Veteran Hollywood director Sidney Lanfield, who helmed several other western television shows, such as "The Tall Man," "Tales of Wells Fargo," and "Pistols 'n' Petticoats," called the shots on ten episodes of "The Deputy," so he was right at home with this series. The episode "The Silent Gun" concerns quick-on-the-draw gunslinger Pete Clemson (Dean Fredericks of "Steve Canyon") who rides into town and promptly cuts down two men in separate shootouts. Clemson is a no-nonsense kind of hombre, and he sports the scar of a rope burn around his throat from a hanging for a crime he didn't commit. Sounds like a variation of Ted Post's "Hang'em High" with Clint Eastwood? The difference here is Clemson's voice box was crushed in the hanging. Marshall Simon Fry (Henry Fonda of "Fort Apache") arrives in the nick of time to save his life. Wielding his repeater, Simon shreds the rope with an accurate shot, so that Clemson falls to the ground with the noose about his neck. Simon informs the group of frontiersmen who rushed to justice to an innocent man that he has evidence that clears Clemson of bank robbery. Although he thwarts a miscarriage of justice, Simon cannot find out the identities of the men who carried out the robbery.
Meantime, Clemson rides a trail of vengeance, stalking each of the group who strung him up. Fredericks is well cast as the now mute gunman who challenges his opponents into drawing first, so he can gun them down in self-defense. After Clemson kills the town blacksmith, storekeepter Clay McCord (Allen Case of "The Legend of Jessie James") learns from a lady, Marcie Henderson (Marion Whelan of "Timbuktu"), that he should refer the matter to about this enigmatic shootist Simon . Clay saddles up, rides out into the wilderness, and cuts Simon's trail as the lawman is camped out on the way to Prescott, Arizona. Simon fills Clay in about Pete Clemson's unfortunate history and his near-death episode. The mystery about the real bank robbers is eventually solved. As it turns out, the dastards who tried to swing Clemson from a tree limb were the jaspers who robbed the bank. Composer Jack Marshall's jazzy theme is might catchy. Henry Fonda shows up for a scene. "The Deputy" was an entertaining western, with Fonda serving as a guest star. while Clay handled the heavy lifting.
Meantime, Clemson rides a trail of vengeance, stalking each of the group who strung him up. Fredericks is well cast as the now mute gunman who challenges his opponents into drawing first, so he can gun them down in self-defense. After Clemson kills the town blacksmith, storekeepter Clay McCord (Allen Case of "The Legend of Jessie James") learns from a lady, Marcie Henderson (Marion Whelan of "Timbuktu"), that he should refer the matter to about this enigmatic shootist Simon . Clay saddles up, rides out into the wilderness, and cuts Simon's trail as the lawman is camped out on the way to Prescott, Arizona. Simon fills Clay in about Pete Clemson's unfortunate history and his near-death episode. The mystery about the real bank robbers is eventually solved. As it turns out, the dastards who tried to swing Clemson from a tree limb were the jaspers who robbed the bank. Composer Jack Marshall's jazzy theme is might catchy. Henry Fonda shows up for a scene. "The Deputy" was an entertaining western, with Fonda serving as a guest star. while Clay handled the heavy lifting.