User Reviews

8 years before Marshal Crown brought a little law and order to the Cimarron Strip a gang held up an army payroll and one of them was injured so badly he lost a left arm. Fortunately not his shooting arm for J.D. Cannon.

A bit of a shooting display in the saloon part of Jill Townsend's place earns him a job as another deputy for Stuart Whitman. But it's all part of a carefully contrived scheme against the rest of the gang which left him badly injured and for dead. The loss of his arm was the worst of it for Cannon.

Cannon is twisted and evil, that kind of experience will twist a soul. The rest of the gang occupy various levels of western society. Gregg Palmer is a thuggish bully, Anthony James is a barfly, Larry Pennell has a small ranch. and Lyle Bettger has a bigger cattle spread. He also married Marj Dusay who used to be Cannon's girlfriend.

This episode belongs to Percy Herbert who smells a rat from the beginning but can't quite put it all together.

In the history of TV and movie deputies, there are very few worse than MacGregor in "Cimarron Strip". Again and again, he manages to make bad choices and let the bad guys get the slip on him. So, in light of this, it's shocking that in "The Deputy", the town manages to get another deputy...and he's marginally worse than MacGregor!

The story begins eight years earlier. During a bloody robbery, one of the baddies is blown up but not killed. But the hard-hearted boss insists they leave the injured man (J. D. Cannon)...and the gang leave him to die. Well, the guy manages to live but is arrested for the robbery/ murder. Now it is odd that he isn't hung...after all, several soldiers were murdered in the robbery!

Now, eight years later, this man is in Cimarron and ends up shooting two guys in the bar. He's seen as a hero, as the pair were up to no good and the marshall offers him the job as a deputy...even though he just arrived in town. Using this position as a cover, he threatens his old gang members who, oddly, all seem to live in this town. Can the truth be discovered about this cold-blooded killer before it's too late. And, more importantly, will they bother to fire him since he is STILL much more talented at the job than MacGregor!? Don't believe me? See how MacGregor handles this deputy at the end...once more, he's rather easily out-witted! He's sort of the Gilligan of the law enforcement field!

In some ways, this episode reminds me of the great Clint Eastwood film, "Hang 'em High" as both feature a leading character who is out to exact revenge on the folks that left him for dead. It's tense, exciting and a very good episode...possibly the best in the series so far...even if MacGregor is too ridiculously stupid to be a deputy!

By the way, the marshall repeats an often repeated statement...."Possession is 9/10 of the law". Well, it's odd coming from a marshall as this is NOT the law and possession doesn't entitle you to anything if it's a lost or stolen item!