The Rifleman (TV Series) The Vaqueros (1961) User Reviews

Lucas must find Mark that has been taken by Mexican bandits.

[kfo9494 · 7/10 · 13 April 2013]

To start off season four, we are given a typical 'Rifleman' episode involving Lucas being left to die and the bandits take off with his son. As always Lucas finds a way to escape and the rest of the show is Lucas determined to find his son, Mark, at any cost.

The only thing that has really changed is the location of the event. Lucas and Mark are in Mexico to buy a bull when some Mexican bandits interrupt their travel. The bandits tie Lucas top a tree and take Mark with them.

As already said, Lucas finds a way to free himself and then is taken in by a nice Mexican family that nurses him back to health. Now Lucas must find where they have taken Mark and get him back.

There is really nothing new in this episode that has not already been done many times in the series. But for a thirty minutes western it still was a nice watch.

Banditos in the Desert

[gordonl56 · 8/10 · 18 December 2013]

THE RIFLEMAN – The Vaqueros – 1962

Chuck Connors headlines this 1958 to 1963 western series that ran for 168 episodes. Connors is a world class hand with a Winchester rifle. This of course ends up getting him in no end of trouble. This is episode 111.

Chuck Connors and his son, Johnny Crawford, are crossing the desert into Northern Mexico. They are on a buying trip for a new bull. The two are set upon by a quartet of banditos led by Martian Landau. They help themselves to Connors' money, rifle and horses. They then tie him to a tree and leave him to die in the sun. They ride off to their hideout taking the boy, Crawford with them. He will be put to work cleaning and taking care of the horses.

Connors, after being baked in the sun, manages to get free of his bonds. He heads off into the desert. Sometime later, he staggers into a small village. Connors is helped by villagers, Viva Rodann and her father, Vladimir Sokoloff. They treat his severe sunburn and thirst. That evening, Landau and his men ride in to hit the local cantina. The entire village is terrified of Landau and his bunch. Connors sees his son watering the bandit's horses and calls out to him. Connors quickly comes up with a plan to get his goods back. He sends Crawford into the cantina to tell one of the men, Roberto Contreras, that his horse is lame. Needless to say, that when the man comes to check on his horse, Connors greets him in a less than friendly manner.

Taking Contreras' weapons, Connors enters the cantina and makes short work of the drunken Landau and cohorts. The village is freed and Connors has all his money etc back.

A simple story that was used in many westerns of the era, it is handled easily by veteran director, Joseph H. Lewis.

Intense desert scene looked real.

[tasha1919 · 8/10 · 18 October 2006]

I have this DVD but I ignored this episode because it sounded boring looking at the short description. It seemed like someone was always left in the desert so I passed on it until I saw Dinky's review of it, so I watched. Must have been made for women like me. I liked it because the Rifleman was shirtless. It was so intense and mean having him hang by his wrists though and being roughed up and basically being used as a leaning post for the bad guy to talk in his ear for a few minutes. But it gave me a nice closeup view of his chest. Good enough for me. As a story though it was pretty basic for being so many years into the show. My impression was this was the point the show was in trouble, so they came up with the idea of near killing the hero. Lots of shows do that when viewership drops off...they put in hero in some horrible turmoil, and that had to be what they were thinking when they made this episode. But back then the sexiest thing you could do I suppose was have a shirtless scene. I see that in so many westerns. It makes me laugh though when the music gets dramatic and the only thing you see is his tied wrists. I guess that was really considered a horrible situation back then, vs. the blood and guts of today's TV

Simplicity is usually a Virtue

[george-841 · 5 November 2011]

Yes, by current standards of TV drama this episode is rather simple and the hero's situation isn't close to as violent, bloody and tortured as a lot of modern TV heroes. But it still makes for an interesting story and the viewer does get his money's worth for a half hour.

The villains, classic Mexican bandito types that you'd almost never see today, Political Correctedness being all-encompassing in modern Hollywood, make two basic bad guy errors:

1. Never leave your victim alive, no matter how apparently hopeless is the trap you leave him in. Or if do insist on leaving him alive tied to a tree be sure you to USE BETTER QUALITY ROPE!

2. When someone tells you to check on your horse keep your back to a wall when you lean down to look at its hooves!

yet another trip to the well...

[grizzledgeezer · 3/10 · 6 May 2013]

"The Rifleman" had a knack for following terrific episodes with poor ones, and this is one of the latter.

Following his triumph earlier that year as a person of Latin ancestry in Bonanza's "The Gift" (see my review), Martin Landau plays a Mexican bandito who, with his compañeros (all Frito-bandito stereotypes), has taken over a town.

Is it any surprise this is yet another episode in which Lucas is stripped of his shirt and tied up? Landau's smarmy dialog with Connors -- in which he leans on him and wraps his arm around him -- uncomfortably anticipates the scene in "Lawrence of Arabia" where Jose Ferrer taunts the half-naked Peter O'Toole.

Naturally, Lucas resolves the problem by killing all the bad guys with his tricked-out rifle -- something the audience has been dying to see for lo, these many episodes. You were expecting something else?

This episode is an example of what David Gerrold calls a "puzzle box" story, in which the characters get into trouble, then have to figure their way out -- to no particular dramatic point. It's not good storytelling.

This episode -- which opened the fourth season -- uses a different arrangement of the end-credits music. (I believe the musicians' union has rules about how many years a recording can be reused.)

THERE WILL BE BLOOD !! (kind of ...)

[burthelukyman · 15 April 2013]

I sometimes stumble upon reruns of THE RIFLEMAN on Sunday mornings on AMC and caught this episode last weekend (april 2013). I saw it had Martin Landau bringing his usual great talent and energy to his role as a Mexican bandit, so I kept watching ... and something kept coming to my mind : - Jesus ! He reminds me of someone else I've seen recently ... But WHO ??? This kept bugging me until the end of the episode and then it finally hit me : That's it !! HE LOOKS AND ACTS EXACTLY LIKE DANIEL DAY LEWIS IN ''THERE WILL BE BLOOD!! !! It's totally uncanny ! He acts the same crazy way, speaks the same way, looks exactly like him, etc.

Watch and be amazed !