation. However, High Sun sees a herd of buffalo and surrenders to Bowers. Meanwhile, Morgan Starr (John Dehner) and Randy Benton arrive at the Rolling Creek Indian Agency to complete a sale of cattle to the Indian Agent, Harry Weatherby (Gary Wahlberg). Morgan is surprised that the agent only wants 500 head of cattle because he suspects it will not meet the needs for the Indians and hints Weatherby is lining his own pockets. Bowers returns with High Sun and Weatherby tells him to tie up the man and not let him speak to Two Hawks (Eduard Franz), a Sioux leader who speaks no English. With the intervention of Morgan, High Sun is allowed to talk to Two Hawks and he tells him the buffalo are returning. Two Hawks, through his son, Tonka (Clive Clerk), tells Weetherby that he is going to see the buffalo, talk to the Great Spirit, and then return to lead his people. Weatherby sends for
Robber "Golden" Tom Brant (Victor Jory) is released from prison after having served 35 years for killing three members of a posse and returns to Medicine Bow an old and apparently broken man. His return creates emotional problems for his abandoned daughter (Dee Carroll), the son of his former partner (Dee Pollock) and a surviving member of the posse, Amos Coe (Kelly Thordsen) whose brother was killed in the gun battle. These problems are exacerbated by a newspaper man (Linden Chiles) who sees a story in the legend of the shootout and the fact the gold stolen in the robbery has never been found which attracts a large number of gunslingers to town. Events spiral such that Tom eventually has to face Amos Coe in the saloon where the original shootout occurred many many years before.
Randy Benton arrives in Prindiville, Montana to meet Georgie Sam Smith (Michael J. Pollard) with whom he is supposed to start a horse ranch. He finds Georgie Sam is no longer interested in such a venture and that he is working at the livery stable solely so he can watch local girl Dulcy (Peggy Lipton) walk by each day. He admits Dulcy does not even know he exists but convinces Randy to stick around by visiting a local ranch run by Pa Colby (Jay C. Flippen) to buy a mare. At the ranch Randy discovers Dulcy is Colby's daughter and is so taken with her that he is signed on for a few days as a ranch hand by her brother Ben (Donnelly Rhodes). However, he agrees to help Georgie Sam, who has also signed on as a temporary hand, in his quest for Dulcy That evening a stranger (James Farentino) arrives in Prindiville and pays to have the local mortician cut a headstone labeled ""Colby."" At the Colby Ranch, Ben sends Randy to help Dulcy bring the food for the hands' lunch, even though Randy tries
The Virginian, attempting to recover money Shiloh spent on diseased cattle, becomes embroiled in a blackmail attempt and finally murder. A pretty woman is involved who was just released from prison for murder and is the talk of Medicine Bow.
Starr with Trampas agrees to go to Mexico to check the security of a town where A US Senator and a Mexican Governor plan to sign a treat. All looks okay so Trampas leaves but Starr soon finds he is in the middle of an assassination plot.
Trampas, Emmett Ryker and Randy Benton spend some time at the Grand Teton Hotel in Medicine Bow spinning tall tales when four hillbillies arrive. They include Randy's brother Brett (Andrew Prine), his Uncle Del (Royal Dano), and his two cousins, Peck (Michael Stanwood) and Razz (Kay E. Kutzer). They tell him they are there to protect him. Jim Claiborne (Andrew Duggan), with whose family the Bentons have had a long history of feuding, is on his way to Medicine Bow to seek revenge on Randy whose testimony sent Jim to prison for six years. Claiborne and his daughter Glory (Karen Jensen) arrive in town. Jim has learned about Medicine while in prison and hopes to set up in Medicine Bow helping a doctor but he has kept from Glory his reasons for choosing that town. They meet Randy accidentally in the hotel and Randy offers to show Glory around town but Jim is reluctant to have anything to do with Randy. When the Benton clan sees Jim Claiborne in the street they attack him but are stopped by
The Virginian and Trampas arrive at the Medicine Bow saloon just as young Johnny Younce (Barry Primus) stumbles out. Johnny looks in the window of a tailor shop owned by Jake (Harold J. Stone) which contains a sign ‘the clothes make a man."" Johnny proceeds to break the window and goes on a rampage even trying to burn down the town with a thrown lantern. He is subdued by the Virginian but hits his head on a wagon and gets a concussion. At the jail Doctor Stanton (Bill Quinn) says Johnny can not be left alone so the Virginian volunteers to take Johnny to Shiloh to recuperate until his trial. The Virginian learns that Johnny had been working at the saloon but had been fired for unclear reasons. He also learns Johnny had come to town the year before looking for his Aunt Emily but found she was Lily Duvall (Jean Willes) who ran the local bordello and never visited her again. He also will not tell the Virginian or Emmett Ryker why he went on his rampage. At Shiloh it is clear Jennifer Sommer
