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.
5 Reviews
Last stand at Sherman station?
bkoganbing28 November 2017
A stagecoach driven by Eddy Waller and riding shotgun is John Pickard stops to make repair when one of the passengers shoots a curious young Pawnee brave. The nervous passenger is Marsha Hunt and the stagecoach makes for Sherman station. The Indian kid shot happened to be Chief Frank DeKova's son.
Marsha Hunt is running away with Ernest Borgnine who was cashiered out of the army for conduct unbecoming. Hunt was the post commander's wife whom he ran away with. He was also charged with cowardice in battle but acquitted with still lingering suspicions.
In any event the inhabitants of the station and the passengers are stuck there and it really looks bad. It also looks like Borgnine and Hunt biblical sinners may be the noblest out of the group taking refuge at Sherman station.
Borgnine, Hunt, and Robert Simon as a traveling railroad executive who is a real piece of work steal this one from the series regulars.
Marsha Hunt is running away with Ernest Borgnine who was cashiered out of the army for conduct unbecoming. Hunt was the post commander's wife whom he ran away with. He was also charged with cowardice in battle but acquitted with still lingering suspicions.
In any event the inhabitants of the station and the passengers are stuck there and it really looks bad. It also looks like Borgnine and Hunt biblical sinners may be the noblest out of the group taking refuge at Sherman station.
Borgnine, Hunt, and Robert Simon as a traveling railroad executive who is a real piece of work steal this one from the series regulars.
Pure baloney!
hoovie706 December 2018
white men playing indian roles
sandcrab2776 December 2018
Pathetic attempt at a western ... enough said ... well, perhaps something should be mentioned about ernie borgnine ... he shines as an ex cavalry officer trying to stem the tide of white racism against the indians ... robert f. simon and frank ferguson run off at the mouth as they usually do when included in the dialogue
Glorified Genocide -- 19th Century Family Values
labenji-1216316 October 2020
Being a fan of Western TV shows, I prefer to watch those without the mascara of Native Americans, as I do not find this entertaining, especially in a family series.
I realize these westerns were created before the Civil Rights movement of the 60s, but some shows like Gunmoke were ahead of their time by writing scripts that did not hide the genocide of the First People, and when an episode involved "Indian" battles they were careful to write both perspectives -- the natives and the settlers.
In this episode, after the woman shot the native out of fear and they went back to the relay station, they prepared to fight the Pawnees, just the attitude of indifference and not repercussions for what she had done was too much to take. I realize that during this time in history, this was and many cases still is the mindset when Whites kill or injure people of color -- it's dismissed as an "oops", but not so when it's the other way around.
So why the scripts is true to the period, it is still too bitter of a pill to swallow, and sad that too many shows in the mid-20th century still portrayed the Genocide of these people as right and just to the point of making it family entertainment 300 years later.
I realize these westerns were created before the Civil Rights movement of the 60s, but some shows like Gunmoke were ahead of their time by writing scripts that did not hide the genocide of the First People, and when an episode involved "Indian" battles they were careful to write both perspectives -- the natives and the settlers.
In this episode, after the woman shot the native out of fear and they went back to the relay station, they prepared to fight the Pawnees, just the attitude of indifference and not repercussions for what she had done was too much to take. I realize that during this time in history, this was and many cases still is the mindset when Whites kill or injure people of color -- it's dismissed as an "oops", but not so when it's the other way around.
So why the scripts is true to the period, it is still too bitter of a pill to swallow, and sad that too many shows in the mid-20th century still portrayed the Genocide of these people as right and just to the point of making it family entertainment 300 years later.
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