Tag Archives: Jill Ireland

SHANE (The TV Series) – Episode 14: The Big Fifty (originally aired December 10th, 1966)

Posted on by Bradley Crain

Episode 14 begins with one of Rufe Ryker’s men, Ed Bain, cutting barbed wire fence on the Starett ranch so their herd of cattle can go to a watering hole. As he’s cutting the fence, the sounds of gunshots from a “Big 50” rifle ring out as he’s shot and falls over. Shane (David Carradine) and Joey (Christopher Shea), who are riding through the area, hear the shots and find the wounded man. He rushes him to Sam Grafton’s saloon to see if Sam (Sam Gilman) can do anything to save him. Unfortunately the man was shot in the gut and there is no hope. About the time he dies, Rufe Ryker (Bert Freed) and his men come into the bar. He immediately asks Shane why he killed him. Shane, picking the wrong time to be a smartass, tells Ryker that if he had killed him it would have been for his cutting their fence, but that he didn’t do it. Ryker doesn’t believe him and neither do his men. They decide that Ed Bain deserves justice because “he was not only a good hand, but he was a good man.” Out for blood, Ryker decides he’s going to put Shane on trial for murder right then and there with only his men as the witnesses and jury. I call this the “Saint Bain” portion of the story. Harve (Lawrence Mann) tells us what a brave and hardworking man Bain was. Bain’s best friend Greevey (a guest starring Wayne Rogers) tells about all of their good times and card playing together. It seems that Bain is such a good guy that Shane clearly deserves to die even though none of them actually saw him shoot the man. 

While the sham of the trial is going, the saloonkeeper Ben (Owen Bush) slips out the back and rides out to the Starett ranch to tell Tom (Tom Tully) and Marian (Jill Ireland) what’s going on. The two immediately set about trying to round up some of the homesteaders to go into town with them to try to stop Ryker and his men from hanging Shane. One by one, each of the homesteaders turn them down because “this is not their fight” and reason that Shane probably did it because “he’s a gunfighter.” Knowing they have zero chance against Ryker on their own, Tom and Marian come up with a plan. He’ll head to Laramie to get the U.S. Marshall, and she’ll go try to buy some time from Ryker with the only bargaining chip they have, the deed to the family ranch. 

Episode 14 of Shane is a bit of a mixed bag. On the positive side, the gun that is used to kill Ed Bain at the beginning is a unique and interesting element of the story. The weapon is a Sharps “Big 50,” a .50 caliber rifle that was designed for buffalo hunting and introduced in 1872 by the Sharps Rifle Manufacturing Company. The Big 50 joins a tradition of powerful weapons in filmed entertainment that provide their users with an advantage over their adversaries. Other examples include the Winchester 73 rifle, Dirty Harry’s 44 Magnum and Paul Kersey’s 357 Wildey Magnum in DEATH WISH 3. At one point, the killer is firing the Big 50 into the Starett cabin at Shane, Marian and Joey. Based on the power of the gun as already shown, there is a real sense of danger that someone could be seriously hurt. There was also one good scene centered around the unspoken love between Shane and Marian, even if Shane wasn’t a part of it. With Shane’s life seriously in jeopardy, Tom reassures his daughter-in-law, “honey, you’ve only been in love with 2 men in your whole life. I’m gonna make sure you don’t lose them both.” She sure doesn’t protest. It was a sweet scene and I enjoyed that as well. 

On the negative side, episode 14 featured the most lazy storytelling thus far in the series. The series has gone to great lengths to show Rufe Ryker as a man who’s hard-as-nails, but also mostly reasonable. The writers throw that out the window in this storyline and require him to behave completely irrational in his quest for vengeance for his hired man. It would be one thing if Ed Bain was his son or something, but Ryker’s line about him being a “good man” doesn’t get close to explaining the turnaround in his behavior. And not only do they present him as irrational, they make him incompetent to boot. Joey rides up and convinces Ryker that he’s only there to take Shane some food. Ryker even checks his slicker for a gun before letting him go in. Turns out Joey did have a gun under his jacket and Ryker just didn’t find it. The show had seemed to really be hitting its stride before this episode and the lazy storytelling surprised me. They should have introduced a new character if they were going to make him so irrational and incompetent. That description just doesn’t fit the Ryker of the first 13 episodes. 

Overall, this may have been the least enjoyable episode so far. While it did have some good moments, I’m still struggling to let go of the way they changed Ryker’s character so completely for this one. We’ll see what happens with him over the last few episodes of the series. While I’m slightly disappointed with episode 14, I’m still looking forward to seeing what happens next. 

Strother Martin – One of the great character actors of all time! 

Posted on by Bradley Crain

The unique character actor, Strother Martin, is established as one of the most quoted people to ever grace the silver screen. His line from COOL HAND LUKE (1967), “What we’ve got here is… failure to communicate” ranks as number 11 on the American Film Institute’s list of the 100 greatest movie quotes of all time! He’s an incredibly talented man, and every time I see him pop up on an old TV show or movie, I smile. 

My personal favorite film of all time is HARD TIMES (1975) starring Charles Bronson, James Coburn, Jill Ireland, and yes, Strother Martin. He is so good as Poe, Charles Bronson’s cut man, who also happens to be a recovering drug addict. HARD TIMES is Walter Hill’s debut film, and Hill couldn’t have picked a better cast to introduce himself to the world. It’s my opinion that Martin’s unique talents are a perfect compliment to Bronson’s strong, silent persona, and James Coburn’s motormouth, business man. I think it’s one of his best performances. 

My favorite scene with Bronson and Strother Martin in HARD TIMES is the scene where they first meet. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find it on YouTube so I’m sharing this scene where Bronson collects their earnings from a guy who cheated them earlier in the day. Martin’s character isn’t featured in this scene, but he’s always right there with Bronson as a loyal friend. On what would have been Martin’s 106th birthday, I just wanted to take a moment to remember and appreciate him for his great work.

SHANE (The TV Series) – Episode 13: A Long Night of Mourning (originally aired December 3rd, 1966)

Posted on by Bradley Crain

Episode 13 of SHANE opens with a beautiful woman walking into Grafton’s General Store while Joey (Christopher Shea) is there looking at the candy jars. Since Joey doesn’t have a penny, she offers him one, which he immediately converts to 8 pieces of peppermint. She asks Joey his name, and when he replies “Joey Starett,” she asks back, “Is your grandpa, Tom Starett?” When Joey answers in the affirmative, this classy lady takes on the look of someone who has found what she’s been looking for. She takes a room at Grafton’s and tells Sam that someone will be joining her soon and that she’ll need a second room for when he arrives.

Back at the ranch that evening, Joey is telling Shane (David Carradine) and his grandpa Tom (Tom Tully) about the woman at Grafton’s. Tom immediately gets a troubled look about him when Joey tells him that her name is Lydia Montgomery (Joanne Linville).  Coincidentally, Shane knows Lydia Montgomery because he had worked for her husband Dave awhile back in Springfield, IL, which is where Tom had lived before moving out west to Wyoming to be with his son Joe & daughter-in-law Marian (Jill Ireland). Shane asks Tom how he knew Dave Montgomery, and Tom surprisingly reveals, “I had him hanged.” It turns out that Tom had been a judge in his prior life. Convinced of her husband’s innocence and blaming “Judge Tom Starett” for his death, Lydia and her hired gun Lee (Bill Fletcher) have come to Cross Roads to kill him on the 5th anniversary of the hanging. Even Shane may not be enough to stop them. 

After mostly playing the kind old grandpa up to this point in the series, Tom Tully takes center stage in episode 13. It’s actually quite surprising because it reveals things about Tom’s past that had not even been hinted at in prior episodes. Not only do we learn that Tom was a judge, but we also learn that he was a terrible drunk who escaped out west to be with his son and daughter-in-law and get away from the guilt associated with decisions he made from the bench. His entire countenance changes from the man we’ve come to know the moment he hears the name Lydia Montgomery, and we watch him go through several stages that are quite predictable for a man living with guilt. First, we see him get extremely defensive and start lashing out at his family as he tries to explain why he sentenced Dave Montgomery to be hanged. This is clearly a man who doesn’t feel good about the decision. Next, we see him go back to the bar to get drunk, something he hasn’t done in many years, in order to numb his pain and help him forget, if even for just a little while. We can see that he almost feels that he deserves whatever he gets from Mrs. Montgomery, and her gunman. And finally, when he’s confronted by Mrs. Montgomery again at the end, he’s arrived at the point where he can plainly state the truth of what happened, admit his own shortcomings in the situation and accept whatever fate comes his way. I won’t reveal the entire circumstances of the case that brought all of this about, but I will say that it definitely points out the shortcomings of the American justice system where justice and the law don’t always coincide. Tully does a good job of presenting a much more complex man underneath the hardworking and kind grandpa character we’ve been presented with thus far. Tom is like the rest of us, we’ve all got our different stories and some of them aren’t so pretty when you scratch beneath the surface. 

Guest star Joanne Linville is very good as Lydia Montgomery, the grieving widow who, in the years after her husband’s death sentence, has elevated him from being a mere mortal to a place of sainthood. Through her relationship with the gunman Lee Maddox, a man who clearly loves her, we learn that she has never come to terms with the reality of his life or death, and she certainly has never accepted that he’s really gone. Her obsession with taking revenge on one man, Tom Starett, has basically stopped her life in its tracks and she needs to deal with her emotions even more than Tom does. The rest of the cast doesn’t have that much to do in the episode, although there are a few good moments for them. Shane is mostly there to provide Tom some physical protection, while also questioning his decision on that fateful day from five years earlier. His interactions with gunman Lee Maddox are pretty good as they had worked together in the past and respect each other. They don’t want to have to go against each other, but they will if it comes down to it. Jill Ireland has a good scene as Marian where she confronts Lydia Montgomery about her plans to kill Tom. It’s a tense scene and the ladies go at it back and forth nicely. They don’t resolve anything, but it’s another effective way to beat home the moral dilemma the episode presents. 

Prior to watching Episode 13, the last thing I was expecting was an installment of the series devoted entirely to Tom Starett, and I probably wouldn’t have really wanted one. With that said, I enjoyed it for what it was and I’m glad to be able to see Tom as a more complex man. This didn’t really leave any time for longing looks between Shane and Marian, but we did get a brief look of love at the very end, and I’ll take it. 

SHANE (The TV Series) – Episode 12: The Silent Gift (originally aired November 26th, 1966)

Posted on by Bradley Crain

Episode 12 opens with Shane (David Carradine) and Rufe Ryker (Bert Freed) looking over a beautiful Appaloosa colt. Shane wants to buy it for Joey (Christopher Shea) and offers Ryker $50. Ryker gets a good laugh at that, but he does make Shane a counteroffer: if Shane will work at his cattle ranch for one month, he’ll then let Shane have the colt for $50. Shane doesn’t really want to do it, but it’s important to him to get Joey the colt, so he agrees. Ryker allows Shane to go ahead and take the colt to the Starett ranch and give him to Joey. Of course, Joey is ecstatic and can’t wait to start taking care of him. Marian Starett (Jill Ireland) isn’t that happy with Shane about the deal to work for Ryker for a month, but it’s soon clear that no amount of protesting from her will stop Shane from doing this for Joey. 

The next day Shane is moving into Ryker’s bunkhouse for the month, and we begin getting a feel for the various men working for Ryker. The foreman Kyle (Jack Ging) immediately takes a disliking for Shane for no particular reason other than jealousy, I guess. He’s a real jerk, and he seems to have some kind of inferiority complex. In more modern times, it seems possible that Kyle might drive a big truck with swinging testicles attached to the trailer hitch. We also meet Jingles (J. Pat O’Malley), an older man who the other cowboys pick on for sport. He takes it because he doesn’t want to ruffle any feathers or get turned out by Ryker. Jingles tells Shane that this job is the only thing he has in life, and he doesn’t know what he’d do if he were to lose it. That night Ryker comes into the bunkhouse and tells Shane that there will be no fighting, and that if he puts his hands on one of his men, he’ll be fired and the deal for the colt is off. Shane just wants to keep his head down and work out his month and then get back to his life at the Starett ranch. Even though Shane works extremely hard and proves to be a good “hand,” it becomes clear that foreman Kyle is going to do everything he can to make his life a living hell. Will Shane be able to finish out a month at Ryker’s place and pay for Joey’s gift? Will Jingles tell the truth when Kyle picks a fight with Shane? Will Joey learn valuable lessons in life from the colt? Will Marian admit to Shane how much she misses him when he’s gone? All good questions: episode 12 has the answers! 

While it may be a slight step down from the sheer awesomeness of the prior installment, episode 12, “The Silent Gift,” is another fine episode of the Shane TV series. I mention the name of the episode because its use of the word “silent” captures part of what I enjoy so much about the series. Shane doesn’t say a lot throughout the entire series, but he continuously lets his actions prove out who he is as a person. In this case, his love for Joey is on full display because of what he does for him in this episode. Now don’t get me wrong, words are important, and I still tell my wife and children that I love them daily. But words are hollow if they’re not backed up by actions. Shane always backs up his words. Shane’s motives are the antithesis of a person like the foreman Kyle, who’s outwardly all bluster and bravado, but whose actions are fueled completely by lies and deceit. The character of Jingles, who seems like a nice enough old guy, is also shown to be in sharp contrast to Shane. Jingle’s life is controlled by fear and his actions are all about self-preservation. The sad truth is the fact that there are a lot more Kyle’s and Jingle’s in this world than there are Shane’s. On a positive note, the character arc of Jingles ultimately gives us hope that it’s never too late for any of us to do the right thing. 

The main guest stars in this episode, Jack Ging and J. Pat O’Malley, both caught my attention. Ging, who played foreman Kyle, looked very familiar to me. A look at his filmography shows he was the dad in WHERE THE RED FERN GROWS (1974) and appeared in three different Clint Eastwood films a few years after appearing in this episode. One of the first books I remember reading purely for pleasure was “Where the Red Fern Grows.” I loved it so much and watched the movie many times growing up. To be honest, I haven’t thought about it for years, but now I’m hankering for a rewatch. And O’Malley, who played Jingles, also has an interesting filmography. He provided voiceover work for many classic animated films like ONE HUNDRED AND ONE DALMATIONS (1961) and THE JUNGLE BOOK (1967). And what really amazes me is the fact that he voiced characters in Disney’s “Pirates of the Caribbean” attraction, including one of the prisoners coaxing the dog with the keys in his mouth. When you’ve been to Disney World as many times as I have, I now see O’Malley as a rock star! 

Shane’s relationship with Marian has one really good moment in this episode. When Shane is visiting the Starett ranch one night, Marian tells him how much they miss him, how much SHE misses him, when he’s gone. I believe she would have been open to a big kiss if Shane would have gone for it, but instead he just said “that’s nice to hear” before saying goodnight. Here’s one time I don’t agree with the action Shane takes. With only five more episodes to go, the romantic in me is still hoping for a big-time payoff in love! 

SHANE (The TV Series) – Episode 11: The Day the Wolf Laughed (originally aired November 19th, 1966)

Posted on by Bradley Crain

Episode 11 of Shane opens with a group of outlaws making their way across the valley after pulling off a lucrative robbery. Needing a couple of days to lay low and rest their horses, they decide to take over Sam Grafton’s bar to drink and blow off some steam. They reason it’s a safe place to stay since there doesn’t appear to be any law in the area. Their leader is Reno (J.D. Cannon), with Augie (Skip Homeier) as his right-hand man, Grant (Daniel J. Travanti) as his enforcer, and a couple of others for good measure. Shane (David Carradine) and Marian (Jill Ireland) happen to be shopping in Sam’s general store when Reno and his men come into the bar. They can hear them breaking bottles and bullying Sam around in the next room. Sam comes into the general store and asks his employee Ben (Owen Bush) to ride out to Rufe Ryker’s ranch and ask him if he will come help with these guys. Soon the outlaws walk into the general store, where Shane and Reno immediately recognize each other. It seems the two gunslingers grew up together under the tutelage of an old man they called “The Wolf,” who taught them everything they know. Because Shane knows how skilled and dangerous Reno is, he asks Sam to let them stay for the next couple of days, and Reno agrees to pay Sam well for his trouble. Sam reluctantly agrees and Shane and Marian head back to the ranch. 

A little later Rufe Ryker (Bert Freed) and his men ride into town and enter Sam’s bar. Reno gets the drop on them and sends them back out with their tails between their legs. They regroup back at Ryker’s ranch and decide to go back to town and try force the outlaws out of the bar. On the way, Ryker stops off at the Starett’s ranch to try to convince Shane to help. Shane tells Ryker that the best thing he can do is leave Reno and his men alone and wait for them to leave in a couple of days. With his pride hurt, Ryker is in no mood for listening and heads to town anyway. When the shooting starts, Ryker and his men are caught in a deadly crossfire. Trying to retreat, Ryker is shot and severely injured by Reno. While Ryker tries to recover, his men decide they are going to stake out the bar so they can be in position to kill Reno and his men when they try to leave. Feeling trapped, Reno instructs a couple of his guys to go to the nearest ranch and get a hostage to help them with their escape. When the guys grab a local girl named Shirley and Marian, who was in the area looking for their cow Katrina at the same time, Shane finally decides to enter the fight against Reno. Their old mentor “The Wolf” always predicted that their relationship would end with one of them killing the other. It looks like he just may be right. 

“The Day the Wolf Laughed” is my favorite episode of the TV series SHANE so far, as it really leans into Shane’s skills as a gunfighter and pits him against a man in Reno who’s every bit as skilled. When the two men first see each other in Sam’s general store you can tell that they really do respect each other. Reno goes so far as to tell Marian that “you have a good man. He’ll fight for you.” As soon as you hear those lines, you know Shane will end up having to prove those words to be true. Even though Shane spends most of the episode trying to convince other people that they just need to leave Reno alone, he doesn’t hesitate to take matters into his own hands the moment Marian is put in danger. This is the first episode of the series where Shane really lives up to the reputation that is always being hinted at in the series, and I loved it! 

Episode 11 is also elevated by its game cast of guest stars. J.D. Cannon (DEATH WISH II) is an especially strong adversary for Shane. He can be extremely cold blooded, but he’s also respectful, somewhat likable, and you believe that his word means something. You almost hate it when the two end up squaring off at the end. Daniel J. Travanti (HILL STREET BLUES), with a thick mustache, is quite intimidating as the enforcer of the gang. He seems quiet and laid back until he’s called upon by Reno. His countenance then completely changes, and you don’t really want to be on the other side of his gun at that point in time. It was also nice seeing Skip Homeier show up as Reno’s right-hand man, Augie. Homeier appeared in the excellent 1957 Budd Boetticher/Randolph Scott western THE TALL T, and he provides good support here as well. As far as the main cast, David Carradine and Bert Freed take center stage in this episode, with both men doing a great job. Freed, in particular, has created a strong, complex character in Ryker over the course of the first 11 episodes, and I’ve actually grown to like him.

Overall, for a fan of badass western action, this episode was right down my alley. Shane and Marian may not have shared any long, lustful looks, but Shane proves his love by putting his life on the line for her against Reno’s gang. We only have 6 more episodes to go, and it will be fun to see where we go from here.  

SHANE (The TV Series) – Episode 10: High Road to Viator (originally aired November 12th, 1966)

Posted on by Bradley Crain

Episode 10 begins with Marian Starett (Jill Ireland) and her son Joey (Christopher Shea) shopping for fabric in Grafton’s Store. Joey’s not that excited about the shopping experience so he’s just goofing around when he comes across a flyer for a dance in the town of Viator, WY. He shows the flyer to his mom, and you can immediately tell that she would love to go to a dance, even if she won’t say it out loud. Shane (David Carradine) notices how Marian’s face brightens up when the dance is brought up again later that night back at the ranch. He decides right then and there that the family is going to that dance, even though it’s a three-day ride by carriage. Tom Starett (Tom Tully) doesn’t see how they can abandon the work that needs to be done at the ranch, but he relents to Shane when he sees how important the dance is to Marian. 

So, the family heads out on the three-day trip to Viator. They sing and laugh and are having the best time as they make camp on the first night. Unfortunately, a group of thieves attack them and steal their food and many of their other belongings. Not to be deterred, Shane convinces the family to keep moving forward to Viator. Thanks to some brave work from Joey and Shane, Marian still has the special dress that she plans to wear to the dance. As they close in on their destination, Shane goes ahead to make arrangements for the family. When he arrives, he finds that Viator is now a ghost town and that the flyer was actually from the year before. The community’s mine flooded about six months earlier and just about everyone left to restart their lives elsewhere. Will Marian still get to dance? Will Joey get to see his mom happy? Will Tom stop thinking about chores? The answers are all here for those who are truly interested! 

Episode 10 is the most romantic episode of the SHANE TV series that I’ve encountered so far. The needs and desires of Marian Starett take center stage and Jill Ireland is quite wonderful in the episode. Every action Shane takes is to make Marian happy. When Marian won’t admit that she even wants to go to the dance, Shane knows her true feelings and he’s going to take her no matter who objects. When the thieves steal Marian’s dress and conk her on the head, Shane risks his life to get it back because he knows it carries a special meaning in her life. When they make it to Viator, even though they got the date wrong and the dance hall is now a dusty, cobweb filled mess, Shane wants Marian to wear her dress. He asks her if he can remove the wrap that she is wearing, revealing her in her dress, and for the first time in the series, we see Jill Ireland at her most beautiful. She’s stunning. Shane sweetly begins pretending that there are people and music in the dance hall just so Marian can enjoy herself. She happily plays along and Shane and Marian dance together to the music in their minds and stare happily into each other’s eyes. Tom and Joey walk in and watch them dance. Joey asks his grandpa, “How can they dance? There isn’t any music.” Tom replies “Don’t be too sure of that boy.” It’s an endearing exchange and a testament to just how happy Shane and Marian are in that moment. Next week Shane can get back to being a badass. In Episode 10, he just wanted to make Marian happy, and he did. 

SHANE (The TV Series) – Episode 9: Poor Tom’s A-Cold (originally aired November 5th, 1966)

Posted on by Bradley Crain

Episode 9 begins with Shane (David Carradine) riding his horse up to a family looking over some dead cattle. It seems their water source has become poisoned and the patriarch of the family, Tom Gary (Robert Duvall), blames Rufe Ryker (Bert Freed). He believes that Ryker is trying to force him off of his land. After Shane heads off to get the family some fresh water, Gary grabs his shotgun and heads to Sam Grafton’s bar looking for Ryker and some payback. When Shane finds out that Gary is going after Ryker, he and Tom Starett (Tom Tully) take off to try to stop a killing. They get there just in time to stop Gary. Ryker tells them that he had nothing to do with the water becoming poisoned, that it’s just a drought and the area is subject to getting alkaline in the water. That’s what actually killed his cattle. 

Three weeks later, Shane, Tom, Marian (Jill Ireland), and Joey (Christopher Shea) are sitting around the table talking about the Garys. Nobody has seen them for a few weeks, so Marian decides she’s going to go visit Ada Gary (Phyllis Love) to check on the family. Ada tells Marian that her husband has become completely obsessed with the idea that Ryker is trying to steal his land and that he spends every night outside with his shotgun. The next day, Ryker rides up and tells Shane that Tom Gary took a shot at him as he was riding his horse along the trail. Moments later, the Gary’s little girl runs up to the ranch and tells Shane and Tom that her pa has shot her mom. When they get to the Gary ranch, Ada is shot but she’s still alive. She tells them that her husband believes everyone, including her, is out to get him, and that he has headed off into the hills with guns and supplies. Shane and Ryker head off to get him, with Ryker wanting him dead…

Episode 9 starts off like a normal episode. It’s very normal for a sodbuster to be into it with Ryker at this point. But after watching the first eight episodes, we believe Ryker when he says he didn’t poison the water supply. We know that’s not his style. As the episode progresses, we begin to learn more about Tom Gary. We hear from his kids and his wife about how scary he is when he’s angry. His kids even tell Joey about their special hiding place outside of the house that they go to when their dad gets mad. We find out that they’ve spent many nights outside hiding from their dad because it’s not as scary as being in the house with him. This is when we realize the episode is going in a completely different direction. Tom Gary isn’t a victim of Ryker and his desire to own all of the land in the valley. The truth is that Tom Gary is abusive and clearly suffering from a mental illness, and the valley is not the place for a man with a violent mental illness. Can you imagine what living hell it must be for his wife and his kids? To be honest, I haven’t ever thought of what it must have been like for those suffering from mental illness, and for those who loved them, back in the old west. And this is from a guy whose wife works with the mentally ill week in and week out. Tom Gary has no help, and his family has no way out. Robert Duvall gives a good performance as Tom Gary, and we definitely see him as a man who has lost control of his faculties and is no longer capable of living in normal society. The writers even go so far as showing Shane as the person who wants to bring him in alive, and Ryker as the person who thinks it will be better for everyone, especially Ada Gary, if he’s dead and she doesn’t have to deal with him any longer. 

Overall, Episode 9 is not an easy episode to watch, and it doesn’t provide any easy answers, which is honestly how it should be. I wasn’t expecting the show to go in this direction, even if just for one episode. This episode makes you uncomfortable and makes you think of things you don’t really want to think of, and I’m guessing that’s probably the point. I give the show credit for that, but I’m also hoping episode 10 will get back to more familiar territory. 

SHANE (The TV Series) – Episode 8: The Other Image (originally aired October 29th, 1966)

Posted on by Bradley Crain

Episode 8 begins with Sam Grafton (Sam Gilman) riding up to the Starett cabin as Shane (David Carradine), Tom (Tom Tully). Marian (Jill Ireland), and Joey (Christopher Shea) are chopping and stacking wood. He has a new plow for the family, and he also has a letter that has arrived for Marian from Boston. The letter is from Mr. Warren Eliot (Robert Brown), a handsome former boyfriend who is now a state Senator in Massachusetts. His letter explicitly states the fact, and also reminds Marian, that she was once “the most beautiful girl in Boston.” Tired of working like a mule for little or no appreciation and only discussing things like plow handles and wood for the winter, Marian is excited when Warren’s letter announces that he is coming for a visit. This throws the household, and Shane, into quite a tizzy. And it gets even worse when Warren arrives, for everyone but Marian and Rufe Ryker (Bert Freed) that is. Marian feels like she’s 18 again, and Ryker sees this as an unexpected opportunity to get the Starett’s and Shane out of the valley. Spending their days riding horses and talking about the old times, the new times, and everything in between, Warren eventually asks Marian to marry him and go back to Boston. Marian is unable to say yes or no immediately and asks for a little time to think about it, especially since it would be such a big change for Joey. Of course, all of this puts Shane in a pissy mood, but he still won’t tell Marian exactly how he feels, even though she presses him about it a couple of times. Will Marian agree to marry the dashing Warren Eliot? Will Ryker finally get his hands on the Starett land? Will Joey and his turtle have to travel across the country? Will Shane have to pull up stakes and move on down the trail? I think you probably know the answers, but the fun is always in watching it unfold! 

Near the end of my review of episode 7, I made the following comment, “I don’t think they (Shane and Marian) look at each other longingly a single time, which did make me a little sad. Here’s hoping they’ll double that up in Episode 8!” All I can say is be careful what you wish for. In this episode, Marian and her old boyfriend, now Senator Eliot, take center stage. And Shane is off to the side sulking most of the time while Marian is basking in all the compliments and attention. I was kind of hoping that Warren would turn out not to be quite as perfect as he first appears, you know, one of those deals where he has duplicitous motives or something. But no, he really is just about perfect. And Shane, poor Shane… you would think that he might finally tell Marian how he really feels about her. But not our Shane. When she point blank asks him what he thinks she should do, with a little hope in her voice that he might try to talk her out of it, his response is “you’d be crazy not to say yes.” And then he goes off to sulk some more. At the end of the day, I can’t help but wonder if Shane doesn’t have a hell of a point! But the heart wants what the heart wants, and it doesn’t always make sense. 

As for the moments where Shane and Marian look longingly at each other, this episode does indeed double up with a couple of doozies. The first time is when Shane tells her that he introduced himself to Warren earlier that day at Grafton’s as her “hired man.”  She tells Shane that “you know you’re family. You know that don’t you Shane? Don’t you?” As Shane is hitching up his horse to leave, she runs out the door and stares at him, then he stares at her and then does a double take, and then she stares at him some more. Even I started to get a little uncomfortable! And there was another scene late in the episode where they chop wood together late in the evening that has be serving as a metaphor for making love or something. They are working that wood together and looking at each other and sweating. The scene ends with her saying “it’s good to be needed,” to which he replies, “yeah” while somewhat out of breath. From that point forward, we know poor Warren doesn’t stand a chance. I’ve never watched any of these episodes before starting this series of reviews, so I had no idea this was coming when I finished up last week’s review. Needless to say, Episode 8 fulfilled my quota of sexual tension between the two for at least the next few episodes combined! 

Overall, while I did enjoy episode 8, I must admit that it’s not one of my favorite episodes so far, especially with Shane coming off more like lovelorn teenager than a tough gunslinger for most of the episode. The resolution is a little silly as well, with Shane and Warren actually teaming up in a bar fight with Ryker’s men. But with that said, the writers must be credited for providing me exactly what I asked for in my last review, in spades. So, thank you Jack Schaefer and Ellen Violett! As we’re reaching the midway point of the complete series, I’m looking forward to what episode 9 has to offer. 

Charles Bronson and Jill Ireland: Great Romances of the 20th Century – Season 3, Episode 10 (Aired April 24th, 2001)

Posted on by Bradley Crain

Happy Valentine’s Day, my friends! Today I celebrate my own valentine, my wife Sierra. I bought her a beautiful bouquet of roses, as well as a card, on which I wrote my true feelings of love and appreciation for her. It made me very happy to see the joy on her face as she received her roses and read her card.

I’m also celebrating my favorite film valentines, Charles Bronson and Jill Ireland. I’ve been blessed to have a few opportunities over the years to talk to people who were friends or family with Bronson and Ireland. They always say the same types of things… “they were so in love,” “Charlie would light up whenever she was around,” “she always softened him up.” That’s one of the reasons I enjoy watching them on screen together. There’s something about knowing how much they love each other that just makes me happy. Back in 2001, the TV series “Great Romances of the 20 Century” featured Bronson and Ireland. One of the most interesting parts of the episode showed Charlie and Jill being interviewed on the set of the film BREAKOUT (1975). Bronson was notoriously prickly in interviews, and he seemed to be heading that way on this particular day. But when Jill started talking about her husband to the person conducting the interview, you could just see the impact her words had on his mood and countenance. She made him smile and his entire mood changed, confirming everything I’ve been told. It’s quite beautiful to see.

If you’re interested, I’ve linked to the episode below.

https://therokuchannel.roku.com/details/bb5e43736ee3d63cc3370ae4495d977b/great-romances-of-the-20th-century-s3-e10-charles-bronson-and-jill-ireland

SHANE (The TV Series) – Episode 7: Day of the Hawk (originally aired October 22nd, 1966)

Posted on by Bradley Crain

Episode 7 begins with two drunk cowboys, who work for Rufe Ryker (Bert Freed), raising cane and deciding they’ll go harass some sodbusters just for the hell of it. On this day, they ride over to Ira Jackson’s (Jason Wingreen) ranch, where Marian Starett (Jill Ireland) is there visiting Ira’s daughter Elizabeth (Catherine Ferrar). As the cowboys ride around the house, hooping and hollering and shooting off their guns, a frustrated Ira opens the door and fires a blast from his shotgun. The cowboys shoot back toward the house, hitting a kerosene lamp in the kitchen and starting a fire. Ira gets the ladies out of the house and then commences to fighting with the cowboys, who now realize what they’ve done and are wanting to help put out the fire. While the men and Marian are distracted with the fight, Elizabeth runs back into the house to try to save her calico cat, where she is engulfed by the flames and dies. 

We move on to Elizabeth’s funeral and see Shane (David Carradine) ride up with Reverend Harry Himber (James Whitmore). Rufe Ryker is there and he tells Shane and the Reverend that he’s sorry about what happened, that he had nothing to do with it, and that he doesn’t want any trouble. Shane isn’t in much mood to listen to Ryker so he moves on. Reverend Himber, who we will come to find out is a pacifist, begins the service by saying that Elizabeth would want everyone there to remember the good times they had together with her, as well as look inward to find forgiveness and understanding. Hellbent on revenge, Ira just screams “No!”

That night, after chewing his two cowhands out, Ryker decides he’s going to pay them two months wages and send them out of town. He would rather lose a couple of good cowboys as fight a war with Ira. As one of the men, the young Hoke (Dee Pollock), is on his way out of town, Ira shoots him down from the hillside with his rifle. The remainder of the episode consists of Shane and Tom Starett (Tom Tully) trying to protect Ira and the other local farmers from the wrath of Ryker and his men, while Reverend Himber tries to get everyone to talk it out to avoid more killings in the valley. 

In episode 7, the character of Rufe Ryker takes center stage, along with Shane and the visiting Reverend Himber, played here by guest star James Whitmore in an incredible performance. This is probably the deepest episode we’ve dealt with thus far, with each character showing some level of moral complexity. Neither Shane or Ryker want a fight, but they both prepare to get bloody for different reasons. Ryker makes it clear that he will protect his men and fight for them even when they’re wrong. Shane makes it clear that he will fight for the sodbusters against powerful men like Ryker even when he thinks they’re wrong. And then there’s Reverend Himber, the pacifist who is willing to do whatever it takes to stop a fight. During the episode we find out that he had been forced to kill six enemy soldiers when they raided the hospital he was working at during the war. This episode drives home the fact that a man’s ideals will at times contrast harshly with the realities of the positions they find themselves in. Each of these three men finds himself in a situation that has grown bigger than him, with both Ryker and Shane recognizing the deal and preparing for the worst. Reverend Himber, on the other hand, tries to take control of the situation, only to be the catalyst for more tragedy. We have all been in situations where we hope for the best, but we’re smart enough to prepare for the worst, because some of the biggest fools alive are the ones who think they can control other people. 

Overall, the “Day of the Hawk” is a strong episode that has a surprisingly powerful and emotional conclusion. The storyline belongs to Shane, Ryker and the Reverend, so Shane’s relationship with Marian takes a back seat this time around. I don’t think they look at each other longingly a single time, which did make me a little sad. Here’s hoping they’ll double that up in Episode 8!