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Clint sings! This memorable
Rawhide episode steers off the cattle-drive trail for an often-comical story about a snake-oil hustler's redemption. Buddy Ebsen guest stars as Dr. Stimson, a "Golden Remedy" purveyor, whose pitch wagon is attacked by Indians. Rowdy Yates (Clint Eastwood) rides to the rescue, but in the ensuing skirmish one of his men, Frank Miller, is killed. The drivers pitch in to send money to Frank's widow and two children, but Stimson has a plan to raise the stakes. Feeling that he "owes this boy's family a debt," he suggests a way to turn the tables on a local crooked poker game (run by venerable character actor Jack Elam) using Mushie (James Murdock), the frontier Gump, as the "pigeon." This being Mushie, the con is soon discovered, but Stimson has another ace up his sleeve. When his estranged wife (Joan O'Brien) arrives to announce she is remarrying the more respectable Sam (Hugh Marlowe of
All About Eve and
The Day the Earth Stood Still), Stimson convinces her to impersonate the popular singer Jenny Lind and perform a recital. Yet another setback finds Stimson, Rowdy, and the boys alone to face an audience of increasingly agitated high-paying customers. "Rowdy," suggests grizzled cook Wishbone, "why don't you go out there and sing?" This is an atypical
Rawhide episode, but one that pays off in unexpected, off-center moments. And Ebsen, for one, is in his element as the folksy, fast-talking Stimson.
--Donald Liebenson
