Rawhide (TV Series) Incident of the 13th Man (1959) User Reviews

Wishbone gets to star in this 1959 episode

[ebertip · 8/10 · 23 August 2019]

From the opening on, one sees that this 1959 episode belongs to Wishbone. The bad guy is Matson (played by Anderson) who runs the town of Blanton Texas. He is accused of murder. Matson's game plan is to get an acquittal in a quick jury trial so double jeopardy attaches. Rowdy and Wishbone come to town to fix Wishbone's tooth (which is done by Matson) and end up as jurors on Matson's trial. Matson has an inside informant on the jury so that Matson is the 13th man of the title. Many of Wishbone's traits are exposed in the jury room, with Rowdy stating the obvious. Clark (played by Platt, later the Chief in Get Smart) and Williams (played by Fix) have the meatier roles in the ensemble cast. There is a surprise ending. Two flaws. A hung jury does not prevent retrial. The elevation of Blanton (once a real town, and even if meant to be fictional) would be higher than stated if on the Sedalia Trail. This tv episode could be viewed as an interesting twist on Twelve Angry Men.

Inspired by 12 Angry Men

[jarrodmcdonald-1 · 4 September 2023]

I have to agree with the previous reviewer that just because there's a hung jury, it doesn't mean the case cannot be retried. So in terms of justice, the situation is far from over. If they had to retry the case, then surely that would allow more time for the wife of the murder victim to return with outside government help. The only way the case would be over is if all twelve jurors had reached a verdict of not guilty.

A few other weak parts, to me, were why the dentist had to be the man on trial. The subplot concerning Wishbone's toothache at the beginning did not necessarily need to be tied directly into the trial. Just so long as he and Rowdy rode into town for some simple reason and were pressured into serving on the jury.

Also, when both Wishbone and Rowdy get beaten up by the town's thugs, why didn't they just leave? Obviously, they would have realized justice couldn't be carried out in such a community...it would have been more logical for them to hop on their horses, quickly get away and rejoin Gil Favor's outfit. I suppose Wishbone and Rowdy are decent enough people, committed to seeing it through, but since the jury could not reach a unanimous guilty verdict, it all seems to have been a waste of time for them.

Finally, I don't think the big twist at the end was entirely logical. Why would one guy vote not guilty just so he could gun down the defendant? Would he really have been so dumb as to put himself into trouble with the law by becoming a sudden murderer in open court? No. I think that guy would have taken the easy way out, voted guilty, and then he would have gone off and had a drink.