An exceptionally strong episode of a strong series. And not just because of the cast, which boasts Leonard Nimoy and Robert Redford. The real star is Frank Overton, upon whom the spotlight falls and who shines brightly.
Overton's Amos Dundee is a humorless, brooding man. He has traveled two years and a thousand miles in an unflagging search for William Essey, the man who gunned down his eighteen-year-old brother. Tate, who seems to have tipped Amos to Essey's whereabouts, stands by to ensure there's no interference from the bartender or the gaggle of barflys. Tate told Amos that his brother died in a fair fight, but when the facts don't deter Amos, Tate allows the injustices to compound.
After Amos guns the man down, he and Tate step outside and engage in casual conversation. Life is cheap, and these two hard-bitten killers are calloused and remorseless. A glimmer of humanity is seen in Amos, however. He has a sweetheart back home and, with his thirst for vengeance slaked, he's eager to return to her, perhaps bearing a gift of a blue dress he spied in a store.
But Amos receives a Dear John letter from his sweetheart Lucy. Worse, in the two years Amos was away she fell in love with and married Amos' younger brother Tad. Now Amos has a new grudge, a new injustice against him that must be avenged. Amos is a thoroughly unlikable character, but Overton makes him compelling to watch and listen to as he launches into jeremiads justifying his hate.
On the road home, Tate and Amos come upon the smoldering remains of a home and the bodies of the massacred settlers. Amos' seething hatred boils up just as the Comanche band rides up, led by a grinning Leonard Nimoy. The exchange between Nimoy's Comanche warrior and Tate and Amos is excellent and perfectly performed. Each side testing the limits, sizing up the other, setting the stage for a later conflict ("Another time, another place," says Nimoy in a tone strikingly Spock-like).
Speaking of which, this scene is especially enjoyable for STAR TREK fans who know Nimoy and Overton will cross paths again seven years later as Mr. Spock and Elias Sandoval in "This Side of Paradise." (And in another sci-fi side note, Lane Bradford, who played the ill-fated William Essey, had earlier co-starred with Nimoy in ZOMBIES OF THE STRATOSPHERE.)
Another excellent scene follows when Amos and Tate arrive at the Dundee ranch. After rebuffing Lucy's pathetic, on-her-knees plea for mercy, Amos confronts the little brother who cuckolded him. Well, it's 23-year-old Robert Redford, against whom the 41-year-old Frank Overton stood no chance, which humbling fact perhaps only fueled his rage. Young Tad has no gun and no desire to fight Amos, so Amos tosses a gun at him and lashes him with a bullwhip to goad him into reaching for that gun. It's such a well-played and wince-inducing scene, especially a scene where Redford is in the dust and warring against his own instinct to grab that gun and defend himself. The gun fills the foreground of the frame, and Redford's pained face looking at it wantingly is a high point of the episode.
Suddenly, as if on cue, the foreshadowed return of the Comanches occurs, and the attack unfolds very realistically in a minute or less. The mind boggles trying to take in all that just happened. The story then resolves very quickly, and shockingly. I was stunned the first time I saw it, and saddened to see how those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
Tate is certainly second banana in this story, just tagging along and showing a surprising degree of indecisiveness for a gunfighter. Perhaps the fact he knew the Dundee brothers and Lucy since childhood dulled his wits. But that is the only thing that was dull in this well-written and fast-moving story performed with aplomb by all involved.
Overton's Amos Dundee is a humorless, brooding man. He has traveled two years and a thousand miles in an unflagging search for William Essey, the man who gunned down his eighteen-year-old brother. Tate, who seems to have tipped Amos to Essey's whereabouts, stands by to ensure there's no interference from the bartender or the gaggle of barflys. Tate told Amos that his brother died in a fair fight, but when the facts don't deter Amos, Tate allows the injustices to compound.
After Amos guns the man down, he and Tate step outside and engage in casual conversation. Life is cheap, and these two hard-bitten killers are calloused and remorseless. A glimmer of humanity is seen in Amos, however. He has a sweetheart back home and, with his thirst for vengeance slaked, he's eager to return to her, perhaps bearing a gift of a blue dress he spied in a store.
But Amos receives a Dear John letter from his sweetheart Lucy. Worse, in the two years Amos was away she fell in love with and married Amos' younger brother Tad. Now Amos has a new grudge, a new injustice against him that must be avenged. Amos is a thoroughly unlikable character, but Overton makes him compelling to watch and listen to as he launches into jeremiads justifying his hate.
On the road home, Tate and Amos come upon the smoldering remains of a home and the bodies of the massacred settlers. Amos' seething hatred boils up just as the Comanche band rides up, led by a grinning Leonard Nimoy. The exchange between Nimoy's Comanche warrior and Tate and Amos is excellent and perfectly performed. Each side testing the limits, sizing up the other, setting the stage for a later conflict ("Another time, another place," says Nimoy in a tone strikingly Spock-like).
Speaking of which, this scene is especially enjoyable for STAR TREK fans who know Nimoy and Overton will cross paths again seven years later as Mr. Spock and Elias Sandoval in "This Side of Paradise." (And in another sci-fi side note, Lane Bradford, who played the ill-fated William Essey, had earlier co-starred with Nimoy in ZOMBIES OF THE STRATOSPHERE.)
Another excellent scene follows when Amos and Tate arrive at the Dundee ranch. After rebuffing Lucy's pathetic, on-her-knees plea for mercy, Amos confronts the little brother who cuckolded him. Well, it's 23-year-old Robert Redford, against whom the 41-year-old Frank Overton stood no chance, which humbling fact perhaps only fueled his rage. Young Tad has no gun and no desire to fight Amos, so Amos tosses a gun at him and lashes him with a bullwhip to goad him into reaching for that gun. It's such a well-played and wince-inducing scene, especially a scene where Redford is in the dust and warring against his own instinct to grab that gun and defend himself. The gun fills the foreground of the frame, and Redford's pained face looking at it wantingly is a high point of the episode.
Suddenly, as if on cue, the foreshadowed return of the Comanches occurs, and the attack unfolds very realistically in a minute or less. The mind boggles trying to take in all that just happened. The story then resolves very quickly, and shockingly. I was stunned the first time I saw it, and saddened to see how those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
Tate is certainly second banana in this story, just tagging along and showing a surprising degree of indecisiveness for a gunfighter. Perhaps the fact he knew the Dundee brothers and Lucy since childhood dulled his wits. But that is the only thing that was dull in this well-written and fast-moving story performed with aplomb by all involved.
