An above-average outing of CIMARRON STRIP with an above average amount of plot to justify its 73-minute running time. The story of a father who refuses to accept and address his son's developmental disabilities coupled with the arrival in town of a tinhorn confidence man with his sights set on Marshal Crown's job. A lesser writer would have made each plot an episode unto itself, padding them out and diluting their strength. But combined and seamlessly interwoven, this was an episode that never dragged and hummed along to its conclusion.
As there was sufficient plot to sustain the show, the supporting players MacGregor, Dulcey, and Francis warm the bench. MacGregor, inexplicably subbing for the barber, inadvertently sparks Wiley's ambition to steal Crown's job. Dulcey, with her dumb face, drooped eyes and mouth ever-agape, spends her few scenes either pestering Crown or fawning over the bad guys. Francis valiantly attempts to keep Jing out of trouble, but pulls a boner by leaving the train station before ensuring Jing was aboard the train to safety, indirectly setting him up for disaster.
Francis' foolish mistake was matched by Dulcey's dingbat decision to actually open Jing's cell and sit in there reading him "Treasure Island"! "He promised not to escape," she bleats to the perturbed Crown when caught. Dulcey is drawn to bad boys like the proverbial moth to flame, and her naive and trusting nature will be tested and tempered by events in the later episode "Whitey."
Pat Hingle and Steve Forrest are the front-billed names, but the real star of the show is Tim O'Kelly as Jing McQueen. He is always believable as a mixed-up man-child swept up in the events that ensued from the town's Fourth of July celebration. Jing's drunken hijinks included burning down a stable of horses and shooting the "shirt-sleeved" preacher, which understandably provoked a lynch mob done being patient with power broker Mike McQueen and his entourage of thugs pushing everyone around. When Crown stands his ground--using McQueen's own philosophy--by refusing to spring Jing, it's irresistible force meeting immoveable object. And looking for a gas leak with a match is the opportunist Wiley.
Hail the Conquering Hondo! Hondo Harrelsen, that is, Steve Forrest, who played Wiley Harpe with charm leavened with malice. This was his first work for American television after a year abroad playing John Mannering in the British spy series THE BARON and almost a decade before his best known role on S.W.A.T.. He's excellent as the four-flushing con man after Crown's job. Like the devil himself, Wiley waits patiently for his moment to devour, stepping in and rousing the rabble to a fever pitch with his rhetoric and humiliation of the hapless Jing.
Utterly wasted among the cast was Western vet Royal Dano, who was consigned to a bit part playing an Indian selling candy. He doesn't even speak and spent ten times longer in the makeup chair than he did on screen. A real shame.
A bigger shame, however, is the lack of credits for the talented Tim O'Kelly, whose tour de force performance here showed tremendous promise. His Hollywood career spanned only 1966-70 and was highlighted by his roles as the original Danno in the HAWAII FIVE-O pilot and the lead in Peter Bogdanovich's 1968 film TARGETS. O'Kelly passed away at only age 48 in 1990 and I couldn't uncover any more about him. Done too soon--as Neil Diamond sang--on screen and in real life. I'm glad we have his performance here to appreciate again and again.
Mental illness and developmental disabilities have been touched on in earlier Westerns. The "My Son, My Son" episode of THE BIG VALLEY and "Poor Tom's A-Cold" on SHANE come to mind. Nothing good ever comes from pretending there's not a problem, a hard lesson learned too late by the well-intentioned but blundering bully of a father played well by Pat Hingle.
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