Not So Old Heller
After being booted out of the army Logan Purcell (Morgan Woodward) and his band of raiders ride through out the Outlet terrorizing peaceful Indian settlements, taking what they like, when they like. When they attack Willie Snake (Valentin de Vargas) he makes it into Cimarron to ask for Marshal Crown's (Stuart Whitman) help before running into Purcell on the street and being gunned down. Despite having no jurisdiction in the Outlet Jim takes Willie's body back to camp and then goes after Purcell and his men leading to a shootout under the night sky and Jim taking a bullet in the leg. Forced to head off Jim is found by Heller (Tuesday Weld) a young woman who not only helps nurse Jim but also works for Purcell.
Did you know that Morgan Woodward appeared in three episodes of "Cimarron Strip", playing three different characters? Not exactly an amazing fact as over the years many an actor has appeared in a series playing different characters but probably the most interesting thing I can say about "Heller", episode 17 of "Cimarron Strip". But that doesn't mean that "Heller" is bad, far from it, it just means it was a typical episode and now works as a typical stand alone western movie for those looking for something around the 75 minute mark to fill in some time.
The thing with "Heller" is that it features a storyline which makes you feel like you have seen it before. We have the unruly rangers, the young woman who falls for Jim who still feels some loyalty to the outlaws who took her from the Indians a while back and so on. It is all nicely worked and whilst Morgan Woodward delivers a nicely nasty performance as Purcell there is also Tuesday Weld who delivers plenty of sweetness as Heller. In fact Weld and Whitman work well together with Whitman showing some rare emotion as Marshal Crown.
The knock on effect of this is the regulars; Herbert, Boone and Townsend end up there only to fill in the gap with scenes of humour which don't have any real part to play in the bigger picture. It is part of the reason why "Heller" ends up being just average because some of the best episodes of "Cimarron Strip" involved the whole team rather than just Jim.
What this all boils down to is that "Heller" is entertaining especially for fans of "Cimarron Strip" but it is nothing special and so ends up purely a time filler.
