“TV Like You’ve Never Seen It! A Foray into Hell: The Premiere Episode of Sam Peckinpah’s The Westerner (1960) (Complete Video, Presented Without Commercial Interruptions)”
Re-posted by Nicholas Stix
Originally re-posted on January 27, 2015
Don’t blink! That’s how sudden things happen here. It’s a mere 25-minute episode, but it feels like twice as long, not because it drags, but because it’s so intense.
The series opens with Dave Blassingame (Brian Keith) addressing the love of his life, from atop his horse:
“Go on, Dog. We got a long way to go, yet. We got us a man to kill, when we get there.”
When they get to town, it’s dark. A blond woman offering a Christian tract that he pays her for sweetly tells him,
“There’s no charge for salvation.”
You’d better hold tight to the reins, viewer, or you might fall off your mount, and break your neck!
Unfortunately, in spite of the success of the Peckinpah-created The Rifleman, which was going strong at the time on ABC, NBC pulled the plug on this series after a mere 13-episode buy. It was strong drink for viewers and network suits alike at the time, but introduced preoccupations that its creator would spend the next nine years working out, by the end of which he will have taught Western audiences to acquire a taste for the product of his particular still.
The Westerner 1960 S01E01: “Jeff”
Published on Oct 18, 2014 by Sam Peckinpah's The Westerner (1960).
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3 comments:
For some reason,I kept seeing John Wayne playing "Dave"--seems like Brian Keith was doing a pretty good "Duke" impression here.
The Indian bartender has a strong resemblence to the "Chief" in "One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest",16 years later.Could that be him,I wonder?
Anyways,much better than average episode.
--GR Anonymous
Have to rate this a 10 of 10.Way ahead of its time.
--GRA
A scoped '95 Winchester. Doesn't show up in westerns too often.
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