The WORST episodes of The High Chaparral

#1 - The Glory Soldiers

Season 2 - Episode 18 - Aired 1/31/1969

Manolito leaves the routine of the Cannon Ranch searching excitement and becomes involved with three uniformed musicians. Mano contemplated joining El Lobo, his old bandit friend, until he learns El Lobo has robbed Capt. Ellie Strong and her two followers. He steals money from the bandit to finance Capt. Strong's trip to Tombstone to escape El Lobo and the Mexican authorities, who seek Manolito's capture for petty crimes. Buck takes an interest in Capt. Strong and joins the group. The success of the trip appears questionable when El Lobo, Apaches and Mexican authorities appear.

#2 - To Stand for Something More

Season 3 - Episode 6 - Aired 10/24/1969

Left in charge of the Chaparral, Blue fails in his first major test of responsibility and then takes drastic steps to redeem himself. In the absence of his father, John Cannon, his Uncle Buck and Manolito, Blue is given full authority to run the ranch only to have their prize stallion stolen by bandits. Hurt by his father's criticism and determined to regain his confidence, Blue faces the bandits alone in his attempt to retrieve the valuable horse.

#3 - Bad Day for Bad Men

Season 3 - Episode 5 - Aired 10/17/1969

Bandits take advantage of Manolito's affinity for a pretty face by absconding with one of his girlfriends and cash, the theft of which threatens the loss of the Cannon ranch. Entrusted with money to buy a huge cattle herd, Manolito is overpowered by Matar and Kyle who head for the border with both the booty and Manolito's fiery girlfriend, Juanita. John Cannon, Buck and Blue and Manolito give chase but it is the feminine wiles of Juanita and Victoria Cannon with which the bandits soon learn they must contend.

#4 - A Time to Laugh, a Time to Cry

Season 3 - Episode 2 - Aired 9/26/1969

For the first time in his life, Manolito falls seriously in love but his romance takes a tragic turn when Comancheros decide to settle a debt. Enamored of beautiful Mercedes Vega De Sonora, a childhood sweetheart who returns to the Montoya ranch for a visit after a long absence, Manolito proposes marriage. Their plans are disrupted when bandits led by the vengeful Sanchez and Teniente kidnap Mercedes in an ambush. Though seriously injured, a desperate Manolito joins the men of the Chaparral in search for his loved one.

#5 - For the Love of Carlos

Season 2 - Episode 26 - Aired 4/4/1969

Victoria reopens Tucson's only school and befriends a troubled Mexican boy, but is kidnapped by the boy's father. Alberto Ruis, wanted in a slaying, abandons his son Carlos to flee a posse. Carlos remembers his father's promise to return, agrees to live with a local family and attend Victoria's school. He reacts quickly to her affection, but class bullies taunt the boy until he rides to rejoin his father. Victoria and Pedro locate Carlos with his father, Alberto, but Alberto kidnaps Victoria for ransom.

#6 - No Bugles, No Drums

Season 2 - Episode 24 - Aired 3/14/1969

Buck tries to find and return the missing husband of Ann Simmons, an old girlfriend. Ann gives Buck a valuable diamond ring to identify him as her representative if he finds her husband Jack. Buck is overpowered by the Truscott gang in a border town. Simmons rescues Buck and the diamond, but refuses to return to his wife. Buck is recaptured on the way home by the thieves and his chances for survival appear slim.

#7 - A Fella Named Kilroy

Season 2 - Episode 23 - Aired 3/7/1969

Buck hires saddle tramp Orville Kilroy, who hides his criminal past and quickly becomes the most popular hand on the Cannon Ranch. Blue admires Kilroy's ability with a gun, the bunkhouse gang respects him as a top hand, and John Cannon is fascinated with his chess game. Telford Burris and his two sons trail Kilroy to Tucson and accuse him of running out with the money from a robbery. When the Burrises corner Kilroy, Buck must help the new hand to keep Blue's idol from crumbling, or turn the thieves over to the law.

#8 - Surtee

Season 2 - Episode 22 - Aired 2/28/1969

A dishonest Indian agent jeopardizes the future of an Apache reservation started by John Cannon. Capt. Albert Surtee threats the hungry reservation Indians harshly. John takes the law into his own hands and fires Surtee. He suspects Surtee has hired renegade Chief Cubero to start trouble and to steal government cattle. John and Billy Blue attempt to prove John's suspicions by exposing themselves to attack by Surtee and renegade Indians.

#9 - Stinky Flanagan

Season 2 - Episode 21 - Aired 2/21/1969

A flamboyant Irishman cons Buck into buying a camel, promising it will revolutionize the cattle industry. Cavalry trooper Flanagan misinterprets an order to ""shoe"" his camel Tillie as ""shoot"" and deserts his unit to save the camel's life. Flanagan wears out his welcome at the Cannon Ranch when he cheats at poker, steals Manolito's girl, Pearlita, and admits Tillie can't herd cattle. When Flanagan attempts to escape the Cannon Ranch with Tillie and rejoin the cavalry, he discovers the unit is surrounded by Indians.

#10 - Once on a Day in Spring

Season 2 - Episode 20 - Aired 2/14/1969

Victoria, feeling ignored, leaves her husband John but finds little peace of mind at her father's ranch. Manolito joins Victoria at the Montoya Ranch and vies with his father, Don Sebastian Montoya, for the attention of Countess Maria. Victoria objects to the countess until she learns the countess has been through similar quarrels with her own several husbands. Buck persuades John he has taken his wife too much for granted. John finds it difficult to forget ranch work and turn romantic to win Victoria's return.

#11 - The Hostage

Season 4 - Episode 17 - Aired 3/5/1971

This episode involves the suspenseful moments spent by innocent bystanders taken hostage during an attempted bank robbery. During what he hoped to be the last robbery of his crime-filled career, Morgan MacQuarie imperils the lives of a group of hostages including Victoria and Wind. MacQuarie's problems mount when his robbery plan goes awry and the ensuing delay prompts an open defiance among his own men.

#12 - The Last Hundred Miles

Season 2 - Episode 17 - Aired 1/24/1969

Lucien Charot raises his freight prices by having Indian attacks faked against his wagons. John interests an El Paso stage and freight line in extending operations to Tucson with local merchants financing the plan. Charot increases the phony raids and the frightened merchants withdraw from the deal. John then puts his ranch up to guarantee the initial safety of the new line. Victoria joins John for the first ride into Tucson while Charot and his gunmen wait in ambush.

#13 - No Irish Need Apply

Season 2 - Episode 16 - Aired 1/17/1969

Against John Cannon's advice, Mano helps Sean McLaren, an Irish miner, and his friends in their strike against dangerous working conditions. McLaren and his friend Scanlon are sentenced to the chain gang for fighting with Cass Gregg, mine superintendent. Mano helps the two escape. John Cannon favors negotiations to improve conditions while McLaren insists sabotage will provide more direct results. When Scanlon is fatally beaten by Gregg, McLaren decides to destroy the mine, and Manolito appears helpless to stop him.

#14 - Shadow of the Wind

Season 2 - Episode 15 - Aired 1/10/1969

The celebration of a peace treaty with the Indians is cut short for the Cannons by scalp hunters disguised as lawmen. Nickanora, an old friend of Manolito and Victoria, admits he has come from Mexico with Johnny Ringo's gang to scalp Indians for profit. When the gang kills an Indian family, Mano goes after the group alone and is captured. John Cannon and the High Chaparral wranglers locate Manolito, but hesitate to start a gun fight, fearing an approaching Apache war party will be alerted by the shots.

#15 - Sea of Enemies

Season 2 - Episode 14 - Aired 1/3/1969

An Army deserter accused of murder takes Billy Blue as hostage. Graham Jessup enlists Billy Blue to help him escape by fabricating a story that he has been mistreated because he is a Negro. Jessup makes Billy his prisoner when the young man hesitates to lead him into forbidden Apache land. The pair are cornered in the forbidden land by a large band of Indians, complicating the rescue efforts of John Cannon, Buck and the cavalry.

#16 - Our Lady of Guadalupe

Season 2 - Episode 13 - Aired 12/20/1968

Ricardo Montalban guest-stars as a priest who obtains money from the Cannon family, presumably to finance his search for a religious statue, but channels the funds to the poor. Father Sanchez is forced to ride to New Orleans to purchase a fake statue when Victoria persuades John Cannon to provide the needed funds. Buck and Manolito serve as escorts for the priest and his statue. They are joined by Mavis and Gillis, who plot to steal it. When Gillis starts to rob the group, Father Sanchez reveals the statue is phony.

#17 - North to Tucson

Season 2 - Episode 8 - Aired 11/8/1968

When Victoria saves the life of a man injured in a stagecoach plundered by Comancheros, she learns the man has sworn to kill her husband. The injured man, James Forrest, blames John Cannon for the death of his family in the Civil War. The Comancheros, led by Macklin, capture the wandering pair, who are lost in the desert. Victoria again saves Forrest by convincing the bandits he is John Cannon and worth a high ransom.

#18 - The Promised Land

Season 2 - Episode 6 - Aired 10/25/1968

Don Sebastian Montoya repudiates his promise to sell a small village on his land to tenants after Vaquero obtains the purchase money. Vaquero received the money from a dying friend to buy the village. This matter becomes complicated when he learns the money may have been stolen by his friend and bandit, Miguel Morales.

#19 - Follow Your Heart

Season 2 - Episode 3 - Aired 10/4/1968

Ranch foreman Sam Butler returns to his native border town to avenge the death of his daughter. Sam, raised by his adopted father Ben Lynch, learns his daughter has been killed by Lynch's would be gunfighter son, Tom. Reunited with his Mexican wife Trinidad, Sam refuses all advice and vows to kill the boy. John Cannon leads the ranch hands to the border city in an attempt to stop the shoot-out.

#20 - Alliance

Season 3 - Episode 12 - Aired 12/12/1969

The Cannon Ranch is threatened by an Indian war when the military sends a bounty hunter after an Apache brave accused of murder. Johnny Ringo reveals to his old friend Manolito that he has been assigned by the cavalry to arrest Keono. Manolito, fearing Ringo may trigger an Indian uprising, insists on accompanying the bounty hunter. Ignoring Manolito's warnings, Ringo gets his man and involves himself and the men of the Chaparral Ranch in a hopelessly one-sided shoot-out with attacking Apaches.

#21 - The New Lion of Sonora (2)

Season 4 - Episode 15 - Aired 2/19/1971

#22 - The New Lion of Sonora (1)

Season 4 - Episode 14 - Aired 2/19/1971

Gilbert Roland guest stars as the surprise heir to the Montoya ranch in this special two-hour presentation. The sudden, peaceful passing of Don Sebastian Montoya brings his daughter Victoria, his son Manolito, John Cannon and Buck to the Montoya ranch to attend funeral services and to settle estate matters. All are amazed to learn the will leaves the vast Montoya holding to Don Sebastian's ne'er-do-well brother Don Domingo, a charming, irresponsible rascal currently living in Mexico City. Upon his return to the family home to claim his legacy, Domingo shocks the family by announcing he plans to sell the ranch and travel. A series of unexplained raids on his new-found cattle and property serves to uncover a little-known dimension of Don Domingo

#23 - The Badge

Season 4 - Episode 13 - Aired 12/18/1970

In a flashback sequence, John Cannon and brother Buck retrace their lives of years ago when lawman John captures Buck, who is wanted for bank robbery and murder. En route to town for trial, the brothers are followed by Buck's former partners, who are determined to see that the true story never is known.

#24 - Pale Warrior

Season 4 - Episode 12 - Aired 12/11/1970

Claiming to have been imprisoned by the Apaches for 15 years, a white man is befriended by the Cannons who soon regret their helpfulness. After aiding Talbot whom they find injured, John Cannon, Victoria, Buck and Manolito become suspicious of the man's true purpose for being in the Cannon Ranch area. It is Wind who uncovers evidence to confirm their suspicions.

#25 - A Matter of Vengeance

Season 4 - Episode 11 - Aired 11/27/1970

Embittered over the loss of his home and grandson in fire during a bandit raid, Casement vows to track down Reese, Gail and Wiley, the men responsible. He trails them to Tucson where his friends of the Chaparral offer to help, but the determined Casement wants to face the men alone.