The Westerner

A series of shows with Brian Keith being the constant lead actor and hero with various guest stars appearing in the different episodes. Very well acted and interesting to watch, especially if future star spotting is one of the viewers hobbies. Very realistic approach to the western not normally used by directors of the late 1950s and early 60s T. V. shows. The series has Dave Blassingame (Brian Keith) appearing in various situations over the course of the shows usually as a combination drifter turned hero that saves the day or the lady in distress from the villain or villains. Brian Keith plays the part in a very down to earth low key approach that is very refreshing and realistic.

This well done episode of the Westerner with Brian Keith as a laid back cowboy wandering into a Land dispute between a dying old man and his grandson (old man played by that great character actor Sam Jaffe...before Ben Casey fame) against the no good baddies led by that great "heavy" of them all Robert Wilke. It was well acted by all...the old man wouldn't give up his property...Mr. Wilke telling him to give up or die! Brian Keith is as cool as anyone stepping up to help the old man and his grandson...incidentally originally the baddies stole his horse and "Blassingame" was trying to get even! Very well-acted episode of this rarely seen series from 1960-61. I'm glad the western channel has resurrected this old gem of a series from Sam Peckinpah.

This show was nothing less than brilliant. I saw it when it was first out, when I was in my last year of high school. I knew it was too good to be true then, and, sure enough, I was right.

It is to westerns on television what Fawlty Towers was to comedy. Yes, it was that good...

A few of the episodes were weak, yes, but the over-all concept and execution of this show was brilliant. I have always thought that Peckinpah was an extremely erratic director.I am in the minority, but he was at his purest and best early in his career. Ride the High Country, for example, is one of the supreme masterpieces of the western genre.Peckinpah made an well acted, philosophical western, with little violence, and displayed care and craftsmanship making it. True affcionados of the western genre recognize it as one of the few truly original or interesting Television Westerns ever made. It is a shame that no network exists where shows like this can be re-run. Instead we get TV land showing endless reruns of Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie.

Probably too downbeat and "adult" for its times, the series soon vanished from network screens. At the age of eleven, having been beguiled by advance advertising of the series, I was bewildered when it disappeared before I could locate it on the schedule. In retrospect it seems like the ideal vehicle to make Brian Keith a top star-something that never quite happened.

It seems a brilliant touch of writing to make Dave Blassengame (what a name for a hero) an illiterate, itinerant cowpoke with the soul of a knight errant. He is Palidan without the cultural overlay. Guest appearances by distinguished journeyman actors like Slim Pickens, Michael Ansara, Robert Culp and others too numerous to include in this space make "the Westerner" a treat for me-especially when I had to wait forty-five years for it to appear on cable T.V. .