Fury at Rio Hondo

As several mentioned above this is a retelling of "To Have and Have Not" in a western format. The screenplay for that Hemingway story was actually written by William Faulkner, who also wrote the script for this episode. As the studio also owned the rights to both, there is no issue of plagiarism here.

This is a virtual verbatim remake of 1944's Bogart and Bacall classic To Have and Have Not. Written by Hemingway and taking place in 1940 Martinique, with the Vichy French and the Nazis instead of the French and Mexicans. Bogart uses a boat to Cheyennes wagons but right down to the line I don't know what kind of war you guys are fighting, dragging your wives along is again a verbatim clip from the movie. Notable was the fact that that movie was Bogart and Bacalls initial film together. Walter Brennen played the drunken sidekick who was always asking Have you ever been bitten by a dead bee? A good performance by Hoagy Carmichael as the piano player only adds to the atmosphere. Anyway, a great movie and if you get a chance to see it, you will have seen this episode of Cheyenne as well. You may enjoy both of these, I did, particularly the movie.

Some have pointed out that Warners controlled the rights to the film To Have and To Have Not. That may or may not be true--it depends on the contracts/agreements of the various parties, including Hemingway and Faulkner. But if Warners did control the rights, that means that its use of the material is not copyright infringement. By definition, plagiarism is the practice of taking someone else's work or ideas and presenting them as one's own. There is one writer credited for this episode of Cheyenne, and neither of them is Jules Furthman or William Faulkner, who wrote the screenplay for To Have and to Have Not. The teleplay takes the basic situation of the movie, which was created by Ernest Hemingway and reworked by Furthman and Faulkner, only transferred from WWII Martinque, where the movie is set, to 1860s Mexico. The teleplay even borrows dialogue from the movie--He couldn't sign checks any faster than he could duck--without crediting the movie's writers. That is plagiarism.

I think Pete's review is harsh. In fact I enjoyed this episode very much thank you. This series is certainly no worse than the crap they have on TV that is current. As far as westerns go the plot lines are interesting and there is always a surprise. The character Cheyenne does not always do what one expects which makes it fun. I could go on blah blahing because the minimum number of lines for these posts demand it but I would consider that a waste of time and effort. Suffice it to say that Cheyenne is a series worth watching in my opinion despite being somewhat dated and not disgusting like most of current TV series and media.

At least two episodes from "Cheyenne's first season are actual movie plots retold in a Western setting. "Fury at Rio Hondo" is a retelling of "To Have and to Have Not" with Peggy Castle outstanding in the Lauren Bacall role. "The Argonaunts" is a retelling of "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre" and features Rod Taylor.

According to the film's plot summery: Harry Morgan (Cheyenne) and his alcoholic sidekick, Eddie (Pete), are based on the island of Martinique (a small Mexican town) and crew a boat (wagon) available for hire. However, since the Second World War (Maximilian's occupation of Mexico for France) is happening around them business is not what it could be and after a customer who owes them a large sum fails to pay they are forced against their better judgment to violate their preferred neutrality and to take a job for the resistance (rebels) transporting a fugitive on the run from the Nazis (the French) to Martinique (the United States). Through all this runs the stormy relationship between Morgan and Marie "Slim" Browning (Mississippi), a resistance sympathizer (a stranded Southern Belle) and the sassy singer in the club where Morgan spends most of his days.

Given the show's limited time to tell a feature length story it is pretty good.

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.