SHOOTOUT AT DIABLO STATION

• Aw, too bad our boys arrive in town by stage coach. I always savor their entries to some new environment on horseback as something special.
• What’s up with that weird three-bump-drum-sound as Kid walks into the telegraph office? It almost sounds like a TV station’s severe weather warning or something. It is so out of place and distracting, and I can’t for the life of me figure out its purpose. Especially since it seems so foreboding and the scene is actually a fairly playful one. Some logic just escapes me…
• I absolutely love the exchange between Kid and Heyes about Heyes’ telegraph! It is a classic dynamic between the two men. Kid teases Heyes a bit; Heyes feels he has to prove himself to the Kid but as usual falls the tiniest bit short; and in the end, Kid is respectful and appreciative of Heyes’ ability: “Poetry. Send it!” …followed by some masculine flirting. A delightful little couple’s moment. Perfect!

• Of course, for me, there is the immense joy of seeing Heyes saunter over to the telegrapher’s desk. Hey, give me a break! I have been gone a long time; pitiful me, sick and sad, not privy to any great butt shots in awhile. Just give me my moment of ogling bliss and move on…®§

*sigh*

• Ugh. Howard Duff. I never cared for him when I was young. As I think I have mentioned before, there have been several actors who have guested on Alias Smith and Jones that I really couldn’t stand as a kid, but somehow, as an adult, found appealing on this show—like Joan Hackett and Jack Cassidy. Not so with Howard Duff. First sight of him: Ugh. Last sight of him: UGH.
• I can’t quite follow why our boys have to act like strangers once they are aboard the stagecoach and throughout the station house captivity. Didn’t they agree they would be all right “unless that Sheriff sees us together”? I have to assume that once they leave the town they were in they are no longer under the watchful eye of the law.
• There’s the Kid Curry we know and love…always chivalrous; never afraid to step right into a conflict with some boorish lout who needs to be brought down a peg or two. I love how Heyes’ face always exhibits respect for the Kid in these situations. Heyes knows he doesn’t have to step in with brawn, because the Kid will—but then Heyes is more than willing to finish off the pushy windbag with the voice of reason. What a team!

• Yowsa!! I wonder if those false eyelashes were made of horse tails in the Old West!! They are certainly long enough. It is one real grievance I have with the show in general—the stretch from reality when it came to dressing and accessorizing the female guest stars. Fake eyelashes, fake fingernails, makeup, and dyed hair. C’mon. Those kinds of things jar me from the lovely time warp I am in as I watch, being one with the show and the era. They are always a giant slap in the face with the 20th Century—and the gaudy and overdone late 60s/early 70s at that.

• HEY!! I think that’s Heyes driving the stagecoach!! Look closely…dark hat, tan jacket, dark shirt, buff jeans…now look as the stagecoach pulls into the station…there’s the driver in white hat, tan jacket, light shirt and white jeans. Why, I do believe I will just mosey on back to The Legacy of Charlie O’Rourke to see if I am right...

• It always pleases me that if there is one around, Heyes picks up a book and reads. He seems to always be hungry for knowledge. Since the scene is framed differently in the script, with Heyes lying down with his arm over his eyes, I wonder if Peter had something to do with the change—knowing how much he loved to read, and learn…

• Now there’s a familiar face: Neville Brand! He is someone I remember clearly from my childhood, mainly because my older sister had a huge crush on him and I used to tease her about it! She loved the craggy, rough looking men; some one might even call ugly—Mr. Brand, Chuck Connors—while I loved the beautiful men like Peter Duel. *sigh*
• Even though I have no inkling why Chuck never responds to any comment the Kid makes, it tickles me nonetheless. Kid says, quite amicably, “My name is Jones. Thaddeus Jones. Can you tell us how long this is gonna take?” and Chuck just stands there and stares. The look on the Kid’s face, as he turns to Heyes in bewilderment is hysterical. I laugh out loud and rewind it every time, because I am every bit as confused as the Kid. Why won’t this nut case give our Kid Curry the time of day? I don’t get it, but I enjoy it!

• Aw. I love the old soldier, ready to lay down his life for the flag he has battled under and loves. Even in a silly show like this I am in awe at the incredible patriotism of those who have fought for this country. I sense that even Chuck, wielding a gun, has respect for the brave old man. The General reminds me of my dad…also a hard-as-nails, highly decorated veteran, valorous to the end.

• At first it surprises me that it isn’t the ever chivalrous Kid who steps right in to protect the women by identifying one of them as his wife. But when I think about it, it makes perfect sense that the thinker of the two, Heyes, would start the ball rolling and the Kid would pick up where he leaves off, especially since the Kid is tied up and his typically brawny way of handling mistreatment of women wouldn’t hold up here.
• It also tickles me which choice Heyes made as the woman he designated to be his wife. In my opinion, she is the harder of the two—and also the most cunning. She has a thinking mind, however misguided her future decisions might be, and I think the pairing, if it were real, would be the correct one. And the coupling of the Kid with the more naïve, less clever sister is a perfect fit also. I have to say, though, that if these two women were to become actual love interests of our boys, I would have to shoot them by the end of the episode because they both just grate on me like Mary's fake fingernails on a chalkboard.
• Ok, here we go…the ball-less wonder, weasel-extraordinaire, George Fendler stands right up to betray the others to save his own neck. Maybe it was the roles he played that always made me dislike Howard Duff. Maybe he played a spineless creep well enough to give me an idea it might be his nature in “real life”. I don’t know. But really, even after he has reformed and apologized by the end of this episode, I still can’t stand him.

• I just don’t get why the whiny sister, Ellen, turns on the boys when it’s revealed they aren’t really married. “Can’t you see we’re helpless by ourselves? Can’t you understand that?” Gee, it may just be me, but it seems to me stepping in to try to protect them by saying they were married to them WAS ‘understanding that’… Seems a tad bit ungrateful to me.

• How spectacular that the bad guy takes offense at George Fendler’s self-serving betrayal. It enrages him that Fendler ‘sold these young ladies out’. Chuck’s ability to fly from calmness to fury at the drop of a hat makes him seem crazy, all right, but underneath it all—if not for his craziness over his brother’s death—I get a sense he might have some tiny bit of honor in him.

• You know, when you look at it, Neville Brand has a very interesting face. Weathered and full of character. I like his face. Not in a handsome way, just in more artistic sense. I suppose I'd better call my sister and apologize for teasing her all those years ago. I'm standing my ground on the Chuck Connors ick factor though.

• Oh, good lord. Is the vest Bud is wearing so wonderful we need to see it in two episodes?? I can stand it here, because Bud is a weenie, but to later see our gorgeous Heyes in it--ugh.
• When Mary calls the bad guys ‘big hunks’, I am taken aback. I don’t know if such a word existed in that sense in the 1880s. In the script I have, she says, “The image of you big baqueros—trying to do women’s work…” That too perplexes me, because the only word I know of that is close to that is vaqueros—which I am certain they were meaning to use because it translates as, basically, a tough cowboy. I wonder if in rewrites, no one could come up with the actual word and had to throw out baqueros—rightly so—and replace it with a one-syllable-no-fail-simple-ass-word, like hunk!
• Well, Mary certainly does have chutzpah, as she hikes her leg up onto the table and removes her stocking…much to the chagrin of Ellen and the delight of our boys and the rest of the men. Man, oh, man! Feminine wiles really do work in a pinch!

• I love how Heyes looks around the others to say “Mind if I ask you a question?” only to be rebuked by Chuck’s reply of “You don’t always have to ask if I mind if you ask.” The exchange is cute, and when it culminates with Heyes saying, “Well, for one thing, I’d like to talk—or walk—or do something to take my mind off my backside, which is commencing to protest.” I chuckle aloud and usually say something to myself along the lines of “I can keep my mind on your backside for you—so you don’t have to…” No, I don’t get to see much of it in this episode, but it is never far from my thoughts!! *giggle*

• Love the chicken walk the General does to change seats.
• My favorite line in the whole episode, from our favorite smart ass, Heyes, of course: “This really sounds like this could be fun—you know we all sit around and think of places where nobody’s coming from!” Even the Kid showed the tiniest bit of amusement at the line. And Peter’s left dimple from that angle, as he looks up at Chuck while he chides him? To die for.

• There it is again!! God, I just love that Chuck totally ignores Kid when he speaks! I just can’t figure out a reason for his disregard though. The script lights on the subject just a bit: One side of Chuck’s mouth smiles and his eyes gleam—and his cronies know he is drifting toward another bout with his transient madness. But that doesn’t explain why it is always when the Kid says something that he has these fade-out moments.
• I wonder what a rotten roddlesnake whelp is…Ah, I see Mr. Brand didn’t enunciate as clearly as he should have—he was meaning to say a rotten rattlesnake’s whelp. Still, I wonder why Chuck considered the “murder” of his brother to have been perpetrated by a baby rattlesnake and not just a regular rattlesnake.
• For a moment there, I thought the Kid was thinking of the safety of his friend and benefactor, Lom Trevors, when he says to Heyes, “We gotta stop this lunatic…” but I thought too soon. In very typical Kid Curry self-preservation mode, he finishes his thought with, “if he kills Lom, our amnesty’s dead.” Wow. Not a concern in the world over the possibility of Lom losing his life. Gotta love a friend like that.
• You have to be kidding me. Those fingernails on Mary are absurd. Almost as long as the horse tails on her eyes. And opaque white fingernail polish, to boot. Give me a break.



• I may be stretching here, but it seems to me it might have been a good idea to have a plan before overpowering only two of the four bad guys, Mary.
• In an exceptional scene, by using his arm and shoulder to hold him back, Heyes—always a quick, instinctual thinker—stops the Kid from rushing to Mary’s rescue and thereby exposing the fact that he is no longer tied up, when Chuck hits her. The communication between the two continues as Heyes doesn’t lean away—instead keeping his body against the Kid’s, knowing his partner tends to hold longer to the anger and might yet lash out. They have to sit there, witnessing something I think they both find deplorable, as we hear Chuck strike Mary hard, four times. In the end, it seems only marginally satisfying as Heyes has the last word, knocking Chuck off his high horse when he reminds him it is actually he who should be happy to be alive since “she had the gun.” A very good scene, indeed.

• Ah, to be the woman attached to the shoulder one Mr. Joshua Smith has chosen to rest his weary head on… *sigh*

• Heyes feigning surprise at the missing Mr. Jones is very cute. He looks adorable as he pretends to have no knowledge of his partner’s whereabouts as the perplexed bad guys scurry about trying to find him.

• From way back in the Pilot, I have enjoyed the hammy overacting of Bill Fletcher, the actor playing Hank in this episode. His jerky movements, meant to signify machismo, it seems, just make me chuckle. Even in his relatively small roles it makes him stand out to me.
• Good job, George. It seems your testicles have finally dropped and you have, in the nick of time, become a man.

• The General. Now there’s a man who epitomizes the meaning of the word balls…take a lesson George, you still have a long way to go.

• For someone with claustrophobia, Ben did a great job being in the hidey-hole…maybe on the set there was no back to it to make him feel trapped.

• I love that everyone in the room, except Hayfoot and the Kid, believes Heyes is really so stupid he would make a tactical error as crucial as to expose what no flag would mean to the approaching sheriff…
• An apology to the two “saloon girls” from George. Too little, too late—I say.
• Eww—I can never watch a scene where someone gets a bandana tied into his mouth—especially close up—without first wanting to scream and run because it triggers a huge wave of claustrophobia in me, and second, without wondering where that bandana has been. Dirty men putting dirty bandanas in peoples’ mouths—very disturbing. *deep shudder*
• It’s a satisfying climax as our favorite outlaws, very experienced in removing gags from each other, save the day by warning Lom of the impending offensive from the supposedly unarmed gang.

• I feel a bit of Peter—of his actual real life frustration—as Lom tells the boys they still won’t get their amnesty. It feels like a real life prophecy to me that had to have been dismaying to someone who wanted the series to end so badly.

• Wow! I guess this is the first moment we have seen Anne Archer and Elizabeth Lane standing beside each other. I never thought of Anne Archer as being tall. Well, because I have no life, I just googled Anne Archer’s height and she is only 5’7”—tall but not exactly stately—so I must deduce that the other actress is simply petite.
• This episode had a lot of issues with things not making sense to me, but I just decided to enjoy it for pure entertainment’s sake. I must say there was really not enough involvement from our boys—and almost no physical expression, (like walking away butt shots *giggle*) to make it a favorite episode for me. But it was enjoyable in a minimalist way.

THE BOUNTY HUNTER**

• It is a cute scene right out of the gate in this episode, as our boys ride along talking about their finances. Kid chides Heyes for their predicament, expressing he thinks Heyes has failed, even with his nimble mind and silver tongue…and Heyes says, “I am getting the distinct feeling you are beginning to lose confidence in me”, to which Kid replies, “Oh, I wouldn’t go so far as to say that…” Heyes is relieved, obviously, and grins… “You wouldn’t?” only to hear from Kid, “No, but I sure would defend your right to say it.” It tickles me how the Kid holds Heyes entirely responsible for their well-being in every way except the muscle.

• Heyes’ distaste at being made to lie down on his belly is perfect. There are just some things that don’t leave a man with dignity and I would say in his mind this is one of them.
• Mmmm! I do love the look on Heyes’ face as he acquiesces and lowers his body to the ground. Yummy.
  
• Seems to me Joe took a real risk by having the Kid get off his horse to the left—and between his and Heyes’ horses. It is very likely there would have been a rifle in the rifle holster on the right side of Heyes’ horse.
• There is only the slightest acknowledgement of surprise when our boys first see the man capturing them ride up on horseback. I think it is very fitting of the times that they would be slightly taken aback to see a black man as a bounty hunter, but the reaction is portrayed perfectly by both actors…showing just a moment of “oh, he’s black” but not an ounce of racism connected. Very nicely done. Any slight variance in expression by either Peter or Ben and it may have been a story with a very different feel…

• I don’t know why, but when Heyes says, “Say, what’s this all about? Huh?” and “You’re making a terrible mistake, now…” I giggle. There is something in his voice in those moments that just tickles me so...
• A great moment as Heyes lets his head drop hard to the ground as Joe tells them not only who he is but who they really are! I can feel his frustration!
  
• Lou Gossett is an incredible actor. I have been a fan for many years and I just now realize this is most likely the first place I ever saw him. I think he does a brilliant job in this episode and he takes second place on my Top Guest Star list only to Bradford Dillman’s amazing portrayal of Spencer in the yet to come episode, The McCreedy Bust: Going, Going, Gone.



• Ok, am I just a lustful old woman—as a friend recently pointed out and I don’t quibble with—or does Peter even look sexy from the back with his hands up…? I adore the way he holds his fingers…an upward version of his distinctive hands on his hips pose, and I savor seeing a bit of his forearms. This man is as good as it gets in my judgment. A beautiful example of everything I obsess about.
  
• Heyes having to give Kid a bear hug so he can have his hands tied by Joe is a very popular scene to most fans according to fan sites. But even though I am able to watch it now, it is a scene that has always bothered me. I am a very spatial person, and I am also very claustrophobic, so the combination of these two men being forced to be so deeply in each others’ spaces and being bound while doing it, is a moment I find hard to enjoy. For normal people, I guess it is probably just a pleasant, amusing scene. For me, I find it difficult to breathe.



• I am astounded by the many times the boys have called each other Heyes or Kid in front of others. I can usually get past it by thinking, "well they are quite a way from the others..." but not in this case! There stands Joe Sims, as close to the back of Kid's head as Heyes is to the front of his face as Kid says, in full voice--not even an attempt at a whisper--"Heyes, quit breathin', will ya?" Did he think sound waves only travel in one direction? Please.
• Before I say what I must say next, please be advised that death threats to this site, to my personal email addressess or any of my other sites are stictly prohibited. Cowboy up now, and take it like a man as I say I think Peter looks horrible in the first moments of the bear hug scene. It may be makeup, or an attempt to make him look dirty, or it may be Peter, but he has a uni-brow that is so unattractive on him I have to consciously overcome my feelings about how he looks to enjoy what is one of the best episodes of the series.



• I wonder why Clay is giving Peter such a hard time in this episode. He keeps pulling his head back, and is very often moving sideways rather than forward. I wonder if it is the rough terrain they are moving over. Clay usually seems to be a very well behaved horse, so I think it must have something to do with the environment.
• I am surprised to hear Heyes say "damn" for the first and only time in the series. A friend brought it to my attention, as I had apparently missed noticing it the first time around. Being known to pepper my own speech with a fair amount of four-letter words, I find it natural and realistic to hear it said by Heyes.
• A great unscripted Peter moment when Clay stops short as the men are talking about Joe making a damn fool out of himself, and Peter has to spur him forward and demand, “C’mon”.
• It is poignant as Joe describes to our boys what made him become a bounty hunter. His delivery of the words is so matter of fact, portraying a total surrender to the hand he has been dealt and no self-pity, that it is quite touching.
• I gotta say, it is a good thing our boys wear stampede strings on their hats. They have their hats knocked off their heads so often they would go broke replacing them.
• And so the racism begins. A lynch mob is going to teach Joe a lesson—and make sure he never shoots a horse again—by killing him. I always wonder in scenes such as this if it is painful for the actors involved. I know it is play acting, but is it hurtful for Lou Gossett to hear the racist words coming from the mouth of the white actor? Does it hurt the other actor to have to say those words directly to a black man?





• Kid gets a whim of kindness and convinces Heyes they need to try to save Joe from the lynching. The boys lay on their backs to load their guns, and I find this quite appealing. And as they return to their positions on their stomachs, I take note of how nice their butts look in chaps and my mind wanders to the warmth of the rocks beneath them, against their bellies…I admit to another “damn, baby!” moment. ®®§




• I consciously force myself to stop daydreaming about them lying on the warm rocks, and pay attention to their task at hand. Their plan works and the lynch mob retreats, leaving Joe to escape. It was the right, and only, thing to do, boys. You made me proud.
• Oh, my. Lou Gossett really shouldn’t wear stretch pants. Let me just suffice it to say, that is one pretty substantial endowment for the arts…*giggle*
  
• Kid is feeling all giddy about doing a good deed right up until the sound of Joe’s voice breaks the spell. How rotten to do something so good and right and be rewarded by being recaptured. But Joe is a man with a purpose; that much is obvious.



• What a great moment as Heyes, already experienced in what is taking place, begins to lie down on his own…only to hear Joe say, “Wait till I tell you…” and just as he stands back up, Joe says, “All right, get down.” There is no confusing who Joe feels the boss is with these boys. He won’t relinquish even the tiniest smidgen of control. It is a funny moment, but it also gives us a very clear picture of the character of Joe Sims.



• I laugh when Heyes, lying on his belly in the dirt once again, yells to Joe, “I don’t think you fully understand the situation. We, the two of us, have just saved your life.” To which Joe replies, “Yessir.” And without missing a beat, “Now you Mr. Curry…” and proceeds to give Kid instructions on what to do so Heyes can, once again, tie him up. I suspect Joe is not someone who can be swayed by sentiment.



• Exasperated by Joe just wanting the rewards on their heads, Kid says, “In other words, it’s just the money!” “Naw, sir. Not in other words…” Joe counters, “them are the words.” What a great line. Some of the writing in this series is just top notch.
• What terrible filming in the scene as Heyes rips into Kid about saving Joe’s life. The scene itself is funny, but it looks like the boys are sitting still on a wagon or something rather than riding horses.
• There is an exquisitely bright moment in the badly filmed scene…and that is Joe listening and laughing as Heyes rips into the Kid. It is just perfect that he would find such entertainment in the squabble between the two notorious outlaws. And it is fun when Heyes won’t let up and Kid finally shouts, “All right!!” A really well written scene.



• There’s the “preacher” from Never Trust an Honest Man. Robert Donner always does a part justice.

• Yikes! Another scene—this time with Joe speaking—where the filming doesn’t work and it looks like a smooth riding wagon instead of horse riding. What is wrong with this director? His ridiculous filming experiments have been problematic in past episodes, and lord knows I have been vocal about my objections, but this is just downright ruinous to the scene. It kind of saddens me because otherwise, this is such an exceptionally well written and acted episode…and I will even say very well directed except for these few unfortunate—and wildly distracting—missteps.
• He is out to do our boys in, and yet I feel sorry for Joe as Robert Donner and his crew send him packing without a horse, gun or the outlaws he so badly wants to turn in. Somehow, this character is being portrayed so brilliantly that I find myself almost rooting for him to win out over our favorite outlaws. But not quite, of course!
• For a minute there, I thought we were going to be subjected to yet another long, weird, cackling laugh—this time from the man in the tree. But we were thankfully spared…with just a short, but nonetheless irritating, rendition.
• Heyes spinning tales, without taking a breath, about who they “really” are is priceless. Each time he tells it, it becomes more detailed, down to church suits and baking and who Kid is set to marry. I think I would let him go, just to shut him up! And Kid is just riding along, stone faced as ever, but probably still confident his partner will talk them free...
• It is just delicious that Heyes shows such awe at Joe’s skills. He is a man deeply respectful of cunning and street smarts, like his own. We have really never seen anyone Heyes has gone up against and been handily beaten by before. To me it is lovely to see Heyes challenged in such a way. He doesn’t run across many who are his equal and it is an irony and a superb bit of writing that his equal is a black man. Well done!
• "Joe, you're marvelous." What an odd thing for one man to say to another, and yet it works so well here it feels absolutely natural.



• No matter what, we can count on Kid not losing his appetite. Most people, except the Brits of course, *wink* would be put off their food just a bit by the trauma they are enduring. I have a suspicion the Kid would hungrily wolf down his last meal before going to the gallows. He must have the intestinal fortitude of steel.
• Joe is a very smart man. He has outwitted our boys at every turn. When Nate asks Joe if he knows the difference between his left and his right hand, it hits home with me that it is an unfortunate reality in the history of this country that a man with that kind of intelligence can be so disregarded and abused by our society. And simply because of his color, assumed to be ignorant by the most ignorant among us. Shameful.
• I love Joe’s reaction when Kid maneuvers his hands out of his tether and shoots the gun out of Nate’s hand …. “My god, you didn’t go and do it again…” laments Joe. The look on Lou Gossett’s face, the hands on the hips…just perfect.
• Poor Kid, rubs his wrists bloody to get free of his restraints, only to be outwitted once again by the bounty hunter.
  
• It is interesting to me that Peter’s voice has completely changed as Heyes becomes resigned to the fact that Joe is just going to keep outsmarting them. He still tries to talk his way out, but it is with a voice full of exhaustion and defeat. Absolutely perfect acting on Peter’s part.
• What a sweet moment: “Heyes? The Mayor’s daughter?” “I figured you deserved the best.” And the Kid is still sure his partner will take care of things…”You’ll think of something…” That care between them? Better than chocolate.
  
• Now you know I don't want to get crude. And you know I never ever see things with a sexual slant. *giggle* But I just have to wonder what kind of physical release the Kid is having at the moment his shackles are removed...What do you think, Bennies?
  
• It never fails to amuse me that the Kid gets upset when Heyes says something negative about him…even though he knows Heyes is only trying to talk their way out of trouble. “Kid Curry is supposed to be one of the fastest guns in the West, right? Ha—you took his gun away from him twice.” And Kid reacts with a hurt look and an angry retort. I think the Kid is much more emotionally sensitive than he lets on.
• Joe is shot down in cold blood and it affects me the same way this kind of scene always affects me in any show…I feel personally ashamed. It is a horrible commentary on the times then and on our times now. Hate crimes are still prevalent in today’s society, crimes as heinous and unjust as shooting Joe in the back. What have we learned since 1880, or since 1971 or in 2009? I could stand up on my soap box right now and speak the words of the righteous, but I will spare you.

• Another of director Barry Shear’s intrusive camera ploys as Joe dies. Instead of letting Joe fade away, he jars us with a sudden, blurry freeze frame. Man, what a waste of a good moment.
  
• I am proud that our boys, at personal risk to their freedom, make the decision to go to the law about what has happened to Joe. They both have a core of goodness that carries us through the times when they exhibit less than redeeming qualities.
  
• And now that I am schooled on the meaning of the term “clay back”—a dark line of hair from tail to saddle--I can clearly see it displayed on Clay as he carries our hero Heyes off to the next episode.
  
• This was a well done episode. A story that was both painful and funny…old west and modern. It had social value. It is one the actors involved should have felt pride over. Peter, were you able to feel any pride over it?