The Loner

While many TV series from many years past have grown fonder as our memories of such series get older, like sci-fi, for example,only to come out as major embarrassments at worst,or ridiculously hokey, at best, it seems that the western holds out quite well Whether the western is fairly recent or very old, it still comes out as a welcome addition to any DVD collection. In short, this series is long overdue for release on DVD! I remember this series when it aired on CBS in 1965/1966. While I was going through a phase where westerns didn't hold my interest,this show still had me addicted. From the haunting theme song to the captivating plots on to the closing credits,this was one show that was as thought provoking as it was thrilling. Here is where this western stood above the rest. Most westerns centered around a plot which was more or less action based... the bad guys vs the good guys, whether the bad guys were Indians on the war path or bandits out to rob a bank or train. THE LONER was different as its plot often evolved around the main character's inner turmoil or lack of peace.

Lloyd Bridges plays an ex-Union officer who was forced to kill a teenage Confederate during a skirmish. Adding to his self reproach and soul searching is the news that arrives moments later the same day that Lee surrendered. Disillusioned, his post-war journeys in the West brings him to a variety of situations, many quite original. Rod Serling created The Loner and wrote many scripts. The dialogue is excellent and if Bridges sounds smooth, he plays a West Point officer with 12 years in the cavalry. This is one of those great shows the network programmers were afraid to relocate and probably had little interest in saving. It's amazing what NBC did for Star Trek to keep it going for 3 seasons because of.... letter-writing from fans? If a show like The Loner is a ratings loser, the head honchos have the power to try and save it. Regrettably, no one wanted to see this great show by Rod Serling succeed. It's now on DVD and the stories hold up and prints are crystal clear.

I ADORE Rod Serling's work so I was primed to love The Loner -- and rather disappointed to find it an average western on par with others of its kind but really nothing special.

That's not to say it's bad, it's interesting enough and not as preachy as some seem to find it. In fact, it's no more moralistic than the superior Have Gun Will Travel. Each has the same premise of a man dropped into someone else's circumstances that they will attend to according to their own moral code -- but, as much as I like Lloyd Bridges, he's nowhere as compelling as Richard Boone as Palidan.

Bridges's Colton is never fleshed out enough as a character, that's a big downside making it hard to feel invested in what happens or why.

Worth a one-time watch for Serling fansbut I can't see watching it again once you have.

In its own modest way, the single best television series Lloyd Bridges ever helmed. Though it only lasted 26 half-hour episodes in the mid-1960s, this rumination on the psychological and moral readjustments anguishing former Union soldier William Colton (Bridges) as he returns to the trail of a loner in post-Civil War America, had a freeform, experimental texture unlike any television western of its day -- most likely due to the significant contribution made to its teleplays by Rod Serling. Great direction and dialogue, too. The premiere episode, "An Echo of Bugles, " featuring an unforgettably poignant performance by a virtually unrecognizable Whit Bissell as "weak-as-a-kitten" former Confederate POW "Ab Nichols", sets the tone for this meditation on the lingering schizophrenia of divided loyalties that plagued our post-Lincolnian land as Grant assumed its presidency. A revelation to be rediscovered -- best writing of any TV Western I ever encountered. Truly a Western with an adult sensibility, obviously created as a centennial reflection on the aftermath of the War Between the States as seen through the eyes of the quintessential American cowboy archetype of the "loner". Serling will never be duplicated and, boy, is he missed! Haunting and haunted.

Amazing how few people know of this TV series, and I was addicted to it as a teen in the 60s. Lloyd Bridges played a veteran of the Civil War, and the episodes were poignant because he never found peace even when helping people. And no, it wasn't like Chuck Connors in Branded - the stories were much more thoughtful and less physical. Rod Serling wrote the scripts, which I remember as being top notch and, in usual Serling style, thought provoking. What I particularly remember is the beautiful intro theme to the series - to this day, I can hear it and would love to own it. I've watched some of the episodes at the Museum of Radio and Television in NYC - unfortunately, they don't even have all of the episodes last I checked. Definitely an overlooked - and greatly underrated - classic TV Western.