The McCreedy Feud
“Sometimes I get the feeling Big Mac’s not too well liked.” “Sometimes I get the same feeling about us.”
Hannibal Heyes, Kid Curry
STORY: JOHN THOMAS JAMES
TELEPLAY: JUANITA BARTLETT
DIRECTOR: ALEXANDER SINGER
SHOOTING DATES: UTAH — JULY 14, 1972; STUDIO — AUGUST 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 14, 1972
ORIGINAL US AIR DATE: SEPTEMBER 30, 1972
ORIGINAL UK AIR DATE: DECEMBER 3, 1973
Hannibal Heyes and Kid Curry travel through the Mexican desert on their way to Señor Armendariz’s ranch, Curry complaining bitterly all the way. Heyes tries to soothe him by pointing out how cordial Armendariz was the last time they were there, but Curry doesn’t consider being bound, gagged, threatened and darn near killed a friendly welcome. They’re met on the trail by Armendariz’s men who hail them with a cordial “Manos arriba!” (“Hands up!”)
At the hacienda, Heyes and Curry ask for Señor Armendariz, but are informed by his sister Carlotta that he’s out. She apologizes for the unconventional way they were brought to the house, but wonders why they ignored the “No Trespassing” signs. They’ve come on legitimate business, Heyes explains. Can they wait for her brother? She insists they do. Heyes makes the mistake of mentioning Mr. McCreedy and her cordial, though cautious, welcome turns distinctly cold. The boys are locked in a room with guards posted outside.
Many hours later the boys are released. Señor Armendariz refuses to talk to them, uninterested in anything McCreedy has in mind.
Back in Red Rock, McCreedy is unhappy that Heyes and Curry have failed to set up a meeting with Armendariz. Fighting him over the ever-shifting boundary between their ranches is costing too much money, too much time, his good disposition and his stomach, McCreedy grumbles, punctuating his words with a belch. Mac thanks the boys for trying, but doesn’t pay them the $500 he promised. Curry starts to protest, but Heyes cuts him off. Mac immediately wants to know what Heyes won’t let Curry say. Heyes says they’ve figured out how to solve Mac’s whole problem, but it will cost him $5,000. Mac agrees. Heyes explains that Armendariz has a sister, but Mac is already aware of that dried-up, ugly old maid. “Ugly? Obviously you’ve never seen the woman,” Heyes exclaims. The boys talk up Carlotta’s beauty, strength and pride, adding that she has taken an interest in Mac and once they meet will surely speak to her brother on his behalf.
Heyes and Curry return to the Armendariz hacienda where Carlotta greets them once again. Heyes relays Mac’s regards, prompting her to ask why they keep speaking to her of a man for whom she has nothing but distaste. “Fat, cowardly…” Carlotta scoffs. Heyes acknowledges that Mac is carrying a few pounds more than he should, but that’s because he’s a wealthy man who enjoys fine living. Far from being cowardly, Big Mac has tamed dangerous men with nothing more than a look. Heyes piles it on, claiming Big Mac is charming and witty and that he greatly admires Carlotta. She is skeptical. “Does he honestly believe I can be flattered into influencing my brother on his behalf?” Carlotta leaves them. Since Big Mac is not charming or witty, Curry is surprised Carlotta didn’t laugh in their faces. But Heyes is pleased to notice she didn’t laugh, she listened.
Señor Armendariz allows the boys to deliver Big Mac’s message. McCreedy will sell the disputed land, currently on his side of the river, to Armendariz. Then when the river changes course, it will continue to be Armendariz’s. His answer is no. He invites the boys to leave.
Heyes and Curry leave, but circle back and return to the hacienda at night. Heyes picks out the window he believes is Carlotta’s and taps on it. It’s opened by a man wielding a shotgun, demanding they raise their hands as he calls for the guards.
Señor Armendariz is angry they’ve returned and is unconvinced by their explanation that they got turned around in the darkness. He will have his men escort them to the border in the morning. As Armendariz and his sister turn to leave, Heyes speaks up. Could they have something to eat?
Curry can’t believe Heyes had the nerve to ask for food, but Heyes is sure that Carlotta will bring it, giving them a chance to talk with her alone. Besides, he’s hungry.
When Carlotta returns, Heyes works on her feelings, telling her Mac is even more impressed with her now that they’ve filled in the details on what kind of a woman she is — strong, proud and dignified. Carlotta is amazed they would assume she has any interest in meeting the man, much less marrying a Yankee Protestant. McCreedy is Catholic, Heyes assures her. Carlotta shakes her head in disbelief as she leaves. The boys are discouraged.
The next morning Carlotta hails them in the courtyard. There’s no Catholic church in Red Rock, so she invites McCreedy to attend the church in Mataska. She’s not interested in McCreedy as a man, but as a Christian she has concern for his soul. She’ll be at the church on Friday, her saint’s day. As the boys ride out, Heyes smiles with satisfaction.
Heyes and Curry return to Big Mac with news of their progress. They also admit they told Carlotta that Mac is Catholic. “How’d you boys know that?” Mac whispers in shock. Taken aback, Heyes covers his surprise by claiming they have their way of finding things out, but his secret is safe. After all, he knows something even worse about them.
On Friday, Carlotta, along with several companions, heads to Mataska. Before they arrive, the carriage is overtaken by armed bandits.
Mac goes to the church in Mataska to meet Carlotta. Heyes and Curry come with the news that she has been kidnapped. Mac’s first thought is that Armendariz will kill him on the assumption he was responsible. He wants to head back to Red Rock immediately, but the boys convince him it would be better to help find her. With Mac’s money, they should be able to buy information leading to the kidnappers.
Carlotta and her companions are being held in an old adobe shack, where she paces and rants. The sound of gunshots brings her to a halt. She knew her brother would rescue them!
The door opens and Big Mac enters. He introduces himself to Carlotta and assures her she’s safe. Carlotta is suspicious. “How did you find me?” Mac explains that Mataska is talking of nothing else. He was in church when he heard the news and he immediately took steps to rescue her. Heyes and Curry enter and report that the bodies of the kidnappers have been removed and the team hitched to the carriage.
Mac would like to see Carlotta home, but fears her brother would object.
Carlotta is sure her brother will want to thank Mac personally for saving her life, but he feels that she should break the news to him slowly. Mac is truly smitten with Carlotta and he tells her his friends didn’t come close to doing her justice when they told him about her. Carlotta is also impressed with Mac. While the boys spoke of his courage, they neglected to mention his gallantry.
As Mac escorts Carlotta home, the boys stay behind to make certain everything is wrapped up. They inform the “kidnappers” the coast is clear. Rising from their hiding place, the Devil’s Hole Gang hurries to their horses.
The next morning Heyes, Curry and Mac ride back toward Red Rock. At the sound of shots, they realize Armendariz’s men are pursuing them. When Heyes’s horse goes down, Curry stops to help him while Big Mac disappears in a cloud of dust. Surrounded by vaqueros, Curry helps Heyes to his feet and they wearily raise their hands.
An enraged Armendariz demands the truth from the boys. He doesn’t believe the story about Mac’s heroic rescue of his sister. Obviously, McCreedy was behind the kidnapping. Ordering the vaqueros to aim their weapons at the boys’ heads, Armendariz demands the truth. Heyes and Curry would love to tell him that McCreedy was behind it, but they can’t because he wasn’t. The standoff is interrupted by a man with news that Carlotta has disappeared. Heyes and Curry are locked in the little room while Armendariz investigates.
Armendariz returns and outlines his plan. One of them will go get McCreedy. The other will stay as a hostage. If McCreedy does not come, Armendariz will shoot the hostage. He gives them five minutes to decide who will go. B
ecause he blames Heyes for the mess they’re in, Curry will go.
He rides like hell to Red Rock, and rushes in the ranch house without knocking. To his surprise, he finds a wedding ceremony in progress. Mac and Carlotta, in the presence of a handful of friends, have just become husband and wife.
Later, Mac counts out $500 for the boys as he explains how the boundary dispute has been settled. Armendariz doesn’t own that land any more, but neither does Mac. It now belongs to Carlotta. Curry protests that Mac is short in his payment; the deal was for $5,000. Mac’s not going to pay for something the boys had nothing to do with. They set up a meeting in Mataska, but Carlotta didn’t make it. It was Fate that led to the happy ending. Heyes contradicts him. They set the whole thing up and if Mac will just step outside, he’ll prove it.
Outside, Heyes and Curry introduce Mac to the Devil’s Hole Gang. They were the kidnappers that Heyes and Curry “killed” during the rescue of Carlotta and Mac owes them $100 each. Mac pays, hoping his wife never finds out. Carlotta will never find out, Curry promises, because they wouldn’t tell for love or money. “Well, maybe for money,” Heyes muses. Mac slowly pulls his wallet out and counts out $5,000.
Heyes and Curry, flush with cash, head for Santa Marta. There they’ll settle down and wait for their amnesty. Something’s missing, though. “Our gal, Clementine,” Heyes announces. The boys change direction and ride off toward Denver.
GUEST CAST
BURL IVES — PATRICK J. “BIG MAC” MCCREEDY
CESAR ROMERO — SEÑOR ERNESTO ARMENDARIZ
KATY JURADO — CARLOTTA ARMENDARIZ
RUDY DIAZ — MAN
LOU PERALTA — GUARD
DENNIS FIMPLE — KYLE MURTRY
CLAUDIO MIRANDA — PRIEST
Roy Huggins’s influence on television was profound, not only because of the numerous shows he created, but also because of his method of storytelling. “Huggins…introduced a plot device that has since become a Hollywood obsession: the backstory…Huggins realized early that you can blend one important story with a second, usually character-based, story, weave them together carefully and give the audience the subliminal feeling they’ve gotten two shows for the price of one.” [13] In this case, Huggins wove together three separate adventures for Heyes and Curry involving McCreedy and Armendariz to create a story arc that crossed through three seasons. This episode is the culmination of the story that began with “The McCreedy Bust” and continued with “The McCreedy Bust: Going, Going, Gone.” Although many recurring characters pop up to take part in the boys’ adventures, only Big Mac McCreedy and Señor Armendariz have a continuing storyline of their own.
Backstory is a concept writers use to give their stories and characters a sense of realism. While the story itself is concerned only with the events currently taking place, the backstory provides the history of all that has come before and brought the characters to where they are now. Often the backstory is known only to the writer, used for character development but not explicitly shared with the audience. In this episode, Heyes’s plan depends on Carlotta Armendariz wanting a husband. This is a reasonable assumption for a nineteenth century single woman, but in the backstory Huggins provides a more detailed explanation of Carlotta’s past and present desires. “Note: it turns out they have learned something offscene — Carlotta has been living in Mexico City and she’s come to live with her brother now. She had gone to Mexico City on the theory that if she went there she might find a husband, but she didn’t find one.” [14] Carlotta’s life in Mexico City is never mentioned in the episode, but it influences her reaction to Heyes and Curry’s matchmaking.
The feud between McCreedy and Armendariz began long ago and revolves around the fact that the boundary between their ranches is the Rio Grande, a bit of backstory shared with the audience in “The McCreedy Bust.” In a departure from the traditional American ethnocentrism found in most westerns, Huggins made the Mexican rancher, rather than the Texan, the more admirable character, imbuing Armendariz with class and style as well as strength. For this episode, he stressed the need to avoid ethnic stereotypes in the outline given to writer Juanita Bartlett. “The Mexicans are not ragged, not unshaven, and not dirty. Armendariz has great class — and these are his top men.” [15]
In contrast to the honorable and gracious Armendariz, McCreedy is a brash and devious man. He has no sense of honor as evidenced by his actions throughout the story arc — selling the disputed land when it was on his side of the border, hiring Heyes and Curry to steal the bust from Armendariz, using an obscure rule in Hoyle to cheat the boys out of the money he paid them and using his knowledge of their true identities to coerce them into helping him whenever he needs them. Here he uses the boys as go-betweens to set up a meeting “because Big Mac thinks Armendariz kind of likes them,” [16] then refuses to pay them because they were unsuccessful. In the first draft script, Curry, concerned they’ll be fatally unwelcome at the Armendariz hacienda, wonders why they’re doing such a big favor for Mac. Heyes responds, “If we said ‘no’, Big Mac knows who we are…” [17] and it’s clear they believe Mac would turn them in if it suited him.
In this final chapter, McCreedy is redeemed by his response to the match-making plan. While it seems at first that Mac is going along just to win this latest battle, when he meets Carlotta he truly falls for her. In the backstory, Mac has never married because he’s never met a woman with strength to match his own. Now he has and he’s enchanted. Huggins insisted that Mac be sincere in his admiration of Carlotta, noting that the scene in which he tells Carlotta he’d like to ask her brother for permission to call on her “should be played terribly straight. At this point I want the audience to believe that McCreedy means what he is saying.” [18] Carlotta believes him, too, and decides that she has finally met the man she’s been waiting for. With the marriage of Mac and Carlotta, the threads of both story and backstory are woven together into their final pattern. A story three seasons in the telling comes to a close. The feud has ended.
The Clementine Ingredient
“Somehow it’s always easier to talk brave than to be brave.”
Hannibal Heyes
STORY: JOHN THOMAS JAMES
TELEPLAY: GLORYETTE CLARK
DIRECTOR: JACK ARNOLD
SHOOTING DATES: UTAH — JULY 14, 1972; STUDIO — AUGUST 16, 17, 18, 21, 22, 23, 1972
ORIGINAL US AIR DATE: OCTOBER 7, 1972
ORIGINAL UK AIR DATE: NOVEMBER 12, 1973
Hannibal Heyes and Kid Curry canter through the arid landscape halfway to Mexico when Heyes pulls up short. He’s decided the two of them would look suspicious settling down in Santa Marta. They’re missing a vital ingredient — Clementine. Curry thinks Heyes’s missing ingredient is brains.
After miles of travel, they arrive at Clementine’s house. Welcoming them with smiles and kisses, she says it’s good they didn’t come around a month ago because men were watching her house. As she rustles up some food, they tell her they’re headed to Mexico with money from a job they did for Big Mac McCreedy. They’ve stopped to invite her to go along but she has to pretend to be married to one of them. They’ll stay in cool, green Santa Marta in a villa they can rent for $50-60 a month and may be there awhile because the situation isn’t good for Governor Warren to grant them amnesty just now. It sounds wonderful to Clem but she suspects they’re still after the photograph she has of the three of them. Curry agrees that’s important, but they wouldn’t marry her to get it.
The next morning, they play a hand of showdown to decide who pretends to be married to Clem. Heyes turns up a pair of tens to Curry’s pair of fours. “Mrs. Joshua Smith sounds nice,” Clem purrs. “I won, you’re Mrs. Thaddeus Jones,” Heyes points out. Clem is outraged that the loser gets her.
She begins to argue when a shot fired from outside shatters the lamp on the table. The men who had been watching her house have returned and they know Heyes and Curry are inside. Calling out to the leader, the boys suggest making a deal. They’ll send Clementine ou
t if the leader comes in to talk.
Before Clem goes out, Heyes asks for pencil and paper. She walks out the door and is met by the man in charge. As long as his men have Clem, Curry promises, it’ll be safe for him to come inside.
The leader, Ted Thompson, tells Heyes and Curry that twenty men formed a club to watch Miss Hale’s house. They plan on splitting the $20,000 reward. Heyes has a bigger deal for him, reminding Ted that the Red Gap bank was robbed and they got away with a half million dollars. They’re going to give it to Ted as a bribe to get out of their predicament. Heyes produces his half of the freshly-drawn map showing where the money is buried. Curry withholds his half until Ted agrees to go along. The prospect of the loot convinces Ted to shut out the rest of the club, which in actuality numbers only six.
Ted calls to two of his men, inviting them into the house to help him decide what to do about Heyes and Curry’s deal. Once inside, the boys get the drop on them. His partners threaten Ted with death as he ties them up, but he convinces them he was under the guns of the outlaws and had to do what they said.
For show, Curry threatens Ted before he sends him out the door again with a whiskey bottle to invite the rest of the club in. The ruse works and, as the four men step onto the porch, Curry and Heyes corner them with guns drawn.
After a long journey, Heyes, Curry and Clementine arrive in Santa Marta. The alcalde greets them and apologizes for the way they were treated the last time they were in his town. He even offers to drive them to the villa in his own coach. Clementine is immediately taken with his charm and good looks and openly flirts with him.
Alias Smith & Jones: The Story of Two Pretty Good Bad Men Page 42