Hot dang, I knew it. Just watched this episode in reruns (7-28-2022, original air date 9-24-1960). It was a good story. I like watching TV series from my grade school and high school days (1950's & 1960's). The first recognition was Ben Johnson. Didn't recognize him until I heard his voice at the beginning of the episode (I've always done better with voice recognition, even from more than half a century ago). Then, throughout the episode I kept hearing refrains similar to one of my favorite movies "Breakheart Pass" (I love its opening credits). It would seem that Jerry Goldsmith did a LOT of movie and TV music. I just needed to share.
2 Reviews
Trail of Tribulation
cougarannie14 January 2016
Driven from their territories, forced to fight retreating actions in the face of often overwhelming odds, Native Americans Warrior Nations were still formidable opponents. Their shrewdness in exploiting local terrain, and their unquestionable bravery, may have at times have briefly turned the tide in their favor, and the fact that "the writing was already on the wall" at the time of this story did nothing to diminish their fierce pride.
Paladin here is on a quest to retrieve a captive white woman from the Nez Perce by bartering trade goods for her. ('Nez Perce', a French Fur Trader's epithet meaning "pierced nose." was an inaccurate description of these people, who inhabit the Pacific Northwest. They did not practice nose piercing, or wearing ornaments.)
Paladin is guided by a white scout who has "reinvented" himself as a Sioux, having spent a decade among members of that Nation. Unfortunately he still retains some of the nastier "character deficiencies" exhibited by his own kind.
Paladin deals with a trio of Nez Perce who intend to kill him and make off with the trade goods exactly as he would deal with three white desperadoes who had the same notion in mind. He bargains with man-to-man with the Nez Perce Chief for the captive woman's release and finally secures it. ( Strangely, the woman herself doesn't seem overly delighted at being ransomed -- in fact, for reasons never explained, her facial expression reflects more hostility than gratitude.)
On the journey home Paladin faces one more danger, graver even than the one posed by the would-be Nez Perce raiders. And it comes, ironically, from a member of his own race.
Paladin here is on a quest to retrieve a captive white woman from the Nez Perce by bartering trade goods for her. ('Nez Perce', a French Fur Trader's epithet meaning "pierced nose." was an inaccurate description of these people, who inhabit the Pacific Northwest. They did not practice nose piercing, or wearing ornaments.)
Paladin is guided by a white scout who has "reinvented" himself as a Sioux, having spent a decade among members of that Nation. Unfortunately he still retains some of the nastier "character deficiencies" exhibited by his own kind.
Paladin deals with a trio of Nez Perce who intend to kill him and make off with the trade goods exactly as he would deal with three white desperadoes who had the same notion in mind. He bargains with man-to-man with the Nez Perce Chief for the captive woman's release and finally secures it. ( Strangely, the woman herself doesn't seem overly delighted at being ransomed -- in fact, for reasons never explained, her facial expression reflects more hostility than gratitude.)
On the journey home Paladin faces one more danger, graver even than the one posed by the would-be Nez Perce raiders. And it comes, ironically, from a member of his own race.
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