The Texan DVD with Rory Calhoun, Alan Hale, Jr. (NR) +Movie Reviews

OUTSTANDING & ALMOST COMPLETE COMPILATION!

Anthony Caton | Arkansas. USA | 11/21/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I cannot tell you how thrilled I am with this outstanding set from Timeless Media Group. Seventy of the 78 episodes of the classic (1958-60) CBS television western "The Texan," starring rugged Rory Calhoun as "Bill Longley," are found in this compilation. The video quality is a surprising "9;" the audio quality of this set is equally good. Each episode runs roughly 26 minutes and contains the original open and close -- which includes the wonderful rumbling/muscular Desilu theme music soundtrack. Outstanding guest stars accompany Calhoun in his trek through the southwest, including Jack Elam, Morgan Woodward, James Coburn, Bethel Leslie, Richard Devon, Bob Steele, Anthony Caruso, Alan Hale Jr., Denver Pyle, Neville Brand, Harry Dean Stanton, Richard Jaeckel, Cesar Romero, Karen Sharpe, R.G. Armstrong, Strother Martin, James Best, Shirley Knight, Brian Donlevy, Robert Wilke, Michael Landon, John Dehner, Paul Fix, and Mike Connors. This set is a MUST HAVE for any collector of classic TV westerns. Thank you for taking the time to read my review.

Disc One:

Law of the Gun -- Neville Brand

Man With the Solid Gold Star -- Bruce Bennett

Troubled Town -- Harry Dean Stanton

First Notch -- J. Carroll Naish

Edge of Cliff -- Mike Connors

Jail for Innocents -- Vaughn Taylor

Tree for Planting -- James Westerfield, Paul Fix

Disc Two:

Hemp Tree -- Michael Landon

Widow of Paradise -- Alan Hale Jr.

No Tears for Dead -- Michael Pate, Beverly Washburn

Easterner -- Jack Elam

Time of the Year -- George Macready

Lord Will Provide -- Murvyn Vye, Ellen Corby

Duchess of Denver -- Alan Dinehart

Disc Three:

Quart of Law -- Robert Lowery, Holly Bane

Outpost -- Christopher Dark

Peddler -- Lou Jacobi

Return to Friendly -- John Harmon

Man Behind the Star -- Richard Jaeckel, Brian Donlevy

Ringer -- Grant Withers, Paul Brinegar, Ron Hayes

Marshal of Yellow Jacket -- Robert Wilke, Read Morgan

Disc Four:

No Love Wasted -- Lon Chaney Jr.

Race for Life -- Kelly Thordsen

Letter of the Law -- R.G. Armstrong, Trevor Bardette

Private Account -- Karen Sharpe, Jesse White

Caballero -- Cesar Romero

Blood Money -- Dorothy Provine

No Place to Stop -- Strother Martin, Denver Pyle

Disc Five:

Reunion -- Bethel Leslie, Robert F. Simon

Badlands -- Ralph Moody

South of Border -- Jack Elam, John Doucette

Smiling Loser -- Harry Lauter, Red Morgan

Sheriff of Boot Hill -- Denver Pyle

Gunfighter -- John Pickard

Man Hater -- Henry Brandon, Henry Kulky

Disc Six:

No Way Out -- James Griffith, Lucien Littlefield

Image of Gulit -- Don Haggerty

Dishonest Posse -- Jack Lambert, Bing Russell

Blue Northern -- Harry Dean Stanton

Traildust -- Brian Donlevy

Telegraph Story -- Denver Pyle

Stampede -- Shirley Knight

Disc Seven:

Showdown at Abilene -- Barbara Luna

Trouble on Trail -- Michael Dante

Cowards Don't Die -- Sherwood Price

Border Incident -- Alan Hale Jr.

Dangerous Ground -- Alan Hale Jr.

End of Track -- Alan Hale Jr.

Friend of the Family -- John Dehner, James Coburn

Disc Eight:

Terrified Town -- Bob Steele, Richard Devon

Sixgun Street -- Richard Devon, Alan Dinehart

Taming of Rio Nada -- Richard Devon, Alan Dinehart

Thirty Hours to Kill -- Malcolm Atterbury

Quarantine -- Alan Hale Jr.

Buried Treasure -- Duncan Lamont

Captive Crew -- Alan Hale Jr.

Disc Nine:

Showdown -- Anthony Caruso, Alan Hale Jr., Ron Hayes

Governor's Lady -- Myron Healey

Town Divided -- Morgan Woodward

Guilty & Innocent -- Denver Pyle

Presentation Gun -- Harry Harvey

Nomad -- Wm. Fawcett

Killer's Road -- James Best, Lane Bradford

Disc Ten:

Lady Tenderfoot -- Jack Elam, Claire Kelly

Invivible Noose -- Bill Erwin

Johnny Tuvo -- Frank Wilcox, Myron Healey

Accuser -- Don Haggerty

Mission to Monterey -- Lane Bradford

Badman -- Anthony Warde

Twenty-four Hours to Live -- Paul Birch"

Superb picture quality, Baby!

R. G. Bright | 12/17/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Coming from the same company that edited TV episodes on previous DVD releases and offered grainy 16mm transfers, I hesitated buying this set. Glad I gave them a chance 'cause this is superb!

Every episode is uncut and unedited and the best superior picture quality from the original 35mm nitrate negatives. In other words, you will not find better anywhere else.

The guests include Neville Brand, a young Michael Landon, Andy Clyde, James Drury and many others. If you hesitate because people often are too critical (champagne taste and a beer budget wallet) take my word for it as a guy who is picky about his DVDs. Buy this today!"

Even Some Texan Is Better Than None

Terence Allen | Atlanta, GA USA | 09/22/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

""The Texan- The Best Of" is a release by Timeless Media Group of 70 of the 78 episodes of this Western television series starring popular Western movie actor Rory Calhoun. In "The Texan," Calhoun played Bill Longley, a ex-Confederate soldier who came home after the Civil War to find his plantation burned down and his wife dead. He then began to roam the West, using his considerable gunfighter skills to help old friends or new friends in trouble.

It is a shame that eight of the episodes of this series were not found or were incomplete so that the complete series could not be released. This was a very entertaining TV series. Calhoun's charm, plus his many years of experience appearing in Western films, made "The Texan" interesting and engaging. Like the best Western heroes, Calhoun could play serious and comic scenes with equal aplomb, and made Longley a believable and enjoyable hero.

One can only hope that the other eight episodes of the series will be found and be usable in a future release."

Good First Season, Poor Second Season

Ken | bloomington, il United States | 03/24/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Finally finished viewing the entire 70 episode collection. Calhoun gives a good performance as the lead character throughout, and Timeless Media did an adequate job in assembling the collection. Wonderful theme music and atmospheric settings.

However, I was astonished at how badly the series deteriorated during the second season, and I cannot explain what the cause of the problem was. Somebody either gave up on maintaining the quality of the series and lost interest or the money supply dried up. This is hard to understand, as Desilu helped to co-produce the series, and usually put out a quality product.

First off the second season was marred by by two endless storylines. The first involved a cattle drive, probably inspired by the popularity of Rawhide. Way too many fakey scenes filmed indoors on phony horses, instead of realisitic on location shooting.

The second boring storyline took place at a railroad spur construction site. This seemed to go on for 5 or 6 episodes, and was a chore to sit through.

What really annoyed me about the second season was that many of the episodes are stuffed with stock footage from the first season. The last episode on the collection is virtually an entire reprint of an earlier episode with a few new scenes thrown in for good measure. Some of this nonsense is hilarious. In one of the episodes Longley in appointed deputy marshall and given a badge. As he races through the canyons tracking down some gunman, scenes from the first season are spliced into the episode. So in one scene Longley has a badge on his vest, in the next the badge vanishes, only to reappear in the next scene.

It is sad that the program disintegrated as badly as it did for the second season.

Give the first season an A, the second season a D.

ken"

The Texan

Harry Brewer | S'port, La. | 02/04/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I have watched thirty-five episodes (5 discs) thus far of this set. I normally won't do a review until I've watched the complete set but 10 discs with 70 episodes is a lot of viewing. What I have seen thus far has not been disappointing. I can't help but make a comparison to Timeless Media Group's release of The Deputy several months previously, that set was a debacle, the quality was not very good. So, it was with trepidation when I decided to purchase this set. The quality of The Texan is extremely good, oh, there's a flaw here & there but nothing I've seen thus far has detracted from my enjoyment of it. It's not quite on the level of a major studio or network release but it's still very good.

Rory Calhoun stars as The Texan, Bill Longley. There was a gunfighter of some renown by the same name in the West, he was from Texas but not the nice guy portrayed in this series. There was no other supporting cast; it's Rory Calhoun only. He was also a co-executive producer so he had his own money sunk into this.

I fondly remember the series from the late fifties & early sixties but I didn't remember any particular episode. Honestly, I don't remember seeing this series anywhere on television for more than 40 years. It's been my experience in recent years with so many old television series released on DVD that these 30 minute dramatic & western series usually feel rushed, that is, a lot of shortcuts were done in the script in order to keep it within the 30 minute framework. I'm not saying things were done sloppily, though sometimes they were, but that the time frame didn't allow much character development nor story development. In most cases I haven't felt that way about the 35 episodes I have watched. For the most part they were quality scripts & well done.

Surprisingly, I saw Louis L'Amour involved in two of the stories. The first he got story credit & the second he got screenplay credit. The second one (can't remember the episode's title) actually had the character, Chick Bowdrie, which L'Amour had written many short stories about. I just thought it unique that L'Amour would include one of his characters in an episode. At the end of the episode Bowdrie declares to The Texan he's going to become a marshall because of what Bill Longley had done.

They were plenty of "name" guest stars though few of major prominence in the episodes. They include: Neville Brand, Harry Dean Stanton, Mike Connors (Mannix), Michael Landon (Bonanza), Alan Hale, Jr., Jack Elam, Ellen Corby, Brian Donlevy (he was a major), Lon Chaney, Jr., Cesae Romero, Dorothy Provine, Denver Pyle & Strother MArtin. These are in just the first 35 episodes, some more than once.

There are eight missing episodes & I've yet to hear why they weren't included in this set. There isn't any bonus materials, not even subtitles. You can get this set for a good price if you shop around so do so. Fans of the old fifties television Westerns should get this.

03-14-09

I finally have completed viewing the entire set. In the final 35 episodes I saw two episodes that weren't in as good of shape as the rest. They weren't unwatchable so that's okay. Rory Calhoun even wrote one episode; it was a theme that's been done many times. Longley befriends a down-and-out man & is talked into teaching him how to become a fast draw but ends up turning on the Texan. Calhoun really did a fine performance proving he could act.

Season two of The Texan had a change in its approach: The Texan wasn't as much of a drifter & held several jobs, much like in the series Cheyenne. There's an extended string of episodes involving the same supporting cast. The longest string has Longley working with a railroad construction company. He also is hired as a trail boss on a cattle drive. In at least two or three episodes he's working for the governor of Texas as an undercover man.There's even one episode that appears to be an near exact duplicate of an episode that was done earlier in the set.

Apparently there were 37 episodes for season 1 & 41 episodes for season 2 though this doesn't seem right. From an online source it appears that these episodes are in order of broadcast but this doesn't seem quite right either. The string of episodes that involves the railroad construction are broken up by an episode or two between that particular extended story line.

Missing episodes: Season 1, episode 10 "Desert Passage"

Season 1, episode 22 "The Eyes of Captain Wylie"

Season 2, episode 3 "Cattle Drive"

Season 2, episode 10 "The Reluctant Bridegroom"

Season 2, episode 16 "Rough Track to Payday"

Season 2, episode 26 "Borrowed Time"

Season 2, episode 31 "Ruthless Woman"

Season 2, episode 36 "The Mountain Man"

I still don't know why these 8 episodes aren't included in the set. I've really enjoyed this set & I can recommend that you are getting value with this set."

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