User Reviews

Chief Clifford assigns Sam to ride herd over a visiting Rodeo, among which are several old friends of his, including an old flame who married someone else. But trouble's brewing, and next thing, one member of the show is shot dead, and another is seen fleeing the scene... though his wife insists he couldn't have done it. It takes Sam half the story to figure out where the guy has gone to ground, and when he finds him, promises to find out who the real killer is... which DOESN'T put Sam in good favor with Clifford, to say the least! This should be a simple story, yet despite seeing it in one form or another several times over the years, I still had trouble following the logic of who the murderer was and why he did it. (And, as another reviewer mentioned, like too many American TV murder mysteries, if you just read the opening credits, you can figure out who the killer is, which just doesn't seem right.)

This was Warren Douglas & David P. Harmon's only McCLOUD as writers. Why it took 2 writers to do such a "simple" story is beyond me. Douglas mainly has westerns in his resume, including SUGARFOOT, CHEYENNE and BONANZA, while Harmon actually did 3 STAR TREKs-- "The Deadly Years", "A Piece Of The Action" and "The Eye Of The Beholder".

Chris Caughlin must be out of town in this story, but Chief Clifford & Joe Broadhurst carry on as usual. In totally-different ways, both became favorite characters of mine. The best exchange in this one is between Sam & Joe: "McCloud, you've got to understand Clifford." (annoyed) "WHY?" "So you can explain him to ME." You know, come to think of it, Joe reminds me a bit of my best friend in 8th grade, who was named Sam!

Albert Salmi is "Goose Jenkins", a roughhouse who's been reduced to working as a rodeo clown. I'll always remember him most as "Cap'n Tucker" from 2 classic episodes of LOST IN SPACE, though he was also in the KUNG FU pilot.

James Wainwright is "Billy Gibson", whose arrogance makes him try to steal the top spot in the show, when he's not putting the moves on other men's ladies. It gets him killed! He's been in practically everything, including 9 episodes of DANIEL BOONE.

Burr DeBenning is "Blue Roberts", Billy's rival. Not the brightest light in the room, he takes it on the lam, and when Sam catches up with him, Sam has to explain to Blue that if he's innocent, killing Sam would be a big mistake! Nothing he did really stands out in my mind, but I have seen him in a 1984 MIKE HAMMER episode, as well as 2 different Irwin Allen films, CITY BENEATH THE SEA and THE RETURN OF CAPTAIN NEMO.

Joanna Moore is "Donna Roberts", the girl Sam was once in love with. She married the hot-headed "Blue", but feels certain he "couldn't" have done the murder, which sets Sam in Clifford's angry way. "The next time I see you, McCloud, he better be behind bars-- or YOU will be!" I mainly know Moore from 3 different episodes of THE FUGITIVE. I was deeply saddened to read about all the tragedy in her real life.

Nancy Malone is "Iris McKensie", the sadly-alcoholic wife of the murdered man. As I said, despite this being a relatively simple story, somehow the relationships & motivations of the characters involved were not that easy to follow. She was also in 2 episodes of THE FUGITIVE.

Filling out the cast: Bill McKinney is "Reuben", a tough-talking rodeo man whose insinuations get Sam riled up. Funny enough, with such a small role here, one might never guess what a successful career he went on to. I've seen him in ALIAS SMITH AND JONES, THUNDERBOLT AND LIGHTFOOT, THE OUTLAW JOSIE WALES, THE GAUNTLET, EVERY WHICH WAY BUT LOOSE, BRONCO BILLY, ANY WHICH WAY YOU CAN, FIRST BLOOD, THE MASTER, THE A-TEAM, PINK CADILLAC, HUNTER, IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT, and, most memorably for me, THE NEW WKRP IN CINCINNATI, where he played Herb Tarlek's future in-law.

And then there's the ubiquitous Doug McClure, who has a brief cameo as "Ringo Fontana", a fancy-dressing "western" TV star who Sam is assigned to protect for 2 weeks while he's visiting NYC. Clifford thought it was funny!

The print for this episode in the 2021 VEI box set seems more damaged than usual. If I assume each 1st-season story was the same length originally, this one appears to have about 45 seconds missing due to damage over the years. Oh well.

NOT one of my favorite stories, but still fun to watch. And I really do LOVE David Shire's theme song for this season.