"Journey to Shiloh" director William Hale directed the early psychological western thriller "Two Men Named Laredo" as an episode for "The Virginian" television series during its third season. Charles Marquis Warren of "Rawhide" fame developed the saga for television, and "One More Train to Rob" scenarist Don Tait and veteran scribe Don Brinkley wrote the teleplay. They could have called it "A Tale of Two Laredos" because a cowhand suffers from a split-personality. By day, he is an amiable, unassuming, sort of fellow, but after dark he is a despicable villain.
Things start off corkscrewed for The Virginian (James Drury) when he arrives in a town to pick up cattle. Unfortunately, he discovers to his chagrin that a railway trestle has been washed out, so the Virginian cannot ship the beef to Medicine Bow via rail. Instead, he must hire a crew of drovers from what he can find around the town. During the drive, Trampas falls off his horse in front of a stampede. One of the Virginian's new hands, Eddie Laredo (Fabian Forte of "Ten Little Indians") saves his life, swinging him Trampas aboard his horse, before the cattle can trample Trampas into the sod. Basically, a loner, Eddie prefers to read instead of go carousing with the crew. One afternoon, while Trampas and Eddie have ridden into town to pick up a letter at the Post Office for Judge Garth, a prankster Bojo Sanders (Rayford Barnes of "The Wild Bunch") and a saloon hostess, Molly Weams (Elizabeth MacRae of "For Love or Money") slip a burr under Eddie's saddle. After he swung into the saddle, Eddie found himself being bumping up and down by his bucking horse. He gets thrown, but he refuses to join Bojo and company for a drink. Instead, he climbs back on his horse and rides back to Shiloh. He refuses to fight Bojo when Trampas encourages him to do or else make the wrong impression of himself.
Later, when Molly is leaving her job at the saloon around two in the morning, she is accosted by a man in trail clothes with a six-gun. They neck until Bojo catches them in the act. The man turns on Bojo and beats him to death. When Marshall Emmett Ryker (Clu Clugar of "McQ") shows up at Shiloh Ranch the next day to arrest Eddie, but Eddie has no memory of the incident. Judge Garth gets Eddie a lawyer, Brad Carter (Paul Comi of "The Towering Inferno"), who gets the case dismissed when he impugns Molly's testimony and her character. Eddie is set free, and then Molly Weams dies under mysterious circumstances. Although Eddie refused to accompany Trampas and the crew to town, Eddie goes to town, and Trampas spots him. As it turns out, Eddie had killed Molly by then. Trampas searches Eddie's saddle bags and discovers a bloody shirt. This prompts the evil Josh side of Laredo to materialize, and he wounds Trampas with a rifle in the bunkhouse. Eddie turns to Judge Garth and begs his help. Meantime, the County Prosecutor (Ford Rainey of "The Gypsy Moths") wants blood since Eddie got off too easily earlier. Garth enters Eddie's plea, and he struggles to prove 'insanity' on Eddie's part. Finally, Garth puts Eddie on the stand for cross- examination, and Josh shows up with the County Prosecutor tears into him. The outcome is something special.
"Two Men Named Laredo" ranks as a better than average episode of "The Virginian." This is mostly a character study about the guest star. After watching this episode, I can appreciate Fabian as a better actor that I thought he was.
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