"Bloodlines" marks the first of two appearances on the series by famed stand up comic Buddy Hackett, then riding high after his dramatic role in 1958's "God's Little Acre." Micah and Lucas discover three brothers tearing up the local saloon, one ending up dead in a brief shootout which lands the other two behind bars. Unperturbed about the law, they boast about their powerful father, Daniel Malakie (Hackett), who arrives in town and promptly sets them free, seeking revenge on both Lucas and Micah. After an innocent man (Denver Pyle) is accidentally shot dead, the fugitives are tracked down in an abandoned salt mine. Warren Oates plays one of the three brothers, in his fourth year on television, and the supporting cast also features Rhys Williams in his recurring role as the town doctor (six episodes overall). Effectively playing it straight, Buddy Hackett only hams it up briefly in a drinking scene at the mine, returning as a different character in "The Clarence Bibs Story."
5 Reviews
Buddy Hackett steals the show
gordonl5628 July 2013
Warning: Spoilers
THE RIFLEMAN – Bloodlines – 1959
Three men ride into town and proceed to get drunk and shoot up the town saloon. The men, Christopher, Dark, John Durren and Warren Oates are less than amused when interrupted by Sheriff Paul Fix, and local farmer, Chuck Connors. Guns are pulled and John Durren is killed. Oates and Dark are both thrown in the town jail.
Several hours later, Buddy Hackett, the father of the three men hits town. He offers to pay for any damage and to bail out the two remaining sons. Sheriff Fix agrees , but is coshed on the head when he turns his back. Hackett, along with Oates and Dark grab up as many guns as they can and head out to pay Connors a visit.
They reach Connors' place after dark and shoot and kill hired man Denver Pyle in error. They then ride off to get drunk before moving on in the morning. Connors discovers the dead man and speeds into town where he finds the rather bloody Fix. The local doc, Rhys Williams, quickly does some repair work on Fix.
Connors and Fix soon track down the three anti-social types at an old mine. More shots are exchanged with Oates getting an overdose of lead. Hackett and Dark are wounded and captured. It is back to the jail-house for a date with the judge. First episode I've seen since I was a kid at the time it first ran. A pretty effective, half hour western series, that moves along at a quick pace.
The director here was Arthur Hiller. Hiller is best known as the helmsman of the feature films, TOBRUK, THE TIGER MAKES OUT, THE IN-LAWS and LOVE STORY.
Funnyman Buddy Hackett is quite good here as he plays against type.
Three men ride into town and proceed to get drunk and shoot up the town saloon. The men, Christopher, Dark, John Durren and Warren Oates are less than amused when interrupted by Sheriff Paul Fix, and local farmer, Chuck Connors. Guns are pulled and John Durren is killed. Oates and Dark are both thrown in the town jail.
Several hours later, Buddy Hackett, the father of the three men hits town. He offers to pay for any damage and to bail out the two remaining sons. Sheriff Fix agrees , but is coshed on the head when he turns his back. Hackett, along with Oates and Dark grab up as many guns as they can and head out to pay Connors a visit.
They reach Connors' place after dark and shoot and kill hired man Denver Pyle in error. They then ride off to get drunk before moving on in the morning. Connors discovers the dead man and speeds into town where he finds the rather bloody Fix. The local doc, Rhys Williams, quickly does some repair work on Fix.
Connors and Fix soon track down the three anti-social types at an old mine. More shots are exchanged with Oates getting an overdose of lead. Hackett and Dark are wounded and captured. It is back to the jail-house for a date with the judge. First episode I've seen since I was a kid at the time it first ran. A pretty effective, half hour western series, that moves along at a quick pace.
The director here was Arthur Hiller. Hiller is best known as the helmsman of the feature films, TOBRUK, THE TIGER MAKES OUT, THE IN-LAWS and LOVE STORY.
Funnyman Buddy Hackett is quite good here as he plays against type.
Buddy Hackett is outstanding as the vengeful, vicious father.
FloridaFred18 August 2019
A great cast, including Denver Pyle, Warren Oates, and Buddy Hackett (in a serious role), make this an exciting episode of "The Rifleman". Lots of gunfire, a saloon, a jail, horses, and a final shoot-out... all the qualities needed for a great Western TV show.
Side note: the writer of this show, Arthur Browne, Jr. (who wrote 35 episodes of The Rifleman) also wrote scripts for the Western TV show about Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid known as "The Tall Man" (1960-1962). Mr. Browne used this story, "Bloodlines", as the basis for the episode of The Tall Man titled "Three For All". The only major difference between "Three for All" and "Bloodlines" is that the vengeful parent in Three for All is their mother, not their father. Anyone watching both of those TV episodes will immediately notice the similarities in the script.
Side note: the writer of this show, Arthur Browne, Jr. (who wrote 35 episodes of The Rifleman) also wrote scripts for the Western TV show about Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid known as "The Tall Man" (1960-1962). Mr. Browne used this story, "Bloodlines", as the basis for the episode of The Tall Man titled "Three For All". The only major difference between "Three for All" and "Bloodlines" is that the vengeful parent in Three for All is their mother, not their father. Anyone watching both of those TV episodes will immediately notice the similarities in the script.
Great Buddy Hackett performance. Otherwise...
grizzledgeezer27 March 2013
I haven't seen every "Rifleman" episode, but this one would have to be in the running for "absolute worst". Indeed, it is surely among the worst episodes of any Western TV series ever made.
TV Westerns often had episodes in which bad guys show up and cause all sorts of trouble, which is (usually) resolved by gunning them down. "Gunsmoke" was a generally thoughtful and well-written show, and when it did this sort of thing, it did it well. "The Rifleman" too-often did it poorly.
This episode is an atrocity. Three brothers arrive in North Fork, get drunk, and tear up the saloon. When Micah and Lucas arrive to stop them, one of them fires his gun at Lucas, but accidentally kills his brother. (Naturally, he blames Lucas for the death.) Thrown into jail, they warn Micah and Lucas they'll be sorry when their father shows up.
Which he does, and they are. The father, an utterly unrecognizable Buddy Hackett, at first appears to be disturbed by his sons' behavior and tries to make things right. But, as they, he's no more than a "psycho on a spree". The story ends with the survivors thrown in jail. And that's it -- nothing else.
This is the cheapest, sleaziest, most-pandering sort of writing. There is no point whatever to the story, except violence, violence, violence. Contrast this with a similar "Gunsmoke" episode, "Matt Dillon Must Die!", in which a crazed old man and his sons seek revenge for the death of his belovéd wife. Yes, it's dark, violent, and nasty, but the characters have some degree of complexity, and we're interested in why they act the way they do and what happens to them.
"Bloodlines" stands in stark contrast to the immediately preceding episode (2.1, "The Patsy"), in which the town barber (Whit Bissell) is forced to decide between his own life and his son's, and Lucas has to decide whether he's willing to look cowardly to prevent a killing or two. This is "The Rifleman" at its best, when its characters have to make tough moral and ethical decisions.
I would normally give this episode 1 star (and even that is generous), but it gets 4 stars for Hackett's outstanding performance.
TV Westerns often had episodes in which bad guys show up and cause all sorts of trouble, which is (usually) resolved by gunning them down. "Gunsmoke" was a generally thoughtful and well-written show, and when it did this sort of thing, it did it well. "The Rifleman" too-often did it poorly.
This episode is an atrocity. Three brothers arrive in North Fork, get drunk, and tear up the saloon. When Micah and Lucas arrive to stop them, one of them fires his gun at Lucas, but accidentally kills his brother. (Naturally, he blames Lucas for the death.) Thrown into jail, they warn Micah and Lucas they'll be sorry when their father shows up.
Which he does, and they are. The father, an utterly unrecognizable Buddy Hackett, at first appears to be disturbed by his sons' behavior and tries to make things right. But, as they, he's no more than a "psycho on a spree". The story ends with the survivors thrown in jail. And that's it -- nothing else.
This is the cheapest, sleaziest, most-pandering sort of writing. There is no point whatever to the story, except violence, violence, violence. Contrast this with a similar "Gunsmoke" episode, "Matt Dillon Must Die!", in which a crazed old man and his sons seek revenge for the death of his belovéd wife. Yes, it's dark, violent, and nasty, but the characters have some degree of complexity, and we're interested in why they act the way they do and what happens to them.
"Bloodlines" stands in stark contrast to the immediately preceding episode (2.1, "The Patsy"), in which the town barber (Whit Bissell) is forced to decide between his own life and his son's, and Lucas has to decide whether he's willing to look cowardly to prevent a killing or two. This is "The Rifleman" at its best, when its characters have to make tough moral and ethical decisions.
I would normally give this episode 1 star (and even that is generous), but it gets 4 stars for Hackett's outstanding performance.
There is some kind of story around all the gunfire.
kfo949416 August 2014
This rather silly episode begins with three brothers are tearing up the local saloon in North Fork. Just so happens that the Marshal and Lucas are handy and enter to bring peace. But when they enter the three backwood brothers keep acting like animals until one of the brothers accidentally shooting his own younger brother. Now with one brother dead the others vow to take revenge on Lucas and the Marshal.
The father of the boys, Daniel Malakie (Buddy Hackett), comes to town to free his sons. At first the father appears upset at his boy's actions but when he goes to the jail house they beat-up Micah and then make their way to the McCain ranch to take care of Lucas. But things do not go as planned when the trio makes a terrible identification.
This is an all-out shoot'em up episode that really had no redeeming qualities. It was like the writer had all this violence and thought of a story to fit around the gunfire. Contrary to others, there was nothing special about the acting in this episode. It was a less that routine script that just did not have the usual flair that you expect from the series. Plus it would have been nice for Lucas to stick around to help Micah place the prisoner's in jail instead of riding off at the close of the show. Just Average.
The father of the boys, Daniel Malakie (Buddy Hackett), comes to town to free his sons. At first the father appears upset at his boy's actions but when he goes to the jail house they beat-up Micah and then make their way to the McCain ranch to take care of Lucas. But things do not go as planned when the trio makes a terrible identification.
This is an all-out shoot'em up episode that really had no redeeming qualities. It was like the writer had all this violence and thought of a story to fit around the gunfire. Contrary to others, there was nothing special about the acting in this episode. It was a less that routine script that just did not have the usual flair that you expect from the series. Plus it would have been nice for Lucas to stick around to help Micah place the prisoner's in jail instead of riding off at the close of the show. Just Average.
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