Life imitating Art – 1972 Hec Ramsey TV pilot (art) creates fake witness decades before U.S. Senate Judiciary hearings (life) – hard to make this up.

Recently we were watching YouTube which has posted a Hec Ramsey Pilot starring Richard Boone in a 1970s color TV western. The Plot was located in an Oklahoma or Kansas frontier town on the border of the Osage Indian reservation. A farmer was shot in the back, and died. The local sheriff and doctor brought Hec to town to solve the mystery.   Was it an accident? Unintentional? Or Murder? The shooter was unknown. But conveniently, the bullet removed from the farmer had the same ballistic markings, as a bullet shot at Hec on the road into town. Ballistic markings were visible by microscope. That indicated intent – a murder. A plaster cast was made of a broken horse shoe.  The time of the murder could have happened over several days. The location was known from where the body was found. Frustrated by the lack of evidence, the plot twists to Hec, coming up with a idea. Hec suggests a fake witness. The Sheriff is skeptical, with a murderer loose, who would risk their life claiming to be an eye witness? Hec replies the murderer doesn’t know there was no witness. Maybe a witness, even fake, especially fake, would put pressure on the murderer, who might make a mistake, or at least lure the murderer out into the open. Hec, the sheriff, and Doc agree to get a fake witness, but whom? Conveniently, the Osage reservation is nearby and Hec rides off to recruit an Osage to come forward as a witness. The Osage witness, also is skeptical, and asks something to the effect, ‘’what do I say when they ask why it took so long to come forward?’’ Hec replies, ‘’say you returned to the reservation, and waited to be safe, or something.’’ So with the fake witness, they ride into TV pilot history.

Gee wiz, now who would think that a plot of coming up with a fake witness, would be believable? The witness doesn’t know the time of the shooting, maybe the place, but not the shooter. The witness doesn’t know what kind of firearm was used. The witness can be told at least one horse was involved, and at least one bullet.   But no one knows who came in, or who left, how many, when they came, or when they left? Anybody else there? What did the horse look like? Was it wet or dry? Day or night? Cowboy hats? Man or woman? Never mind. Don’t fret over the small stuff. The plot asks whether the shooter would take ‘the bait?’ In the Pilot, the bad apple does come out and make the mistakes, which allows Hec to solve the crime and wrap up the plot.

TV Guide cover . Richard Boone as Hec Ramsey. Feb 23-Mar 1.

I just don’t know why anybody would think a TV plot solving a mystery months after the event, using a fake witness, could be picked up for a series?

Or to use western poker lingo, as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) reportedly said about October 7th, “I think they overplayed their hand. I think the tactics turned off people and turned on our base. And they’ve enhanced our chances of holding the Senate.” Overplaying your hand is a reference to poker, when the bettor over bets the reasonable odds for the cards held in their hand, to wit betting into the pot with a pair, as if the cards were a royal flush. McConnell was also quoted as “I think it’s helpful [that] the Democrats are energized, it’s no secret they have been for a while.” “This has been like a shot of adrenaline to Republican voters.”

So, how does life imitate art? A cartoon from the Patriot Post had a dialogue cloud from a balding Democratic Judiciary Senator which asks ‘Judge, can you tell us where you were on a nonspecific date, nonspecific time, in a nonspecific house, with nonspecific people?’’ Not days but decades after the event.

Writers will try anything, to get eyes on the TV screen. Even faking a witness.

The Hec Ramsey Pilot is listed on Youtube as One Hour and 32 minutes, and the series ran from 1972 to 1974. YouTube lists 429,571 views since 2015, as of October 2018. Fun stuff.

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