Written by CLAIR HUFFAKER Directed by MARK SANDRICH, Jr.   Guest Cast ROBERT FULLER as Buck Harmon ROBERT F. SIMON as Mr. Harmon NESTOR PAIVA as Jack Gorman ROSCOE ATES as Jenkins [barber] EMORY PARNELL as Hank [barkeep] BRAD VON BELTZ as Harry PAUL LUKATHER as Mack

Robert Fuller plays Buck Harmon a childhood friend of Johnny's who's thrown in with a bad crowd, presumably due to his rejection by his own father, a self-righteous religious bigot.  Jack Gorman and his gang are planning to rob the Laramie bank.  Gorman sends a telegram to Laramie which lures Dan and a posse on a wild goose chase after the gang.

Johnny wants to go with the posse but Dan says he's worth more in Laramie.  When Johnny asks if there's anything special he can do for him, Dan says, "Just make sure there's a town here when I get back."

Since Buck was raised in Laramie, Gorman sends him in to see if there's any law left in town.  When one of the men suggests  that Buck may have some ties to Laramie, he makes it clear he doesn't.give a damn.

Buck:  You can blow that town off the map for all of me.

Buck finds out in the saloon that Dan has left a deputy in town.  He also finds a couple of rowdies who remember Buck, a man who made enemies according to Johnny because he was lucky at cards and with women..

 Hank the barkeep tells Buck  Marshall Lemp was killed a year or two back and Dan Troop is out with a posse.  But there's a deputy still in town.  He suggests Buck visit his father at the church where he's a janitor.

Two bar rowdies still want to take on Buck Harmon after five years.  And they still can't lick him.

Johnny hears the ruckus of the fight and figures his peaceful day is short-lived.  He catches sight of Buck's back as Buck leaves the bar and almost recognizes him.  He tells the two rowdies they would have been better off tackling a mountain lion.

Responding to the bar ruckus, Johnny looks at Buck retreating back with a flicker of recognition

Buck hasn't been in Laramie for five years but despite that his father hasn't a good word to say.  He just notes that neither readings from the Good Book nor whippings took the devil out of Buck who was never any good and never would be.

Buck can't get a kind word from his own father

Buck leaves the church with more bitterness toward Laramie

Buck's meeting with Johnny is more friendly.  Johnny is clearly thrilled to see his old friend and vice versa.  That is, until Buck finds out that the job that kept Johnny in Laramie is being deputy marshal.  At that point he knows he will have to choose between his friend and the gang.

 Buck greets Johnny with "Boy, I figured you to cut a trail out of this town long ago."  Johnny reckons how he always planned to but then he got a good job, as deputy marshal.  Buck is stunned.

Asked what's wrong, Buck just says he always figured Johnny for a lover not a lawman.  Johnny says being a lawman doesn't stop that.

"I've even got a badge to prove it."

To Johnny's surprise, Buck abruptly rides out of town.

Johnny figures that Buck's abrupt departure might have to do with his father.  Johnny visits Mr. Harmon and sticks up for Buck against his father's continued animosity.  He chides Mr. Harmon for treating his son so badly and never showing he cared.

"And your way of life is supposed to be based on love."

Buck tries to get Gorman to hit another town instead of Laramie.  He warns him that the deputy left in town won't turn tail.  He'll face them down and they'll have to kill him.  And he's a friend.  When Gorman refuses to change his plans, Buck quits.  As he rides off, he tells Gorman he'll try to get the deputy out of town.  But Gorman tells two of his men to follow Buck and kill him.

Buck quits the gang and plans to lure Johnny out of town to protect him.

Buck finds Johnny in the barbershop getting a haircut and tries to lure him out to a nearby town for a special supper.  Johnny insists he can't leave.  As they walk out into the street, two of Gorman's men shoot Buck's hat off his head.  Buck and Johnny draw simultaneously and one bad guy goes down, permanently.

Jenkins the barber regales Johnny with details of baldness cures

Buck interrupts with a plan for supper, out of Laramie

Two of the best gunhandlers on TV

When Buck explains that Gorman will be coming in to take the bank after dark, Johnny has to know that he came by that knowledge in a way that puts him in tight with the gang, but he makes no comment.  When Johnny goes back to the office and starts loading a rifle, Buck follows.  When he sees that Johnny isn't going to back down, he asks Johnny if he can borrow  a rifle.  Johnny tosses him one without comment.but with what might be the barest hint of a smile.

"You going to stand up against them, four against one? 
Well, I guess one of the things it takes to be a deputy marshal is no brains."

The two friends patrol the streets together, then take positions at the windows of a building overlooking the bank.  When Buck's father comes walking down the middle of the street, Buck has to run out and bring him to safety, thereby exposing their position.  In the exchange of gunfire, neither Johnny nor Buck can get a clear shot.  Buck runs across the street to get a better position.  He takes out two of the would-be robbers but gets a fatal bullet from Gorman.  Johnny takes out Gorman and the only remaining robber, but too late to help his friend.

Johnny & Buck wait for the robbers

Johnny surveys the dark street

Buck takes out two

Although Buck's father seems regretful as he carries his son's body down the street, we have a distinct feeling of too little to late and we don't have much sympathy for him.

Johnny takes the other two

Now he's sorry

Buck's body

NiteOwl Review:  You're not going to get us to say anything bad about an episode that teams Peter Brown and Robert Fuller.  Although Fuller dies for the second time  [Johnny killed him in "The Souvenir".] in hindsight we know that by fall he'd be back in Laramie, this time starring in his own series as one of the best western characters to ever hit the TV screens, Jess Harper.  By this time The Friend was shot, casting folks must have been a little more aware of Fuller's potential because he got more screen time than most guest actors did in this show.  In his previous episode he appeared only long enough to challenge Dan and Johnny to a gunfight, something which never portends much screen time.  In fact, according to the gal who does Bob's official websiteI, Bob told her that while he was doing The Friend, "he bumped into Bill Orr (man in charge of Warners TV in those days) .. Bill Orr told him he had just seen him in dailies (what they shot the day before) and would like to sign him up 'under contract' to Warner Bros. that he was terrific  Bob informed him that he had just signed to do "Laramie" at UI/Revue.   In those days there were a TON of westerns going on with a TON of great looking guys .. Bob said he wishes he had thought to say to Bill Orr .. "You are a day late and a dollar short" .. but he simply told him that he had just signed for "Laramie." ..

Peter and Bob would appear together again in two episodes of Wagon Train.  William Smith [Laredo, Wildside], a man who took pride in doing his own action stunts admitted he couldn't hold a candle to either Bob or Peter when it came to using a gun -- for real or on-screen.  And the women in our video group mentioned that Peter and Bob were the two Western stars whose slim hips were most likely to raise the question, "What the hell is holding up those gunbelts?"   Our favorite scene: We liked this whole episode so much that we couldn't pick a single scene.  We will note just a single touch we liked.  When Buck seemed so suprised at Johnny's job as deputy, Johnny reached out with his forefinger and knocked Buck's hat up on his head while asking what was wrong.  This friendly and familiar gesture said a lot about their history as boyhood friends.

A gesture speaking of familiarity

Cast Note:  Robert Fuller was a Western hero to those of us who grew up on the TV of the 1960's as he put in two years on Wagon Train after his four years in Laramie and made many guest appearances on Westerns from Rin Tin Tin [where he dies of anthrax] to shows like Lawman, Big Valley, Virginian, Paradise, etc. etc.  He made several Western features: The Return of the  Seven [we liked him better than Steve McQueen in the role McQueen originated.], The Gatling Gun, Mustang Country and the first of the two attempts at making a new Bonanza series.  Most of us were not thrilled when he became a doctor hiding in a white coat in Emergency any more than we were when Peter Brown became a doctor in a daytime drama.  We had planned to eventually add a Robert Fuller fansite to our effort here because his  official site is a small personal effort by a close friend of Bobs.  It did have a guestbook but it wasn't there last time we looked..  [We have it on good authority that Bob read the email he gots there although he didn't t usually answer it.]  It also has personal updates and recent snapshots.  There's also a Laramie fan site   which is limited to
just that but is worth checking out.

We recently found a really nice Wagon Train site that includes a lot on Bob.  http://www.fiftiesweb.com/wt/wagon-train.htm     Finaly, there's an  ambitious fan site which  eliminates any need for us to add Bob to our fansite.   Check  out this full service Robert Fuller Fan Site at: http://fansite@robertfullersite.co.uk  They're adding stuff from many of Bob's roles, have fanfic from several roles, pictures, bio, etc.  They are expanding all the time.  We plan to contribute some of our stuff to their site.

To Lawman Episode 40

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