Rauchende Colts The Badge (1955–1975) watch online HD

After some very entertaining episodes, this offering was not up to the high standards that we have come to expect. Sure there are going to be a few clunkers along the way and this episode is ranked right there near the list.

Two bandits, Rack and Augie, have robbed a bank in a local town. Rack is the brains of the bunch that treats Augie, the simpleton, as a punching bad when he does not obey an order. While Matt is riding along a trail, they shoot him in the shoulder. For some reason they decide to take the wounded Marshal with them as they escape Kansas on their way to Texas.

The rest of the story is Matt trying to talk the simpleton into thinking he has more smarts than Rack. And by doing so hopes to make some kind of escape of his own.

The story just was not interesting. The viewer knew, from early in the show, how this episode was going to end. The dialog and action was so predictable that the story seemed longer than a half hour show. But after so many fine shows you are bound to run into a show or two that lacks entertainment value.

Matt's waylaid and shot in the shoulder by two escaping bank robbers. The leader, Rack (Dehner), treats his scrawny confederate like a slave, cursing or beating the slow-witted Augie (Conlon) for any little infraction. In turn, Augie just whines and lusts after Matt's marshal's badge. Rack's intent on killing Matt once they're finished using him to help them escape. So Matt's got to come up with something.

The entire episode takes place on the prairie. It's pretty much a one-note story and, surprisingly, without much of the suspense contained in the premise. The beating on poor Augie does get tiresome, with little more in the way of a plot device. In my book, it's less entertaining than the series norm.

If there's a reason for giving this episode just an "8" it's the acting. Sure, Jim Arness did his normal good job with Matt. It's always a treat to see the great John Dehner play such a murderous brute, and his death scene; the way he acted when "getting shot:, was worth every penny of the free METV. The actor who played Augie, Conlon Carter, was just fabulous as the dimwit who didn't know which way to turn. (R.I.P. Mr. Dehner, Mr. Arness).