The WORST episodes of The High Chaparral
Every episode of The High Chaparral ever, ranked from worst to best by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The worst episodes of The High Chaparral!
The show revolved around "Big" John Cannon, a rancher who lived in the Arizona Territory in the 1870s. He ran the ranch with his brother Buck and son Billy Blue. Blue Boy's mother Annalee was killed in the first episode by an Indian arrow, and John Cannon then married Victoria, the daughter of the powerful neighbouring rancher Don Sebastián Montoya, in what is initially a marriage of convenience. His marriage to Victoria Montoya brought her brother Manolito (Henry Darrow) into the picture, and he also came to live with the family. Cameron Mitchell had been offered the part of Buck following an airline flight to Tucson where he had sat next to the series originator and his wife.
#1 - 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.
#2 - The Widow from Red Rock
Season 1 - Episode 13 - Aired 11/26/1967
Buck Cannon goes to work as foreman for a lovely neighboring widow, and clashes with his brother John when the job appears permanent. Buck falls in love with the widow, Melanie Cawthorne, and becomes her tool as she strives for quick riches and respectability. As water grows scarce, she buys stolen Mexican cattle from Romero without Buck's knowledge.
#3 - Gold Is Where You Leave It
Season 1 - Episode 19 - Aired 1/21/1968
John Cannon drives gold seekers from an abandoned mine on his land and they retaliate by plotting to kill the Cannons. Lije Driskill, Johnny Faro and Shorty Bleeson fail in an attempt to kill Buck, Sam and Victoria, who are driving back to the ranch with dynamite to use at the mine. Driskill and his companions then raid the ranch and drive off the cattle. Buck, mistaking a friendly kiss from Victoria, leaves to dynamite the mine, and plans to make it his final job for John. Billy Blue rides to help Buck. but is captured by Driskill, who plans to kill the young m
#4 - 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.
#5 - Mi Casa, Su Casa
Season 3 - Episode 19 - Aired 2/20/1970
Told to make himself at home while a houseguest at the Cannon ranch, Don Sebastian Montoya, father of Victoria and Manolito, does just that and inadvertently provokes an Indian attack. Unaccustomed to the rugged life that is part of the operation of the Cannon ranch, wealthy Don Sebastian Montoya proves a disruptive influence by refusing to be without the luxuries he enjoys on his own estate. The demanding houseguest ignores one rule too many and the result is an Indian uprising.
#6 - Friends and Partners
Season 3 - Episode 16 - Aired 1/16/1970
Tired of the daily grind as cowhands on the Cannon Ranch, Manolito and Buck leave to operate their own recently-purchased spread and find they have only added to their woes. Convinced they can have an easier life by being their own bosses, Manolito and Buck tell John of their decision to go out on their own. It is not long before the somewhat lazy Manolito and the less-than-neat Buck realize that as friends they make bad business partners.
#7 - The Brothers Cannon
Season 3 - Episode 3 - Aired 10/3/1969
Buck angrily parts company with his brother John when a long-smoldering family feud is brought out into the open. Fed up with menial jobs on the Chaparral, Buck is ignored when he complains to his older brother John and so he leaves the ranch once and for all. When Blue also turns against him, John finally agrees to go after Buck who refuses to return.
#8 - 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.
#9 - 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.
#10 - 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.
#11 - 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.
#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 - The Hair Hunter
Season 1 - Episode 26 - Aired 3/10/1968
A bounty on Apache scalps disrupts peace between the Cannons and the Indians. When Apache raids close Judah Austin's mine, he offers Stoner a bounty for Indian scalps despite John Cannon's objections. Stoner's son Chad is wounded in an attack on the Apaches and turns against his father while recuperating at the High Chaparral ranch.
#14 - 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.
#15 - Tiger by the Tail
Season 1 - Episode 24 - Aired 2/25/1968
Ricardo Montalban guest-stars as a wounded bandit leader who is captured by the Cannons and tells them his followers will destroy them unless he is released. When El Tigre's brother, Rafael, threatens to attack the ranch to free the notorious bandit, John Cannon has difficulty persuading his wranglers to hold the outlaw for trial in Tucson. During the attack Victoria frees El Tigre when he promises to leave peacefully and to stop the bloodshed, but he shows his true colors by making John his captive.
#16 - The Peacemaker
Season 1 - Episode 25 - Aired 3/3/1968
Billy Blue Cannon quits the ranch after a quarrel with his father and leads a peace representative of the President to Cochise. On the trail Blue falls in love with Kelly's adopted Apache daughter, Moonfire. Kelly, an idealistic dreamer, meets Cochise's demands for a strip of land separating the High Chaparral from Tucson. This would cut the Cannons' supply route and threaten them with bankruptcy. John, angered by the peace terms and his son's choice of a wife, prepares to defend the ranch against the Apaches.
#17 - A Way of Justice
Season 2 - Episode 12 - Aired 12/13/1968
John Cannon is accused of killing the daughter of a Mexican sheepherder and is condemned to death unless steep ransom is paid. Escaped convicts Mitch, Cable, and Kolos accidentally kill the girl while heading for Tucson to reclaim stolen money. They escape the sheepherders by forcing John to change into the prison clothing of the inarticulate Kolos. John is captured and condemned to death, but Manolito promises money for John's release. Buck and Billy Blue fail to raise the ransom
#18 - Threshold of Courage
Season 1 - Episode 28 - Aired 3/31/1968
John Cannon is forced to relive his final days in the Civil War by a man he disfigured in combat. Vengeful Finley Carr and his brother Stacy kidnap Victoria and head for high country, certain John will follow. Carr captures John and subjects him to physical exhaustion and hunger for three days as he prepares to reverse the roles of their first meeting. Buck, Billy Blue and Manolito force one of Carr's men to help plan a rescue.
#19 - The Firing Wall
Season 1 - Episode 16 - Aired 12/31/1967
Fernando Lamas guest-stars as a Mexican bandit turned revolutionary who captures and prepares to execute the Cannon Ranch hands to prove his power. Manolito is jailed by El Caudillo, the Mexican bandit, when Conchita lures the group across the border. Billy Blue Cannon is allowed to escape, and he returns with El Caudillo's old enemy, Don Sebastian, and the entire group, except ranch hand Pedro, then is jailed. Hope for escape fades when El Caudillo prepares to shoot the group before frightened villagers to prove his power and to force them to join his revolution to conquer Mexico.
#20 - The Terrorist
Season 1 - Episode 15 - Aired 12/17/1967
Henry Silva guest-stars as a revolutionary who plans to assassinate Benito Juarez, exiled President of Mexico, on the Cannon Ranch. Manolito frees his old friend Santos from a Mexican jail, where he has been imprisoned by the French as a terrorist for Juarez. Santos and his sister, Pilar, are taken to the Cannon Ranch where Victoria arranges for Juarez to plan an invasion of Mexico. Manolito learns Santos has turned traitor and plans to conquer French-ruled Mexico himself. Before Manolito can warn his friends, Santos's followers take over the ranch and prepare to kill Juarez upon his arrival.
#21 - Sudden Country
Season 1 - Episode 10 - Aired 11/5/1967
Mistakes of an inexperienced eastern bank clerk who attempts to settle on a ramshackle ranch near the Cannon family threaten to wipe out the cattle industry of the territory. When Creed and Meg Hallock make repeated mistakes, John Cannon sends Buck, Billy Blue and Manolito to help them survive. Creed buys a non-existent herd and is swindled again when he innocently purchases diseased Mexican cattle. John ruins the greenhorn financially when he orders the cattle killed before they can infect other animals.
#22 - 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.
#23 - Bad Day for a Thirst
Season 1 - Episode 23 - Aired 2/18/1968
Buck Cannon jeopardizes his life, when he tries to turn two Apaches into wranglers. Sourdough and Saddleblanket quickly become valuable hands. When an Apache war party kills three ranchers and kidnaps the two Indian wranglers, all but Buck believes the two Apaches are killers and have reverted to their old ways. The High Chaparral group tracks the war party to an Army fort the Indians have captured and where Buck lies seriously wounded beyond reach of his comrades. Almost dying of thirst, Buck's only chance for survival lies in an appeal to his Indian wranglers inside the fort to turn on their fellow Apaches.
#24 - 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.
#25 - 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.