Henry Fonda had made a film called "The Tin Star" in 1957 in which he played a once principled lawman turned cynical bounty hunter who comes to the aid of idealistic but inexperienced young Sheriff Anthony Perkins. This subsequent TV series was clearly inspired by that, even though the characters are a little different. Here Henry is still a highly principled but tough and determined lawman with an idealistic, (in fact pacifistic) deputy. (Principles are ideals hardened by experience.) Henry arranged to only appear in a certain number of episodes and the focus of the series was on Alan Case's deputy, (although Case seems to be doing an imitation of a young Henry Fonda to make up for it). In this one the bad guys capture Alan as a hostage to get a family member set free rather than hung. Henry refuses them but gets captured and put in the deputy's place. Case now has to make the same decision Fonda did but with a different set of values. Fortunately, Henry finds a third alternative.
2 Reviews
An Interesting Western
zardoz-1331 January 2008
Warning: Spoilers
Henry Fonda stars in "The Deputy" as U.S. Marshal Simon Fry of Silver City; this half-hour western series resembles "Gunsmoke" but it ran for only two years on NBC-TV. In this exemplary episode, the two Burke brothers ride into town and demand the release of their homicidal brother, Jimmy (George Brenlin of "Riot in Juvenile Prison") who is scheduled to hang at 3 PM. Of course, Simon isn't about to release his prisoner, because he has a hangman (George Lynn of "D.O.A.")in town to perform his job. Anyway, Fry sends his young deputy Clay McCord (TV actor Alan Case)out to prowl the town for suspicious people. He crosses the street to the hotel and climbs to the second floor to reason with the Burkes. They take Clay hostage. Simon learns about Clay's fate when a babbling itinerant dentist, Dr. Stoner (Olan Soule of "North By Northwest"), bursts into the jail and clamors about two men who nearly killed him with his own pain-killing gas. He explains that these two have Clay tied up. Dr. Stone emphasizes how dangerous the gas is if it isn't properly controlled. Simon crosses the street without his trusty six-shooter to take his deputy's place as hostage. The Burke Brothers release Clay and tie up Simon, figuring that they are going to be able to rescue their brother. While the Burkes are watching the street below, Simon manages to turn on the dentist painkiller cylinder of gas. As Clay is leading the young Burke out to be hanged, the outlaw runs across the street, screaming at his brothers, only to find them along with Simon passed out from the dentist's gas. Veteran director David Butler of "San Antonio" builds a modicum of suspense into the action despite the obviously predictable nature of episodic television with its recurring cast of characters. show. Meaning, you know that Clay cannot die. Seasoned television scenarists Peggy and Lou Shaw have constructed a model teleplay of exposition, action, characterization, and wry humor. Instead of having Simon resort to his six-shooter, they use of the dentist's knock-out gas to incapacitate everybody in the room was ingenious, especially for a western made before Congress launched its hysterical anti-violence campaign in the 1960s. Surprisingly, considering the kinds of TV shows that he pioneered on CBS-TV in the 1970s, Norman Lear of "All in the Family" had a hand in creating "The Deputy."
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