The combination of writer John Dunkel (a frequent contributor to "Gunsmoke" and "Rawhide") and veteran western director Virgil W. Vogel proved to be just the shot in the arm to bring "Laramie" up to a standard approaching the best westerns of the time with this third episode. Good, captivating performances from guests Ernest Borgnine and Marsha Hunt helped considerably. The radically named John Smith (originally Robert Van Orden), the nominal top-ranked star of the show as solid, stable Slim Sherman, was given space to come into his own up against a largely absent Robert Fuller (playing the edgier Jess Harper), who came to somewhat overshadow Smith through the series, and especially in posterity.
Review of Circle of Fire
