All he needs is $100 to get them moving.Ĭicely Tyson (Sounder, The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, Hoodlum) plays Piney's wife Rachel, whose sense of justice is far more keen than her husband's. Yaphet Kotto and Cicely Tyson, two African-American thespians marked for later success, garner the starring roles in the 1970 Gunsmoke episode "The Scavengers." Kotto (Alien, Brubaker, The Star Chamber,) has the lead role of Piney Biggs, a black man with a pregnant wife and young daughter who desires a better life for them in California.
#Gunsmoke the scavengers tv#
Things began to change, however, in the mid-1960s and early '70s as advances in civil rights took root and TV shows finally discovered the wealth of black talent available.
That was particularly true for TV westerns, which mainly featured white stars complemented by white guest stars and supporting players. Network competition that fall evening was The Young Lawyers (ABC) and The Red Skelton Show and Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In (NBC).Īfrican-Americans were scarce in the early days of television. "The Scavengers" was aired over CBS on Monday night, November 16, 1970, in the 7:30-8:30 (ET) time slot. The Scavengers: Air Date & Network Competition But a suspicious Colley and his bounty hunters want to make sure Piney doesn't have a change of heart and ruin their chance to collect the reward, ushering Piney into the Bull's Head Saloon after hours where they plan to wait out the execution scheduled for four o'clock in the morning. The four innocent scavenging Indians are found guilty and slated to hang at Fort Dodge. Piney's pregnant wife Rachel knows that her husband never owned a gold watch, but Piney tells her to keep quiet. One of the Indians has a scar down his face, just like Piney reported to Marshal Dillon, with the gold watch also among their possessions. In order to help Piney out, Sam Noonan, the bartender at the Long Branch, gives him a pair of his boots, one of which contains money Sam had collected on Piney's behalf.Ĭolley and two other bounty hunters nab four of the Indian scavengers and bring them to Dodge, hoping to collect the $2,000 reward on them. Piney also informs Matt that the Indians stole his gold watch, one purportedly given to him by his father who plays a tune. After Doc Adams patches him up, Piney tells his fanciful tale of the massacre to Marshal Dillon, falsely identifying the scavenging Indians as the grisly perpetrators. The self-wounded Piney is later found on the roadside and brought into Dodge City. Now scavenging the scene is a small band of filthy, desperate Indians, who help themselves to the dead's possessions, including Piney's pilfered watch. When Piney hears voices approaching, he jabs an arrow into his left side and plays dead. Thirsty and exhausted, Piney makes his way among the corpses, drinking water from a canteen and later lifting a gold pocket watch from a dead man. Piney Biggs stumbles upon the scene of an Indian massacre at a white campground.
Yaphet Kotto as he appeared in the 1980s - NBC-TV Regulars, guest stars and supporting players are: Jim Byrnes wrote the teleplay for "The Scavengers," with Robert Totten in the director's chair. Gunsmoke's The Scavengers: Cast & Credits
The 1970 episode "The Scavengers" features Yaphet Kotto as Piney Biggs, a black man whose story of an Indian massacre proves to have dire consequences. CBS's Gunsmoke (1955-75) proved to be a groundbreaking TV western series.
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