The Rifleman The Quiet Fear (1958–1963) Online

In this nice tale, an old friend of Lucas, Jake Striker, has just purchased some land in North Fork and is ready to settle down. Upon arriving we learn that Jake has brought his daughter, Abbey, with him to make the place their home. What we find out about the beautiful Abbey is that she has been deaf since birth and therefore cannot speak nor communicate with anyone. It seems that Jake has been protecting her from everything outside even though she is now growing up and needing to be a part of society.

Meanwhile, they hire a young man, Brice, to take care of running the ranch. At first Brice is a bitter man due to some gambling problems but as he works at the ranch he develops a relationship with the beautiful Abbey. Much to the chagrin of her father, Abbey is growing up and is experiencing all things young women feel. But when Abbey is attacked, the father thinks that Brice is behind the assault. The protective father wants blood.

In any story such as this episode, the writer tries to make the viewer care about the people at hand. A perfect job was done with Abbey as the viewer really felt for the deaf and mute young woman. But how the beau, Brice, was written left the viewer shaking their heads. At first he was made out to be a bitter and problematic young man but all within a minute he was in a lovers chase with the fleeting female. So when the plot was near its climax, the plot could have played out in a number of ways. But perhaps that is exactly what the writer wanted. Overall, a very nice tale that is worthy of the series. Good watch.

THE RIFLEMAN – The Quiet Fear– 1962

This is the 127th episode from the 1958 to 1963 western series, THE RIFLEMAN. Over the course of 168 episodes we follow the life of Lucas McCain and his son, Mark. They have just moved to the small western town of North Fork where they hope to start a new life. Chuck Connors headlines the series with Johnny Crawford as his son. Connors is a world class hand with a Winchester rifle which of course ends up getting him in no end of trouble.

Patrick McVey, a friend of Chuck Connors from his army days arrives in North Fork with his daughter, Enid Jaynes. He has bought a farm from Richard Rust. Rust was just not a very good farmer and was forced to sell at a rock bottom price. He is needless to say annoyed by this and blames McVey for his troubles.

Adding to Rust's problems is that besides being a poor farmer, he is a terrible gambler. He is soon cleaned out of the cash he got for selling the farm by card sharp, Dennis Cross. He is soon forced to hire on as a hand for McVey. He finds out that McVey's daughter, Jaynes, is deaf and dumb. He and Jaynes take a shine to each other anyways.

Connors' son, Johnny Crawford, has been teaching Jaynes how to read and write. This comes in handy when card sharp Cross comes a calling. He clobbers Rust and goes after Jaynes. He intends to have his way with the young lass. Jaynes however is no easy pushover and fights Cross off. It is the timely arrival of Connors and McVey that puts the final kibosh on Cross's nefarious plans.

Not the best episode, but by no means the worst. For 1962, it is a decent attempt to at least hint at the issue of rape.