User Reviews

Good chance to see Bat Masterson match wits with a treacherous wagon train guide--who leads stage coaches into the desert, leaves them stranded, and brings men to have their pick at the spoils--on the trail instead of in a town. Also refreshing to see Bat out of the derby hat, without the cane, and riding a horse, roughing the elements (like an alkali dust blindness and fall from his horse thanks to a rattler leaving him momentarily unconscious and hazy), even temporarily chained to one of the stagecoaches. Lots of pluses in this episode: (a) Bat finds a romantic interest in Gloria Albott's Ellen Parish after some resistance, (b) Bat must outdraw one of the outlaws while his back is turned after denying this punk a last game to get his lost poker cash back, (c) Bat must convince the wagon train, led by Ellen, that "trail pirate", Egan (a game Barry Atwater), is about to lead them in the wrong direction (Egan had fixed the sign into incorrectly directing innocents towards wrong locations just to starve and plunder them!) just so he can rob them, and (d) Bat must free himself from the chains, get his hands on a gun and horses, and thwart Egan's efforts (including two other gunmen in his entourage, all three ready to strike) in the end. Gene Barry has some fun moments flirting with Albott, and his intense exchanges with Atwater provide plenty of palpable tension. Actually, Bat never seems to take Egan seriously, as if always confident (a trait of the Masterson character as performed by Barry) he will eventually stop this trail pirate from robbing anyone else. It was as if he's biding his time, knowing that he would, at some point, convince Ellen that Egan was a scoundrel in sheep's clothing. The draw that persuades Ellen to choose Egan over Bat, and Bat needing to prove he's not just some gunslinger with no feeling for human life (it was self defense, after all) make up a great deal of the plot's central conflict…however, I don't think anyone wouldn't believe Bat couldn't work his charms on Ellen. The two share quite a passionate kiss that seems to take Ellen's breath away. I thought Atwater was especially sharp as the trail pirate who swoops in when Ellen is in desperate need of help, with a face that could or could not be trusted; he gives Egan a voice that can convince, although there's always that sense of danger about him. While he would seem an unlikely trail guide, this episode proves otherwise, seeming to indicate that Bat is a jack of all trades...it was also important for the show to establish that Bat is an adventurer who does leave the confines of the city occasionally.