The Saul Bevins Story

"Don't go looking for him, let him prove he's as good as a sighted man."

I cannot stand the foolishness of preventing Hale from doing a search for him. What if he had been injured and wouldn't have been able to walk out? If it had been the boy who had gotten lost, would you just leave him out there and hope he finds his way back? I mean good grief!

Not to mention that as a wagon train there is no way the wagons would move while leaving him behind without ascertaining whether the man was alive or dead.

Don't get me wrong tho, I understand the desire to be accepted as a full person as even sighted people struggle for that too. At the same time we all have our limitations as well. And in the end, it was his heightened senses that saved their lives from the fire. This is the real heart of the story.

One last thing, there is the claim there were no witnesses when Saul was bushwhacked getting the water. But later the dog attacked the man that attacked Saul and I would call that being a witness.

Rod Steiger gives an outstanding performance in this Wagon Train episode. He plays a blind physician, a highly educated man, blind since early childhood, He reads a fluent braille and plans to start a blind school in California.

As he points out to John McIntire his other senses are highly developed and he proves it on a few occasions. On the last occasion one of those other highly developed senses saves the whole Wagon Train.

This was one of Steiger's few forays into series television. Traveling with him and giving good support are Charles Herbert as his son and Vivi Janiss as his sister.

I don't doubt Steiger's qualifications or courage. But just as well no one needed surgery.