26 Men

I don't ever recall this western series being shown on UK television, and that's a pity as it is very fine series indeed. All the stories are based on fact, and they are interesting and not simply run-of-the-mill western fare. It's obvious that a great deal of effort was put into each episode, and they certainly don't have a cheapish look about them. In fact, everything about the series is top notch, and it is more of an adult western series than many others that were around at the time. An overriding asset, to the series, is Tristram Coffin in the lead role of Capt Tom Rynning, of the Arizona Rangers. This stalwart of many a cliffhanger serial, is first class in the role and portrays the right character mix to be totally believable. All-in-all this is an exciting and absorbing western series which any fans of the genre will thoroughly enjoy.

Based on the true characters of Captain Tom Rynning and Ranger Clint Travis, 26 Men was in the tradition of Death Valley Days providing true stories of the exploits of the Arizona Rangers. Modeled on the Texas Rangers, the Arizona Rangers did a lot in cleaning up the outlaw element in the Territory so that it was disbanded in 1909 and Arizona was admitted to the union as our 48th state in 1912.

Rynning was the second captain of the rangers, the Rangers were founded in 1901 and he took the job in 1903 after the first guy quit. As did many of the Rangers they had the background of being Rough Riders in the Spanish American War and had the backing of the First Rough Rider in the land Theodore Roosevelt. Tris Coffin who had a gazillion player credits on the big and small screen, on stage, and mostly on radio played the no nonsense Captain Rynning.

The stories moved like a western Dragnet, no frills at all, just the facts and the apprehension. No mock heroics either, just professional men doing their jobs.

26 Men was produced by Russell Hayden who had many a western credit to his name before the camera. And I don't think it was a coincidence that the Arizona Rangers were reestablished in 1957 by Governor Ernest W. McFarland of Arizona the same year 26 Men made its debut. Nothing like the value of good publicity.

The Rangers did not have a spotless history though. They were used as strikebreakers by some of the mine owners of Arizona. As such they did have big fans in organized labor.

Still the series is a good one and when TV Guide Channel runs it, catch it if you can.

The 78 half-hour episodes of the television western "26 Men" were originally broadcast during the 1957-59 television seasons. The series was produced by Russell "Lucky" Hayden, the same guy who played Hopalong Cassidy's sidekick Lucky Jenkins in many of Hoppy's western films during the late 30's and early 40's. Much like its counterpart, "Tales of Texas Rangers", the series focused on the historical adventures of the Arizona Rangers who operated in Arizona while it was still a territory. Some names were changed but the idea was to recreate actual cases from the files of the Rangers.

The Arizona Rangers were created in 1901 by the Arizona Territorial Legislature to deal mostly with rustlers along the Mexican border. Modeled on the Texas Rangers the group was originally limited to one company of 14 men, in 1903 the force was increased to 26 men (hence the series title).

Many of the 26 were Spanish-American War veterans of Teddy Roosevelt's Rough Riders unit. They were expert horsemen, trackers and marksmen. Because the force was small and their mission was big the territory made sure they were equipped with the best horses and the most modern weapons. And they apparently were legends in their own time, widely publicized and conspicuous. And so successful that local law enforcement lobbied hard to have this elite force disbanded.

In the television series Tris Coffin plays Captain Tom Rynning (the actual name of the unit's second commander) and Kelo Henderson plays Clint Travis. "Coffin" was appropriately named as his main claim to fame was an incident a couple years earlier on the CBS anthology series "Climax". Coffin was playing a corpse during a scene and suddenly just stood up during shooting and walked out of the frame. He had thought the scene over and the camera turned off. For this he was nationally nicknamed "dead man walking". The DVD issue includes the following 10 episodes:

"The Recruit" - 15 October 1957 - The newspaper editor of Wilcox asks the Rangers for help, and two of them are dispatched to the town. However, when they get there they find the editor has been lynched and is hanging from a tree.

"The Wild Bunch" - 29 October 1957 - A member of the notorious Wild Bunch bandit gang escapes from Ranger Clint Travis' custody, resulting in his being fired. Furious, Travis sets out to take on the whole gang and salvage his career and reputation.

"Border Incident" - 5 November 1957 - Clint Travis goes undercover as a gun smuggler to stop Mexican revolutionary Juan Morales' plans to topple the Mexican government.

"Incident at Yuma" - 19 November 1957 - A gang of convicts has escaped from prison, but Capt. Rynning's can't get any more men to help capture them.

"The Slater Brothers" - 26 November 1957 - When Clint Travis is falsely accused of Murder. Rynning sends him into Galioro Mountains to prove his innocence by finding the cattle rustlers who actually committed the crime.

"Trouble At Pinnacle Peak"

"The Big Rope"

"Trail of Darkness"

"Trade Me Deadly"

"The Bells of St. Thomas"

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

Why is this wonderful character actor never mentioned in the character actor books? I remember seeing a revival of old movie serials in which Mr. Coffin starred as "Rocket Man." Since, I have seen him pop up in countless films including "My Dream Is Yours," in which he has a brief scene with Doris Day and Eve Arden as the head waiter at the Cocoanut Grove. He was also in a scene in Joan Crawford's "The Damned Don't Cry." I have seen him countless times and didn't know his name. I kept getting him confused with Robert Gallagher, another actor who played in "The Thrill of It All." Finally, after doing some research and realizing that I have both films in my collection (mentioned above) I dug them out and played them just to see if this was the same actor who played "Rocket Man." It was. I always thought he was a fine actor and I always took notice whenever he appeared on the screen.

I couldn't find any pictures of him online, probably because so many of his film roles were uncredited. There were so many character and bit players in films, it's probably impossible to keep up with them. But Coffin had a long, long career before the movie and TV cameras, there should be lots of pictures of him.

It would be nice if someone had a studio shot of him to include with his write up here at IMDb. It would solve a "mystery" that I'm sure many people have about this interesting-looking actor.

This was a good, solid Western about the Arizona Rangers with Tris Coffin giving a fine performance every week. Worth seeing if it ever shows up somewhere. It also seemed to be a bridge between the kiddie Westerns (like Roy Rogers or Hopalong) and such adult fare as Have Gun Will Travel. 26 Men also had THE BEST THEME SONG OF ALL THE WESTERNS: "This is the story of 26 men who rode the Arizona territory. . . 26 men who lived to ride again rode out to answer duty's call; 26 men who lived to fight again rode out for the right and the liberty of all". With a great driving beat!