User Reviews

This episode is playing on MeTV as I write, and I don't find it to be as bad as the other reviewer. This episode features Heath/Lee Majors, although the other characters are present and two of them have considerable lines, when many times if one character is featured the others are absent. Victoria/Miss Stanwyck and Audra/Linda Evans both do a fine job in this episode. It is true that the guest star, Carol Lynley, is not a good actress, and her character, Dilly, has a fake Southern drawl which her brothers do not share, but she is a beautiful sexy provocative woman, and she has a revealing bath scene. I suppose it depends upon your reason for watching television. If you are looking for a world class artistic experience in the performing arts, then perhaps you would not want to watch this. But I am looking to pass an hour with a TV show that is somewhat entertaining and not too boring, and to be titillated with some pretty eye candy in the meantime, and I am finding this episode of "The Big Valley" to be quite adequate in that regard. There is another beautiful guest star, the handsome Don Dubbins, who plays Dilly's brother, Grady. And of course, the lovely brawny Heath/Lee Majors is wearing light colored pants that fit just right to really show off his shapely physique, and at the mid-point of the episode he has a scene where he is naked down to the cowboy belt, showing off that beautiful chest. The silver embellished saddle which the infatuated Dilly gives Heath is also beautiful and interesting to those of us who enjoy western artifacts. The past hour which I spent watching this episode is far from the worst hour of my life.

This episode has some light humorous touches. It's about a young woman (Carol Lynley) who wants to turn from the dark side and find happiness. The relationship that develops between her and Heath (Lee Majors) is quite poignant. Unfortunately, he doesn't share her ideas about marriage, and when he turns her down, she becomes very vengeful. Lynley does an effective job conveying the frustration experienced by her character.

Lynley also gives us a chance to see the woman's unique relationship with her three older brothers-- gunmen who rob stagecoaches and banks with her. Another reviewer called Dilly Shanks an Annie Oakley type, but I regard her as a mini Ma Barker.

In previous episodes of 'The Big Valley,' we've seen Heath involved with other young women. But in an ironic sort of way, Dilly might be the one who is most compatible with him. She's an outsider in a world of laws and rules-- and when he first came to live with the Barkleys, he was an outsider who had been wandering aimlessly. So it's logical he would be drawn to her in some way, because she would remind him of where he'd been before he found a home with real love.

Murderous female outlaw Dilly Shanks, along with her brothers, holds up a stage Heath is riding in. Her gender hidden under a hood, she shoots and kills the driver, but takes note of the handsome Heath. Later she joins Heath in a saloon poker game and sets her cap for him.

Dilly does not hide her feelings for Heath. "I love you. I want you. I'm gonna have you." Poor Heath is in out of his depth. He unwisely goes skittish. And worse, after finding out about her outlaw ways, Heath proves every inch the stodgy upholder of law and order. "I have to turn you in, Dilly." The gunslinging Dilly does not take kindly to rejection. It sure looks like Heath is going to come to a bad end. But can Dilly really make Heath just another notch on her gun?

Carol Lynley has a field day as the wild and lovesick Dilly. She did an excellent job bringing this child woman to life. Dilly has the age, passions, and body of a woman, but at the core is a spoiled little girl. She is playfully charming until crossed, after which she reveals a frighteningly icy and vicious streak.

Other posters knocked this one for a lack of realism. Realism was something old movie or TV westerns went for? Even.the most "realistic" used a veneer of dust and grime to cover fantasy plots. The Big Valley didn't even go that far.

This is the most fun episode. As another poster noted, there are hints and an undercurrent that had Dilly met Heath before going so far to the dark side, the two would have made a great match. She was far more intriguing than the usual "don't know here from there or what from where" sweet young things old west men were supposed to prefer. Food is better with spice, and so is romance.

One of my favorite episodes.

This episode has the rather untalented Carol Lynley guest star as Dilly - who eventually develops a crush on our Heath.

Ms Lynley has never been a favorite actress of mine and this installment proves my reasons = she plays as if she's in a cartoon, not a Western! Her 'energy/delivery' whatever - is weak and insincere and we all know that Heath and she would make a ridiculous pair.

The scenes where Heath confesses his deep feeling for Dilly (to Victoria) are not even remotely believable.

Sometimes the writers got desperate for stories and stars and this episode is a good example.

A minor misfire for a great series.