The Rifleman (TV Series) The Vision (1960) User Reviews

That Dr. Henniken

[spinvalle · 8/10 · 28 March 2018]

Lol that Doctor Henniken remind me of Dr. Bombay, the one of Bewitched and the unorthodox ways when he enters and make a huge sniff of the odors in the house. Great episode and how beautiful was Miss Marian Seldes

If Mark had only heeded his father's words.

[kfo9494 · 8/10 · 12 February 2016]

At the beginning of the episode, Mark is feeling a little grown-up and actually talks back to his Pa while feeling bad for his mother dying and leaving him. While the two, Lucas and Mark, set off to buy a bull they camp by some strangers. During the evening, Lucas kind of embarrasses Mark while he listens to a passing woman singing. Right before going to bed Lucas tells Mark not to drink the water from the passing travelers because it might be polluted. However, Mark is too busy feel sad for himself and does not heed the advise of his father. During the night Mark gets up and takes a drink from the barrel of water that belong to the travelers.

A few days later at the ranch, Mark begins to run a fever and before long, due to the high fever, Mark begins hallucinating. With Doc Burgess out of town they have to send for a neighboring doctor, Henniken. He finds out that Mark has typhoid fever- a disease that often means death. It going to be touch-and-go as Mark's fever makes him have delusions about things that even includes his dead mother.

This is a classic 'Rifleman' show where Lucas has to be strict with Mark for his own good. But it still does not lessen the love the man has for his son even when Mark disobeys his words. Even with a dream scene being too covert, it still made for a nice and entertaining show.

Kleenex alert

[garyguy8 · 9/10 · 29 August 2019]

This episode brought a tear to my eye. I think that's all that needs be said

Rifleman Masterpiece 20 Stars

[janet-conant · 10/10 · 12 April 2021]

I had to add my review after sadly reading 2-3 comments by people who are basically heartless and have no feelings or emotions. I don't have to go into detail as to the storyline as other reviewers have done that.

I missed this episode growing up and years ago recorded it. When I viewed it to my amazement I knew this was phenomenal. Johnny was so convincing as a boy with a fever hallucinating about the doctor, his mother and the big white horse. Dr. Henniken was perfect first as an impatient man then getting down to business to help this boy with Typhoid. As I watched everyone pitch in to save Mark's life from Hattie's nursing to Lucas's unshaven face to Micah and Nils bringing slush from the high country to break the fever, I thought this is not just another episode but a masterpiece of acting and writing. When Henniken sees the sweat on Mark and tells Lucas poetically that it falls like the gentle rain from heaven even that stoic doctor wipes his eyes. Mark's mother has sent him home. When Lucas sees his son no longer in danger, Mark asks him about losing his razor. Lucas has no words and hugs him hard. Even the most insensitive person would be moved.

Anyone who dismisses this episode as mediocre or lousy unfortunately has no emotions or feelings and should be pitied. My father said something like that wasn't any good and of course he would as he was devoid of ever having possessed a heart. It was not just the finest episode from 5 years of Rifleman but possibly the best of all TV watching.

Nurses

[laura-lacagnina1 · 7 June 2014]

I would love to find this episode. I like the way they hide the mothers face. Sometimes low tech works great too.

At the beginning, Hattie says 'I'm not a nurse, but I'm a women" like by default it comes by having two X chromosomes. So there! I do love the doctors line when he says to the nurse as he is leaving "Tell them you are a nurse" Great, I just spent 5 years on nursing education and I already had the two X chromosomes. I just love it

Interesting concept to go to the mountains to get snow for ice to cool Mark. The rifleman ranch has the script to most of the episodes. I would have liked to meet Chuck. See Mark all grown up on ME TV. This really was a nice plot and as always.................. Everyone lives happily eve after. L .

Great Episode!

[vivacious_dan · 9/10 · 3 August 2015]

This is another GREAT episode of The Rifleman. I am currently watching it an hour a day Monday through Friday on ME TV and for hours on AMC every Saturday morning. This ranks right up there with the best episodes.

It starts out with Lucas and Mark having a fight over Mark's deceased mother. Mark feels like he never even had a mother and Lucas is shocked by this, saying he had a mother for six years, how can he not remember her? Mark says he doesn't want to go on a trip with Lucas and Lucas says he doesn't very well feel like taking him, giving how he is acting but he has no choice.

During the trip, Mark drinks contaminated water and contracts typhoid fever. He gets extremely ill and could possibly die. During his illness, he starts to get visions, of the doctor who is treating him, of his father and then, finally, of his mother. The scenes with the mother are beautifully shot as she is wearing a lacy white wedding dress with white flowers in her hair and she is classy, elegant and extremely feminine (just how I always pictured her!). Her face is not shown and is under a veil for most of Mark's vision then finally towards the end, the veil is lifted and he sees that it is his beloved mother. Mark then states he wants to stay there with her.

In the second to best scene in the episode, Mark's mom explains that, no, he needs to go back to his father but to please give his father a flower which she hands him and explains to Mark that eventually they will all be together again. Mark regains consciousness after this and sees that his father has not shaved. He asks Lucas what happened to his razor, not realizing that his father has not been shaving because he has been too worried about him. Lucas starts to explain then gets choked up and tears fill his eyes and he wraps Mark up in an embrace. I must admit, I got tears in my eyes from this scene. I only wished that Mark had told his father about the vision of his mom. Must see episode for any Rifleman fan.

Mark Begins to Grow Up

[krme · 9/10 · 14 February 2019]

In this episode; Season 2, Episode 26, the show opens with Mark feeling dissatisfied and unhappy. He tries to explain to his Pa why he is feeling this way but isn't successful, concluding his lines with: "I knew you wouldn't understand." So far I have watched all of Season 1 and Season 2 up until this episode. It is the first time we see Mark beginning to struggle with his feelings about losing his mom at such a young age. A son being raised by a single dad and being portrayed on Prime Time television in 1960 was really ground breaking for the time. The relationship between Mark (Johnny Crawford) and his Pa (Chuck Connors) is one of the pillars of the story. Its' portrayal is what gave The Rifleman its unique character and kept the series from being just another Western when the field was very crowded. In this episode Mark comes down with Typhoid Fever after drinking from a contaminated barrel of water, something his Pa specifically told him not to do. But, during a sleepless night, and as an act of defiance Mark takes a drink anyway and gets sick. It is very easy, especially in 1960's television, to over play sickness. I was impressed by how Johnny Cochran, then almost 14 years old, acted sick without tipping over into sappy melodrama. His sick body serving as a physical representation of his emotional confusion at missing his mom. During his fever dreams he has a vision of his mother. Mark must choose between staying in the "spirit world" with his mother, or going back to the work of everyday life with his dad. I am a bit embarrassed to admit it, but this episode brought tears to my eyes. As a viewer I realized that the relationship between Mark and his Pa wasn't just a plot device, but essential in the lives of both Mark and his dad, a driving force in the personalities of both characters. As always, Hattie, (played by Hope Summers) the Dry Goods Merchant in North Fork, does an outstanding job of portraying the woman in Lucas's life and the mother in Marks'. It was very appropriate at the time, the assumption that merely being a woman meant that Hattie was the best qualified to be a nurse to Mark. The Rifleman would not be the same show without the strong supporting cast of characters that lend a feeling of reality and fullness to the lives of Lucas McCain and Mark McCain. Now, in 2019, the presumption that a woman is the best nurse simply because she is a woman seems outdated, and it is. I was beginning to wonder when the series would show Mark start to grow up and think for himself. I saw that happen in this episode.

Very emotional episode

[jsinger-58969 · 8/10 · 4 May 2022]

Mark back talks Luke and Luke isn't a happy rifleman. Not only unhappy with Mark, but frustrated there aren't any bad guys to shoot. They stop at a camp site where a woman is singing and being friendly to a bunch of guys. Her and Mark take a shine to each other, but Luke soon puts a stop to that. Mark then drinks some contaminated water and takes sick back at the ranch. Luke, who is itching to shoot somebody, threatens Nils to treat Mark, and then threatens a Mexican to bring back a real doctor. A cartoonish doctor arrives and recruits Hattie into serving as nurse. She has no medical training, but she's a woman, and that's close enough. The doc takes a big whif of the house and pronounces that Mark has typhoid. Not only that, but he also detected that someone recently passed some gnarley gas. Hattie points her chin toward Luke, but the doc knows, as do we all, that it was Hattie. The doctor has no medicine and orders Micah and another guy to bring back ice from a nearby mountain, which had never been visible before, to bring down Mark's raging fever. Mark dreams of seeing his late mother, who turns out to be the very woman who was entertaining the men at the campsite! For some reason, Mark doesn't recognize her as being the same woman, but neither did Luke when he obviously didn't think much of her entertaining a bunch of guys. Anyways, the dream Maw tells Mark to go back to his Paw, and everyone has a good cry when he recovers.

A change of pace for the series. In the future, let's get back to more shooty-shooty, and less weepy-weepy.

He loved his son and would not let him give up

[mdiblasi62 · 8/10 · 17 June 2023]

You get a Lucas who is dealing with illness and it is beyond his control. This illness is taking away his only beloved child and he is a broken man. Mark's is so sick he has hallucinations about his dead mother. Those hallucinating moments needed to show Lucas's reaction as he hears his son speaking to his ma, it would have created a better storyline. Typhoid fever was a deadly illness and Lucas telling his son not to die does bring a tear. Lucas had as he was fighting an enemy he could not see or understand. He never leaves his son's side and is there to keep pulling him back to life. Every last dime is spent and at the end he gets his son back.

Mark out of character

[mldardar · 6/10 · 11 February 2022]

Normally obedient Mark was too much out of character--couldn't buy that he'd disobey his Paw about something so dangerous! I also didn't like the cartoonish doctor. But I found Mark's "vision" very touching. Overall, not a favorite.

Weird and not so good episode

[Fun-Gus · 2/10 · 7 April 2021]

Just a strange episope, its like they were trying to make it suck. Well the accomplished that and then some. Probably the worst episode made.

Chcik Flic Episode Was Big Disappointment Back Then

[Anirishmanstale · 2/10 · 10 June 2017]

I happen to remember this episode very well...But not for reasons that it was so "beautiful" and all that crap, but for the reason it was so out there and lame as to be compared to any other episode of this great series..Back in the late 50s the TV western was king of the airwaves, and nobody loved them more than my Dad and I...Every night after dinner we used to settle in and watch the great westerns that for a while there were on every night...There were many favorites with my Dad and I, but The Rifleman was always #1...We looked forward to it every week and hardly ever missed it. The reason why this episode sticks out in my head so much is because of my father's reaction when it was over...He watched the whole thing without a word, but when it was over he got up and said..."Well, that stunk"...lol. I never heard him say that about any other episode...This one just disappointed him so much being unconventional that he just had to say it...Though many westerns indeed had so called "chic flic" episodes, (Like Bonanza, Gunsmoke, Wagon Train,etc.,) The Rifleman hardly ever went in that direction. Most of the time it was all about Lucas taking down bad guys, trying to avoid it most of the time, and in the end always trying to do the right thing as to setting a good example for raising his son right on the American frontier..This thing with the ghostly mother and Mark encountering her just didn't sit well with either my Dad nor I...I can even remember when we were watching it years later in reruns we would always refer to it as "that crappy one"...lol. Its certainly not inferior as to its acting and even some drama at the beginning, but make no mistake about it, for the true Rifleman fan this is chic flic shmultz...Just my opinion, but there you have...Only episode of the series that I think sucked...:)