Wanted: Dead or Alive (TV Series) The Hostage (1959) User Reviews

With 'Friends' Like These.......

[ccthemovieman-1 · 8/10 · 31 August 2007]

I like Randall's comment at the end when these town idiots offer him the sheriff's job, saying "you got friends here now." His reply:

"It depends what you mean by friends. Sometimes it's a lot easier to recognize enemies."

In the introduction, we see there is bad blood between "Judge Coogan" (Alexander Scourby) and the man Josh just brought in for bounty, "Jumbo Kane" (Lee Van Cleef). Coogan was the guy who sentenced Jumbo to hang but the latter escaped.

Cleef, by the way, became semi-famous in Clint Eastwood's "spaghetti westerns" and Sourby as the "voice of NFL films."

Anyway, the story is all about Jumbo holding the sheriff hostage. Yup, this outlaw works fast. Within a minute of being dropped off at jail, he's got the sheriff tied up in his jail and the people on the outside wondering how to best handle the situation. Not helping matters is the sheriff's daughter, "Miss Julie," who is one big pain-in-the-butt criticizing anyone within earshot, calling Josh a murdering no-good bounty hunter, etc. etc. Too bad Jumbo doesn't shoot her!

Poor Josh winds up against the whole town, or at least the ones shown on screen. The judge isn't exactly a morally-sound person, either. As one guy says, "When he sentences someone to death, he doesn't seem care who goes along with him, either." He means Josh whom the sheriff - at gunpoint - uses as bait to get the killer, a ploy that almost gets our hero murdered.

Always fun to watch

[milliondollarbill · 10/10 · 26 October 2016]

Seeing great actors like Lee Van Cleef and the character actors on these shows and movies that most people can't even name.

More talent than 10 added together in todays movies and TV shows.

That one scene towards the end where Steve McQueen jump and flies through the air wrapping his legs around Van Cleef to knock him to the ground since his hands were tied behind him sure looked real and not stunt men.

And of course McQueen was a pip squeak back then and Van Cleef towered over him but it actually looked perfect and I can't imagine those two doing that over and over to get it right.

Funny how Hollywood has always worked........Lee Van Cleef was the better actor than McQueen but it always depends on who are handed the best parts and told by Hollywood who THEY say is the best.

Now we get a tiny Tom Cruise flying through the air catching bullets in his teeth and smiling at the same time.......and getting a half billion dollars doing that.

Thank God for the classic actors like Lee Van Cleef and Charles Bronson......and that we still get to watch them on TV.

Crumb City

[Johnny_West · 10/10 · 9 January 2024]

Josh Randall delivers malevolent Lee Van Cleef to Rogue City, where he was sentenced to hang by town Judge Coogan, played by Alexander Scourby. Van Cleef had previously escaped after swearing vengeance on the Judge, who is understandably scared.

The town sheriff, played by Tyler McVey, had a long history in Western TV shows. McVey goofs up when he is putting Van Cleef in his cell, and loses his gun and his life. Van Cleef then yells out that he captured the sheriff and wants a horse to get away again.

In comes his daughter, played by Marcia Henderson. She is out of control the whole episode, shading Randall as a crummy bounty hunter, wanting revenge on Van Cleef, wanting her father traded for Randall, etc.

Judge Coogan is only too eager to trade in Randall's life, in exchange for the sheriff (who is already dead). Randall becomes "the hostage" in the title of this episode, and all hell breaks loose. The ending features Randall, Van Cleef, and Marcia Henderson in a brawl that ends with a surprise.

All of the supporting characters in this episode were very harsh towards Randall, and they put no value on his life. The only one that even mentioned that Randall was a human being was the bartender, played by Michael Fox (the announcer in The Longest Yard 1972).

At the end, when Randall gets offered the job of sheriff because "You've got friends here." Randall says, "Sometimes it is easier to know your enemies than your friends" and walks away. This is what I think of as a classic Steve McQueen line, full of his great personality.

Good stuff

[Bills3511 · 10/10 · 12 July 2020]

Just wanted to reiterate what Milliondollarbill said. These old classics were just that/ classics. I did a double take when I first saw a very young Lee VanCleef. They just don't make them like this anymore. The crap they put on tv nowadays just doesn't stand up against these old classics.