CIMARRON STRIP (1967-1968) FORGOTTEN TELEVISION

CIMARRON STRIP (1967-1968) – Here’s another seasonal post for Frontierado, which is observed this year on Friday, August 1st. Cimarron Strip was the stretch of land also called the Oklahoma Panhandle. Stuart Whitman starred as U.S. Marshal Jim Crown, assigned to tame the nearly lawless region in the late 1880s.   

This program’s 23 episodes ran 90 minutes each with commercials, just like The Virginian and the first season of Wagon Train. Jill Townsend played Dulcey Coopersmith, Marshal Crown’s love interest and Percy Herbert was Deputy Marshal MacGregor. Karl Swenson played Doc Kihlgren.

STANDOUT EPISODES:   

THE BATTLE GROUND – A range war breaks out in the Cimarron Strip after the government cancels leases on land owned by cattlemen. Those ranchers clash violently with farmers and settlers with Marshal Jim Crown caught in the middle as he tries to end the war before a massacre occurs. Telly Savalas himself guest stars, along with Warren Oates, L.Q. Jones, Richard Farnsworth and R.G. Armstrong.  

JOURNEY TO A HANGING – Ace Coffin (Henry Silva), the leader of the Coffin Gang, kills a subordinate member of his gang before escaping from Cimarron’s jail. A fellow inmate called Screamer (John Saxon) witnesses the deed and wants the reward on Coffin’s head. Marshal Jim Crown warily accepts the man on his posse going after Ace. Both Crown and Coffin face potential mutinies from their own men. Shug Fisher and Margarita Cordova guest star.

THE LEGEND OF JUD STARR – The notorious outlaw Jud Starr (Darren McGavin) and his gang are striking all over the Cimarron Strip. Marshal Crown manages to capture Starr and tries transporting him to prison while Jud’s gang pursues the pair to kill Crown and free Starr. Also starring Beau Bridges, Barbara Luna and Richard Anderson.

BROKEN WING – Jing McQueen (Tim O’Kelly), the son of a rich and powerful rancher (Pat Hingle), shoots the Parson and is arrested by Marshal Crown. When the Parson recovers, he refuses to press charges and Jing is set free. Crown must then deal with a lynch mob that wants to hang the man. Steve Forrest, Royal Dano and Joel Fluellen guest star.

THE HUNTED – Two murderous outlaws are shot to death by vigilantes while in Marshal Crown’s custody. After collecting the Dead or Alive bounty, the shooters ride off. The brother of one of the dead men sets out on their trail intent on revenge. David Carradine, James Gregory and Vic Tayback appear.   

THE BATTLE OF BLOODY STONES – In a look at the “victors write the histories” issue, a young Native American boy disputes the way Wildcat Gallagher’s Wild West Show depicts the U.S. Cavalry’s clash with Indians at Bloody Stones. The boy gets killed and Crown must bring the murderer to justice while averting a Native American uprising over the slain boy – the chief’s son. Michael J. Pollard, Elisha Cook, Jr., Hank Patterson and Roy E. Glenn, Sr. guest star.

THE ROARER – This episode eerily anticipates America’s near future problems regarding the treatment of Vietnam War veterans reintegrating into society after their service and some of the PTSD violence that accompanied it. A cavalry sergeant (Richard Boone) with over 20 years of service in the Indian Wars grows frustrated with the civilian world’s treatment of him after a career of risking his life. Violence results and the sergeant ultimately commits “suicide by U.S. Marshal” in the showdown with Jim Crown. ROBERT DUVALL and Ed Flanders are in the cast.

THE BEAST THAT WALKS LIKE A MAN – Marshal Crown stops a newly arrived family from provoking violence through their impatience to claim a stretch of land as their own. Before long the family is slaughtered and it’s up to Jim to investigate and find out who committed the deed. Leslie Nielsen, Lola Albright and Simon Oakland guest star. 

THE LAST WOLF – A violent man named Sam Gallatin (Albert Salmi) exploits the anger and frustration of men who used to hunt excess wolves in Cimarron for bounties. Their services are no longer needed but the men refuse to find other lines of work and clash with Marshal Crown.

        If their stubbornness seems bizarre, I’m betting that the episode was a veiled reference to the way some Indian Hunters of decades earlier didn’t want to change their ways once there was no longer a lot of money to be made by killing and scalping Native Americans for pay from Mexico and the U.S. Using a name like Gallatin seems to support that notion. Denver Pyle guest stars.

THE DEPUTY – Bo Woodard (J.D. Cannon) pretends to be a deputy but is really the former leader of a gang of bandits. He was left for dead years earlier and the gang members divided all the money among themselves. Woodard is tracking them down on the Cimarron Strip, demanding his cut of the gang’s robberies and killing any who refuse. Marshal Crown gets to the bottom of things. Guest starring Marj Dusay.

HELLER – When Marshal Crown is shot and seriously wounded by the outlaw gang he is pursuing, he is found and nursed back to health by a young woman named Heller (The one and only Tuesday Weld). This Heller is NOT in pink tights but is in danger when the outlaws come for her and Jim Crown. Bernie Hamilton and Maggie Thrett also star.

KNIFE IN THE DARKNESS – Marshal Crown works with a British investigator who has trailed Jack the Ripper all the way to the Cimarron Strip. Saloon girls begin turning up dead as Jim and the new man in town try to work out the knifer’s identity. Harlan Ellison co-wrote. Tom Skerritt, Jennifer Billingsley, David Canary, Victoria Shaw and Grace Lee Whitney guest star.

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