The Five Books of Owen Deaver

The highlight of this episode was Lurene Tuttle, who became the mother-in-law of composer John Williams (Star Wars, etc.). She also had her one movie-star role in Ma Barker's Killer Brood (1960), which was banned in the United Kingdom.

Lurene Tuttle was mostly a radio voice personality, and she also did supporting roles in a lot of comedies. However, in this one, she does a great job as the tough Mom of her bookworm son turned Sheriff, played by James Olsen.

I always found Olsen to be a boring actor who often played boring characters, and this was no exception. His Father was the previous Sheriff, and when Olsen went to college for a year, he discovered law books. After reading on the law, Olsen decided his old Dad was too backwards. So when his Dad passed, Olsen takes over as Sheriff. Olsen implements his modern Philadelphia legal ideas, and becomes the tyrant of the town. Everyone is going out of business because of Olsen's town laws.

When Olsen jails a visiting outlaw carrying a gun, all the outlaw gang is coming to town to get even with Olsen, and to take over the town. Palladin happens to be in town because he read about Olsen in the newspaper back in his hotel in San Francisco. Palladin put his business card on the newspaper story, and the theme music plays. A day later Palladin and his horse had traveled a thousand miles. I have always wanted to get a set of those magic business cards.

As often happens in HGWT, Palladin is having a philosophical discussion with Olsen. In this episode it is about gun rights. Palladin predicts that because of gun control, only the villains will have guns. Palladin is proven to be right when the villains arrive to kill Olsen. I like the gunfight, I thought it was creative compared to other gun-fights on HGWT.

Lurene Tuttle has all the best lines, and you have to wonder how Opie would have turned out if she had played Aunt Bee on the Andy Griffith Show which started a couple of years after this episode.

Quite forgettable. Paladin comes, unasked for, to the rescue of a young sheriff who is the son and successor of an old friend and who wants to be different from his father by ruling by the book - five law books actually, those of the title. The lesson offered here by Paladin, "forget about law books and written rules in a place like this, at least for many years, perhaps some day in a remote future..." might appear as common sense but one might consider it much less enlightened and progressive than what he usually fights for, even if in that case rules which Paladin and the people of the village see as unfit to their situation deal with nothing more terrible than drinking late in bars and spitting.

In any case, there are two serious flaws in this episode. The young sheriff is too much of a fool, and not a nice one at that, for us to care much about improving his chances of survival and successful career. And, apart from an unremarkable gunfight, it is very wordy. The only relief comes from the character of the sheriff's mother, who treats him like he seems to deserve - a fairly stupid kid who still needs to grow up - but whose fault is it?

James Olsen stars as Owen Deaver, a headstrong sheriff who is determined to bring the Philadelphia Municipal code to his western town, despite the wishes of the entire populace. When he arrests a wanted man for carrying a gun in his no weapons allowed town, Deaver finds himself standing alone against the man's gang, with Paladin locked up in jail.

Solid episode though Olsen's character is written a bit extreme. He's a little too insistent on his way without explaining why. Lurene Tuttle is a pleasure as Ma Deaver (she was a frequent character on the "Andy Griffith Show" and was in Don Knotts' "Ghost and Mr. Chicken") forcing Owen to choose--either his mother is going to go out and help face the bad guys--or he's going to free Paladin to help. Who would YOU chose? Alan Carney, formerly of the comedy team of Brown and Carney appears as merchant Henry Nolan, proving he can handle straight parts perhaps even better than funny ones such as in comedies like "Zombies on Broadway".

I found this episode interesting in that the gun control debate is waged a full generation before the issue would become a national discussion.

Utilizing the familiar western plot of a 'safe, disarmed' town: Of course once again, the town Sheriff has instituted a 'gun free' policy.

Our hero Paladin, owing to the friendship he had with our young, idealistic Sheriff's father, decides to check in on the young man.

Finally acquiescing to the adage that 'my enemies enemy is my friend', the reluctant young lawman decides to take Paladin's offer.

Our Hero offers this appraisal of 'gun free' zones: 'When the good people of this town are disarmed, how can they protect themselves when evil arrives?'