Fury at Rio Hondo

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.

The Cheyenne episode "Fury at Rio Hondo" does something I have not seen before. It has been suggested the it is an homage or retelling of the Bogart/Bacall movie "To Have and Have Not." I would say it is something less than that as the dialog is almost identical to the earlier movie. It's OK for what it is and Peggie Castle plays her role quite well and does her own singing (unlike Bacall). But it seems that there is an issue of plagiarism involved here; as it is almost 60 years after the fact it probably doesn't matter very much. I was just shocked at the precision of the "rip off" as no attempt was made to change the dialog at all unless the plot demanded it.

How do writers get away with this?

This has to be one of the worst Cheyenne episodes ever. I sat watching this poor excuse for a Western, waiting for something remotely exciting to happen, guess what.....it didn't! Clint Walker was his usual laid back self, but even he seemed to be wondering what the storyline was meant to convey.

Peggie Castle as the blonde sultry pickpocket Mississippi, tried to lift the proceedings, but with a screenplay as uninteresting as this i'm afraid she was wasting her time.

Nearly all the scenes were studio shot, which didn't help to try and inject some pace into the plot and I have to say that the French border patrol officers were about as French as Mexican jumping beans!

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.