GIDEON THE GOOD

 

 

Gideon the Good - first shown October 18th 1970

 

'Joe sees a woman kill a man, but the woman escapes. He reports the crime to Sheriff Gideon Yates, they find a handkerchief with an embroidered 'L' and Yates knows the killer is his wife, Lydia. She married him before she got a legal divorce and she killed her first husband to silence him. When Joe refuses to leave quietly, Gideon orders a manhunt against him.'

 

Guest Stars: Richard Kiley as Gideon Yates, Terry Moore as Lydia Yates, Wes Bishop as Hicks, A Martinez as Luis, Carmen Zapata as Maria.

 

*****

 

Actually Gideon the Bad! Joe witnesses Lydia Yates killing a man but when he reports the crime to her husband, Sheriff Gideon Yates, the trouble starts for Joe.

The man that Lydia has killed, in self defence, was her former husband Loomis. She had believed him to be dead when she married Gideon.

Gideon then panics because he thinks a court will not believe her self defence plea and because they will both be charged with bigamy. Lydia wants to tell to the truth.

Mistakenly, Gideon tries first to coax Joe out of town, then shoots him in the leg (a very good gunfight in the shadowy streets) and then orders a manhunt against Joe. (Our Hero really does go through it in this episode!!)

Joe is given refuge by a Mexican family whose son witnessed Gideon shooting Joe. There is a truly spectacular fight scene when Gideon finds Joe there - Michael does all his own wonderful stunts in this scene. He defeats Gideon and help arrives.

Watch for the last scene where Ben and Hoss arrive and Joe is taken home resting in the back of a buckboard. Michael is wearing a very nice line in gold necklaces LOL!

A very good performance by Richard Kiley as the flawed Gideon and also by Terry Moore as Lydia. The script interplays the relationship between Gideon and Lydia with the relationship between Gideon and Joe and this adds to the drama.

A great Joe adventure from which he recovers perfectly!