Episode
The Virginian: It Tolls for Thee
Overview
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.
Details
- Series
- The Virginian
- Season
- Season 1
- Episode
- Episode 9
- Air date
- 1962-11-21
- Runtime
- 90 min
Episode context
It Tolls for Thee is Episode 9 in Season 1 of The Virginian. It aired on 1962-11-21. The runtime is 90 min.
Previous / Next
Episode 8: Impasse
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.
Episode 10: West
Seeking some excitement in his life, Trampas joins a groups of older cowboys (Steve Cochran, James Brown, Claude Akins) who set off to find adventure in what they still believe is the wild, lawless West. However, their outdated attitudes lead them into trouble and eventually, tragedy.
More episodes from this season
Episode 7: Riff-Raff
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.
Episode 11: The Devil's Children
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.
Episode 6: Big Day, Great Day
The Judge, Steve Hill and Trampas travel to Casper on the 4th of July in order to pick up a fancy bed the Judge had ordered. In Casper they have several adventures revolving around a wrestling match involving an old acquaintance of the judge (Aldo Ray) who is fighting for the championship and Steve's romantic interest in one of the saloon girls who reminds him of a past lost love.
Episode 12: Fifty Days to Moose Jaw
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.
Episode 5: The Brazen Bell
A new school teacher, Arthur Lilley (George C. Scott), and his uppity wife (Anne Meacham) come to Medicine Bow. Arthur is a well-educated man and his wife believes the job beneath him but Arthur sees himself as a coward, thinking he was responsible for the deaths of several students in a fire at his former school in Vermont. When two murderers escape from prison and take as hostages the teacher, his wife and the school children including Betsy Garth, Arthur's mettle meets the supreme test.
Episode 13: The Accomplice
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.
Episode 4: The Big Deal
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.
Episode 14: Man from the Sea
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.
Episode 3: Throw a Long Rope
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.
Episode 15: Duel at Shiloh
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.