Trackdown - Pilot and Synopsis

Pilot and Synopsis

The series starred Robert Culp as Texas Ranger Hoby Gilman, a gunslinger hunting down criminals throughout West Texas and the Old West. Culp's character was based in the real life town of Porter, Texas, an unincorporated community near Houston, where he served as the de facto sheriff. Occasionally, his duties as a Texas Ranger took him out of town,where he used his fast gun to apprehend wanted criminals throughout the Lone Star State. His friends included Henrietta Porter, portrayed by Ellen Corby, later Esther Walton on CBS's The Waltons. She is a widow of the town's founder and owns The Porter Enterprise, the local newspaper. Peter Leeds plays Tenner Smith, the owner of the local saloon and a former gambler and gunslinger whose past was shrouded in mystery. Other series regulars included Norman Leavitt (as Ralph, Gilman's deputy), James Griffith as Aaron Adams, Gail Kobe as Penny Adams, and Addison Richards as Doc Jay Calhoun.

The pilot episode, "Badge of Honor", debuted Zane Grey Theater on May 3, 1957. The director was Arthur Hiller; the writer, John Robinson, The pilot concerned Hoby Gilman as an ex-Confederate cavalary officer, returning to his hometown after the war. He finds Crawford Texas under the control of an unsavory character, an ex-Confederate Colonel played by Gary Merrill, who has the town under ruthless control via his own personal security force. The town sheriff is portrayed by Tom Tully, only a drunken shell of the man that Gilman once knew. A Texas Ranger who tries to arrest Merrill is shot in the back, and his badge is tossed on the dirt road. Prior to the war, Culp's character, Gilman, served in the Texas Rangers, but was reluctant to return to them upon his return from the war, being tired and weary of violence and killing. But, after the Ranger's murder, Culp picks up the dead Ranger's badge to begin the quest to finish the job of bringing Merrill's character to justice, freeing the town of Crawford from his tyranny.