The Judgment

The young regulars do not appear in this Virginian episode as Lee J. Cobb recalls his early days when he was a judge in the town of Medicine Bow. A rather wild family named Carewe, oldest brother played by Clu Gulager had been running roughshod over the town until the youngest is arrested for murder and tried and convicted.

At this point the defense attorney John Kerr puts in a motion for the judge to set aside the verdict on the grounds that there is prejudice against the Carewes. They are mean, bottom feeding, backshooting family and they start putting on enough pressure on the citizens to in turn pressure Cobb to grant the motion.

This is a really crackerjack episode about Shiloh's owner standing up for law and order in the west. In the end Judge Garth turns into Judge Roy Bean.

I give this episode 10 stars for the classic struggle of upholding the law in the wild west!

Old westerns like this didn't make legal matters as intricate as modern television; plus, it's fiction, so it's fun to imagine simpler times and simpler laws.

Lee J. Cobb stands his ground as an unwavering judge who isn't scared of threats, and he knows that upholding the law is what he has to do, even if it isn't easy.

Clu Gulager does a fine job too as the lawless element who challenges the jury's verdict with terrorism and fear.

It's not really an original concept, of course, because the dilemma can be found in many other episodes, as well as many other westerns; but I think that's essential to a good western -- the timeless struggle of good versus bad, right versus wrong, and the law versus the lawless.

This episode is one example why I'm not too enamored with this series. I have always thought the extra 30 minutes of the this 90 minute show was too much. The long speech by Patricia Barry to Lee J Cobb when she was emitting her deep love for him went on and on, and I didn't buy the premise that the beautiful Pat Barry would be in love with the 11 year older and not so handsome Lee J. Cobb. While she was telling him about her love for him, he just sat there with a frown on his face not saying a word. The love story with Barry was never completed and it was a side story anyway to the main plot which was sort of all over the place. Other scenes went on and on with a lot of talk, talk, talk as filler I guess. Not a great watch in my opinion.