Heyes and Curry visit Gantry in the Tenstrike jail. They won’t leave town until they know he’s all right. The old cook’s been reading the wanted posters and has figured out who they are. If they don’t get out of town, he’ll be tempted to collect the reward on them and he’ll die a rich man.
Reluctantly, they lead their horses out of the livery, then spot the telegrapher heading for the sheriff’s office. For a dollar, they learn that the stiletto did indeed belong to Jake.
With Gantry about to get a new lease on life, Heyes and Curry ride hell bent for leather out of town.
GUEST CAST
WALTER BRENNAN — “GANT” GANTRY
STEVE FORREST — JAKE HALLORAN
PERNELL ROBERTS — TERENCE TYNAN
LINDA MARSH — ELIZABETH TYNAN
ROBERT COLBERT — BUD
GLEN CORBETT — RALPH
DICK CAVETT — SHERIFF
HARRY HARVEY, SR. — TELEGRAPHER
RICHARD WRIGHT — HANK
JOE HAWORTH — STEVE
PAUL SCHOTT — PHIL
The famous Chisholm Trail that Heyes claimed they rode opened in 1867 and was named for Jesse Chisholm, a Scotch-Cherokee trader who traveled back and forth from Texas to Wichita, Kansas. Over a million head of cattle tramped over the trail in the first five years, cutting a swath as wide as four hundred yards. Bones of cattle and men attested to the harsh work of a cattle drive. For suffering through dust, thirst, blisters, cold, stampedes, quicksand and Indian danger, the drover might earn $100 in wages for three to four months of herding. If Tynan offered as much, plus a $400 bonus, the three weeks of driving cattle was a hard push but well worth it.
Probably the most important man on the drive was the cook. However, it’s not likely he would bang away at an empty pot, as Gantry did, to alert the drovers it was time for supper. Stampedes were a hazard of the trail and the unpredictable longhorn might bolt at the slightest sudden noise. The cattle themselves were silent during a run; the only notice to the drovers would be the thundering of the earth. Once a herd had broken, it often suffered from chronic fright and the unlucky drovers would be saddled with the threat of continuing stampedes. With thousands of cattle running in frenzy, horses and riders could be overrun or a startled horse could throw its rider, who might then be trampled under the cattle’s hooves. Most times the only way to stop a stampede was to get in front of the leaders and circle them around.
In the first story notes, Gantry was named Pike. Being seventy-five years old in 1880, Pike came from a culture “where if you decide a man committed a murder, you strung him up. You didn’t wait for a trial.” Huggins believed a jury would be satisfied if the stiletto could be proven to be Jake’s. He has the sheriff tell Mr. Tynan that they’ll probably find Pike guilty of nothing more than firing a gun within city limits and maybe accidental homicide. [52] Seventy-seven-year-old Walter Brennan, who had portrayed the Kid’s grandmother in a previous episode, played the affable Gantry. On the last day of filming, Huggins presented him with the “Grandma Curry” award — a wig on a stick. [53]
When Heyes and Curry admit to Gantry that they are worth $20,000, he wonders why they robbed banks. Heyes’s reply that that’s where the money was kept was a famous quote attributed, mistakenly, to thief Willie Sutton. Sutton was raised near Brooklyn, New York, and started his criminal career by pilfering as a child, graduating to breaking and entering. Made-up and wearing a rented uniform, he cased a bank until he was familiar with its routine and its vulnerabilities. Sutton robbed nearly one hundred banks during his career which spanned the years from the late 1920s to his final arrest in 1952. Over the years, Sutton “withdrew” roughly $2 million. He died in 1980.
Why did he rob banks? “Because I enjoyed it. I loved it. I was more alive when I was inside a bank, robbing it, than at any other time in my life. I enjoyed everything about it so much that one or two weeks later I’d be out looking for the next job.” It wasn’t simply because “that’s where the money was kept.” [54]
After a long day’s work, Peter Duel and Ben Murphy appeared on Merv Griffin’s talk show. It was obvious to Griffin how tired the guys were. He asked them what scenes they’d been shooting all day and Ben replied, “A lot of cattle herding with no cattle.” Griffin wondered how one did that. Ben replied, “They take stock footage that we did last year with all the cattle, just to save money, and then they have us riding the horse going ‘whoopee’ with the hat and shooting up in to the air.” Griffin wanted to know if the cattle don’t have a union. “Yeah,” Ben answered, “but they don’t do reruns.” [55]
The McCreedy Bust: Going, Going, Gone
“I’m not much of a philosopher. I just kind of take things as they come.”
Kid Curry
STORY: JOHN THOMAS JAMES
TELEPLAY: NICHOLAS E. BAEHR
DIRECTOR: ALEXANDER SINGER
SHOOTING DATES: NOVEMBER 18, 19, 22, 23, 24, 25 (H), 26, 1971
ORIGINAL US AIR DATE: JANUARY 13, 1972
ORIGINAL UK AIR DATE: FEBRUARY 14, 1972
Kid Curry sulks as he and Hannibal Heyes ride toward Red Rock because he’s sure the job Big Mac has for them is to get the bust of Caesar back again. Heyes disagrees. Why would he have them return only to offer them the same job they already turned down? Before the argument goes very far, a well-armed welcoming party meets them. Heyes and Curry question, “Does this have anything to do with the job Big Mac has for us?” “Well, sure!” is the surprised reply. Heyes and Curry about-face, but the cowboys stop them.
At the ranch, the boys confer with Big Mac. He wants them to steal back the bust of Caesar, as they suspected. At their resistance, Mac plays his ace — he knows who they really are. Heyes still refuses the job, but offers to teach one of Big Mac’s men how to blow the safe. Mac agrees to the compromise and gives the boys a different job instead. They will go to West Bend, a town one hundred miles west of Red Rock, and wait. When Mac’s men get the bust, they’ll leave it in an abandoned well outside of town. Heyes and Curry will retrieve it and take it to San Francisco where Mac plans to put it up for auction, thus ending the feud with Armendariz.
The boys ride into West Bend expecting a quiet, peaceable town but instead find cowboys racing through the streets, shooting guns and terrorizing the populace. They wonder what all the ruckus is about and a man named Spencer explains that election day is nearing. Joe Briggs, foreman of the Running W ranch, is in charge of scaring the farmers. He and his men come to town and stare at the sodbusters, subtly implying something dreadful will happen to them if they dare to vote.
That evening Heyes suggests going to the saloon and making friends. Curry doesn’t think the ranchers looked too friendly, but goes along with Heyes to play poker.
Joe Briggs takes note of the guns Heyes and Curry wear as they enter the saloon. The sheriff hadn’t noticed them. Briggs coldly tells him to forget about it — he’ll deal with them himself.
The next morning Heyes and Curry visit the abandoned well. It’s empty.
They return to town and are met by Briggs demanding to know where they went. Curry explains they were just exercising their horses, but Briggs isn’t convinced. The boys try to be conciliatory, but Briggs gives them an ultimatum — tomorrow they’d better not be wearing their guns. He’ll be watching.
The next day the well is still empty.
Back at the hotel, the partners fight. They got up early to avoid being seen by Briggs, but Heyes forgot they’d have to go out to have breakfast. Curry won’t leave the room without wearing his gun, despite Heyes’s desperate attempts to convince him it will cause nothing but trouble. Heyes blocks the door, puts up his fists and threatens to flatten him. Curry looks at the raised fists with bewilderment. “Before breakfast?” Curry solemnly promises Heyes that no matter what Briggs says, he will not lose his temper, he will not draw on him and he will be as meek as a mouse, but he’s going to wear his gun.
After breakfast, they enter the saloon and find themselves face to
face with Briggs. The crowd quiets as Briggs orders Curry back to the hotel to take off his gun. Curry sheepishly explains he’s worn the gun so long that without it he limps. Briggs offers him a crutch. Curry then admits he feels naked without his gun, almost as if he didn’t have his pants on. Briggs isn’t asking him to take off his pants, just his gun. Curry calmly explains he doesn’t plan to use the gun, but he doesn’t like being told he can’t wear it. Briggs seems convinced and if Curry will do a jig, he’ll let him wear it. Curry says he doesn’t know how to jig and Heyes testifies to his clumsiness. When Curry and Heyes exchange a look, Briggs pulls his gun. Apologizing for his lack of skill, Curry does a half-hearted jig. Having humiliated his prey, Briggs holsters his gun as laughter fills the saloon.
The boys take a seat at a nearby table. If the bust isn’t in the well tomorrow, Curry swears to give up on this job. Heyes points out they can’t do that to Mac, but Curry is adamant. Before another quarrel can erupt between them, Spencer comes to their table. During the confrontation, he watched Curry’s face. Not once did he see fear, yet Curry backed down. He turned the other cheek and Spencer is curious to know why. “I guess I’m just a peaceable man,” Curry offers, causing Heyes to choke on his beer. Spencer persists, certain there’s a philosophical reason for Curry’s actions. Curry denies being a philosopher, but Heyes contradicts him, painting him as a people’s philosopher, albeit inarticulate and a bit stupid. Spencer smiles and introduces himself as the town drunk.
The next morning, Seth Griffin, one of Briggs’s men, follows the boys out to the well. Heyes keeps Seth occupied with a card trick while Curry checks the well. It’s empty. Heyes assures Seth they won’t tell Briggs he got caught, then they return to town.
After stabling their horses, the boys run into Briggs again. He demands another jig from Curry, who’s still wearing his gun. Curry complies, inwardly fuming.
At the saloon, Spencer joins them with a bottle to share. He admits that Curry’s had a great impact on him. For the second time, Curry has turned the other cheek and shown himself to be a man who instinctively believes in the spirit of love and brotherhood. Both Curry and Heyes are stunned by this interpretation of events. Spencer reveals he is a minister, but the killing, stealing, and other abominations of his congregation in Taos caused him to lose his faith, so he left the church and took up drinking. But as of now he is taking his last drink. Curry has shown him that it is possible to live by the Christian creed. With quiet thanks, Spencer walks away, leaving Heyes and Curry humbled.
It’s a new day and once more Heyes and Curry head for the well. Again Seth follows, explaining that Briggs doesn’t believe they’re just exercising their horses. Heyes shows Seth a new card trick as Curry checks the well. The bust is there! So Heyes shows Seth yet another trick — he pulls Curry’s gun and holds it on Seth as Curry ties his hands. Seth protests as Heyes blindfolds him, but he promises they’ll send someone out to untie him.
Back at the hotel, Heyes wants to wait in their room until the stagecoach comes, but Curry is hungry. Incredulous, Heyes tries to dissuade him from going to the cafe by reminding him Briggs will be waiting. Does he want to do the jig again? Curry doesn’t want to jig, but he does want to eat. Maybe they can slip in and out of the café without being seen. Certain that Curry will do something stupid, Heyes nevertheless buckles his gunbelt, slams on his hat and heads out the door.
Briggs is waiting for them, wanting to know where Seth is. The boys claim ignorance, but he threatens to come after them if Seth doesn’t return within an hour. Then he notices Heyes is also wearing a gun. There will be two jigs today. Curry and Heyes exchange looks, then Curry turns back to Briggs and refuses. Heyes notices Spencer watching and softly urges Curry to do the jig for Spencer’s sake. Curry tries to placate Briggs by promising to stay off the street as soon as they finish eating, but Briggs isn’t about to let him off that easy.
Curry has had all he can take. He pulls off his glove, preparing to draw his gun. Heyes desperately wants him to turn the other cheek, but this time Curry won’t budge. The two men face each other tensely. Briggs goes for his gun, but Curry beats him to the draw and shoots him in the arm.
Curry turns to the disillusioned Spencer. What did he expect? Did he think Curry was a saint? Spencer remains silent, a sick look on his face. Curry angrily accuses Spencer of leaving his congregation because the people in Taos weren’t saints either, then offers one last observation. “If we were all saints, we really wouldn’t need you, now would we?”
Heyes and Curry cringe as the stagecoach driver flings the bag with the bust of Caesar on top of the coach, despite Heyes’s pleas to be careful. Spencer is nowhere in sight. Curry apologizes for losing his temper, but Heyes understands. He’d be ashamed too if he couldn’t do a better jig than Curry’s. Spencer joins them after spending the past hour in the saloon, a drink in front of him, thinking about what Curry said, and deciding he is right. He’s returning to his congregation.
Heyes and Curry meet Mac at the San Francisco auction. Only one man bids on the bust, a bid so low Mac bids against him. “That’s your own property!” Heyes reminds him, stopping him from placing yet another bid. The bust sells for $1,200. As the buyer pays the auctioneer and carries off his prize, Señor Armendariz enters and greets him happily. The man hands over the bust. Armendariz smiles at Mac. “I think we can agree now, Señor McCreedy, that the bust is mine. Can we not?” Stunned, Mac opens his mouth to offer the boys another job, but they cut him off. The answer is no.
GUEST CAST
BURL IVES — PATRICK J. “BIG MAC” MCCREEDY
BRADFORD DILLMAN — SPENCER
LEE MAJORS — JOE BRIGGS
CESAR ROMERO — SEÑOR ERNESTO ARMENDARIZ
TED GEHRING — SETH GRIFFIN
PAUL MICALE — LITTLE MAN
NEIL RUSSELL — SHERIFF
ROBERT P. LIEB — AUCTIONEER
MITCH CARTER — LUKE
JOHN RAYNER — MAN
JERRY HARPER — POKER PLAYER #1
DANIEL FRANCIS — MARTIN DEALER
HAL NEEDHAM — DUKE
Hannibal Heyes and Kid Curry are somewhat unusual television heroes for the 1970s because they actually are crooks. They are the good guys of the series, but unlike Dr. Richard Kimble in The Fugitive or Jason McCord in Branded, Heyes and Curry are guilty of their crimes and mostly unrepentant, despite their decision to change their ways. This made them challenging characters to develop without alienating the audience. Roy Huggins recalled:
I had the problem of how do you make them functioning human beings who don’t rob banks and don’t steal money from very rich men, but who actually live law-abiding lives? Well, they did, and they did because they had to, but they also had the inherent humanity to do so without its coming apart and having them go slightly berserk. Which, actually, in most cases would have happened. In most cases, within a year one or both would have gone absolutely berserk and gone out and committed robbery and murder and ended up the rest of their lives in jail. [56]
In this episode, Curry faces his ultimate test — can he handle Joe Briggs without going berserk?
Curry’s adversary delights in humiliating him, yet he can’t respond as he would like because of his promise to stay out of trouble. The writers pile on the stress, boxing Curry in with his duty to Big Mac, his promise to Heyes to keep Briggs placated, and his need to live up to Spencer’s expectations of him as a man who turns the other cheek. The pressure builds and the audience waits breathlessly to see if Curry will break. He does. But by finally losing his temper and shooting Briggs, Curry actually has a much more significant impact on Spencer than he did by meek conciliation. Curry’s forceful example of why ministers are needed provides Spencer with faith bolstered by the hard realities of life rather than the lofty idealism of the Christian creed.
The tension between Curry and Briggs is masterfully played. Real antagonism between Ben Murphy and Lee Majors helped it along. The two actors were continually trying to one-up
each other. “If you didn’t cry, you would break up laughing,” director Alex Singer remembers. “Two leading men who are trying to outdo each other is either the funniest thing or the most tragic thing, depending on where you are. If you’re an outsider, they’re hilarious. If you’re trying to make a film with them, you want to blow your brains out — after you shoot them.” [57]
Singer found it difficult to be patient with Lee Majors, who saw himself as “the new Clark Gable or the new Something.” He knew the actor was not a great performer and, when he was cast, Jo Swerling announced, “The good news is we got Lee Majors; the bad news is we got Lee Majors.” To temper this, they also had Bradford Dillman. Singer felt it was worth putting up with Majors’s overblown ego in order to work with Dillman. “Every time we had to get [Majors] on the set, there was a difficulty because his feet dragged. The message was: ‘I am a star. I move at my pace. You’ll not hurry me, I’m too important.’ ”
Singer remembers losing one battle with the recalcitrant actor. In the final confrontation between Curry and Briggs, Briggs says, “You’ve got exactly two seconds to start dancing, in which case life goes on. Or you can start walking across the street, in which case life doesn’t go on.” Majors consistently misread the line, missing the obvious emphasis in the second sentence. Singer tried to explain to him that the line should be read “…in which case, life doesn’t go on.” The actor simply looked at him and said, “Look, you’re the director. Let me do the acting. Don’t tell me how to read my lines.” So Singer gave up and let him read the line in the flat, awkward way that appears on screen. Despite the difficulties with his actors, Singer felt the result was one of the better shows, an assessment with which most viewers would agree.
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