Hugh O'Brian had just completed a successful six series run as the title character in the Western TV series "The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp" in June, 1961 when he appeared in this episode of "The Alfred Hitchcock Hour". If you were a fan of that earlier program, you'll note the posture O'Brian effects in an early scene here when he drapes his arm over the refrigerator while speaking to his wife in the story, portrayed by Gena Rowlands. He used the same stance in the opening credits of his Western program, making me wonder if that was an intentional tribute to his role as the legendary lawman.
This was an unusual story for a Hitchcock episode. It's got more action than was typical for the stories which were usually confined to smaller sets, most of the time indoors. O'Brian's character has a dual identity of sorts, he's leading a double life after being involved in a crime fifteen years earlier, married for the last seven, when partners in a hold-up gone wrong show up to extract a measure of revenge for ditching them in a robbery attempt. The first unlucky guy (Jay Lanin) is shot by Chris Martin (O'Brian) following a brief tussle in the Martin home. Accomplice Adam (John Anderson) shows up demanding hush money and traveling expenses before allowing Chris to return to normal life, now complicated by the fact that wife Helen knows about his criminal past and contemplates leaving him.
The finale to this story was somewhat perplexing, as it suggests Anderson's character perished in the massive brush fire that Martin started as a diversion in his attempt to escape and bring Helen to safety. There was no reason for Adam to stray into the fire, he could just as easily have waited it out, having already located Martin and knowing where the couple lived. With the fire department responding to the out-of-control fire along with a local police car, it seems to me that the Martin's would have at least been questioned about their presence there and the discovery of two bodies, as the third guy Steve (Richard Shannon) was also shot by Chris Martin at the shack where they held Helen hostage. Normally, Hitchcock would offer some after the fact resolution to the story explaining what happened to a guy like Chris who killed three people in the episode, but this time the matter was dropped. Seems he got away with it, even though he had a self-defense alibi.
As a trivia note, I just wanted to mention John Anderson's connection with Hugh O'Brian. The prolific character actor was a mainstay in a whole bunch of old TV shows and Westerns, and actually appeared in seven episodes of "The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp" as different characters. If you've seen enough of the programs and movies he appeared in, you'll know him by name.
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