Another enjoyable episode, one with a lighter touch thanks to Claire Griswold playing the second most annoying nun on television (top dishonor going to Eileen Heckart as Sister Veronica in THE FUGITIVE two-parter "Angels Travel on Lonely Roads"). After Josh successfully engineers Sister Grace's safe release from the criminal gang that kidnapped her, she won't return to the convent, insisting on following Josh like a lost sheep seeking her shepherd. One sympathizes with Josh Randall as he tries again and again but just can't break this habit.
My favorite scene is when Josh is filling his canteen in a scenic river and through the tress comes Sister Grace. He's just about had it with her dogging him across the Arizona desert. Josh explains how the West is "our own private hell" and will continue to be unless she allows him to exterminate the vermin like Lon Kidder. He has a job to do and she has a job to do, and they should each be doing it. It was a fine speech, even if it fell upon deaf ears.
Sister Grace follows Josh all the way to Mission Junction, where the Kidder gang is plotting a bank heist. Seeing Sister Grace there brings Josh to the end of his rope--literally--as he binds and gags her with the church bell rope! She still finds a way to ring the bell, however, alerting the Kidder gang and putting Josh's life at risk. In fact, it would have been the end of Josh had Kidder's gun not inexplicably jammed. Josh glances upward for the explanation, but nonetheless isn't wanting to warm a pew in church the following Sunday, rebuffing kindly the invitation of the safely returned Sister Grace.
Claire Griswold was 21 playing the 17-year-old Sister Grace abducted by Lon Kidder's gang of outlaws. She did have a self assurance and street smart savviness about her one wouldn't expect to find in so young a nun. And as much as she insisted she was following Josh to prevent gunplay and his death from haunting her conscience, I suspected she was thoroughly enjoying the thrill of it all. In the end, I just couldn't see Sister Grace taking final vows and settling for a quiet, contemplative life.
In reality Griswold was married to actor-cum-director Sidney Pollack for just shy of 50 years when he passed away in 2008 (Griswold died in 2011 at age 74). She has surprisingly few credits for a woman as well spoken and attractive as this appearance led me to expect.
This episode was the first of six to be scripted by Fred Freiberger, later the infamous producer of STAR TREK's third season. He captured well the character of Josh Randall, from his reluctance to take the job, his striking a bargain with the sheriff, playing hardball in the prisoner exchange, and his long-suffering patience and exasperation with the increasingly irksome Sister Grace.
McQueen and Griswold enjoyed an easy chemistry as friendly adversaries. Also noteworthy was Hugh Sanders in his scene as a sheriff eager to unload Kidder but wary of unloading him onto Randall, whom he knows has a plan to bargain for the nun's release. A good even if not great episode, which is still high praise since this series consistently set the bar high.
My favorite scene is when Josh is filling his canteen in a scenic river and through the tress comes Sister Grace. He's just about had it with her dogging him across the Arizona desert. Josh explains how the West is "our own private hell" and will continue to be unless she allows him to exterminate the vermin like Lon Kidder. He has a job to do and she has a job to do, and they should each be doing it. It was a fine speech, even if it fell upon deaf ears.
Sister Grace follows Josh all the way to Mission Junction, where the Kidder gang is plotting a bank heist. Seeing Sister Grace there brings Josh to the end of his rope--literally--as he binds and gags her with the church bell rope! She still finds a way to ring the bell, however, alerting the Kidder gang and putting Josh's life at risk. In fact, it would have been the end of Josh had Kidder's gun not inexplicably jammed. Josh glances upward for the explanation, but nonetheless isn't wanting to warm a pew in church the following Sunday, rebuffing kindly the invitation of the safely returned Sister Grace.
Claire Griswold was 21 playing the 17-year-old Sister Grace abducted by Lon Kidder's gang of outlaws. She did have a self assurance and street smart savviness about her one wouldn't expect to find in so young a nun. And as much as she insisted she was following Josh to prevent gunplay and his death from haunting her conscience, I suspected she was thoroughly enjoying the thrill of it all. In the end, I just couldn't see Sister Grace taking final vows and settling for a quiet, contemplative life.
In reality Griswold was married to actor-cum-director Sidney Pollack for just shy of 50 years when he passed away in 2008 (Griswold died in 2011 at age 74). She has surprisingly few credits for a woman as well spoken and attractive as this appearance led me to expect.
This episode was the first of six to be scripted by Fred Freiberger, later the infamous producer of STAR TREK's third season. He captured well the character of Josh Randall, from his reluctance to take the job, his striking a bargain with the sheriff, playing hardball in the prisoner exchange, and his long-suffering patience and exasperation with the increasingly irksome Sister Grace.
McQueen and Griswold enjoyed an easy chemistry as friendly adversaries. Also noteworthy was Hugh Sanders in his scene as a sheriff eager to unload Kidder but wary of unloading him onto Randall, whom he knows has a plan to bargain for the nun's release. A good even if not great episode, which is still high praise since this series consistently set the bar high.
