Ohne Furcht und Sattel

In April, 1971, after ten years away from the small screen, Rod Taylor made another attempt to gain a permanent spot on television with the nostalgic CBS series " Bearcats !". With the story unfolding in America's dusty Southwest in 1914, it featured Taylor and Dennis Cole as characters Hank Brackett and Johnny Reach respectively, a pair of trouble shooters for hire. Loaded with period charm, the show took its name from the majestic and sporty roadster in which Reach and Brackett went about their business - a yellow Stutz Bearcat.

As with Taylor's previous series, "Hong Kong", the venture faced stiff competition when it was programmed up against NBC's well established "Flip Wilson Show" and it lasted only thirteen weeks.

"Bearcats" ! was a breezy, action - packed and entertaining production based around a novel idea which featured two excellent stars who had an engaging and believable on screen rapport. Sadly, however, the show is now remembered as being yet another of those noble efforts that fell between the cracks and ended up in the "Brilliant but Cancelled" category of television history.

Like others on this forum, I could not believe they canceled it.

Rod Taylor was great as a soldier of fortune around the turn of the century. Even though there was a lot of hunky beefcake for the ladies, this really was a man's show. The pairing of Rod Taylor and Dennis Cole was well-played. Rugged guy and pretty boy who both knew their stuff.

The pilot, "Powderkeg," was one of the best episodes of t.v. I have ever seen.

The series was my introduction to the Stutz-Bearcat and I've wanted one ever since. What a piece of machinery!

I'd love to see them bring the series back for another run - maybe the Hallmark channel on Saturday afternoons would be a fitting place and time.

Ignore the current 7.9 nostalgia score. This isn't for adults. Silly plots, hamfisted action, stilted performances, repetitive low-budget camera work and soundtrack. Don't waste your time.

I totally agree with my other colleagues here on IMDb this was an excellent series that was shot on location and had a hip....Spaghetti Western-type feel to it...and was not given a chance to have a decent run...I mean ME AND THE CHIMP...come on, I would dare say that was to Ted Bessell who starred in the "series" like MY MOTHER THE CAR was to Jerry Van Dyke......anyway the series was brilliant in the casting, Rod Taylor who could do an American accent better than any Aussie today with the possible exception of Guy Pierce who ironically played George in the remake of THE TIME MACHINE....and Dennis Cole who tragically lost his son via an unsolved homicide that occurred I believe in 1991....both worked off each other quite well, a good buddy series that is very little dated save for the score by Hal Hooper which is quite good and upbeat, very 70's sound, similar to a score to a South African pseudo spaghetti western called THREE BULLETS FOR A LONG GUN that was in release near that time.....and yes the Stutz Bearcat, Americas 1st sports car that could reach speeds of 60 miles and hour...I know this would be asking a lot but this series is calling DVD.....D...V....D and since both Rod and Dennis are both alive and doing fairly well, commentary would be nice....anyway this western adventure, RAWHIDE and THE HIGH CHAPPERAL all deserve the DVD treatment

I remember this show quite well. It lost its thursday 8:00 pm time slot to the most awful show ever produced (Me and the Chimp), and I was forever stunned. The pilot movie for this show was called "PowderKeg", and starred Taylor and Cole (and guest star Fernando Lamas) and gave the back ground of how they traveled around the south west in 1915 cleaning up trouble for a blank check. The movie was available for a while on video (thankfully I bought it) and is just like the show. The show ran only 13 episodes (I wonder if more were produced) and dissappeared in Jan '73. The show was filmed in Old Tuscon studio's and showed off the old west scenery well, and it was an intelligently produced period show. The producers paid quite a lot of attention to detail; for example the other cars shown in the series were actual cars of the time. Like all great shows of that early 70's era (SEARCH was another one) I doubt anything like it will ever be attempted again. The reproduction Stutz Bearcat resides to this day in Geroge Barris's Hollywood car museum. I was surprised to read in another comment column that TVLand ran a few episodes on one of their Sunday showcases--I wish I had known so I could have taped them!!!