Reviews

6ft.3in.Pat Conway starring Sherriff Clay Hollister was in charge of keeping thing orderly in the "Town Too Tough To Die". The show originally ran on ABC from October 16, 1957 to October 9, 1959. Richard Eastham played double duty as editor of the Epitaph and as narrator of the show.Tombstone Territory came out of the stable that produced the likes of Bat Masterson and Highway Patrol and a slew of other popular 1950 TV series.Pat Conway handled his role as Clay Hollister quite well as his family are no strangers to the performing arts.(His mother was silent screen star Francis Bushman).Tombstone Territory was never short on shoot-em ups or fistic violence as was the norm for westerns of its day.Has it changed? As a kid in the fifties I had an ear for those catchy tunes that were so prevelant back in those days and "Whistle Me Up A Memory" was one of the best.As with so many other entertaining TV show from yesteryear (and many from ZIV) the only copies available from this show are a few 16mm transfers. What a shame!

"Broken Arrow" was 20th Century Fox' entry into the race for western TV supremacy in 1956. It did'nt happen here. Unlike Warner Bros., TFC didn't apply the movie like production values to its TV arm and it shows. But does it really matter with westerns? Not as much. Syrian born actor Michael Ansara was well cast as the brooding Cochise. One wonders how much he must have cringed as Tom Jeffords (bloodbrother to Cochise and Army officer) played to the hilt by actor John Lupton, had a tendency to sometimes over-dramatize his parts. Lupton (as did Ansara) went on to play charactor parts in a host of movies and other TV shows. (Ansara as you probably know was married for a time to actress Barbara Eden).The show was nontheless entertaining and was blessed with a bevy of first class directors and guest actors.Broken Arrow was somewhat unusual for its time as unlike other shows and movies of its time it showed that Indians can be reasonable and humane!Nostalgia buffs would love to see cleaned up studio versions of this instead of the grainy 16mm versions available today! Where are they?

It's inconceivable to me how Warner Bros. can continue to ignore the potential of remarketing this "gem" of a series on video! The casting of this show was impeccable as was the constant tight direction and consistantly strong storylines throughout the sad short run of this series.Lawman had more of a movie atmosphere about it thanks to Warner Bros. detail to props, sets (etc.) and a fair budget which didn't always go into the stars pockets as evidenced by the several western stars that galloped off their respective W.B. shows in the late fifties. John Russell opted not to follow suit.Lawman did not employ "comic relief" that helped make Maverick so intensely popular,W.B. opted instead to inject a "love intrest" for Dan Troop to help ease his tense character in the name of "Lily" after the '58 season.The few "bootleg copies around today only serve to increase the ache and yearning for Warner Bros. to reach into their vaults and allow us to enjoy "real TV" the way it was meant to be enjoyed!

This western from the huge stable out of Warner Bros. probably had more things going against than for it. Although seemingly well cast with a soon to be disgruntled Wayde Preston as Christopher Colt portraying a government agent posing as a gun salesman tracking down various types of bad guys the show was basically entertaining as he was not quite as light as Maverick but not as hard nosed as John Russells "Lawman".As the popularity of Colt .45 grew, Wayde Preston felt so should his paycheck. After having to mingle reruns with recently completed episodes and realizing Colt .45 just might have something going W.B. flexed and Preston came back, but not for long. After another dispute with the studio Preston left again and Sam Colt Jr.played by Donald May eventually replaced Preston causing the show to lose its momentum and ceased production in 1960 concluding its three year run. The show was also plagued by several rehashed episodes already used by other W.B. western series.One wonders what could have been.