User Reviews

The Dick Richardson Story Dec 31, 1958 The Kitty Angel Story Jan 7, 1959 The Flint McCullough Story Jan 14, 1959 The Hunter Malloy Story Jan 21, 1959

I'm less than halfway through Season 2 of Wagon Train but I have already noted an upgrade from Season 1. The stories and scripts are just better so far. Hopefully, that will hold up.

John Erickson is Dick Richardson (say that three times, real quick!). He's the son of a deceased banker who was blamed when the bank went bankrupt. He went to jail for embezzlement. His father was the real embezzler but he's taking the blame to protect Dad' reputation. He's on his way to California to start over but there are people on the train who lost everything when the bank folded. The train's horses, (don't they use oxen?), have developed a fatal illness and they have to be replaced by an uninfected batch. Richardson takes the responsibility to buy the new batch but no one trusts him with the money. One of the cheated men, (Lyle Talbot) is selected to go with him but Talbot buys heard from some rustlers who in fact, stole the herd and have now stolen the wagon train's money. Richardson has to get both back lest he be blamed for it. Some additional drama comes from his wife, who is going through a difficult pregnancy.

Anne Baxter, (another performer previously known for her movies, rather than episodic TV appearances agreeing to be on this prestigious series), plays Kitty Angel, (although I thought that was the name she gave to the baby she cares for), is a woman with a past, (a rather unspecified one but I assume she was a prostitute), faces the contempt of the other women in the train. Flint McCullough finds some Shoshone Indians who have been killed by the Sioux - save for a baby. The Sioux, (according to this episode) are known for wanting to wipe out their enemies and apparently didn't find the child. Flint brings it to the wagon train with him. The women of the train refuse to take an Indian baby in. Kitty agrees to care for the child, although she's never had to do before. An old man played by Henry Hull, (in a great performance that dominates the episode), helps her - and gives several pieces of his mind to the intolerant ones. The Sioux arrive, demanding the baby so they can kill it. But something else has arrived - smallpox and the baby has it. That drives away the Sioux and the rest of the train. Even the old man is too feeble to be around the disease. She takes care of the baby herself- and comes down with smallpox herself. Both survive. She decides to leave and settle down with her baby and not worry about what other people think - which is good because when the baby clutches her veil it reveals that the smallpox has compromised the beauty that has driven her life.

The Flint McCullough Story is excellent, although I have one quibble. He rides into the town he grew up in, has some friendly acquaintances and then attacks a man, shouting "Where is he?" The story is about how 'he' is and why Flint's mood changed so quickly. Ther's a flashback to 4 years before. The Civil War is on and Flint, having been born in Virginia, even though he was raised out west, wants to join the Confederacy. Everett Sloane is a Confederate Colonel coming through two looking for volunteers Quint has a girlfriend, the daughter of a devote Mormon who is against war and is willing to help anyone who needs it. Flint enlists with Sloane's regiment but they don't go east to fight in the big battles. They stay out west and go after things of monetary value "for the confederacy. Flint starts to become disillusioned and then is appalled when he captures a Union soldier in a small battle and Sloane orders the prisoner killed. Then comes the ultimate atrocity: The Mormon family has taken in a wounded Union Soldier and Sloane orders their home burned with them in it. We move back to the 'present' time and the man Flint has attacked is the Colonel's second in command, now out of uniform. 'He' is the colonel against whom Flint has vowed revenge - except that he finds, as the Colonel approaches him, he thinks for the a final reckoning, that the Colonel is now a stumbling, vacant man who likely wouldn't know what Flint was taking revenge for. Flint returns to the train, leaving his past behind. My one quibble is that I would think the flashback would be a longer period of time back - the four years of the war and perhaps and equal amount of time afterwards during which Flint would become a renowned wagon train scout.

Hunter Malloy is a dubious character who has joined the train to steal, especially from a young couple, (Troy Donahue and Luana Patten), who want to open up a store and are carrying two wagon loads goods to be sold in it, (nothing perishable, I hope), as well as a gold-colored box that must contain something very valuable. As with The Sakae Ito Story, the box contains something very valuable to the people holding it but of no value to the thieves - a family Bible in this case. Patten reveals that she's going to California to find out who killed her father, who went out there for the gold rush. Them an excited man announces that he's found gold. The men of the train desert it and being searching for more gold and setting up claims with Malloy finding and defending the best one. It's folly - they are just finding a few rocks and digging for more will require much time and expense and the train has to get across the mountains before winter comes. If the men stays there, they won't survive the winter. Major Adams eventually succeeds in convincing most of them of that. It ends with Malloy having a gun battle with a former partner win which they are both killed, but not before Malloy reveals who killed Patten's father. I found it strange that gold would be found in small rocks and boulders that littered the landscape. Don't you have to dig for it?