Calibre 44

If Dale Robertson had come along about ten years earlier he would have been a great cowboy hero and Herbert J. Yates no doubt would have had him in his stable of western heroes. But he came along just as the B western was going out of business on the big screen and quite frankly he was a much better actor than some of the B cowboys. He did some serious B films, never quite getting stardom on the big screen, though some of the films were good.

The small screen treated him better with the Tales Of Wells Fargo series in which Dale's character of Jim Hardie narrated his exploits in tracking down those who would rob from his employer the Wells Fargo company.

I think the series was good because it called for Robertson to be a detective as well as a cowboy hero. The scripts were intelligently written given the constraints of developing characters in only thirty minute episodes for the most part.

In the last season the show was expanded to sixty minutes, but the producers also decided to give Robertson's character Jim Hardie a ranch and something of a home life. It never seems to cease, a perfectly good format, tinkered with and then cancellation.

Still Tales Of Wells Fargo gave Dale Robertson his career role, at least the one this fan remembers him best for. And he was a left handed draw, the most well known one on television until Michael Landon as Little Joe Cartwright came along.

As a child, I watched this series and enjoyed it very much. It had all of the aspects of the old "B" westerns, but the acting and writing was so much better. Dale Robertson made a number of "B" movies in his time and I believe that this series was the best of the group. Up until a few years ago, it was hard to find any of the episodes in this series. So, I am glad that it is now being shown on cable TV and the quality is really better than when I watched them many years ago.

This isn't really a review, but it's the only way I can share. My grandmother, Evelyn Stevens, once worked for a clothing corporation named Blue Bell. Maybe one word, I'm not sure, the company doesn't exist anymore. I live in Goshen, IN, and there used to be a branch in nearby Nappanee according to my mother, but Nana lived in Commerce, GA. She sewed the jacket Dale Robertson wore in the season 1 and 2 intros. Not the one where he was kissing the girl, the one he has on the horse and in the gunfights. The jacket was denim and had Nana's operator tag sewn into the lining. She never bragged to me about this. I know it only because of my mother sharing with me at Nana's funeral.

Watching the first five b&w, 30 minute episodes was pure classic TV Western fun. Dale Robertson is Wells Fargo's special agent, Jim Hardy. Things go south in season 6 when the show expands to 60 minutes and color. Extra regular cast members are added, including William Demarest, Uncle Charlie from My Three Sons and a sidekick named, Bo. Not sure why the changes, but the series became silly and pointless. If The Big Valley had not come out a few years later, I would think they were trying to imitate that show.

Dale Robertson makes this show his own. A boxer, horseman, and war hero before he ever appeared on screen, he never had an acting lesson, but his character somehow shines through in the part he plays. Intense. If he walked toward you in a saloon, you'd definitely step aside. He spits out his lines in a clipped cadence and is totally believable. His narration can add a poetic touch to some episodes, but more often it seems like he's recalling an experience from his own past, effectively setting up the episode before jumping in.

The stories are well-written, packing a lot into each half-hour episode. Though there are bank robberies and stage hold-ups, they also explore fresh territory, like an outlaw who fakes his own death in order to collect the reward, or a gun smuggling ring, or a stage coach that disappears in a ghost town.

The show doesn't rely on a cast of support characters, but with Robertson's presence, the clever plotting, and sharp dialogue, it isn't necessary. And with the character dispatched to a different locale every episode, the show avoids the static feel of most western series.