|
Rating:  -
With the advent of television most US network studios turned to the ever-reliable Western for potential ratings winners. As a kid I was always thrilled by the pure adventure and excitement on offer. Gunfights, pretty girls, clever horses, comical sidekicks and heroic deeds were the order of the day.
Watching these shows from a modern perspective makes me realise that there was so much more on offer. With the country starting to examine some of its darker sides we find many shows sympathetically portaying Native Americans with honor and grace. For visual delights it is hard to go past the stunning scenery in early full color versions of 'The Cisco Kid'. And if you think 1950s America was too stuck up to peddle sex on the small-screen, I'll bet more than a few women tuned in to check out the provocative camera angles afforded the Lone Ranger and Tonto. In short, most American studios already knew how to make a good Western and they blossomed under the creative freedom of the small-screen format.
Not all of these shows are pure Westerns. The ones set on the early American and Canadian frontiers tend to be some of the better shows on offer. Those set in 'contemporary' times will most likely miss the mark with those seeking real Western adventure - especially the entire fairly pedestrian disc devoted to 'The Roy Rogers Show'.
It's a minor quibble. There is simply so much topnotch entertainment on offer at a bargain price that it is a sure bet most will seek out the two companion volumes that have followed so far. Young and old alike are certain to delight in these superb budget offerings from Mill Creek Entertainment.
Rating:  -
For anyone who grew up in the '50s with these TV westerns (and we in the UK had a lot of these) this is the best way to have a Memory Lane collection.
In truth, you would have to be pretty fanatical to want all the episodes in a series, unless the series was especially landmark (I can think of "Rawhide" but not many more), so this is a super idea and beautifully packaged. The picture quality is quite acceptable bearing in mind that presumably the bulk of these series were on tape.
What a feast. I've just watched a few of the "Annie Oakley"s-they are lovely, innocent, juvenile quickies; part of the fun is re-hearing well-remembered theme tunes, and seeing familiar faces amongst the guest actors. There are even some of the original Canada Dry adverts-terrific!
I can't wait to see "Champion the Wonder Horse" again" and "Fury"; these series were staple diet for us kids back then.
There are bound to be re-evaluations as well-there is one "Wyatt Earp" only and, on the evidence of that episode, maybe the theme tune was the best thing about the show!
For this price, this set is a MUST-HAVE. My best wishes and warmest regards to all concerned with the venture.
Rating: -
I bought this for my husband and he loved it. He cannot get enough Westerns! Great option for when he cannot find anything to watch on TV.
Rating: -
After 5 days at grade school, Saturday morning was the time to settle on the couch and vicariously "clean-up" the Old West with The Lone Ranger, Kit Carson, The Cisco Kid, Annie Oakley, and Roy Rogers. Sometimes, we were even needed north of the border by Sgt. Preston. Lots of good memories here. Who wouldn't have liked to have Fury to ride to the playground? The sound on 2 or 3 episodes could be better, and I wish the Wagon Train episodes had Ward Bond, but this collection is gol darned good partner. What ever happened to those 50 cent double-feature matinees at the local movie house anyway??
Rating: -
I received this as an early Christmas present this year and needless to say, with 150 episodes on 12 double-sided DVDs, this is going to take SOME time to get through them.
What I've noticed so far was that, even though the stories aren't quite as "superb" as we all remember them to be, they bring back a lot of great memories and are a lot of fun to watch. In fact, I'm having more fun with the "obscure" episodes, then I am with the more popular ones. For example, I've never watched an episode of the Adventures of Champion about a horse and the boy who loved him (oops, sounds like a Fury rip-off, doesn't it?). Maybe that's why it's so obscure. But even though the storyline was everything I expected, it was just fun to watch.
Another "oldie" that I DID see when I was growing up was one called Buffalo Bill Jr. All I remembered was that it was a Saturday morning western aimed at us kids, and BBJ had at least 2 or 3 fistfights in every half-hour episode! Sure enough, it's what I remembered. Like I said, the storylines aren't that great, but the action brings back a lot of fond memories. I forgot that Bill had a little sister named Calamity and they were adopted by an old "judge" in a small town. I also didn't realize that the music during the action scenes was the SAME generic music used by many other TV shows in the 50's, The Adventures Of Superman being one of them.
Speaking of music, it seems they may not have the rights to SOME of the music. The familiar BONANZA theme song is nowhere to be found, replaced by some forgettable tune instead.
But for the price of all of this, how can anyone complain? Even if you only got around to watching a fifth of these episodes, you'd get your money's worth.
Picture quality is better than I expected, although not up to "new DVD release" quality. Again, you can't complain. What you see is no worse than what you watched way back on that old small TV you had back in the 50's.
Buy this and check it out. A lot of bang for the buck...so to speak.
Television Show
Collectibles
Movie Searches
|
|
|
Search for posters,
art prints, photos, collectables, merchandise, toys, t-shirts
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Join the Nielsen//NetRatings Research Panel and you could win a new car, a dream vacation, a dream home makeover or $50,000 Cash!
TV Guide
Program listings, celebrity profiles, industry
gossip, movie reviews, puzzle.
More
Entertainment
& TV Magazines
This site is
Hosted
by Bluehost
Read
my Bluehost Review
Original Superhero & other designs for t-shirts, bumper
stickers, prints, mugs, and other cool merchandise. |
|
