"Outlaw in Town," one of the few episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents to be set in the Old West, is based on the short story of the same name by Michael Fessier that was first published in the January 23, 1960 issue of The Saturday Evening Port. The story and its TV version are delightful, with a satisfying surprise at the end.
Out of a blizzard, in the town of Buffalo Bend, a cheerful, whistling sound is heard outside the Chinaman's Chance Saloon, and a tall, red-haired young man strides through the doors. Big Bart McCormack is not amused by the stranger's cheerfulness; not, that is, until he reaches for his gun and the young man quickly removes Bart's weapon from its holster and hands it to him. Asked his name, the young man says it's Walt.
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| "Outlaw in Town" was first published here |
A beautiful bar girl named Shasta Cooney asks Walt to buy her a drink, but he insults her and she admits that she's interested in his silver spurs, belt buckle, and money. Admitting that he's broke, Walt accepts a small beer from Shasta and pours it down the back of her neck, causing her to run for the back room. Walt announces that he's in the mood for a game of poker and promptly loses his gun, belt, and holster. Billy Feeney reveals that the stranger is Walt Durkim, alias the Whistling Kid, and produces a wanted poster that promises a $5000 reward for notifying the nearest U.S. marshal of Durkim's whereabouts. The telegraph line is down due to the storm, and the residents of Buffalo Bend begin to argue about who is entitled to collect the reward.
Shasta suggests that someone could advance Walt the money he'll need while in town, in exchange for him going with them to see the marshal and letting them turn him in when the roads are open. Walt agrees and a bidding war breaks out, ending when Zack Martin pledges to pay $1000 when the bank opens. Walt begins to spend wildly, treating the townsfolk to a feast. The spending spree continues the next day when Walt buys Shasta a drink and kisses her passionately.
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| Ricardo Montalban as Tony (Pepe) Lorca |
The next day, a U.S. marshal studies the wanted poster and reveals that Walt Durkim has been dead for eighteen months. He tells the townsfolk that the stranger is Walt's lookalike brother, Dan, a con man who plants wanted posters in town, lets greed take over, and enjoys the high life, none of which is illegal. The people of Buffalo Bend realize that no one lost any money and, as Shasta and Dan ride by in her buggy, holding hands, Judge Gorman announces that he married the couple last night!
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| Constance Ford as Shasta Cooney |
"Outlaw in Town" is wryly told and features a delightful final twist. No one gets hurt and no crimes are committed, but con artist Dan Durkim takes advantage of the greed of others to have a great time and to marry a beautiful widow. The Old West setting allows the story to play out due in part to the slowness of communication between Buffalo Bend and the outside world; the blizzard that rages outside the saloon helps Dan by closing roads in and out of town and temporarily shutting down the telegraph line.
The story's author, Michael Fessier (1905-1988), started his career as a printer's devil at the Bakersfield Californian before becoming a newspaper reporter and the editor of newspapers, including the San Rafael Independent Journal. He began writing fiction in 1928 and the FictionMags Index lists short stories by Fessier from 1934 to 1963. He quit his newspaper job and began writing for the movies, authoring over two dozen screenplays between 1935 and 1954. He also wrote two novels and he moved into writing for TV, something he did from 1950 to 1969. Fessier's papers are at the University of Oregon.
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| Arch Johnson as Big Bart McCormack |
Michael Fessier adapted his own short story for Alfred Hitchcock Presents and the TV version of "Outlaw in Town" aired on NBC on Tuesday, November 15, 1960. Right away, the title card presents a surprise--the lead actors are Ricardo Montalban and Constance Ford! In the short story, Dan Durkim is described as "a tall red-haired young man"; when the TV show was filmed, Montalban was a 39-year-old, dark-haired actor from Mexico! Shasta Cooney is described on the page as "raven-haired," with "abundant beauty and generous proportions," and the narrator remarks upon "the bountiful manner in which her figure filled out her dress." Constance Ford was a 37-year-old blonde, last seen on Alfred Hitchcock Presents as the harried, urban housewife in "The Creeper," but most familiar to viewers in 1960 as Sandra Dee's mother in the 1959 film, A Summer Place. Yet both actors play their roles perfectly and Montalban is magnetic and charming as the con man.
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| Bernard Kates as Billy Feeney |
The Chinaman's Chance Saloon of the short story is renamed the Last Chance Saloon, but the show follows the story very closely for the most part. Walt Durkim has been renamed Tony Lorca, surely due to Montalban's ethnicity, but Big Bart still calls him a "'red-crested bobolink,'" a line of dialogue taken directly from the story that suggests that the teleplay was written before the dark-haired actor was cast and no one thought to change the reference. The character of Minnie Redwing, a waitress at the saloon, is expanded for the TV show, and her dialogue adds more humor to the situation as she is not shy in expressing her desire for the handsome stranger.
There is one new line that seems anachronistic; when one man in the saloon suggests that Tony should be considered "'community property,'" another remarks, "'Now that's socialism!'" a comment unlikely to have been uttered in a saloon in the Old West, but one that is funny in a 1960 episode of a TV show. When the saloon patrons bid for the right to turn Tony over to the U.S. marshal, he takes over as auctioneer, something that he does not do in the short story, and he encourages the price to keep rising. At the end of the show, Tony is revealed to be Pepe Lorca, another Hispanic name that is a change from the short story.
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| Addison Richards as the Justice of the Peace |
In the final scene of the story, Dan and Shasta ride by in her buggy outside the saloon, holding hands. The TV version is more dramatic: Pepe and Shasta stride into the saloon and walk up the stairs to her room, where Pepe picks up his new bride and carries her over the threshold. It makes little sense, because Shasta has a ranch outside of town, but it's a great, visual way to set up the show's punchline, when the Justice of the Peace announces that he married the couple last night.
"Outlaw in Town" is a terrific adaptation of a great short story, where Ricardo Montalban portrays a charming con man with vigor and a supporting cast of familiar faces from Western TV shows and movies fills the saloon.
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| Roscoe Ates as Zack |
Ricardo Montalban (1920-2009) was born Ricardo Gonzalez Pedro Montalban y Merino in Mexico City and later moved to the U.S., where he appeared in a few short films in 1941. He returned to Mexico and became a movie star there; by the late 1940s, he had signed with MGM and was back in the U.S. making films. He started appearing on TV in 1956 and was onscreen until his death. Best known as the star of Fantasy Island (1977-1984) and for his role as Khan on Star Trek and in Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan (1982), Montalban has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
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| Brad Weston as Trig Owens |
Arch Johnson (1922-1997) play Big Bart McCormack, in one of his three appearances on Alfred Hitchcock Presents (see "Party Line"). A familiar face among character actors, he had a career on TV and in the movies that lasted over three decades and he was in the original Broadway cast of West Side Story.
The supporting cast includes:
- Bernard Kates (1922-2010) as Billy Feeney, who finds the wanted poster; a bomber pilot in WWII, Kates was on screen from 1949 to 1999, including an appearance on The Outer Limits. He was in "I Kiss Your Shadow" on Bus Stop and he appeared in two other episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, including "The Right Kind of Medicine."
Addison Richards (1902-1964) as the Justice of the Peace; he had countless small roles in film and on TV from 1933 to 1964 and was in one other episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, "A Secret Life."
Clegg Hoyt - Roscoe Ates (1895-1962) as Zack, who initially wins the bidding war for Tony; he was in six episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, including "The Jokester." He started out as a comedian in vaudeville and his film career began in 1929. He was in 15 westerns from 1946 to 1948 as sidekick Soapy Jones, and his TV career began in 1951. Other film roles included Freaks (1932), King Kong (1933), Gone With the Wind (1939), Sullivan's Travels (1941), and The Palm Beach Story (1942). Ates also worked as an Air Force trainer in WWII.
- Brad Weston (1928-1999) as Trig Owens, one of the syndicate men from out of town; on screen from 1958 to 1991, he appeared on Star Trek and on three episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, including "Road Hog."
- Clegg Hoyt (1910-1967) as the man who suggests that Tony should be considered "'community property'"; he was on screen from 1955-1967 and appeared in six episodes of the Hitchcock series, including "The Day of the Bullet." He was also on The Twilight Zone, Thriller, and Star Trek.
Patsy Kelly (1910-1981) as Minnie Redwing; born Bridget Sarah Veronica Rose Kelly, she started out in vaudeville as a teenager before appearing on Broadway, beginning in 1927, and on film, beginning in 1929. She co-starred with Thelma Todd in a series of comedic film shorts in the 1930s and made many appearances on radio in the 1940s. She began appearing on TV in 1955 and continued working on stage and screen until 1979. She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Patsy Kelly as Minnie Redwing
Sources:
Fessier, Michael. "Outlaw in Town." Great Westerns From The Saturday Evening Post. Ed. Julie Eisenhower. Indianapolis: Curtis, 1976. 135-145.
Grams, Martin, and Patrik Wikstrom. The Alfred Hitchcock Presents Companion. OTR Pub, 2001.
IBDB, www.ibdb.com.
IMDb, www.imdb.com.
"Michael Fessier Papers." Special Collections and University Archives Collections Database, scua.uoregon.edu/help.
"Outlaw in Town." Alfred Hitchcock Presents, season 6, episode 7, NBC, 15 November 1960.
RadioGold Index, radiogoldin.library.umkc.edu/.
The Saturday Evening Post, www.saturdayeveningpost.com/subscribe-to-issue/?issue=1960-01-23.
Stark House Press, starkhousepress.com/fessier.php.
Wikipedia, www.wikipedia.org.
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