Two familiar faces guest star in this episode: John Dehner as "Sheriff Haynes" and James Lydon as "Dan Murdock." Dehner, it seems like, was in a thousand of these '50s and '60s television shows and Lydon I know as Jimmy Lydon from the 1947 film "Life With Father" where he played a teen and boyfriend of Elizabeth Taylor. For most of his career from the '50s on, Lydon preferred to work in television rather than the movies.
In this episode, he plays a murderer whom Josh has just brought into Mesa City. Boy, Lydon, especially with a three-day old beard, looks a lot older than the fresh-faced kid of "Life With Father." I wouldn't have recognized him, frankly, if I hadn't seen the credits.
The sheriff played by Dehner, is familiar with the killer and wants to kill him before there is any trail, but only if he tries to escape. Murdock remarks to Josh, "when you walk out that door, know that you just killed me." Josh doesn't know what he's talking about, but finds out the next day and follows the sheriff who is transporting Murdock to the city where he supposed to be tried. Josh fears the sheriff may shoot the prisoner, so he quickly rides off and catches up to the two. (Josh also wants to make sure he gets his reward money.)
Most of the story is what happens on that trip, which includes a gunfight with Mexican bandits. Also, the story makes us wonder if Murdock is guilty or not.
This was a decent episode with a good ending, one that was not hokey or predictable, which is one of the reasons this was a great TV series. You never were quite sure what was going to happen in the end. It wasn't always a surprise, but it wasn't the usual many times, too.
In this episode, he plays a murderer whom Josh has just brought into Mesa City. Boy, Lydon, especially with a three-day old beard, looks a lot older than the fresh-faced kid of "Life With Father." I wouldn't have recognized him, frankly, if I hadn't seen the credits.
The sheriff played by Dehner, is familiar with the killer and wants to kill him before there is any trail, but only if he tries to escape. Murdock remarks to Josh, "when you walk out that door, know that you just killed me." Josh doesn't know what he's talking about, but finds out the next day and follows the sheriff who is transporting Murdock to the city where he supposed to be tried. Josh fears the sheriff may shoot the prisoner, so he quickly rides off and catches up to the two. (Josh also wants to make sure he gets his reward money.)
Most of the story is what happens on that trip, which includes a gunfight with Mexican bandits. Also, the story makes us wonder if Murdock is guilty or not.
This was a decent episode with a good ending, one that was not hokey or predictable, which is one of the reasons this was a great TV series. You never were quite sure what was going to happen in the end. It wasn't always a surprise, but it wasn't the usual many times, too.
