Marcado

In the moral and cultural wasteland of the 60's, this show was like pure poetry: a distillation of the best of the west. "Branded" is the story of a wandering loner/knight errant who must right wrongs everywhere he goes while on a quest after a seemingly unobtainable goal. Economical, hardboiled, the product of years of testing the action and adventure formula, "Branded" is a summing up of everything that ever worked for motion picture audiences dating back to the first silent film western. Unusually taut performances from the mature Chuck Connors in a role that was tailor made for him. Each episode introduces a new set of characters. No ensemble cast baloney and no hack writing. What I wouldn't give for a show this good today!

I used to watch this show on the usual circuit of bad late night television. I will not glorify it; it only lasted two seasons because it was not a great show. It was respectable, however, and had a theme song that made it memorable.

"All but one man died..."

As a "Rifleman" fan, I wasn't impressed with this series too much, even though I've always liked Chuck Connors' work.

The premise, a man who was thought to have abandoned his cavalry brothers in cowardice - but not really, gave the opportunity, like Star Trek, Route 66, The Fugitive and other t.v. shows, for the main character to roam from town to town, place to place, etc., to meet other people and help them deal with whatever crisis they happened to be facing at the time.

The theme song was great and gave opportunity for some wag to come up with alternative lyrics... "Stranded, on the toilet bowl. What do you do when you're stranded without a roll?"

This follow-up to Chuck Connors' fondly remembered series "The Rifleman" isn't even in the same league as that show, though it had far more production values, bigger casts, and did a lot of location work, as opposed to "The Rifleman," which was shot almost entirely in a studio. The stories in "The Rifleman" were what really made the show, and the relationship between Lucas McCain and his son. In "Branded," Connors' character, Jason McCord, doesn't have any kind of relationship with anybody; he drifts from town to town and from situation to situation, and the viewer really has no clear idea as to what exactly he's doing or where he's going. "The Rifleman" had a core story: an ex-gunfighter trying to make a life for himself and his son on a small ranch, and running into people and situations which, in one way or another, tried to prevent him from doing that. In "Branded," Jason McCord is cashiered from the army for cowardice--which, we're told, was untrue--and pretty much drifts around the west. He doesn't try to gather facts to prove his innocence, or find people who can testify for him, or anything that you'd think a person falsely accused of cowardice would try to do. He just wanders around, making you wonder exactly what the point of this show is. Apparently the producers didn't quite know, either; in one multi-part episode, they had McCord working as a secret agent for President U.S. Grant and trying to break up an organized crime ring!

Connors did his best, but the trite story lines and the general aimlessness of the show finally did it in. It only lasted two seasons. That was enough.

Even though this series is rarely shown in some areas,Chuck Connors follows up on his "Rifleman" series with a western that only ran two seasons on NBC-TV from January 24,1965-April 23,1966 producing 48 episodes and afterwards was never heard from again..until now. "Branded" was the type of show that gave Chuck Connors astounding ability to pass as both hero and villain,but in this one he is regarded as a coward for deserting his troops during an Indian attack,and that is just half on if,but we viewers know differently. I had a chance to check out one of the episodes watching a late night flick on TV,and in this episode Connors is captured by hostile Indians,gagged and bound while being forced to duel to the death,and in another one Connors fights off a gang of outlaws who want to turn him in for money which they want to hang him,but he manages to escape from great danger(this episode was in black and white). All of the scenes have Connors barechested and this a far cry from his days as Lucas McCain on "The Rifleman". However some of the episodes were in color(and they're on videocassette),and it was that macho crap that underlay some westerns and this was one of those shows that didn't last very long.

NOTE: During the show's first season,the episodes were shot in black and white(1965-66)while the second season episodes were in color(1966). The show was produced by NO other than game show veterans Mark Goodson and Bill Todman(the guys behind "The Price Is Right")and this was their first try at a weekly series(and the last time they will ever do so).