Accent is on comedy in this Big Valley story. Barbara Stanwyck and Linda Evans arrive at a train station to catch the train to Stockton when the place is held up by three rustic peckerwood brothers, Warren Oates, Kelton Garwood, and Christopher Cary. They've heard tell of the fact the safe in the railroad depot is always full of cash. But the thing isn't working and the rest of the episode is devoted to their efforts to open the safe. They wreck the depot in their determination among other things.
Watching this episode put me in mind of the beginning of The Shootist where John Wayne gets the drop on some would be outlaw trying to rob the legendary J.B. Books. I remember his line to the wounded outlaw he leaves on the Nevada desert, "you'd better get another line of work cuz this one don't fit your pistol".
That about sums it up for these three idiots. Garwood and Cary are just going along with their brother Oates who wants this money to get a new start in life, a small ranch they can work. They've lived hardscrabble lives and you kind of feel sorry for them.
At least that's what Barbara Stanwyck feels. Her facial expressions as the two keep trying to open the safe are priceless as she busies herself with her knitting.
A really funny story.