Blowing It
When demolitions expert Pvt. Bill Mason (Jo Voight) arrives in Cimarron by train he seems eager to get away only to end up in Marshal Crown's (Stuart Whitman) cell after breaking another man's jaw. It turns out he is the estranged son of Major Ben Covington (Andrew Duggan) and he doesn't want to be there as he believes the Major abandoned him and his mother when he was just a baby. So when the opportunity arises Mason makes a break for it and heads out in to the Outlet where he offers his expertise with explosives to outlaw George Deeker (Chester Morris). When Covington learns of what Mason has done he calls on Crown to help him not only get Mason out of the mess he is in but bring an end to Deeker's operations.
22nd out of 23 episodes that is what "Without Honor" is, it is the 22nd episode of "Cimarron Strip" and even as the series wended its way to what would be just a single series run the quality was high. Now I have said before that "Cimarron Strip" was like a series of mini movies, around 75 minutes with out adverts and without any real continuation to mean you had to watch the previous episodes to make sense of it. Of course watching previous episodes means you will be familiar with the characters and know what to expect from the likes of Percy Herbert, Randy Boone and Jill Townsend in their semi comedic support roles around Stuart Whitman who as Marshal Jim Crown delivers one of the most consistent character portrayals going. About the only real continuation is Dulcey's continual cooing over Jim as she is desperate for him to fall for her.
Anyway as to the specifics of "Without Honor", well it isn't complicated as Jim ends up helping an out of uniform Major Covington to track down his son who he knows has ended up working with outlaw George Deeker. We get some okay scenes of young Mason showing off his skills, we get some western buddy stuff as Jim and Covington ride together and plenty of other familiar stuff including almost being killed when their cover gets blown. The thing is that other than an enjoyable performance from Andrew Duggan as Covington and Jon Voight as his estranged son Mason there isn't anything which stands out as being memorable about this episode.
What this all boils down to is that "Without Honor" is another solid, enjoyable episode of "Cimarron Strip" which works just as well as a movie. The thing is that whilst entertaining it doesn't have anything which makes it more memorable than any other episode.
