Wanted: Dead or Alive (TV Series) No Trail Back (1959) User Reviews

This Rabies Story Has A Bite To It

[ccthemovieman-1 · 9/10 · 2 October 2007]

Rabies - not a word that conjures up pleasant images. That's a key topic in this episode.

A man on the run is thrown from his horse, injuries his leg and hides out from the sheriff and his posse. At dark the sheriff calls it off, figuring there is no way a guy will survive 12 miles of the desert without his horse. They go back to town.

When Josh comes by the next day looking for the same man, because he's wanted elsewhere, he finds out what just happened. What's shocking is that he finds out the guy got bit by a dog with rabies and that's another reason they called off the posse. How is the man going to live out of the middle of nowhere with no horse AND inflicted with a deadly disease?

Well, the answer is that he's got his nasty older brother nearby, for one, and that's enough to put Josh in a bad light, to the point where - near the end - even our brave hero's hand is shaking.

Once again, I appreciated the ending in here, too, where we are left not knowing whether the guy with rabies is going to make it or not. The whole story is quite interesting.

AHA!!

[birdgoog · 10/10 · 14 October 2020]

So ironic, just watched Wright King in an early Gunsmoke episode! Thought he looked kinda familiar so checked the cast. Pretty sure it was called "Born to Hang". Anyhoo NOW i'm again thinking this kid looks ... familiar! Ohh! Recognized the name right away! But i finally found where i recognized him from when i read "ebertip's" review ... lol it was HERE! He's gonna be Josh's sidekick eventually! Aha! Thanx ebertip!

Crummy Brother

[Johnny_West · 6/10 · 28 April 2022]

Wright King usually played weasels and wimps in most of the Westerns that I have seen him in. Here he is in typical form as a dummy who was sent by his conniving brother to rob a bank, and failed. Instead he got bitten by a dog which the town vet says has rabies (but is the vet correct?), and he fell off his horse.

Josh Randall picks up the trail, because the bounty on the evil brother (Robert Wilkes) is higher. Before long, the wimpy Wright King is tricking Randall into getting himself caught. I was so disappointed with this episode as a kid, that I hoped that Wright King would just shoot him and end the series on that note.

Instead, we get 15+ minutes of Steve McQueen trying to guilt Robert Wilkes into taking his brother Wright King to the vet in another town. That was pretty ridiculous, since Robert Wilkes in villain mode literally just glares and growls all the time. Once again, I was so disappointed in Josh Randall, that I was hoping Wilkes would blow him away and end the series right there.

One more point that did not make sense is that Wilkes says "Red Barrows broke out of prison a couple of weeks ago, and put a $1000.00 bounty on Josh Randall." Now how would a guy hiding in a shack on a mountain know anything about another guy who was hiding in another state, just after breaking out of prison??

This was the only reason that Wilkes wanted to keep Randall alive, for the bounty on Randall which was to be paid by Barrows. Even more ridiculous is that Wilkes tells Randall that he has six days to live, which is how long it will take him to get Randall over to Red Barrows. So Barrows escapes from prison, puts a bounty on Randall, and tells everyone where he is in hiding? Just awful writing on this episode.

Crim puts bounty on Josh

[ebertip · 6/10 · 28 September 2018]

Josh gets tricked by Joe Hooker (played by actor Wright King, later to plsy Josh's partner). In an ironic twist, the elder Hooker brother Ben recognizes that Red Barrows will pay a $1000 bounty for Josh, who put Red into Yuma prison. Josh gets the upper hand but the episode does not reveal the fate of the Hookers. The sheriff is played by actor Petrie, a veteran of many Westerns of 50s-60s. The vet pulls a medical journal off his shelf and knows about Pasteur's work (!)