Barbary Red

If it comes right down to it Jarrod Barkley can be something of a rat. But in a good cause and it's to prevent brother Nick from taking a long sea voyage against his will.

There's a family party waiting for Peter Breck at the Barkley ranch. But he's out partying a bit too hardy for his birthday at a waterfront saloon in Stockton. Breck and a couple of other Barkley ranch hands get themselves Shanghaied and are put in storage awaiting delivery to Captain John Hoyt to fill out his crew.

Richard Long knows who it is and it's Jill St. John who runs the dive that the kidnappings take place. She's an old client of his whom he defended on the same charge. He starts romancing her for all it's worth. But there's her boyfriend George Kennedy who got her started in the Shanghai business.

St. John is a beautiful but pathetic character. As she says men have truly used her all her life be it Kennedy or Long.

There's a coda to this episode that makes no sense. Still watching St. John is always a treat. She's beautiful with a touch of pathos to this role.

To celebrate his birthday, Nick Barkley (Peter Breck) is out on the town with a couple of pals at the Barbary Saloon. There he meets the beautiful owner, Barbary Red (Jill St. John), who serves the drinks...next thing they know, they're in a holding cell awaiting a ship for forced work where the man in charge of their kidnapping, Jack Thatcher (George Kennedy), brutalizes them. When lawyer brother Jerrold Barkley (Richard Long) gets wind of this, he sweet-talks former client Barbary Red, or Barbara, to have dinner with him. Other brother Heath (Lee Majors) also tries to help by pretending to be drunk in order to rescue Nick. I'll stop there and just say that I thought this was a pretty good ep of this western series which I had previously seen the opening credits of before but never a whole ep until now. Oh, and seeing movie star Barbara Stanwyck as the matriarch was also a treat though she didn't do much except worry about one of her sons here. And a pre-"Dynasty" Linda Evans sure looked cute here as well. As for the guest stars, Ms. St. John was also a looker and wasn't too bad in her role but Kennedy really was effective in his villainous role without chewing the scenery too much. So on that note, "Barbary Red" was a pretty good ep of "The Big Valley".

It's not easy to play a woman both tough and vulnerable, a woman who can commit serious crime but still make you think at the end that she was the victim of the good guy and feel bad for her.

Barbary Red is in the Shanghai business with a tough named Thatcher (George Kennedy) who has her under his thumb, but then they make the mistake of shanghaiing Nick Barkley, on his birthday no less. The family is baffled, but Jarrod (Richard Long) knows right away what's going on - Barbary Red had been his client in San Francisco and gone to prison for the same activity. But Jarrod knows more - go after the crimps head-on and they just dump the evidence - the men they've shanghaied - into the river.

Jarrod starts "courting" Barbary Red in hopes of finding out where Nick is, but Red is stubborn, suspicious, while at the same time wishing that it was true, he really wanted her. By the time it all sorts out, St. John has us feeling bad for the criminal and being mad at good guy Long for using her, even though we understand why he did.

Long was good as a phony lover conflicted about what he was doing. We had to feel both good and bad about his actions in this episode, and he made me do it. I can't think of another actor who could have done a better job than St. John as Barbary Red. She had that great combination of tough and soft that really worked for her here and by the end, I could feel for her.

A good episode for examining how people can be a combination of both good and bad at the same time.

In this episode, Nick and a few ranch hands go to the Barbary Saloon to celebrate Nick's birthday. Instead of having a heck of a time- the three get drugged and carried out to a holding cell. It seems that that the Barbary Saloon is a illegal operation where some unforeseen visitors get shanghaied into working on an ocean vessel for long period of time for no pay.

As the episode started, I thought it was kind of odd since Stockton is not on the ocean. However they cleared the matter the best way they could by saying that Stockton has a river harbor that opens to the ocean.

Anyway the saloon is operated by the beautiful women named Barbary Red (played the the also beautiful Jill St John). She has the men drugged and then Jack Thatcher (George Kennedy) takes it from there by making them sign documents saying that they are working on their own free will.

Jarrod is familiar with the operation and also the illegal past of Barbary Red. Jarrod does everything he can to sweet talk Ms Red in order to gain information on Nick's whereabouts. Even though he is sure that Ms Red is behind the missing men- it will not be until Health volunteers to enter the saloon and be taken prisoner- that Jarrod's suspicions are prove to be true.

Even though this story does not hold up to the usual western plot, it was held up nicely by having the eye-candy of Ms Jill St.John. Also Richard Long shows many sides of his acting ability that is not seen in most of the other episodes. Not a top rated show- but somewhat entertaining to the viewer.

NOTE- When watching this episode, please do not play a drinking game that includes the word 'shanghaied'. You may not make it to the closing credits.