This is the last episode of Rawhide, ingloriously canceled mid-season. The ratings had been suffering for some time, but getting rid of Gil Favor, Pete Nolan, Mushy, and the rest didn't help.
But the mass firing did allow Clint Eastwood to finally develop his character, Rowdy Yates. For the preceding seven seasons, Yates was, far too often, little more than an impulsive, not-too bright foil for Favor's sharp tongue. Beginning with the first episode of season 8, we can see the calculating, hard-bitten, flinty-eyed man start to emerge. I particularly recommend Six Weeks to Bent Fork (1965) as classic Eastwood, but this one's not a bad way to go out.
Yates and his crew never did finish that last cattle drive, but it did signal a new beginning in Eastwood's life.
But the mass firing did allow Clint Eastwood to finally develop his character, Rowdy Yates. For the preceding seven seasons, Yates was, far too often, little more than an impulsive, not-too bright foil for Favor's sharp tongue. Beginning with the first episode of season 8, we can see the calculating, hard-bitten, flinty-eyed man start to emerge. I particularly recommend Six Weeks to Bent Fork (1965) as classic Eastwood, but this one's not a bad way to go out.
Yates and his crew never did finish that last cattle drive, but it did signal a new beginning in Eastwood's life.
