CHEYENNE: BIG GHOST BASIN (TV)
Summary
One in this series of western dramas following the exploits of Cheyenne Bodie, frontier scout of white blood raised by the Cheyenne tribe, who wanders the American West during the years following the Civil War. In this episode, Cheyenne comes across a campfire and is cornered by a young man, Bill, who believes him to be from a group of outlaw rustlers. Cheyenne disarms him and leaves, but he then hears some kind of attack and returns to find Bill dead. He takes his body into the nearest town and everyone is upset to learn of his death, as several other men have recently died under similar, mysterious circumstance. Bill's twin brother Pierce is particularly suspicious of Cheyenne, but one Jim Harwick invites Cheyenne to help him solve the mystery and find the killer. Doc Raven, whose daughter Sherry is engaged to Pierce, reveals that Bill was "smashed" to death, though he bears no animalistic claw marks, and the men speculate that the rustlers have some sort of otherworldly creature working for them. As he has teamed up with Cheyenne, the townsfolk begin to suspect Harwick of foul play as well.
As he looks for clues, Cheyenne finds a buried campfire and then runs into Sherry and Doc, busy pursuing Doc's hobby of paleontology. They plan to stay in Harwick's cabin overnight, but when one of the horses suddenly bolts in fright, Sherry gives chase and falls. Awakening after dark, she sees a strange pair of eyes in the dark and is rescued by Cheyenne. Later, Pierce shoots at Cheyenne, having seen him alone with Sherry at night, but Cheyenne reveals that he is a special agent for the Indian Department and requests Pierce's help in tracking down the rustlers who are chasing the natives away from their land and planning a raid on the town, using mirror signals to communicate. Cheyenne then finds Sherry's missing horse, killed in the same manner as Bill, and with Pierce's help, manages to nab the rustlers' scout, "Moccasin" Joe Horrigan. Cheyenne demands information from him about the deaths, but Joe panics, begging Cheyenne to put out the fire and avoid attracting the mysterious killer. He takes Joe back to the cabin, and though he feigns shock, he attacks Doc and tries to escape, and Cheyenne is forced to shoot him dead.
Cheyenne and Pierce pretend to be Joe and signal to the rustlers, saying that the basin is ready for their raid while simultaneously setting up a posse to catch them. Sherry arrives with a man named Owen and a gun, saying they are reinforcements sent by Harwick, suggesting that he is not with the rustlers after all. The cowardly Owen expresses fear of the unknown killer and mentions a forest fire in the same area sometime ago, remembering all the injured animals. Getting an idea, Cheyenne sends him back to the posse and sets a trap, lighting another campfire and climbing up into a tree. The creature appears again and extinguishes the fire, but Cheyenne is able to shoot it. Later, Sherry and Harwick come by with the posse, having successfully caught the rustlers in time. Cheyenne reveals that the creature was indeed a grizzly bear, missing its claws and teeth thanks to the forest fire, and having developed a hatred of fire and men as a result. Cheyenne explains how the criminals used the bear to kill their enemies, and Doc expresses an interest in studying the creature, but Sherry dissuades him, saying that it has suffered enough. Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: ABC
- DATE: March 12, 1957 7:30 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:48:46
- COLOR/B&W: B&W
- CATALOG ID: 108562
- GENRE: Drama, western
- SUBJECT HEADING: Drama, western; Indigenous Peoples Collection
- SERIES RUN: ABC - TV series, 1955-1963
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- William T. Orr … Executive Producer
- Arthur W. Silver … Producer
- Joe Kane … Director
- Wells Root … Writer
- Steve Frazee … Based on the story by
- William Lava … Music by
- Stan Jones … Theme Music by
- Clint Walker … Cast, Cheyenne Bodie
- Bob Hover … Cast, Pierce Paxton
- Merry Anders … Cast, Sherry Raven
- Buddy Baer … Cast, Moccasin Joe
- Geoffrey Toone … Cast, Jim Harwick
- Harry Tyler … Cast, Doc Raven
- Slim Pickens … Cast, Gary Owen
- Lane Chandler … Cast, Paul Floyd
- Gene Roth … Cast, Arn Kullhem
- Phil Chambers … Cast, Hap Crosby