RAWHIDE - INCIDENT OF THE 100 AMULETS (1960)

"FUNNY KINDA WEATHER.  YOU GET A FEELIN' SOMETHIN'S GONNA HAPPEN."

   Yeah, you saw right.  This is an episode of the Western TV show RAWHIDE.  Funny thing, though.  The new issue of BARE BONES magazine points out somethin' this cowpoke never knew before; that is, that RAWHIDE has a disproportionate number of spooky, horror-adjacent episodes in it's 8 year run.  Of course, Clint Eastwood WAS the jet pilot who shot down the title monster in TARANTULA! but he continued to encounter spooks and witches on RAWHIDE too.  At least tangentially.

Episode starts with the chuckwagon out of salt and the herd acting restless.  Then the sun goes out.  It's one of them there EEEEE-clipses.  Looks like somethin's eatin' away at the sun!  Nah, it's just the moon comin' between the earth and the sun.  Or it could be the ending of the CREEEE-ated world.  The herd ain't gonna like it gettin' suddenly dark so they cowpokes better go calm them. 

"What are you jaspers waitin' for?", says Clint, "you afraid of the dark or somethin'?"  Cowhand Jesus gets . . . . Jesus Christ, did they really call this Mexican character "Hey Soos"?!?!?!? Holy crap!  Well, anyway, while attempted to calm the horses during the eeeeeee-clipse, "Hey Soos" is injured by a bucking horse named Blackie (it keeps getting better!) and gets the rest of the day off to go visit his mother in town.  Wishbone (who's in charge of the chuckwagon, I'm guessin') slips  - - OMG do I really have to keep writing "Hey Soos"?!?!?!  -- a fiver to pick up some salt.  Hey Soos rides into town and greets a townie (played by THRILLER alum Ed Nelson) and asks directions to his mother's place:  the Patines Ranch.  Ed Nelson whips out a charm he has around his neck (lookin' to me like a white feather which is apropos because he high-tails-it over to a small group of townies and says that's the guy who owns the Patines ranch. While in the general store, Hey Soos gets a cold reception.  He wonders if it's because he's Mexican but no, it's because he and his mother own the Patines ranch.  Why's that a problem, I wonder???

While Hey Soos is buying his bacon, dried beans and salt, a huge crowd of townies is gathering outside.  And they don't look like they're going to invite Hey Soos to a Tupperware party (Awwwwwwwwwww, Tupperware just went bankrupt!  :(  When Hey Soos asks the storekeeper and his daughter directions to the Patines ranch, daughter dramatically drops something and Dad gets googly-eyed skeerd!  Seriously, this is a bigger reaction than the villagers when asked directions to Castle Dracula!  And when Hey Soos carries his supplies outside, the villagers (among them Ed Nelson and the great R.G. Armstrong) actually starts hurling rocks and shouting get out of town.  Poor Hey Soos gets the kickshit outta him!  When Hey Soos doesn't come back with the salt the next morning, Pete Nolan & Rowdy Yates (Sheb Wooley & Clint Eastwood) ride into town to look for him.  HEY THAT'S SHEB WOOLEY!!!! The guy who sang PURPLE PEOPLE EATER and who originated 'The Wilhelm Scream'!!!!!  

They find his horse still tied up looking like it's been standing there all not.  Hey Soos wouldn't abandon his horsey like that.  All the businesses are shut and the town is deserted.  Rowdy Clint notices a doorway that has about 87 upturned horseshoes nailed above it.  Reading Ruth E. Kelley's THE BOOK OF HALLOWEEN, I know fer certain that's to ward off evil and them thar witches.  Ed Nelson pops outta that door and warns Pete & Rowdy to stay away from that horse.  That's the 'Witch Boy's horse"!  The good folk of Parkerton have Hey Soos, bashed to within an inch of his life, locked up over thar in the jailhouse.  With a fractured skull.  The guys aren't too happy to see Hey Soos in that condition; especially Clint who looks like he's rarin' to kick somebody's arse!  The Sheriff (Richard Reeves) says he'll let them into the cell to talk to Hey Soos but they'll have to wear these amulets.  Yep, the same white feather one Ed Nelson flashed.  For protection against the Witch Boy!  Rowdy & Pete are beyond confused. 

"It don't seem possible," says the Sheriff.  "You've been ridin' trail with him and you don't know the blood of the devil is in his veins?!?!?!"  The town of Parkerton thinks Hey Soos' mother is a witch who put a curse upon the whole valley.  In comes old Doc Taggert (the wonderful Whit Bissell) and says "Well, perhaps you didn't know the boy signed a pact with the devil".  Doc patches up Hey Soos.  A stone-throwing, gun-totin' mob sheepishly enters the jailhouse . . . but still carrying amulets . . . led by the apron-wearing R.G. Armstrong.  Rowdy tells Hey Soos he's got to get well or else he'll be riding a jackass all the way to Sedalia.  Hey Soos' mother is not allowed in town and is starving our there on her ranch.  Doc Taggert doesn't believe in witchcraft and doesn't wear an amulet, Rowdy notices.  Why hasn't Doc taken food out to that starving woman.  Doc might not believe in witchcraft but he dies believe in bullets.  Nope, he ain't gonna do it.  Hey Soos is too hurt to move so Rowdy grabs the groceries Hey Soos bought and defiantly rides out to the Patines ranch with the food.  Meanwhile, the hysteria of the townsfolk keeps ramping up to a fever pitch.  Oh yes, also in the cast is Virginia Christine as a mother who thinks her little girl has been bewitched.  Those of a certain age will remember her as Mrs. Olsen in the Folger's coffee commercials but Universal horror fans will remember her from THE MUMMY'S CURSE (1944); especially from the best scene in that film when she comes back to life and slowly frees herself from her tomb of mud.

This episode has a surprising amount of shadowy indoor scenes for a western as well as nighttime outdoors scenes which give a nice spooky atmosphere to this basic "angry mob on a witchhunt" story.  The people of Parkerton are the 'salt of the earth' -- in the exact same sense as Gene Wilder used the term in BLAZING SADDLES -- in that they are small-minded, superstitious morons who blames a lack of rainfall or cows ceasing to give milk on some poor old woman a mile outside of town.  This 27th episode of the second season aired on May 6, 1960 and seems to be a hangover response to the age of McCarthyism which only recently eased up.  Our heroes (the regular cast of the show) are firmly on the side of the wronged old woman and Hey Soos in standing up to the mob mentality of the town so we're sure where the showrunners stand on this situation.  The chiaroscuro lighting and cinematography is comparable to B&W TV shows of the same period which would include THE TWILIGHT ZONE and BORIS KARLOFF'S THRILLER; in fact, this could very easily be one of the "western" episodes of THE TWILIGHT ZONE.  This episode was quite a good watch for me and I'll be seeking out some more of those horror-adjacent RAWHIDEs.