Pony Express Rider

Along with some of the best character actors of the period this was a flop from beginning to end. It also ended up being a bad break for an old high school buddy of mine that was cast as Captain Billings. Cliff Brand, not his real name, was an unknown at the time, remained unknown. I personally believe Cliff Brand could have evolved into a household name with the right screenplay. Murphy's law, it wasn't meant to be.

(1976) Pony Express Rider WESTERN FAMILY

Co-written and directed by Robert Totten which if viewers don't mind the first rough 3/4's into it since it's musical score and direction is similar to what one might expect from a made for TV movie, I think the final fourth act is very well done. Young teen, Jimmie D. Richardson (Stewart Peterson) has a sheepman as a father, Jed Richardson (Ken Curtis) whose about to lose his livelihood because the landowner,Trevor Kingman (Henry Wilcoxon) who also happens to be his best friend is going to be a governor of Nevada, leaving everything to be handled by his only immoral son, Bovey Kingman (Buck Taylor) . After the father leaves, the first thing Bovey does is that he decides to destroy Jed's only livelihood in an underhanded way, by forcing him as well as his family to move, since he wants to turn that small property as part of a cattle drive. And upon sending someone to fetch Jed, into the home, he tries to degrade his livelihood on front of others before being provoked for a fight. Jed the sheepman wins but upon going to the bar for a drink, the narcissistic son then shoots him dead by cowardly shooting him in the back and he takes off since their were witnesses. The teenager, Jeb then hears about this and vows revenge by going after him. Assuming that he's heading and while riding toward Nevada, he manages to get himself a job by delivering some mail, since the previous 'pony express rider' was found killed with an arrow on his back. And then the next thing you know, the narcissistic son, Buck hears about this and goes on an odyssey himself by going after him and to prevent his father from even knowing about this. Aforementioned, most of this is like a made for TV movie but the fourth act is worth seeing since not every Western should be solved by total vengeance.

I was 14 years old when I had the opportunity to watch part of this film being made in Kerrville, Texas. My cousins and I spent several weeks during the summer of 1976 at my grandfather's house that was used as the Nevada governor's mansion. All of the actors were great to be around. The only person who was not friendly was Maureen McCormick, but she had just finished the Brady Bunch and was the "star". At the party after the premiere I had a chance to talk with Ken Curtis about his acting career - he told me of the blessing and the cure of being "Festus". I ran into Buck Taylor about six years after the movie and not only did he remember me but for several years thereafter we hang out when he was in town.

Most of the rest of the film was shot in and around the Texas Hill Country. The Kingman XXX Ranch was shot at the YO Ranch in Mountain Home, Texas. The YO is still in operation as a ranch and is also an exotic game ranch.

The film has the feel of an episode of `Gunsmoke' because the director Bob Totten directed many shows of that series.

So, yes the acting is bad, the photography is dark but for me this film is a classic as it takes me back to that time in 1976 when all was still good in my world.

My son got a copy of this along with seven other movies on a DVD set. I can honestly say that this is one of the worst movies I've ever seen.

I could not make out much of a plot. Nothing made sense. My kids thought it was horrible as well. I noticed that there were three writers listed for it. My hunch is that they were all writing different stories.

Aside from the lack of plot, there were a lot of horses running. If you like to watch horses running and don't mind if there isn't much purpose to it, then this is the movie for you.

Some of the acting was okay, but much of it was over-acted. Probably trying to compensate for the overall poor plot and lack of good dialogue. Characters were two dimensional and flat.

One oddity is that the "killer" is actually chasing the protagonist through most of the film. Their final meeting at the end isn't too rewarding.

I was really looking forward to the end credits---knowing that the movie would be over. However, the music that played during the end credits was horrible.

For those who like Maureen McCormick (better known as Marcia Brady on The Brady Bunch), she isn't on screen that much. In reading some of her history, she developed a serious drug problem in her twenties which ruined the prime of her career. However, she did not ruin this movie as it appeared to be a group effort.

God did I hate this. How did I see it? You might ask? Happens that a school field trip was made to the movie theater which only has one screen, and the movie showing was rated R, so the principal put this on as a "history lesson". Now that's just plain weird considering IT HISTORICALLY INACCURATE, such as no California before Civil War, and other problems. Too violent to be rated a kids flick, even though that's what it's intended to be, but if you want your kids going around saying swear words, BE MY GUEST! And... Bad acting GALORE! Bad script, and I didn't know a town could be so barren! When I saw the governor's mansion, the question that came to mind was "Governor of WHAT?"

In conclusion, STAY AWAY.