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Slattery's People

Question: When Do We Hang the Good Samaritan?

Season 1, Episode 19, Aired 2/19/65

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Episode Summary

Dr. Roy Kirk is sued for failing to save the life of a firefighter and he seeks Slattery's help.

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Cast & Crew

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Edward Asner

Frank Radcliff
Richard Crenna

James Slattery
Maxine Stuart

B. J. Clawson

Fan Episode Reviews (1)

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Penetrating exploration of medical-and political- ethics.

9.5

"Superb"

By slatteryfan1, Jul 20, 2011 Report Abuse

Their are are only three episodes of this excellent show in general circulation, and this is one of them. Slattery and some of his friends are on a camping trip. They are seen by a man standing on cliff, and he tries to give them directions. The man falls from the and is severely injured. Fortunatly, one of Slattery's friends is Doctor Roy Kirk. ( Claude Akins, in an excellent performance.) As they run to get help, he adminsiters first aid, including a widely prescribed pain-killer. He tears open the man's shirt, only to dicscover that he wearing a medallion warning that he is allergic to the pain-killer... Thus begins a thought provoking, ethically ambiguous, complex episode of this great show. The man dies, apparently as a result of his injuries, and Kirk is sued by the man's widow, ( Marge Redmond.)
Slattery has just introduced a Good Samaritan law, intended to protect physicians like Kirk from frivolous lawsuits. However, THIS lawsuit doesn't appear to be frivolous. There are two interrelated plot lines. The first is Slattery's effort to get his bill out of committee, despite the objections of Commitee Chair Adam Smith( William Hansen, in another excellent performance.) The other is Slattery's efforts to reprsent his friend in court. He performs both tasks skillfully, but he also senses Kirk is hiding something. Complicating matters is Dr. Kirk's sister Lucrezia,( Barbara Eden) an old flame of Slattery's. After watching this episode several times, and showing it to my political science students, I have a theory as to why it was never a hit, despite a small, and fanatical coterie of viewers and the applause of Critics ranging from Tv Guides Cleveland Amory to The Detrroit News' Frank Judge. Slattery's People committed a cardinal sin. It expected its viewers to think. Remember, this was the same network that gave us Gilligan's Island and The Beverly Hillbillies, and which canceled The Great Adventure and East Side West Side because they were "too highbrow". Maybe CBS keeps this show under wraps in its vaults because it doesnt like to be reminded of its past stupidity. All I know is that my first act on winning The Publishers Clearing House Sweepstakes will be to buy this show from CBS.moreless

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- Actor Joe Brooks was credited in this episode as Joseph Brooks. Edit
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