User Reviews

So says Cheyenne after meeting Thora Flagg, once widowed and once divorced from a gambler as she explains. Cheyenne has just gotten off the trail as foreman with his friend Ben Creed. He refuses to continue on because he realizes Creed is a scoundrel who pays his men a bonus, but then buys drink and holds poker games where he cheats his men out of their wages, forcing them to sign up for another drive. Creed tricks Cheyenne by having him waylaid and then coming to the rescue, so he feels obligated to Creed.

Meanwhile, they come across Thora Flagg who's wagon has overturned with her underneath and help the crusty gal out. Cheyenne soon believes Creed and Thora have a lot in common, especially after she wins Cheyenne's help with her herd in a poker game. She tricks Creed into thinking she's a novice poker player and then cheats him at his own game.

But while Cheyenne admires grit and cleverness, he is floored when the herd he's suppose to help get to market isn't cattle, but sheep!

This story is one of the best of the series...and you must watch until the end to see the final plot twist.

When he's not ganged up on or taken by surprise or at gunpoint, he's eminently capable of defending himself. However, he hasn't encountered the likes of Thora Flagg before. But that gets ahead of the story.

One thing you can say about Cheyenne Bodie; he's resilient. When he declines his tyrannical boss Ben Creed's offer to stay on as foreman, Creed arranges to have Cheyenne attacked so the wily Creed can come to his rescue and Bodie will feel beholden enough to stay on with the drive; the tactic works. Later on, when he leaves again, he's attacked at Creed's orders, but this time his rescue comes from the friendly lick of a shaggy sheepherding dog.

So Cheyenne survives two potentially life-threatening attacks ordered by a man he calls his friend. Well, the exact quote is, "Ben, you're the biggest snake a man ever saw in this country without the help of whiskey. But I like ya, and I guess that's one of the reasons I'm quittin'; sooner or later you'd throw a knife at me and I'd have to throw it back." So Cheyenne isn't blind to his devious boss's shortcomings; he just appreciates that even ruthless Ben Creed has a few positive attributes, albeit somewhat questionable. But in addition to being resilient enough to survive serious conks on the head, Cheyenne Bodie is also loyal and won't put up with a stranger insulting the "considerable Mr. Creed."

That's where Thora Flagg comes into the picture. By trickery, she manages to get "cow man" Cheyenne Bodie as drive foreman. When he goes to inspect the herd and finds out that they are "measly, bleatin', mutt-headed sheep," not cattle, there's an intense exchange, wherein he offers to "kick them pants clear across the canyon, with you in 'em!" Later, when she and Cheyenne end up camping overnight on the trail (again at Creed's orders and much to Cheyenne's discomfiture), he objects to her saying Creed has a "big mouth and black heart," even though he knows it's quite accurate. But he stands up for his boss, literally. Still, it isn't long before Cheyenne comes to realize that in Thora, Ben has met his match, which is another way of saying that they deserve each other. The final scene that verifies it can't help but inspire a smile.

This is another episode that is a delight to watch (except for the few scenes that show just how odious men like Ben Creed could be). Noteworthy is the interaction between Robert Wilke (Ben) and Marie Windsor (Thora), both veteran actors who play less-than-admirable characters that you can't help but admire despite your better instincts. But for me, Thora and Cheyenne's interchanges are the most enjoyable. Clint Walker and Marie Windsor have great charisma, individually and together, and they have some of the best lines in the entire script, bounced off each other with the zing of ricocheting bullets.

"Muy hombre, ain'tcha, cowboy," says Thora, looking Cheyenne up and down after he handily rights the wagon that Creed's cattle have toppled. "Well," he responds, "you're kind of a lot of woman yourself, ma'am, if you don't mind my sayin' so." When Cheyenne and Thora are alone before a campfire, she tells him, "Cheyenne, I need me a good man in the worst way." You can almost see him blushing as he tries to steer her in the direction of eligible "bronc squeezers," then just to clarify asks, "You fixin' to hire help or talkin' matrimony?" Before the real ruckus begins, Ben Creed calls Cheyenne his friend, and Bodie's perceptive response is, "You ain't nobody's friend but Ben Creed's, and then sometimes you gotta watch him to keep him from stealin' the holes in your socks." When Thora's loyal wrangler Ringo questions the wisdom of trying to turn back stampeding cattle, Cheyenne tells him, "If they don't turn, mister, you'll be campin' tonight with the Good Shepherd."

These are just a few examples of dialogue that throughout the episode is apropos and authentic, entertaining no matter how many times you rewind, thanks to an excellent script by Wells Root (by far his best screenplay of the five he wrote for "Cheyenne"), first-rate direction by Franklin Adreon, and the top-notch WB production values that characterized the series. Of course, Clint Walker's Cheyenne Bodie is at the center of the action. His powerful screen presence, as well as his natural delivery and talent, and the contribution of the perfectly cast supporting players combined to make this episode a winner by any standards.