Boots and Saddles

This syndicated western series about the US Cavalry seems to have been completely forgotten by today. It's never come out on DVD and probably because none of the cast are truly household names. Which at the time and now probably adds to the realism of it.

Heading the cast of Boots And Saddles is John Pickard as Captain Shank Adams assigned to fictitious Fort Lowell in the Arizona Territory. This is not John Ford's romantic cavalry Pickard works for, these guys are seasoned professionals assigned to a dangerous place doing a dangerous job.

Another reason this series I think is not seen is because the producers played it on the cheap and while they shot it outdoors and on location, they did it in black and white. They might just as well have bagged and tagged it for oblivion.

Yet the stories were pretty good. One hopes it will come out on DVD some day.

"Boots and Saddles" was a first.: an adult western told from a cavalryman's point of view. Unlike the earlier "Adventures of Rin Tin Tin", which targeted a more juvenile audience, "Boots and Saddles" followed in the lead of other "adult" westerns of the late '50's in that it targeted young adults who were tuned in each week to "Gunsmoke" and the like. Set at Fort Lowell, AZ Territory in the 1880's, this first run syndicated series followed the stories of the 5th U.S. Cavalry as they fought and tried to live with the Apaches. The main characters were all very believable and seemed perfectly cast for their roles. The lead, John Pickard (Capt. Shank Adams), was actually considered for the lead on "Gunsmoke" when John Wayne initially turned down the role and prior to James Arness being cast. This series was very entertaining and novel for its cavalry characters as opposed to sheriff's, gunslingers, ranchers, etc. A very worthwhile and fondly remembered series.

I remember this series quite well. Even though I was only about 10 when it came out, I remember thinking that this was different from all the other westerns I used to watch. It was definitely more for adults than, say, "Wild Bill Hickok" or "Hopalong Cassidy", and even us kids could appreciate it (my friends and I watched it religiously). It was a tough, gritty show, and didn't--as many westerns often did--romanticize the role of the cavalry trooper in western history, but showed it as the dirty, difficult and often dangerous job it really was. John Pickard, the lead, had been a reliable character actor in westerns for many years--not quite up to the level of Jim Davis, for example, but close--and he fit the part of the tough cavalry sergeant like a glove. A very good show that unfortunately didn't last as long as it deserved.

From the opening lines of the theme song (a ghostly, echoing bugle version of "Boots and Saddles") the show kept its implied promise by evoking the gritty loneliness, danger and drama of life on a frontier army post. The cast-from Captain Shank Adams (West Point class of '73) through the gruff (but decent) Sgt. Bullock and the comical Private Hatfield and his fellow private buddy (whose name escapes me)- formed an army family not equaled until the advent of "Mash" in the 1970s.

My personal favorite among the episodes was the one in which Capt. Adams was wounded and a rancher (who had once been an officer in the Prussian army) took over command. Another episode, about a wounded trooper with a pathological jealousy about his wife, showed psychological depth. Somehow the show was able to step deftly from comedy to pathos to epic adventure in a bare half hour. It gave some of the satisfaction one could derive from John Ford's cavalry trilogy (at a much more modest budget). The theme music was always effective in matching the mood of the material.