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The Classic TV Archive - TV Western series
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 9.14 [239]
"nan allen"
 Original NBC Broadcast - 06 January 1971

Universal City Studios, Inc.
executive producer edward j. montagne
written by dick nelson
directed by jeffrey hayden

Starring:
(shown in the opening sketch sequence)
stewart granger [Col. Alan MacKenzie]
doug mcclure [Trampas] (not in this episode)
lee majors as tate (not in this episode)
and
james drury as the virginian (not in this episode)

guest stars:
diane baker [nan allen]
tom skerritt [bobby allen]
special guest star
e.g. marshall [judge arnold carver]

Full Ending Credits:
co-starring
arch johnson as sheriff tracey
eric christmas as parker [recurring character / replaces John McLiam in this role]
with
michael bow andy
william christopher hotel clerk
jon lormer dr. walker
harry hickox mr. bristol
terry wilson marty
*
theme ennio morricone
*
director of photography william margulies, a.s.c.
*
art director william j. kenney
set decorations perry murdock
unit manager ralph ferrin
assistant director les berke
*
film editor milton shifman, a.c.e.
sound earl n. crain, jr.
technicolor
main title design jack cole
titles and optical effects universal title
*
editorial supervision richard belding
costume supervision vincent dee
make up bud westmore
hair stylist larry germain


Series regular characters appearing in this episode:
featuring Col. MacKenzie, with Parker

Detailed Synopsis:
In the town of Cooper's Spur, Bobby Allen returns home after an evening
in the local saloon. As he approaches the home he shares with his sister
Nan, he drags a stick against the picket fence, which makes a distinctive
noise. Bobby hears a crash inside the house and sees a light go out on
the second floor. He runs inside. We see the light come back on, hear
a gunshot and see a man thrown out of the upstairs window with Bobby
looking out and holding a gun.

The next day Col. MacKenzie rides into town. He checks into the hotel
and inquires about Thomas Whelan, an old friend whom he has come to see
on a business matter. The clerk hesitatingly tells him that Mr. Whelan
is no longer a guest of the hotel. When MacKenzie asks where he is, he's
directed to the local undertaker. The undertaker tells him that Whelan
was killed the night before. Though upset over the death of his friend,
the Colonel offers to notify his family and make arrangements for the
body to be shipped home, but the undertaker tells him that the sheriff
wants the body to remain in town "until after the hearing" which is
going on right now. He further tells him that the hearing is closed
and not open to the public. "I am not the public! I am the dead man's
friend!" protests the Colonel. "I'd be careful who I mentioned that
to, sir," replies the undertaker, "I mean, after what he tried to do to
Nan Allen, there are some who might not take it kindly if you tried to
stand up on his behalf!"

Col. MacKenzie walks over to the courthouse where interested townspeople
are milling about outside. The sheriff refuses him entry, but the
Colonel explains that he is a friend of the presiding judge, Arnold
Carver, and that he is here as a "business associate and friend of Thomas
Whelan." This comment is overheard by one of the onlookers who says,
"It takes some amount of sand, don't it, claiming friendship for a raper?"
Col. MacKenzie glares at the man as the sheriff returns to let him in.

Inside the courtroom, Judge Carver greets him warmly and asks about his
interest in the matter. "Yes sir, I have (an interest) as a friend an
associate of the dead man," says MacKenzie, "It's also my duty to inform
his family of their loss. I hope I can tell them that his death has been
thoroughly investigated." "Are you aware of the reason this hearing has
been closed to the public?" asks the Judge. "I've heard some very
unpleasant innuendoes about Mr. Whelan." answers the Colonel. "Yes,
I'm afraid the whole situation is unpleasant and delicate," says Judge
Carver, "All of us are most concerned that the lady involved be spared
any undeserved notoriety." Col. MacKenzie assures him that even though
he and the Judge have only known each other for a short time, he (the Colonel)
is a man of his word. Nan Allen interrupts by saying, "Please, let him
stay!" MacKenzie takes a long look at her and thanks her for being "very
gracious." The Judge agrees to let him stay and orders that his presence
be noted in the court record.

Addressing the court, Judge Carver continues, "This hearing is to determine
whether criminal charges should be lodged against Robert Allen. He has
already voluntarily admitted shooting Mr. Whelan. All right, Robert. Go
on with your sworn statement about last night." "Yes sir," says Bobby,
"Well, I spent the night at the Gold Spike, drinking and playing cards
with some friends, and then I went home a little before midnight...I got
home to the front of the house and I looked up and I saw a light on in
my sister Nan's bedroom upstairs. And then the light went out and I heard
a sound like the noise of glass breaking and I ran into my sister's bedroom
and she was struggling with this Mr. Whelan. I yelled at him and he let
go of Nan and then he came after me. I shot him. And the shot knocked
him through the window and down onto the trellis and I went to see how
Nan was and then I went and got Sheriff Tracey and, uh, that's all there
really is to it, sir."

Colonel MacKenzie cross-examines and asks him why he was carrying a gun.
Bobby says that he needs it for protection because he deposits the bank
receipts for Nan. He insists that he had to use it on Whelan because he
"came at me like a wild man." The Colonel then asks what exactly was
broken when he heard the sound of glass shattering. Bobby answers that
it was a small lamp on a table. "And it didn't catch fire when it was
knocked over?" asks MacKenzie. "It was just a glass chimney, not the
whole lamp that was knocked over," says Bobby. The Colonel has no further
questions and Bobby is excused from the stand.

Next up, it is Nan's turn to testify: "Mr. Whelan came to my office
yesterday morning. I'd met him a few times before on business matters.
Yesterday he was acting as an agent for Shiloh Ranch. He was interested
in an offer I'd made to receive and load Shiloh cattle at our shipping
yards here. It was an unusually busy day, many interruptions, so I
invited him to our house for supper. We ate together and then Bobby had
to go off to visit some of his friends. Then he began to talk about
personal things, about his wife having passed away some years ago and
about how lonely he was. I was sympathetic. Maybe he mistook that.
I haven't been able to stop thinking about that part of it, wondering
if I'd been cooler or more reserved, it might not have happened.
Anyway, I knew that if he stayed any longer he'd make advances and
asked him to leave. I was a little abrupt. As I remember, he looked
hurt and disappointed but he did leave--at least I thought he did.
I shut the front door after him and I left it unlatched because I
knew Bobby would be coming in later. Then I went up to my room to
get ready for bed. All at once, Mr. Whelan was there in my bedroom!
I tried to talk to him, but it was as if he couldn't hear me. He
came at me and we struggled and the rest is the way Bobby told it."

The Judge asks if Col MacKenzie has any questions for Miss Allen.
Visibly moved by her testimony, the Colonel says, "I find myself in
a very difficult position here, your honor. I thought that I knew my
friend Tom Whelan. It's absolutely impossible to believe that this
side of his character existed!" "He wasn't a bad man!" interrupts
Nan, "We'd had wine with dinner and he'd had two or three brandies.
I'm sure it was the wine that made him act the way he did. He was
so lonely and maybe I, without meaning to, somehow encouraged him.
I'm more sorry than I can tell you about all of it!"

"I have no more questions, your honor," says Col. MacKenzie.
"Neither have I," says Judge Carver, "Under the circumstances, I
can only make the finding that this was a justifiable homicide in
defense of Miss Allen and therefore no charges of any kind shall
be brought against Robert Allen." Bobby breathes a sigh of relief,
thanks the Judge and kisses his sister. The Judge instructs the
sheriff to see that the local newspaper publishes a "very circumspect"
report on this hearing and he tells the clerk/stenographer to keep
the record of the proceedings under "close safekeeping and not made
available to anyone unless on my orders."

Later, as Col. MacKenzie attempts to deliver Whelan's casket to the
train depot, he meets resistance everywhere. One of the townspeople
yells, "Hey Mister, you're going the wrong way! The town dump's over
there!" At the train station, the baggagemen refuse to help him with
his load. He is then attacked by some of the locals. The attack
is witnessed by Bobby and Nan Allen. When Bobby rushes over to break
it up, one of the men says, "Come on, Bobby! I figure any friend
of that snake you shot don't deserve no better!" "You figured wrong!"
says Nan, stepping in. She offers her profuse apologies to Col.
MacKenzie and admonishes the others. Seeing that he's been slightly
hurt in the fight, she insists that he come home with her so she can
tend to his wounds. She asks if he feels up to walking over to her
buggy. With a twinkle in his eye, he answers, "Well now, if you were
to take my arm, I think I might just manage it!"

Back at Nan's house, she sews up his torn jacket. She looks at his
head wound and comments that it is healing nicely. They hear the
rattle of a stick against the picket fence and she says, "Oh, Bobby's
back already." "That noise is your brother?" asks the Colonel.
"Yes, he drags a stick across the fence. He's done it since he was
a little boy. I don't think he even knows he's doing it any more,"
she says. Bobby enters and remarks that the Colonel is looking much
better. An appreciative MacKenzie asks if Nan and Bobby could join
him for supper. Nan declines, saying it is "too soon" after the
previous night's incident and that it "wouldn't be proper." The
disappointed Colonel reluctantly accepts her decision and bids her
goodbye. As she's seeing him out, she adds, "I'm sorry. How could
I have supper with you, how could I stay in this house after last
night?" "By doing it," he answers, "Just doing it. Living one day
at a time. Each day is easier than the last until it eventually
becomes a faint memory." She suddenly changes her mind and decides
to accept his dinner invitation. "Will I ever be able to thank you,
Alan, for being so very gentle and generous with us?" she asks.
"You already have," he replies, "By calling me Alan!"

On the way back to his hotel, the Colonel runs into the sheriff.
The sheriff tells him that he heard about the ruckus at the train
station and he has the right to prefer charges. The Colonel, who
is virtually walking on air after making his date with Nan, answers,
"Charges? After the way it turned out, I was thinking of offering
those boys a job at Shiloh!" The sheriff laughs and says that everyone
in town thinks highly of Nan Allen. Smiling in agreement, Col.
MacKenzie says he's puzzled about one thing: If Nan is so popular,
how come she never got married? "Well, she almost did get married once,
five or six years ago," answers the sheriff, "Fellow she was engaged
to got himself killed...freak accident down at the shipping yards."
The Colonel shakes his head and says, "She doesn't have much luck with
men, does she?"

That night over dinner at the hotel, Col. MacKenzie and Nan discuss
business while Bobby sits and drinks the Colonel's champagne. The
biggest problem with getting the Shiloh cattle to the railhead at Cooper's
Spur is the time it will take to get over an intervening mountain pass
and the resultant problem of the cattle not being fed. Nan proposes
setting up some intermediate feed lots. She'll set up lots on her side
of the pass (made easier because she can use her own freight lines to
drop off the feed) if the Colonel will set up lots on his side of the
pass. Col. MacKenzie hails this as a "brilliant" idea and calls for
drinks all around. "No more for you," says Nan to Bobby. Changing
her mind, she says, "All right. Just remember in the morning, I told
you so tonight!" The Colonel raises his glass and offers a toast,
"To Nan!"

The next morning, Col. MacKenzie and Bobby head out to map the feed
stations. The Colonel bids a reluctant goodbye to Nan. "I wish, well,
I wish so many things, but most of all, I wish I had more time," he says.
"I know," she replies, "But I will see you again!" Out on the trail,
after having mapped locations for several stations, a storm comes up.
They set up a tent at the base of a mountain to wait it out. That night,
while eating, Bobby tells how with Nan's energy and business acumen they
were able to set up a successful freight business. "She's a remarkable
woman, your sister," says the Colonel, "A tragedy what happened to that
fiance." "Oh that fellow?" says Bobby, "He wasn't any loss to anyone.
Nan's really too fine a woman for any man I've ever seen around." "But
why has she never married?" asks Col. MacKenzie, "Lots of men must have
asked her." "Asked her?" says Bobby, "Oh yeah, they asked her. They
used to stand in line almost to ask her." "Used to?" asks MacKenzie.
"Well, I guess they got the message by now," Bobby answers cryptically.

Their conversation is suddenly interrupted by an avalanche. Col. MacKenzie
manages to get out of the way, but Bobby is badly injured. Since they
are now on the other side of the mountain pass, the Colonel decides to
take him to Shiloh. He sends a telegram to Nan in Cooper's Spur telling
her of the accident. When she receives the wire, she makes a hasty
departure for Medicine Bow. Back at Shiloh, the doctor is administering
to a still-unconscious Bobby. He offers only an uncertain diagnosis;
"We just don't know enough about injuries to the brain...Near as I can
tell, it's just a bad concussion...But I just can't swear to it!"

Nan breathlessly arrives at Shiloh at 3:00 AM after having ridden all
day and night. The Colonel takes her up to see Bobby. She's at first
horrified at how he looks, but MacKenzie tries to reassure her that he
may wake up at any moment and everything possible is being done to take
care of him. He further tells her that she should get some food and
rest because she's "on the verge of collapse." She insists on staying
with him. Just then Bobby stirs for the first time in three days.
"He recognized your voice!...You did it, Nan!" says the Colonel.

The next morning we see Col. MacKenzie returning to the house after a
leisurely ride on his horse. Inside, his butler, Parker, tells him
that Nan is sleeping and the doctor has come and gone. "He says the
only worry we should have with young Mr. Robert now is keeping him in
bed till his head mends!" says Parker. The Colonel goes upstairs to
look in on Nan. She is awake and invites him inside, telling him to
close the door. "Aren't you frightened I might compromise you? What
would Parker think?" he jokes. "Parker is a delightful gentleman,
but I'm sure he's never had an evil thought in his life!" she laughs.
Continuing, she says, "Parker told me what you did. You brought Bobby
down from the pass in the dead of night, in the worst storm in years.
He told me all about that...You saved Bobby's life...You could have
done something else. You could have played it safer. But you're not
a man who plays with your life in a safe way, are you? You didn't in
Cooper's Spur and you didn't in the past. Well, I'm not going to play
it safe, either!" With that, she embraces him and gives him a long,
loving kiss on the lips. "I owe you that, Alan," she says. "Nan! You
don't owe me anything!" he says, "You're a very special woman, Nan.
Maybe you're the woman I thought I'd never find. And if you are, I want
us both to know. And we never will if gratitude gets in the way."
"Gratitude?" she exclaims, "It isn't gratitude and you know it!" "Oh,
maybe it's just masculine pride. Shall I tell Parker you're going to
be joining us for lunch?" he asks, kissing the tip of her nose.

Several days later, the doctor is examining Bobby's head wound. He says
that it's coming along fine, and tells him he can start easing back
into normal activities but advises against trying to make the strenuous
trip back home right away. As the doctor is leaving, Nan asks about
his fee and the doctor says it has been "taken care of." After he's gone,
Bobby comments that Col. MacKenzie must have paid the fee. "He shouldn't
have!" says Nan. "It strikes me the Colonel takes down an awful lot
himself, don't you think" says Bobby. "What do you mean by that?" asks
Nan. "Oh, like when I got hurt, bringing me back here instead of taking
me to Cooper's Spur," he says. "Now wait, Bobby, it was fifteen miles
closer this way." she points out, " He brought you here because it would
get you help faster!" "Yeah, I suppose that's one reason," he replies,
looking out the window at the Colonel who has just ridden up on his horse,
"He kind of takes after that big stud down there!" "Bobby, you don't
seem to completely understand. Col. MacKenzie saved your life!" she says.
"Yeah, I know that. Don't you think I know that?" he asks. "Sometimes
I wonder!" she says.

That night after supper, Bobby wanders down to the corral. Not knowing he's
there, the Colonel and Nan walk out a few minutes later. Thinking they're
finally alone, they engage in a passionate embrace. "Oh Alan!" she coos,
"I'm sorry I can't be prim and proper but if that's the way you want me to
be, I'll try!" The Colonel tells her that tomorrow he has to check the
grazing land in the west pasture. There's a little line shack out there
where they can be alone. "It's a long way, Nan. We'll have to start at
dawn," he says. "It could be a thousand miles for all I care!" she answers.

Bobby, of course, has overheard all of this and he goes out there bright and
early the next morning to "greet" them and disrupt their plans. That evening
after supper, Nan excuses herself to go get some coffee. Col. MacKenzie says
he'll have brandy instead. He notices that the bottle is nearly empty.
"I'm glad that you approve of my brandy!" the Colonel says to Bobby, who is
playing around with the Colonel's gramophone. Still miffed at Bobby's
interrupting their morning rendezvous, MacKenzie asks him how he just happened
to show up at the line camp that morning. "Oh, I couldn't sleep last night,"
he replies, "You don't mind me wandering around your place when I feel like it,
do you?" "Of course not, you're my guest," says the Colonel sarcastically.
Bobby accidentally on purpose winds the gramophone too tight and breaks the
handle. MacKenzie looks up with a start. "Oh, I'm sorry about that," says
Bobby, "This thing is as flimsy as you said it was!"

Bobby leaves the room with the bottle of brandy to go to bed and Nan reenters.
The Colonel is at the gramophone to see if he can repair it. "Well, it appears
that we'll finally be alone!" she says. "Yes, and Bobby does not like it!"
says Col. MacKenzie, "Nan, he's behaving very strangely." "Alan, you have
to understand something," she says, "I've been the only mother he's ever had.
You see, our mother died when he was born and our father when he was just
twelve, so I've had to be everything to him, which makes us closer than most
brothers and sisters. We'll just have to make allowances for Bobby."
"Maybe too many allowances have been made already," says the Colonel, swirling
his brandy. Noticing the broken gramophone, she says, "No! What happened
to your gramophone?" "What always happens to toys," he says, "A child broke it!"

The next day, we see Col. MacKenzie and Nan ride into Shiloh in a buggy.
There is some commotion outside the bunkhouse and they see the Colonel's
prized horse lying prone on the ground covered by a blanket. "What happened?...
How did it happen? Who did it?" asks the flustered MacKenzie. Just then
Bobby walks out of the bunkhouse and smugly says, "Oh, hey, I should have
listened to these fellows, Colonel, because that old horse of yours don't jump
too good with strangers up on him!" "Nan, go up to the house and take him with
you!" says a seething Col. MacKenzie, not wanting her to see him lose his temper.

At supper that evening, Nan and the Colonel are picking at their food but Bobby
is eating away. Nan sarcastically comments that she's "happy" to see his appetite
has returned. Bobby answers, "Well, you know me. I always did eat like a horse!
Oh, I'm sorry Colonel. I didn't mean to remind you!" Nan says that since Bobby
seems to be recovered, it might be a good time to go back to Cooper's Spur. She
says she'd like to leave in the morning. Perhaps to make amends, she visits the
Colonel in his sitting room later that night and tells him, "It's a beautiful
home, Alan...I'm sorry to leave it and I'm so very sorry to leave you."

The next morning, Col. MacKenzie sees them off. Nan estimates that she will
have her feed stations supplied in a week and a half. That means it will be
about three weeks before they can see each other again while he rounds up his
cattle and drives them to Cooper's Spur. "Everything will be waiting for you,
Alan, everything!" she says, "I'm going to miss you terribly." "We won't always
have a mountain between us," he replies as they share one last kiss.

We next see several shots of Col. MacKenzie and the hands hard at work during
the roundup. One night, as the Colonel returns to the house, he's surprised
to see a strange buggy outside. Inside, he has a visitor, Judge Carver. Col.
MacKenzie shakes his hand and says, "Judge Carver! Why this is an unexpected
pleasure!" "I wish it was, Colonel, but I don't think either of us will find
much pleasure in what I've come about," he says, "Sheriff Tracey brought me
some of Tom Whelan's effects, things left behind in his hotel room after his
death and I was looking through them, trying to decide how to dispose of them,
and...I don't know how to begin, Colonel. I wouldn't have believed it if I
hadn't seen it with my own eyes." "Believed what, Judge?" asks MacKenzie.
"A letter, written from her to him," says the Judge, "He brought it with him
from Chicago. It was very discrete, no return address, signed only with her
initial 'N', but it was hers all right." "A letter? A letter from Nan to
Whelan?" asks the Colonel in disbelief. "It was nothing like she told us,"
the Judge continues, "They had had a liason for months, every chance they
got to meet...There was nothing brazenly explicit...she went on about her
loneliness, HER loneliness, isn't that incredible? And how she had to be
discrete, her obligation to her town and to her neighbors." "But that isn't
enough to.." says the Colonel. "It was there, man! It was unmistakable!"
says Judge Carver, "Don't you see what this means? She let her brother
think she was being attacked. She let Whelan die and then she smeared his
name to save her reputation and her brother from prosecution!" "Yes, her
brother," sighs Col MacKenzie, now realizing what is going on, "Why do you
come to me?" "Because I don't know what to do," says the Judge, "You were
his friend, his associate. You were there. The only one not from that
town, not under her spell." "Who else knows about this?" asks MacKenzie."
"No one. The letter was among his papers. I'm sure the sheriff didn't
go through them." "When are you going back to Cooper's Spur?" asks the
Colonel. "Not for a month," answers the Judge. "I have endless matters at
the capital. I wish I could never go back there again! Do you know what
she is in that town? She's a saint!...You see, this is more than just a
matter of law. I don't know where my duty lies!" "I'm going back there
myself," says the Colonel, "You see, I'm in business with Miss Allen. Didn't
you know?" "No, I had no idea," says the Judge. "And what you said about
me not being under her spell," says Col. MacKenzie sadly, "I'm afraid that
isn't so, Judge. It isn't so at all."

The Colonel returns to Cooper's Spur and walks into Nan's house with a grim
expression on his face. She's pleasantly surprised to see him and greets
him warmly. "I thought it was Bobby. I heard the stick on the fence.
Was that you?," she says. "That's right. It's a habit he has, isn't it.
Where is he?" the Colonel asks. "He's working late, getting the last
repairs done on the loading pens," she answers, "He won't be back for about
another hour or two." "But you don't know," says the Colonel, "You're
never really sure about Bobby, are you, Nan?" "Oh, let's not talk about
Bobby. You're here and that's what's important!" says Nan, "What's wrong?"
"Oh, nothing, tired, I suppose," says MacKenzie, "I've come a long way
since we last saw each other." "You're two weeks ahead of schedule!" she
says, "Were you that anxious to see me?" "Yes," says the Colonel, "I
wanted to ask you about something." Oh, Alan!" she says and rushes into his
arms. He rebuffs her embrace and she says, "I don't understand." "Nan, you
know I love you. Please will you tell me the truth?" he asks. "Truth about
what?" she asks. "About you and Tom Whelan!" he says. "But you know the
truth about that!" she says. "Yes, Nan, I know," says the Colonel, producing
the letter the Judge gave him. "What's this?" she asks, "Are you accusing
me of writing this?" "Nan, will you stop lying!" says the Colonel, raising
his voice. "I'm not lying!" she insists, "You say that you love me and then
you accuse me of this. What do you want from me?" Col. MacKenzie pauses
and says firmly, "I want Tom Whelan's name cleared, and I want the truth about
your brother!"

The scene shifts briefly to outside the saloon, where one of Bobby's friends
tells him that Col. MacKenzie rode into town and headed for his house. Back
at the house, MacKenzie is saying to Nan, "You expected Bobby to be out all
night playing cards just as he always did. Tom Whelan didn't force his way
into your room, he came by invitation, just as he has in the past!" "I won't
listen!" says Nan, shaking her head. "There you were, in your room alone
with Whelan and Bobby comes home early, unexpected," says the Colonel, "You
heard the noise on the picket fence outside and you knew you were caught!...
One of you tried to blow out the lamp. The glass chimney fell to the ground
and smashed and then Bobby came in and killed him!" "That's not true!" she
says desperately. "It is true!" he says, "You've been lying just as you've
been lying to save him for years!...Nan, don't you understand? He's mad!
He's insane! He's so jealous of you, he'd kill anyone who came near you!
Nan, your fiance, you remember? He didn't die in an accident. I know!
Bobby killed him! And then he frightens away any man who tries to come near
you. Nan, he believes that you're perfect, pure, untouched, and oh, Nan,
you let him go on believing that! You're as much to blame as he is!"

She collapses at the desk and sobs, "Oh Alan, it's true! I knew what he was.
I couldn't face it! I just couldn't see it and I raised him. I was so alone
here except for Bobby. Can't you understand? I'm a woman. I have needs.
I had to keep it from him! He saw me as a saint! I couldn't destroy that
image!" "And so you destroyed him, and Tom Whelan," says the Colonel. "I
also destroyed the most wonderful thing that ever happened to me, your love
for me!" she says. "No, Nan, you haven't," says the Colonel, stroking her
hair, "You haven't destroyed that." The two embrace and a gunshot suddenly
explodes the lamp on the wall. Bobby Allen has entered the room and has his
gun trained on Col. MacKenzie. "Get away from him, Nan!" says Bobby, firing
his gun. The shot hits Nan by mistake. "Nan!" screams the Colonel. "Alan,
what a pity!" she whispers as she dies in his arms. Col. MacKenzie looks
at Bobby, whose face is covered with grief at the realization of what he has just done.

Later, outside the house, we see Sheriff Tracey leading Bobby away. Bobby
stops and says to Col. MacKenzie, "She wasn't like that, what you said inside.
She was fine. Too fine for any man I ever saw around." The Colonel pauses.
silently recalls the good times he and Nan had together, mounts his horse and rides away. [rho]

Observations:
A nifty romantic and psychological drama that explores some more mature themes
than we're used to seeing in the series.

Col. MacKenzie shows his integrity by appearing at the hearing and later
insisting that Tom Whelan's name be cleared, even though the man is dead.

One of the criticisms of "The Men From Shiloh" is the lack of continuing
characters in supporting roles. In this episode, there are several scenes
around the Shiloh Ranch where we see various ranch hands performing their
chores, some of whom have speaking parts. None of them, however, are
recognizable from other episodes. Would it have been asking too much to have
had the Virginian, Trampas or even Tate make a cameo appearance in one of
these roles? On top of that, the one continuing supporting player who does
appear, Parker, is played by a different actor than before.
[see "guest star notes" below]

Guest star notes:
Diane Baker also guest stars in 5.12 "Linda" and 8.07 "A Love to Remember."

Tom Skerritt was one of the most frequent guest stars in "The Virginian"
and "The Men From Shiloh." He can also be seen in 1.08 "Impasse,"
2.26 "The Secret of Brynmar Hall," 3.29 "Showdown," 6.22 "The Crooked Path,"
and 7.01 "The Saddle Warmer."

Just six weeks earlier, E.G. Marshall appeared as Judge Elmo Carver in the
Trampas episode "Lady at the Bar" (9.08). Here he plays Judge Arnold Carver.
I don't know if it was just a coincidence or this was intended to be the
same character and there was a miscommunication between the writers of the
two episodes as to the character's first name. Col. MacKenzie says he knows
him from before, although MacKenzie didn't appear in "Lady at the Bar."

Arch Johnson also appears in 2.04 "A Killer In Town" and 3.25 "Timberland."

Eric Christmas replaces John McLiam in the role of Parker starting with this
episode. [to be verified] [rho]

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Main Contributor for this episode:  Robert Henry Ohlemeyer [rho]