Zane Grey Theatre (TV Series) Time of Decision (1957) User Reviews

Right to Counsel

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 25 November 2016]

Lloyd Bridges plays a young attorney looking to set up practice in the old west and certainly believes in the ethics of his profession. But those ethics get good and challenged when he's asked to defend Bill Erwin who kills a young punk Tommy Cook in a gunfight that Cook looked to provoke.

The economics do play into this. Cook was the son of local Ponderosa owner Trevor Bardette and he was a homesteader in cattle country. People become deaf, dumb, and blind and all kinds of pressure is put on Bridges. Even his wife Diane Brewster and daughter Mimi Gibson are harassed.

How it all works out is for you to see this fine Zane Grey Theater story. Bridges and the ensemble cast give fine performances in this quality feature.

Bridges Heads Great Cast With Unique Story

[ccthemovieman-1 · 9/10 · 14 November 2010]

Lloyd Bridges, of "Sea Hunt" TV fame - which he began filming right after this episode on Zane Grey Theater - is the main guest star in this episode. More people today, however, probably remember him for Bridges for roles in those goofy "Airplane!" films from 1980 and 1982.

Actually the overall cast here is a memorable one, beginning with Bridges and includes Diane Brewster, who plays his wife. Brewster is a familiar name to me and other people who were little kids in the 1950s as she wound up being one of "Beaver Cleaver's" teachers in "Leave It To Beaver." She played "Miss Canfield," but only for one season, replaced by the equally-attractive Sue Randall as "Miss Landers." Brewerster went on to play in a number of excellent television westerns.

Bridges plays "Evan Trapper," a lawyer reluctant to take to take on a case of really nice guy who got goaded into shooting this punk - and I mean punk. The trouble is, the guy is part of the Curtis family who runs the town. If you get this family mad at you, you're toast and Tapper knows it.

What eventually happens is kind of different, which makes it interesting. That includes the ending which leaves it up to us, the viewer, to figure (even though it's not hard) what probably happened in the future.