Written & Produced by Andy White Directed by Leon Benson Regular Cast RICHARD EGAN as Jim Redigo ELENA VERDUGO as Gerry ROGER DAVIS as Mike RUDY SOLARI as Frank Martinez MINA MARTINEZ as Linda Martinez DON DIAMOND as Arturo Guest Cast PETER BROWN as Johnny RICHARD EVANS as David RAY KUTER as Vulture NESDON BOOTH as Hogan

The Blooded Bull

Redigo was a short-lived (13 weeks) half-hour spin-off of the more ambitious one-hour Empire in which Richard Egan played Jim Redigo, the foreman of the  Garrett ranching empire.  Empire, which also starred Terry Moore, Anne Seymour, Ryan O'Neal and Charles Bronson  lasted only one season (1962-63).  In Redigo, the title character ran his own prosperous, albeit less grand, cattle ranch in 1960's New Mexico.

In this episode, Peter Brown plays Johnny, a modern day cattle rustler.  He works rounding up cattle so they can be butchered on the spot and the carcasses loaded into refrigerated trucks.  Whatever he "earns" he mostly loses at poker played under the influence of alcohol.  He's brought along his only family,  younger brother Davey, when the rustlers he works for hit the Redigo spread and butcher prime breeding stock into hamburgers and ribs.   Peter's character is more of a seedy loser than a truly evil bad guy.  He's the kind of guy who makes big plans but expects to carry them out when the cards turn his way, not through hard work.  The role was something of a departure for Peter Brown at the time and we'd bet he was originally up for the role of  the younger brother.   Richard Evans as Davy plays the kind of coming of age part that Peter  played so well until he was cast in Laredo.  Peter may have had more fun playing against type, and besides, he got to ride the horse.

Our first scene in this episode is the bloody butcher

When Redigo flies over the site of the butchery in a helicopter, Johnny is quickly paid off and told where to meet for the next operation.  On the way out, he decides to take and sell  Bull Rojo, the blooded bull of the title.

Davy doesn't look happy

Peter most likely did his own roping here

Hurriedly paid off

Driving the truck and trailer to nearby Mesa, Johnny emphasizes the importance of family and his intention to sell the bull for thousands so he can send Davy to college.  He figures Davy's book smart and he's not.  He doesn't want Davy to end up a no-account.  Davy is not comfortable being thief.

Johnny has big ideas of selling the bull for thousands and sending Davey to college

But when they get to Mesa, Johnny heads immediately for the local poker hall and gets in a game.  Instead of selling the bull for big bucks, he sells it to a creep named Vulture for only $50 so he can get back in the card game.  In the meantime, Redigo has come to town looking for his bull.  [He stays at the local hotel run by Gerry, who passes for a love interest in early sixties television.]

But first a stop at the poker palace

Redigo

The tepid love interest

Davy, hearing Johnny sell the bull to Vulture, decides to take the bull back to Redigo.  He walks Rojo out to some forsaken place, ties him up and goes to the Redigo barn to get him some feed.  When he's caught in the barn, he claims he's just looking for a place to sleep.  He gives the name John David, but doesn't fool anyone.  by this time, the rest of the gang has been captured and they know that only brothers Johnny and Davy haven't been rounded up.

Davy takes Rojo

Davy caught in the barn

They know who he is

Redigo takes Davy in, gives him a good meal, a place to stay and a taste of family life.  As this is only a half hour drama, that's enough to fully confirm his decision to go straight.  Davy leaves early the next morning to bring Rojo back.

Davy's never had a dog much less a family

Redigo acts fatherly

Roger Davis later replaced Peter Deuel in Alias Smith and Jones

After Davy took the bull, Johnny and Vulture got into a fight outside the Poker Palace.  Vulture had a gun.  In the fight, a shot goes off.  Johnny runs off with the gun, not knowing whether Vulture has been shot or even killed.  He tracks Davy all night and ends up at the place where the bull is tethered shortly after Davy gets there.  He demands that Davy go with him.  When Davy argues that the bull will die with no food and water, Johnny decides to solve the problem by shooting him.  When Redigo and Mike arrive in their helicopter, Davy sides with them and Johnny is captured.

Johnny reminds Davy he's family

Help me!

In one short evening, Redigo has become the father figure Davy never had

Redigo comes through for Davey, making sure that he does his time on a prison farm where he can learn about animal husbandry  just as though he was in college.  Johnny is apparently doing hard time in a less cushy environment.