The BEST episodes of The Virginian season 1
Every episode of The Virginian season 1, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of The Virginian season 1!
The Virginian was the very first 90 minute western on prime-time television, and is about a man, only known as "the Virginian" who served as foreman on the Shiloh Ranch (owned in sequence by Judge Garth, the Grainger brothers, and Col. MacKenzie) in 19th century Medicine Bow, Wyoming. James Drury starred as the title character with the likes of Doug McClure, Lee J. Cobb, John McIntire, and Clu Gulager co-starring. It is in these settings that a variety of stories, much more based on character and relationships than the usual westerns, take place.
#1 - The Mountain of the Sun
Season 1 - Episode 28 - Aired 4/17/1963
While delivering a prize bull to New Mexico, the Virginian meets a young woman, Kathy (Dolores Hart), and two older companions, whom he learns are missionaries who want to travel to Mexico to minister to the Yaqui Indians. He later learns they had hired a dishonest guide who plans to rob them so he sets off in pursuit and manages to save them. However, they refuse to give up their quest to the Yaqui's who it turns out had murdered their husbands the year before. He accompanies them on their quest and along the way finds himself falling in love with Kathy.
#2 - Fifty Days to Moose Jaw
Season 1 - Episode 12 - Aired 12/12/1962
Older cowhand Slim Jessup (James Gregory) is accussed of killing a man in Idaho and escapes east. He signs on with a Shiloh Ranch cattle drive to Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. On the way the drovers are joined by a young man, James Cafferty (Bandon de Wilde), who wishes a different life than dirt farming with his widowed step-father (Frank Overton). The older Slim takes James under his wing and teaches him lessons in life before his past catches up with him.
#3 - Echo of Another Day
Season 1 - Episode 26 - Aired 3/27/1963
Sam Harter (Bradford Dillman) is released from prison and in Medicine Bow encounters Trampas, an old friend. Harter and Bleek (John Dehner) had robbed some gold bullion. Bleek had escaped and Harter was captured but not before he had hidden the gold. Trampas had refused to participate in the robbery and Harter had protected him from Bleek who was afraid Trampas would reveal their plan. Harter takes a job at Shiloh but he knows Bleek will inevitably appear. He does and a showdown ensues.
#4 - Strangers at Sundown
Season 1 - Episode 27 - Aired 4/3/1963
Judge Garth and Betsy are among the passengers on an overcrowded stage which is waylaid by an outlaw gang led by Pauk (Paul Richards). The passengers are trapped in a way station and the outlaws demand that one of the male passengers, a George Wilson who is traveling incognito, be given to them. Wilson is a former outlaw who had betrayed the gang. The various passengers must decide whether to live with their consciences and hand Wilson over, or risk their own lives in a gun battle with the desperate gang.
#5 - Impasse
Season 1 - Episode 8 - Aired 11/14/1962
The Virginian and crew collect wild horses in the mountains which they are to take to Shiloh Ranch to sell to the army. However, tough widower Pa Kroeger (Eddie Albert) lives in the mountains with his four sons and a daughter and believes he owns the horses. When the Virginian refuses to turn them over, Kroeger goes to great lengths to try and stop the Shiloh crew from taking the animals. Complicating matters are the facts the Kroeger sons think there may be a more reasonable way to deal with the situation and the daughter is attracted to Trampas.
#6 - The Devil's Children
Season 1 - Episode 11 - Aired 12/5/1962
Uncontrollable 16 year old Tabby McCallum (Joan Freeman) is chastised by the Virginian for shooting a shiloh steer. In retaliation she tries to burn down the Shiloh barn but is accidentally shot by a Shiloh hand, Sam Hicks (Charles Aidman). Tabby's brother Bruce McCallum (Carl Reindell), who is from the same mould as Tabby, claims she was deliberately shot while her father, Tucker (Charles Bickford), thinks her boy friend, Dan Flood (Bert Brinckerhof), started the fire. The result is a spiralling series of events which eventually lead to murder.
#7 - Vengeance is the Spur
Season 1 - Episode 22 - Aired 2/27/1963
A mysterious woman, Mrs. Francis (Nina Foch), comes to Medicine Bow and asks the Virginian to take her to meet his friend, Michael O'Rorke (Michael Rennie), the former foreman of Shiloh, who now lives as an outlaw in the badlands. She believes her husband, who had been wrongly accussed of murder, is hiding out with O'Rorke's gang. However, Mrs. Francis is not whom she claims and trouble follows.
#8 - The Small Parade
Season 1 - Episode 21 - Aired 2/20/1963
In Coyote Wells to deliver some cattle, the Virginian, Trampas and Steve Hill encounter Martin Reese (David Wayne). Reese had lost his wife and children to smallpox, had sold his farm, and now travels giving lectures urging vegetarianism. His lectures are not received well in cattle country and when one of his hecklers is found murdered, Reese is the main suspect, is seen as a murderous loony and is pursued by a posse. On the way back to Medicine Bow the Shiloh cowboys encounter a woman, Ellen Beecher (Barbara Barrie), who knows of Reese's whereabouts. Ellen has several orphans in her care and the Virginian and crew become involved in trying to help Ellen with the children and in finding and protecting Reese from the vengeful posse.
#9 - The Man Who Couldn't Die
Season 1 - Episode 19 - Aired 1/30/1963
The owners of the Bradford and Willson Transportation Co. had been contracted to build a railway line for Judge Garth and other investors but had been procrastinating in starting the project. When the Judge threatens them with legal action, they send a woman, Mrs. Wallace (Vera Miles), to spy on the Judge by becoming Betsy Garth's private tutor. Matters become complicated when the Judge falls in love with Mrs. Wallace. They become even more complicated when the Judge shoots in self-defence, Willson (David White), but can convince no one, including the police, that the man is dead.
#10 - It Tolls for Thee
Season 1 - Episode 9 - Aired 11/21/1962
Martin Kalek (Lee Marvin) and his gang kidnap Judge Garth for ransom. The Virginian pays the ransom but the kidnappers refuse to release the Judge until they are able to escape into Idaho. The Kidnappers head off pursued not only by the Shiloh hands but also separately by a former crony of Kalek's called Sharkey (Warren Kemmerling) who is out for revenge on the criminal.
#11 - Run Away Home
Season 1 - Episode 29 - Aired 4/24/1963
The Virginian and Steve Hill deliver 1800 head of cattle to Centre City, Nebraska. There is a run on the local bank but fortunately, Judge Garth's lawyer (Russ Conway) had heard of the possible bank run and had withdrawn the money to pay for the cattle the day before. The Virginian and Steve set out for home but are pursued by a local man, Swenson (Karl Swenson), and his sons who had their life savings in the bank and figure part of money is theirs. The episode recounts the adventures and travails of the two Shiloh men as they attempt to elude those pursuers.
#12 - Throw a Long Rope
Season 1 - Episode 3 - Aired 10/3/1962
A homesteader (Jack Warden) accused of rustling narrowly escapes hanging by local ranchers led by Major Cass (John Anderson), an event that is observed by Shiloh hands including the Virginian. However, the homesteader is severely injured, and the Virginian helps him work his farm during off hours. After some investigation into the rash of cattle rustling, the Virginian decides to defend the man against the Major and the other ranchers including Judge Garth.
#13 - The Exiles
Season 1 - Episode 16 - Aired 1/9/1963
Judge Garth is forced to shoot a man in self-defence but a passerby, Johnny Grey (Ed Nelson), who can prove the Judge innocent, leaves the scene. The Virginian trails Johnny to North Bend, Montana and along the way befriends Angelina Clump (Tammy Grimes) who is heading to the same town to get a job as a saloon singer. In North Bend the Virginian is forced to deal with two problems: Angelina receives threats to leave town from an anonymous stranger and Johnny Grey refuses to return to Wyoming unless he gets money from Judge Garth.
#14 - The Golden Door
Season 1 - Episode 24 - Aired 3/13/1963
Trampas and Betsy Garth discover the body of a murdered neighbour, Mr. Keel. Trampas encounters a Latvian immigrant, Karl Rilke (Karl Boehm) and his pregnant wife Maria (Ilze Taurins), and discovers they have Keel's rifle although Karl claims he bought the gun from a man on the road. Judge Garth believes Karl innocent and that Keel's son Johnny (Robert Duvall) is the murderer, so he defends Karl at the trial.
#15 - A Distant Fury
Season 1 - Episode 25 - Aired 3/20/1963
Ed Fraser (Howard Duff) returns to Medicine Bow, having served time for robbing the local lumber yard. He had been convicted based largely on Steve Hill's testimony but the stolen $30,000 was never recovered and his unknown accomplice, Helen Blaine (Ida Lupino), whose daughter (Joey Heatherton) Steve has been dating, had escaped. When there is what he perceives as an attempt on his life, Steve makes no secret of the fact he is convinced Fraser is out for revenge. When Fraser is killed Steve becomes the prime suspect. Although he avoids trial due to a lack of evidence, Steve becomes a social pariah and sees that the only way out is to solve the crime.
#16 - The Accomplice
Season 1 - Episode 13 - Aired 12/19/1962
The Rocky Point Bank is robbed by two men who shoot its President. One of the men is captured and claims Trampas, with whom he has a grudge, was his accomplice -- so Trampas is arrested. His identification as the robber is supported by a spinsterish bank teller, Delia Miller (Bette Davis), who has recognized the real robber and is protecting his identity in order to blackmail him. The Virginian tries to prove Trampas innocent and expose the real criminal by falsifying Delia's story.
#17 - The Big Deal
Season 1 - Episode 4 - Aired 10/10/1962
Columbian Enrique Cuellar (Ricardo Montalban) has inherited land which was leased and used by Judge Garth. The Judge wants to renew the lease or buy the land outright. He minimizes its importance to his operations even though it contains a pass needed to drive his cattle herd between its seasonal ranges. Enrique discovers this deception and demands a large amount of money for the land. The Judge decides to drive his cattle through the land before Enrique can get a legal restraining order and in turn Enrique begins erecting a barbed wire fence to block the passage. A violent confrontation seems inevitable but is prevented by an unpredictable event involving Betsy Garth.
#18 - Duel at Shiloh
Season 1 - Episode 15 - Aired 1/2/1963
This episode explains how Steve Hill came to work at Shiloh Ranch. Running away from home to become a cowhand he meets grizzled cowboy Johnny Wade (Brian Keith) who takes him under his wing and gets him a job working at a new ranch owned by Georgia Price (Geraldine Brooks). Georgia's plan is to make a huge profit quickly at the expense of destroying the common range by overgrazing. She uses her feminine wiles to get Johnny to head up her plan and their actions bring them into conflict with Judge Garth and eventually, with Steve Hill. Steve leaves to work at Shiloh and is forced into a showdown with his former friend and mentor Johnny.
#19 - If You Have Tears
Season 1 - Episode 20 - Aired 2/13/1963
In Mount Gorpus, Montana, Kyle Lawson (Britt Lomond) is framed for the murder of Lawrence Kelland. Kyle had been having an affair with Kelland's wife, Leona (Dana Wynter). The Virginian and Trampas, friends of Kyle, go to Mount Gorpus to investigate the crime. Posing as a cattle buyer, the Virginian begins romancing Leona. Leona eventually confesses to the murder but the Virginian is not so sure she is guilty.
#20 - Riff-Raff
Season 1 - Episode 7 - Aired 11/7/1962
Molly Wood (Pippa Scott) tells Trampas of the outbreak of the Spanish-American war and says she is impressed with a man in uniform, so Trampas rides to San Antonio, Texas to join the Rough Riders being formed by Teddy Roosevelt. Steve Hill and the Virginian follow, intent on persuading Trampas to return but they both end up enlisting as well despite conflicts between the free-sprited westerners and their staid eastern officers led by Lt. Drex (Ray Danton). In Cuba, when Lt. Drex is wounded, the Virginian leads a detail including Steve and Trampas to discover and decommission snipers and a hidden cannon emplacement, which they manage to do successfully. After the three soldiers return to Medicine Bow, they learn a welcome home party is going to be held in the Town Hall in their honor.
#21 - The Man from the Sea
Season 1 - Episode 14 - Aired 12/26/1962
Twin sisters Judith (Carol Lynley) and Susan (Shirley Knight) Morrow, who are the daughters of a deceased friend of Judge Garth, come to Medicine Bow where Susan is to start a pottery. Also arriving on the same train is a sailor, Kevin Doyle (Tom Tryon) who wants to settle down and become a farmer. While Susan is more reserved and practical, Judith dreams of seeing exotic places and is captivated by Kevin's stories of travel to faraway lands. They begin seeing each other but Judith seems to act strangely. Kevin finds himself so in love with Judith that he agrees to give up his dreams of settling down and take her to the places she has always wanted to see...but her problems are such that this will never come to be.
#22 - The Judgment
Season 1 - Episode 17 - Aired 1/16/1963
This episode reveals why Henry Garth is no longer a practicing Judge. In flashback it recounts how he had to sentence, and deservedly, a man to death for murder. However, the man's relatives, led by Jake Carewe (Clu Gulager), intimidated the townsfolk to the extent that they tried to get the Judge to set the man free. When the Judge stood up to the family, he had to do so without support from the town.
#23 - Say Goodbye to All That
Season 1 - Episode 18 - Aired 1/23/1963
In self-defence, Trampas is forced to shoot Big John Belden (Charles McGraw), who took exception to Trampas dancing with his his son Martin's (Fabian) fiancee. John is left a paraplegic and he encourages his son to take revenge on Trampas for the family honor even though Martin is, in direct contrast to his father, very mild mannered. Trampas is afraid he will have to kill Martin but their feud is interrupted by an encounter with Moses, a fierce lengendary bear.
#24 - The Executioners
Season 1 - Episode 1 - Aired 9/19/1962
Ne'er-do-well Tom Newcombe is publicly hanged for murdering a woman because the local school teacher, Celia Ames (Colleen Dewhurst), refuses to alibi him. A mysterious man, Paul Taylor (Hugh O'Brien), comes to town, signs on to work as a Shiloh Ranch hand and begins romancing Celia. However, his odd behaviour begins to raise the suspicions of Judge Garth and the local Sheriff who wonder about the motives of the stranger.
#25 - The Money Cage
Season 1 - Episode 23 - Aired 3/6/1963
A con man, William Martin (Steve Forrest), and his gang come to Medicine Bow and Martin begins wooing bank teller Lydia Turner (Bethel Leslie) the daughter of the bank's owner. He plans to use the woman to get her father and Judge Garth to invest in a fake oil drilling scheme. However, complications ensue when there is a run on the bank and Martin discovers he likes Lydia.