Wanted: Dead or Alive The Empty Cell (1958–1961) Online

Josh is the victim of a scam right off the bat as he brings in a prisoner late at night, the sheriff locks the man up, Josh comes back the next day and discovers a shocking revelation. That wasn't the real sheriff, his prisoner is gone and the real sheriff doesn't know what Randall is talking about. Not only that, he's hostile because someone called him away from the jail last night with a cock-and-bull story and now he thinks Randall is the guilty party.

Obviously, someone knew Josh was coming in with his "bounty." Randall does detective work to find out what exactly is going on, interviewing various folks about whether the reward was sent, who picked it up, who was in town and who wasn't, etc. The director of this episode, meanwhile, deliberately fools us - the audience - but I can't say how without having to resort to spoilers.

One good quote in here:

"You don't like the answers, don't ask the questions," -- Pop (Eddie Waller) says to sheriff Lon Paulsen, played by veteran horror actor Lon Chaney, Jr.

These DVD transfers, by the way, look outstanding: very sharp with excellent lighting. Of course, that's easier to do when you shoot almost all of it in a studio lot instead of on location. Nonetheless, they look great.

"The Empty Cell" boasts an excellent cast, with Jack Kruschen as train robber Hunt Willis, brought in at midnight by Josh Randall (Steve McQueen), who figures he'll collect his bounty after a decent night's sleep. Right after he leaves however, we learn that the man posing as Cottonwood sheriff is actually Hunt's accomplice in the robbery, Ollie Tate (DeForest Kelley), who had already collected the reward from the bank by posing as Randall, behind his confederate's back. This enables the real Randall to track down Tate, collect the reward, and force him to lead the way to Hunt Willis. Following close behind is the actual Cottonwood sheriff, Lon Paulson (Lon Chaney), who believes Randall to be responsible for the phony message that lured him away from town the night before. Olan Soule plays the telegrapher who discovers the source of the misleading message, but it's Eddy C. Waller who steals it as Pop Cole, owner of the livery stable, who seems to have an answer for everything they want to know. 39 year old DeForest Kelley (previously seen as a sheriff in "Secret Ballot") was already a long time veteran on TV Westerns, 7 years before STAR TREK, while Lon Chaney was back in the saddle again, now playing a sheriff instead of his usual villainous henchman, even using his own first name.