The Duke Le May Story

This is one of the more intriguing yarns in the series and tells a compelling story about a fugitive, his pursuer and their involvement with a friendly family scratching out a hard life on the frontier.

There's a pivotal and moving narrative within the film involving an old horse which comes close to death but is saved by the love of the rancher's young son and the intervention of the fugitive, who may not be a villain after all, but sent by providence to help the family members who are in dire straits because of an ongoing drought.

Also of note is a climactic and mystical moment in the episode which ratchets the segment up a notch or two above the more mundane examples of Wagon Train and is not to be missed.

Cameron Mitchell guest stars in the title role of this Wagon Train story. Mitchell is a passenger on the Wagon Train and not really been any kind of problem for the crew. But one day Deputy Paul Sorenson rides up with a warrant and demanding to search the train. Mitchell appears soon enough and during a shootout the deputy is killed.

Leaving Ward Bond with the responsibility of turning Mitchell into the authorities who are a considerable distance away. Robert Horton gets the job.to take him.

But he escapes Horton and arrives at a farm suffering from drought that is owned by Edward Platt and his children Joan Evans and Terry Kelman. Where he spins them a wild tale about being able to dowse for water with the forked stick.

Mitchell does a nice job as the escaped convict who may or may not be a charlatan. A little too simplistic though is the story.

Does he find water? Tune in and find out.

This episode takes a few turns as we are supposed to lose sight of a very hateful villain who the scout Flint tries to apprehend.

Two of my favorite actors, "the chief" Edward Platt and Cameron Mitchell of Hombre and Chaparral fame, do great jobs performing, as do the others, but the script is wasted by the preachy chauvinism of Flint.

Flint's character usually shows a great degree of understanding and moderation even in the circumstances when he or others are in great peril, but here he does a total turn about and becomes the most chauvinistic you have ever seen him in the final act.

It's terribly written due to the preachiness. It wouldn't have been a bad story otherwise.

A deputy arrives with a warrant for the fugitive Duke Le May (Cameron Mitchell) who is with the wagon train. The deputy spots Le May and pulls a gun on him causing Le May to shoot and kill the deputy. Adams decides Flint should take Le May to turn him in to the law which is three days away. Flint reluctantly accepts the task as he is good friends with Le May.

During the trek to Fort Hawkins, Le May makes an attempt to escape and finally succeeds while they sleep. After much distancing himself from Flint, Le May's horse throws a shoe forcing him to stop at the only occupied farm left in the area due to a severe drought. There he makes friends with a lonely boy, his older sister, and their pious father. They are craving for water - the boy wants to save his horse as his father wants him put down as he's taking up whatever water they have.

Flint walks in later in the evening as they eat to take back his prisoner. Le May suggest they dig a well to supplement their fading cistern. He suggests dowsing to find water but they are skeptical. Flint believes Le May is a charlatan- that he's just trying to dupe them in to keeping here.

The next morning, the kid is holding Flint at gunpoint and decide that Le May should stay to help find water. As they search for water, whose faith will be the strongest?

There's a great performance by Cameron Mitchell as a fugitive who might just be a snake or maybe just a victim of circumstance? Is he a charlatan when he says he can find water? It's a moving tale with a light spiritual tone - the arid landscape and the starkness of the story adds to the tale.