Jim Hardie is tasked with getting some specialized drill bits to a remote mine, and teams up with former Wells Fargo employee and teamster Swede Lowell (Arch Johnson) to do the job. Unbeknownst, Lowell's wife and daughter have been kidnapped by a gang who wants the drills, while a woman who wants a ride to the mine site invites herself along for the trip.
Genial TV everyman Johnson does the duty as the wronged husband. A formidable pair of baddies - Robert Colbert of "The Time Tunnel" and villain of the week James Griffith (who made the Snidely Whiplash look work in live action) - are worthy antagonists. Finally, designated movie bad girl Fay Spain (who would have a brief valedictory in the "Godfather" series) is the wild card.
I have not moved through the entire series, but I did see a fair amount of Season 1. The black & white half-hour formula then comprised a movie-serial tempo of simple action plots combined with real-life Old West historical figures. By 1962 the series had shifted to an hour of color, with more human interest thrown in a la "Bonanza" or "The Virginian." Dale Robertson easily filled the early iteration as a one-dimensional Reaganesque good guy, and he did one dimension well. But the writers are clearly straining to fit the persona into a longer format.
Some question as to just how remote this mine can be, before it becomes uneconomical to haul out the ore. Hardie mentions "its no trip for a woman," but we see little else on that except a late fall wagon trip over moderate hill country. I was ready to pounce on just how a rival mining operation could conceal use of stolen drill bits in an industry with only so many mining engineers to go around, but the writers find a nifty way around that. Also good to see the handling of a mule team demonstrated - they were critical to hauling gear around the West, but tend to lose a disproportionate amount of screen time to their horse cousins.
A reasonably adequate hour, but only a moderate amount of the action to which we have become accustomed. The series is a few installments from the end, and one senses the struggle of the writers in trying to adapt to the "adult Western" era pioneered by "Gunsmoke."
Genial TV everyman Johnson does the duty as the wronged husband. A formidable pair of baddies - Robert Colbert of "The Time Tunnel" and villain of the week James Griffith (who made the Snidely Whiplash look work in live action) - are worthy antagonists. Finally, designated movie bad girl Fay Spain (who would have a brief valedictory in the "Godfather" series) is the wild card.
I have not moved through the entire series, but I did see a fair amount of Season 1. The black & white half-hour formula then comprised a movie-serial tempo of simple action plots combined with real-life Old West historical figures. By 1962 the series had shifted to an hour of color, with more human interest thrown in a la "Bonanza" or "The Virginian." Dale Robertson easily filled the early iteration as a one-dimensional Reaganesque good guy, and he did one dimension well. But the writers are clearly straining to fit the persona into a longer format.
Some question as to just how remote this mine can be, before it becomes uneconomical to haul out the ore. Hardie mentions "its no trip for a woman," but we see little else on that except a late fall wagon trip over moderate hill country. I was ready to pounce on just how a rival mining operation could conceal use of stolen drill bits in an industry with only so many mining engineers to go around, but the writers find a nifty way around that. Also good to see the handling of a mule team demonstrated - they were critical to hauling gear around the West, but tend to lose a disproportionate amount of screen time to their horse cousins.
A reasonably adequate hour, but only a moderate amount of the action to which we have become accustomed. The series is a few installments from the end, and one senses the struggle of the writers in trying to adapt to the "adult Western" era pioneered by "Gunsmoke."
