SEASON TWO
1966 - 1967
#41 - "The Last of the Caesars-Absolutely"
When the beauteous Celeste, one of Hannibal's off-limits wives, invites Erik to her tent, Erik suspects a trap. He tells Chad of the invitation. Chad whose brain is clouded with testosterone falls into the trap and ends up on one of Hannibal's execution devices, a metal pole slowly heating toward red hot hung over a pit of venomous snakes.
Last of the Caesars ended predictably with Chad and Joe rounding up the few bad guys not killed, Reese doing something comical and Erik in a clench with a villainess.
NiteOwl Review: Too silly for words.
Jack Weston as Hannibal
"Last of the Caesars..." was Laredo's garish entry into the universal western plot category, the slave labor camp. Usually a corrupt judge or landowner or mining magnate or mayor sentences strangers to work in (usually) a mine for a bogus crime. In Laredo's version, Jack Weston plays the crazed Hannibal Rex who, with the help of the black-suited Brunning and his henchmen, is kidnapping specialized workers to build him a city. The men slaughter anyone whose skills they can't use.
The Rangers find the massacred remains of one of Brunning's raids. And argue over who will dig the graves. Joe and Reese spend three days tracking the kidnappers until they are captured themselves. Joe soon makes it to 2nd class citizenship as a gladiator. Chad and Erik, as skilled artisans are first class citizens. Reese fumes as he watches them live the good life while he labors as a slave.
Erik and Chad plan to masquerade as a sculptor
and architect so Hannibal will kidnap them
Joe and Reese tracking
until they're captured
They allow themselves to be seduced
by two women setting a trap for them
Hannibal forces Joe to fight
and Reese to labor
Cast Note: William Smith had two more entries in this plot category. He was in the Gunsmoke version ("Hard Labor") and the Wildside version ("Delinquency of a Miner").
Original air date Dec 2, 1966
Directed by R.G. Springsteen
Written by Joseph Bonaduce
    & Jay Simms

Regular Cast
Neville Brand as Reese Bennett
Peter Brand as Chad Cooper
William Smith as Joe Riley
Robert Wolders as Erik Hunter
Phil Carey as Capt. Parmalee

Guest Cast
Jack Weston as Hannibal Rex
Joan Huntington as Celeste
Sid Haig as Brunning
E.J. Andre as silversmith
Joanne Medley as Joan
Jack Grinnage as Slattery
Mel Gallagher as O'Hara
Charles Horvath as Jomo
Official Peter Brown Fan Site