Watch The Deputy

1959
2 Seasons

The Deputy was a western television series that aired on NBC from 1958 to 1961. Created by Roland Kibbee and Norman Lear, the series followed the adventures of Deputy Marshal Clay McCord, played by Henry Fonda, as he patrolled the Old West in the 1880s. The premise of the show was unique for its time, as it depicted a lawman who was not a typical gunslinger or lawbreaker, but rather a man of principles who sought to maintain law and order through diplomacy and negotiation. McCord was a thoughtful and intelligent man who used his intellect and reasoning skills to bring justice to the wild frontier. The series was set in the town of Silver City, New Mexico, and focused on the various challenges that McCord faced while trying to uphold the law. The town was a hotbed of criminal activity, and the deputy was often faced with difficult decisions that put his own safety at risk. The show was known for its strong supporting cast, which included Allen Case as McCord's young deputy, Simon Fry, Wallace Ford as the town drunk, and Read Morgan as the local newspaper reporter. The relationship between McCord and Fry was a particularly interesting dynamic, as Fry looked up to McCord as a mentor and father figure. Throughout the series' three-year run, The Deputy tackled a variety of social issues that were relevant to the time period in which it was set. The show explored themes of prejudice, racism, and injustice, and often spoke out against these societal ills in its storylines. Despite its short-lived run, The Deputy was a well-received series that gained a dedicated following. It offered a fresh take on the western genre, with a protagonist who was less interested in violence and more interested in diplomacy and mediation. Its legacy as a groundbreaking and socially-conscious series has endured long after its cancellation, and it continues to be a beloved classic of the western television genre.

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Seasons

2 1

37. Lawman's Conscience

July 1, 1961

A deathbed confession frees Albee Beckett, a ranchhand convicted of murder. Clay feels guilty for gathering the evidence that sent Albee to Yuma prison until Sarge convinces to him to reexamine the case in light of a rash of robberies that occurred in Silver City soon after Albee and two of his cronies returned to the area.

36. Lorinda Belle

June 24, 1961

Hated mine foreman Jason Getty discovers he's been poisoned by one of the many people who hated him and becomes determined to kill the man who's responsible for his death. Clay and Sarge become worried that Getty will slay innocent people while trying to gun down the man really responsible of suspects during his search for the guilty party.

35. Brand Of Honesty

June 10, 1961

Three ex-convicts trying to go straight are accused of a series of hold-ups and bank robberies by Silver City's citizens. When Clay McCord refuses to arrest the three men solely based on their earlier crimes, the townspeople refuse to answer his call for a posse whenever a new crime is perpetrated by the outlaw gang. Clay is forced to take desperate measures - his threats to close down the saloon the parolees own force the former jailbirds to locate the criminals by themselves, and with the help of Clay and Sarge bring the gang to justice.

34. The Deathly Quiet

May 27, 1961

Two army deserters steal a pair of Gatling guns and embark on a reign of terror targeting mines, miners and assay offices throughout southern Arizona. After the crooks beat off the posse lead by Clay and Sarge, McCord convinces the Army to fight fire with fire and baits a trap with the fort's remaining machine guns.

33. The Legend Of Dixie

May 20, 1961

Dixie Miller stumbles upon two bank robbers who were gunned down by the gang leader. When the posse rides up, they mistakenly credit Dixie with killing the men. Dixie basks in the limelight, until the gang leader shows up in Silver City and demands the ne'er-do-well give him the reward money paid Dixie for the deaths of his two men.

32. An Enemy Of The Town

May 6, 1961

A drunken newspaper editor takes on Silver Creek's newest employer, a large tannery, claiming that the company's by-products are polluting the town's only river. Clay doesn't believe the stories until several townspeople come down with mysterious fevers. When he shuts down the company until water samples can be analyzed the townspeople react angrily.

31. Spoken In Silence

April 29, 1961

When a deaf woman learns her father has agreed to guide a wanted outlaw around Marshal Simon Fry and his posse to raise for her operation, she takes matters into her own hands and provides the information Simon needs to kill the bandit. When the rest of the gang finds out she informed on their leader, they plan to avenge themselves on both the old miner and his pretty child.

30. The Return Of Widow Brown

April 22, 1961

A woman whose outlaw husband, Lem Brown, was lynched outside their home returns to Silver City after an eight year absence. She accuses the townspeople of hanging her husband, while the town's citizens accuse her of hiding the loot from her husband's crimes. Clay convinces a prison warden to allow the last surviving member of the Brown gang to escape, hoping that he'll lead the deputy to the money the gang stole.

29. Brother In Arms

April 15, 1961

Billy Jason, a young man taught to shoot fast and accurately by Clay McCord's father, returns to Silver City and promptly guns down a man over a card game. Although Billy claims to have returned just to see his hometown again, the real reason for his visit is to force Tom Arnold into a gunfight because he believes the older man murdered his father after cheating him out of his share of a prosperous mine.

28. Tension Point

April 8, 1961

A murderous outlaw gang that Simon has been pursuing turns the tables by invading the family home of one of their dead gang members. Simon, who was visiting at the time, tries to outwit the outlaws, while buying time for Clay's posse to run the gang to ground.

27. Cherchez La Femme

April 1, 1961

Sarge accidentally kills the son of a powerful rancher while protecting a young woman from his unwanted advances. Unfortunately for Sarge, there were no witnesses to the struggle and the rancher uses his political influence to have a hanging judge appointed for the trial. Clay tracks the frightened woman through Albuqueque into the New Mexican mountains in hopes of bringing her back to serve as a witness as Sarge's trial.

26. The Example

March 25, 1961

A young man starts hanging out with Silver City's hardcases and causes trouble for local businessmen. Clay travels across the border to Mexico and convinces the young man's father, a wanted outlaw, to return to Arizona and convince his son not to follow the outlaw trail.

25. The Means And The End

March 18, 1961

Having captured Josie Styles, the wife of a notorious outlaw, Chief Marshal Simon Fry resorts to desperate measures to bring in the criminal. When no one in Silver City will serve on the woman's trial, the judge invokes his powers for a bench trial, finds the woman guilty and sentences her to hang. Simon and Clay then set a trap in hopes that the murderer will try to rescue his wife before her date with the gallows.

24. Two-Way Deal

March 11, 1961

Simon transports a teenage criminal to a town for trial after a father brings the boy to Silver City and claims the reward. Once on the trail, the father helps his son to escape, wounding the chief marshal in the process. After Simon recovers, he refuses to allow Clay help him recapture his prisoner.

23. Edge Of Doubt

March 4, 1961

Jerry Kirk, a notorious outlaw, agrees to the Arizona Territory's offer of amnesty and decides to return to Silver City where he once had a girlfriend. Jerry's gruff demeanor soon alienates everyone in town except his girl, whose father attacks him with a bullwhip. When the father is found robbed and murdered, everyone assumes the former criminal is responsible for the crime. Clay thinks that someone else might be responsible and, with Jerry's help, sets a trap.

22. The Challenger

February 25, 1961

Sarge insists on fighting Titan, a heavyweight champion, to earn money for Clay when he learns his friend is considering leaving law enforcement because to pay for a relative's medical expenses. When Sarge is knocked out in the first round, not only is Clay disappointed, but the Silver City townsmen who wagered heavily on the bout take a financial bath and accuse the Army man of throwing the fight.

21. The Lonely Road

February 18, 1961

Paroled killer Shad Billings returns after five years in prison, hoping to resume cattle ranching with his wife, Meg. While there have been false rumors linking Meg with Marshall Fry, Meg has actually been involved with a mine-guard from Tombstone named Trace Phelan. Fry urges Phelan to clear out but Phelan humiliates the unarmed Billings whom Fry then jails for his own protection. Then, instead of moving on as Fry hopes, Phelan vists the Billings homestead to kidnap Meg who now wants no part of him. Fry follows and guns down Phelan in a shoot-out. Billings and Meg are re-united.

20. Shackled Town

February 11, 1961

While on vacation, Clay and Sarge stumble into a town near the Mexican border where a crooked judge and his stooge lawman force the inhabitants to work for pennies in his mine. Clay works with the local padre to organize the townspeople to rebel against their oppressors.

19. The Dream

February 4, 1961

Believing a rich gold strike lies beneath a river passing through his property, an engineer decides to divert the flow of water from it's usual banks so he can mine the yellow metal more easily. A neighbor angry about the river's relocation decides to take matters into his own hands and hires an outlaw gang to frighten the miner off his land, but the owlhoots kidnap the miner's pretty daughter instead.

18. The Hard Decision

January 28, 1961

A hardened criminal plots to rescue his younger brother from hanging by abducting Deputy Clay McCord and holding him as a hostage to exchange for his sibling's release.

17. Past And Present

January 21, 1961

A well-liked miner is killed during an attempted bank robbery when a bank clerk, a Civil War hero, can't bring himself to shoot at the outlaws. The mine owner is convinced that clerk is part of the outlaw gang and demands that Clay arrest the man for complicity in his employee's murder, but Clay refuses. When the bank clerk suddenly leaves town, Clay wonders if his evaluation of the man's character was correct.

16. The Lesson

January 14, 1961

Silver Creek's pretty schoolteacher receives a surprise visit from her estranged husband - a ex-convict just released after serving four years in prison. The outlaw insists that they return to living as husband and wife, and when the young woman refuses, he returns to town with his new outlaw gang to insist.

15. Duty Bound

January 7, 1961

Clay, Sarge and Simon are escorting a pair of prisoners to Silver City to stand trial for murder. One of the men swears he was innocent of the charges. The men stumbled upon a mortally wounded soldier who tells them a large band of renegade Apaches is on the loose and he was shot while trying to mend the break in a telegraph line so their rampage could be reported to the Army. While trying to mend the break themselves, the little group are attacked by the Indians.

14. The Judas Town

December 31, 1960

Clay arrests Pete McCurdy, the son of prominent cattleman after the young man and his sidekicks shoot up Silver City. After the elder McCurdy bribes the wounded man to drop charges the town's businessman insist that Clay release the cowboys so they can encourage ranchers to drive their herds through town en route to Tucson, but Clay refuses.

13. Second Cousin To The Czar

December 24, 1960

The sportsmen of Silver City see dollar signs when they convince a Russian duke to raise his horse against Clay's speedy stallion. A crooked gambler fixes the raise by arranging for Clay and his horse to be spend the night before the race searching for a nonexistent mob, exhausting both the lawman and his cayuse. Clay's friends blame him for losing the race, so when he gets word that the Russian is up to his old tricks in Bisbee, Clay rides west in hopes of getting a return match.

12. Day Of Fear

December 17, 1960

Clay captures a notorious outlaw who is racked with fever. Doc Landy tries to quarantine the man, along with the other stagecoach passengers the outlaw has come in contact with, but his efforts only start a rumor that Clay's prisoner is afflicted with deadly smallpox.

11. The Three Brothers

December 10, 1960

Not satisfied with Clay's investigation of local murder, Simon embarks upon his own. He narrows the suspects to a trio of brothers, each of whom is provided an alibi by a beautiful saloon girl. While Simon is trying to solve Clay's murder case, the young deputy works to arrest a gang of all-too-successful bank robbers that have been eluding Simon.

10. Sally Tornado (aka Lady For A Hanging)

December 3, 1960

Simon orders Clay to escort a beautiful blonde murderess to Yuma prison and her date with the gallows. Clay's decision to leave his badge behind in order to not attract attention backfires when a quartet of bounty hunters grabs his prisoner with the intent of collecting the award posted on an out-dated.

9. The World Against Me

November 26, 1960

Clay and Sarge help a bitter boy track down the men who murdered the youngster's grandfather. The claim jumpers were seeking the location of the old man's secret gold mine.

8. Passage To New Orleans

November 19, 1960

Clay's assignment of escorting a beautiful woman to a New Orleans murder trial quickly turns from pleasure to menacing when Simon Fry boards their riverboat with news that the father of the accused man has hired numerous killers to murder the star witness before he can testify.

7. The Higher Law

November 12, 1960

Clay McCord arrests Jack Rivers for assaulting an Indian named Black Wing but Black Wing, distrusting the legal system, refuses to testify against him. Judge Wilkens releases Rivers who is then abducted by Black Wing and taken to an Indian village for some ""Apache justice."" Clay McCord rides out to the village to make sure that ""white man's law"" prevails.

6. Bitter Root

November 5, 1960

A lonely woman who owns the only source of good water in the vicinity hides a wounded outlaw from Clay and Sarge.

5. Mother And Son

October 29, 1960

Marshal Fry paroles the brains behind an outlaw gang so he can visit with his mother who is unaware of his criminal activities.

4. The Fatal Urge

October 15, 1960

Well-to-do Elmer Jackson is murdered and evidence points to his nephew, Phil, who has fled town. Clay McCord suspects Phil's sister, Martha, knows his whereabouts though she denies this. Clay secretly follows Martha out of town but she knocks him out with a rock to the head and rides on to a cabin where she meets her lover, outlaw Tweed Younger. Tweed killed Elmer Jackson but made it look as if Phil had. Phil's now a prisoner in the cabin. Double-crossing Martha shoots Tweed and is about to kill Phil when McCord arrives on the scene.

3. The Jason Harris Story

October 8, 1960

Simon Fry arrests Jason Harris, the marshall of Hondo, for complicity in some robberies. Harris could clear himself but remains silent to protect his guilty wife, Laurie. Laurie's fallen for a man named Johnny Dustin and together they plan to get rid of Harris. Dustin betrays Laurie, however, and Fry and Clay McCord then see to it that the guilty are caught and punished. Fry then offers the exonerated Harris a job in the new town of Yorba Linda.

2. Meet Sergeant Tasker

October 1, 1960

Clay tries to help a two-fisted but gullible sergeant recover two thousand dollars of Army funds stolen by a beautiful blonde saloon hostess and her two card sharp confederates.

1. The Deadly Breed

September 24, 1960

Clay is curious and concerned when Chief Marshal Fry insists on personally handling the investigation into the activities of a pair of swindlers, one of whom happens to be a beautiful young blonde. Clay learns that the young woman is the daughter of woman who spurned his love more than twenty years ago and the deputy fears that Simon may be allowing his personal feelings to cloud his professional judgment.

Description

The series was set in the town of Silver City, New Mexico, and focused on the various challenges that McCord faced while trying to uphold the law. The town was a hotbed of criminal activity, and the deputy was often faced with difficult decisions that put his own safety at risk.

The show was known for its strong supporting cast, which included Allen Case as McCord's young deputy, Simon Fry, Wallace Ford as the town drunk, and Read Morgan as the local newspaper reporter. The relationship between McCord and Fry was a particularly interesting dynamic, as Fry looked up to McCord as a mentor and father figure.

Throughout the series' three-year run, The Deputy tackled a variety of social issues that were relevant to the time period in which it was set. The show explored themes of prejudice, racism, and injustice, and often spoke out against these societal ills in its storylines.

Despite its short-lived run, The Deputy was a well-received series that gained a dedicated following. It offered a fresh take on the western genre, with a protagonist who was less interested in violence and more interested in diplomacy and mediation. Its legacy as a groundbreaking and socially-conscious series has endured long after its cancellation, and it continues to be a beloved classic of the western television genre.

The Deputy is a series that is currently running and has 2 seasons (76 episodes). The series first aired on September 12, 1959.

Where to Watch The Deputy

The Deputy is available for streaming on the NBC website, both individual episodes and full seasons. You can also watch The Deputy on demand at and Tubi TV.