The Big Valley (TV Series) Night of the Wolf (1965) User Reviews

Night of the Wolf

[colbertadrian · 8/10 · 6 May 2020]

One the best Big Valley episodes in the entire series, really showcased Peter Breck's acting abilities, The Big Valley was always a watch in our home and admired the family dynamic of the Barkley's as it seemed similar to the Cartwright's love for each other, the show was similar to Bonanza where you have grown offspring who still live with their parent and don't have families of their own, and the end of this episode shows how very alike they are.

Peter and the wolf

[bkoganbing · 8/10 · 20 February 2016]

While riding night herd with Lee Majors, Peter Breck is attacked by a rabid wolf. The only known method at the time for rabies was cauterizing the wound immediately which Majors does. But that leaves Nick with an uncertain chance for survival, time will only tell.

That year causes a lot of changes in Nick Barkley as he goes away for a year. He meets up with Nancy Olson a single woman with a young son and they bond. Olson wants to make it legal because of Ron Howard fresh from the Andy Griffith show playing her son.

That year interlude in the story timeline did something else. It allowed for further acceptance of Lee Majors in the Barkley family circle. There were fewer and fewer references to Heath's illegitimate birth as the series continued.

The scenes with Peter Breck with a new 'family' were poignant and special. One episode for fans of Peter Breck and The Big Valley to treasure.

Fondly Remembered by Baby Boomer Fans

[summerfields · 8/10 · 13 April 2010]

This is not exactly a great episode, but it is one - for whatever reasons - which seems to linger in the memory of many who saw it as youngsters in the sixties.

Our Nick is bitten by a rabid wolf and seeks peace and love during his 'last days'....

Nancy Olson is wonderful as the widow whose little boy - played by (Opie Taylor!) Ronnie Howard - gets attached to Nick as he has no father figure.

A showcase for Peter Breck and a fairly satisfying show with the expected happy ending (for the most part).

Watch it for yourselves!

Night of the Wolf

[elisvictoria · 10/10 · 23 February 2017]

I loved this episode because of the scene with Peter Breck in town, and Ron Howard runs to him. I found it unbelievably emotional acting. Peter Breck's character was usually portrayed as rough and tough. This was so tender. Since Peter lost his son to leukemia, it is such a reminder that the man was a sweetheart! The first part of the story when Peter is attacked shows that he and Lee Majors bonded as brothers. He trusted his newly found brother with information one might have thought he would have trusted to his attorney brother, Richard Long. It gave Peter a story which showed he was his own man, away from the security of his wealthy family and all their resources. I have no idea what a person looks like if they have been bitten by a possibly rabid dog. Peter's symptoms showed sincere suffering. I really admired the entire cast. The family support was so appealing to me. The subplot of the widow and her relationship with Peter and two strangers extending themselves to him in his desperate circumstances showed a particularly charming story of how good it is when people help each other, with no expectations for financial or other rewards. There is the subplot of how Peter wishes he had come back sooner, only to find the woman he knew years before had died in an epidemic.

Very good episode

[qormi · 9/10 · 5 August 2020]

One goof I need to report. We see Nick standing over the grave of Jeane Price, and we can clearly read the headstone. As he walks away, he passes the same grave around 20 feet to the left.

Good episode for Peter Breck

[mlbroberts · 7/10 · 3 December 2022]

And we get a young Ron Howard in here too, in what was probably Peter Breck's best story as Nick Barkley. But Nick should stay away from wild animals (he gets attacked by another one later on in the series). I don't know how I feel about Nick up and leaving the family when he is bitten by a wolf believed to be rabid, but it turns out to be a journey of self-discovery for him, and either the wolf wasn't really rabid or Nick had really good recuperative powers. Whichever - Peter Breck was excellent, and Nick learned a lot in this episode. He was not just the shoot-em-up ill tempered Barkley. He was someone who really could look inside himself and learn.

This episode is disappointing.

[kfo9494 · 3/10 · 2 December 2011]

In this episode Nick and Heath are camping when Nick gets bit by a rabid wolf. He makes Heath promise not to tell anyone about what has happened even to keep if from the family.

When some symptoms develop he decides to leave the ranch and go see an old girlfriend in a nearby town. When he gets to her house, he finds Julia Jenkins (Nancy Olson) and her son Tommy (Ron Howard) living at the house. He finds out that his old girlfriend had died when an epidemic swept through the town.

Now we have 40 more minutes of show left to see if Nick is going to make it to next week's show. I think it is safe to say (without a spoiler alert) that since this is Season 1 episode 12 that there is a good chance that Nick pulls out of this disease and makes it back home for next weeks show. So now we are left with more than half the show to view the ups and downs of Nick's next few days.

The writing for this show was not good. At one point in the show, Nick goes to the cemetery to see his old girlfriend's grave, staggers into town on the side of his horse, has a drink at the bar and then goes sits in a swing. It felt like all these events happened in a ten minutes frame. And for the entire ten minutes we have one line of dialog. All this while Nick (Peter Breck) hams the screen up with a rabies induced journey through this small town.

The writers then threw in a little love interest between Nick and Julia. They even tried, and went somewhat overboard, in trying to make out Nick as a complete softy. But from what I saw- the writers failed.

This may have been a good thirty minute show. But trying to make this a full hour show was not the best move.

I never felt like this show went anywhere. And the ending scene, falling to the ground, was more or less embarrassing. Too bad cause I really like most of the episodes but this one is not that good.