Working
at a potato ranch, Ben Richards (Christopher George) ends up in an armed
dispute between motorcycle riding workers, and nefarious ranch owner, George
Allison (John Dehner). Allison refuses to pay his workers, and they protest,
violently.
When
a scuffle between factions ends with the death of a local sheriff, Ben flees to
the mountains, but George Allison organizes a vigilante posse to bring him, and
the others, to justice. The “Honor
Posse,” as it is called, captures Ben and another cyclist.
Soon,
Fletcher (Don Knight) shows up with a (fake) warrant, and attempts to make a
deal for possession of the captured Richards.
Written
by Star
Trek (1966-1969) veterans Gene L. Coon and Stephen Kandel, “White
Horse, Steel Horse” is all about the generation gap of the late 1960’s and
early 1970’s; the war between the Greatest Generation and young
anti-establishment, counter-culture.
What may be surprising is that this
episode of The Immortal views the young generation sympathetically, and
the older generation as corrupt.
In
this case, George Allison, the antagonist, is a white man who holds all the
power in his particular situation. He is rich. He owns land. He runs a
business. He has powerful friends in law enforcement and the judicial system.
And
then, on a dime, this well-connected, wealthy man decides he doesn’t want to
pay his workers what he owes them.
They
get angry.
After acting capriciously, George blames the young workers. He
laments children who have been allowed to grow up and “run wild.” He calls the youth “rotten,
long-haired scum.” He sees them as a threat to his country too. “It’s like they’re trying to destroy everything,”
he says.
Of
course, Allison has the right to his viewpoint. The scary thing about his
character is how he then manipulates the law (and his connections) to hunt
those he cheated. “The courts don’t do
their jobs, so we have to,” he tells the members of his vigilante posse.
In
other words, he substitutes his rules for society’s rules. And because of his wealth and power, he can do that.
Ben
Richards, in “White Horse, Steel Horse,” stands up for the persecuted ones. He
tells Allison that people “have the right
to be different, and not be killed for it.”
This
was a truth apparent to our society in 1970, but which some Americans seem to
have forgotten today, in 2018. This fact makes
this particular episode of The Immortal quite timely, but also quite sad. It seems we have gone backwards in the last
forty years, at least in terms of how we treat one another.
The
episode also finds Allison’s grown son turning against him, another sign of the
generation gap. The inference is that with the passing of the generations, a new, better morality will take hold. Alas, that hasn't really happened either.
The only problem that I see with the episode is that it
basically conflates young people, motorcycle gangs and hippies as one
demographic. Perhaps at the time, that is how they were all viewed by men like Allison. All
made-up, collectively, the counter-culture.
In
terms of series continuity, this is another story in which Ben Richards falls
in with strangers who need help, but we learn virtually nothing about him. Even the details about Fletcher’s warrant for
Richards’ arrest are maddeningly vague. It must be a forged document, but we don’t even
know the details of what the fugitive is being charged with.
Despite
the lack of character development, not to mention science fiction concepts, we’re
still at a point in The Immortal’s canon where the stories are compelling and
interesting. This episode serves as a time capsule of a very turbulent time in
our culture, if nothing else.
Next
week: An Immortal classic: “The Queen’s Gambit.”
John,
ReplyDeleteI also enjoyed this episode, but while watching, I thought, "If Mr. Allison thinks the world was screwed up at the time, what's happening now would make his head explode." In fact, I'd go as far as to say that the Allisons of the world have gotten what they wanted. Their paranoid bloodlust and inability to even tolerate views that conflict with their own are practically hallmarks of a large chunk of American society. I liked what this episode had to say, but peace and love was dismissed as folly, and here we are.
How ironic that Allison's son is a man of principle and honor. I found this week's coda dialogue to be a little too on-the-nose for my tastes. Allison killed a man in cold blood, in front of several witnesses. Are we to think that he was able to charm or buy his way out of that? Perhaps he did.
My favorite line from this episode is when Ben tells his favorite antagonist, "You'd better start running, Fletcher...You'll learn to love it!"
Also, I'm not sure if I've brought this up before, but it's odd to me that Ben Richards never even tries to change his name wherever he goes, a la David Vincent in "The Invaders." No wonder Fletcher keeps tracking him down!
Steve