The West Old & New Vol. III Issue IV April 2014 | Page 11

the Confederate forces up on Marye's Heights at the Battle of Fredericksburg, and 'felt shamed' at having to gun down so many Union soldiers.
There were still American Indians about, though often not that wild, some
still wanted cattle as payment for going through their land. There were
rough characters in the shows and Gil Favor was tortured by having his
face held near a fire in one episode. In another, 'Incident of The Town in
Terror', people thought a sick Rowdy Yates had "the plague" (anthrax)
and guns were used to enforce quarantine of the cattle drovers outside the
town. There were also cattle rustlers, including Commancheros.
The show could on occasions be eerily atmospheric. 'Incident With an
The Executioner' featured guest star Dan Duryea as a mysterious dark
rider seen on the hillside following the herd, 'Incident of The Haunted
Hills', guest starring John Drew Barrymore, featured a sacred Indian burial
ground, 'Incident of The Druid Curse' and season two's 'Incident of The
Murder Steer', where anyone sighting a rogue steer with 'Murder' carved
on its side soon after dies....based on an actual legend of the old west, plus
episodes with ghost towns, cattle with horns lit up by St. Elmo's fire at
dusk, with cowboys struck by lightning, plus a strange totally enclosed
gypsy wagon, apparently steering itself, repeatedly turning up etc., all
stand out as curiously 'spooky' tales for a bustling dusty cattle drive...the
show's often stark incidental music suited these stories perfectly.
Eastwood & Don Hight
The eighth and final season saw Eric Fleming’s departure from the
series after an apparent disagreement with producers. Clint Eastwood was
promoted to series star as Rowdy Yates finally became the trail boss (this was hinted at earlier when several times Favor made it clear he was training the young ramrod to eventually "step into his boots" and become trail boss). The impression given is this was a later cattle drive with Yates now in charge, at a time after Favor had either 'retired' or given
up as boss, presumably having made his money or opted for a career change since no mention is ever made onscreen of
him or the reason for his absence in the final season's ep