Line Camp
- Episode aired Dec 9, 1960
- 30m
Dave and Brown find a dead man on the trail, who Dave replaces, working in a cattle camp, where not everyone gets along - including Dave and an old friend.Dave and Brown find a dead man on the trail, who Dave replaces, working in a cattle camp, where not everyone gets along - including Dave and an old friend.Dave and Brown find a dead man on the trail, who Dave replaces, working in a cattle camp, where not everyone gets along - including Dave and an old friend.
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Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThis episode was very loosely the basis for the Charlton Heston western Will Penny (1967), which was also written and directed by this episode's writer-director, Tom Gries. However, the plot of the later film is very different, even though the hero's situation is similar.
- GoofsWhen Dave and Prescott are fighting in the bunkhouse, Dave lands butt-first on the lit wood stove, shows no reaction to being burned, and there are no burn marks on his long johns. The stove is definitely lit. Flames are seen from a different camera angle.
- Quotes
[first lines of episode 1.10]
Dave Blassingame: Come on, Brown. We're goin' to eat cold and sleep wet again. Things get much worse, one of us is goin' to make a meal out of the other one. Dog, when things get bad, you got to run the string out, that's all... you just gotta run the string clean out.
Some outstanding performances: Slim Pickens as the mean-spirited cook (Is he dead man Walt's loyal friend or is he just looking to rile Dave), Karl Swenson as the no-nonsense foreman, Robert Culp in an uncharacteristic role of slippery trail hand, and Keith's Blassingame in a very low-key turn that fits in with events instead of overpowering them as was the custom of the day.
You can just about smell the BO from this grungy crew as they sit around the claustrophobic bunkhouse in their underwear getting on each other's nerves, and in the middle of a blizzard. What else can they do but fight and drink-- a far cry from the usual romance of the trail drive! The ending is appropriately disturbing, given all the drink and foolish behavior. (Consider how the episode would have been damaged had Keith been required to use the scoped rifle gimmick in this last sequence.)
Notable for what may have been first appearance of black cowboy in a weekly series (Hari Rhodes), though script falters by making him too clean and nice to fit in with this crew; (The sullen and distant personality of a racial outsider would have made better sense.) Also notable for Bob Culp in a supporting role so soon after his series Trackdown had folded. I suspect he was drawn by Peckinpah's growing reputation and the strong script. Best line: "I don't need no help getting drunk" -- Dave's inebriated response to somebody making an excuse for his breaking the rules.
All in all, an unusual 30 minutes of fascinating interplay between believable characters.
- dougdoepke
- May 5, 2006
Details
- Runtime30 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1