Stoney Burke

"Stoney Burke" is a contemporary and realistic short-lived western series (one season and 32 episodes) whose leading character (played by Jack Lord) walks in the path of David Miller's downbeat film: "Lonely Are The Brave". During the same period (1962-1963), Revue studios launch a rival show: "The Wide Country". The quality of "Stoney Burke" lies in the production values, thanks to writer-director Leslie Stevens and his Daystar productions. Most of the cast and crew come back the next season in the sci-fi anthology, "The Outer Limits". Composer Dominic Frontiere's soundtrack is recycled all along the 1960's series ("The Rat Patrol", "The Fugitive"). Above all, this is the first official assignment by academy winner cinematographer Conrad Hall. This cow-boy drama is shot like a harsh Film Noir and deals with the daily miseries of maverick Rodeo contestants! From the pilot, "The Contender", we learn all about the characters, especially Ves Painter (Warren Oates). Stay with us, Stoney!

I have recently learned that this show was my mother's favorite when she was a little girl. I have acquired the first twelve episodes in order to learn more about the mother I never knew. In doing so, Stoney Burke has become one of my favorite TV heroes. No matter what scrape he gets himself into, he always manages to work through it the right way. The character of Stoney is a truly wonderful character and this show is more than a rodeo story. This was a well written and acted show that I will brag about whenever possible. I only wish I knew who to talk to about trying to get this properly released onto DVD format before the episodes become even more scarce. How about a DVD box set? Let's hope so.

Before Jack Lord went to Hawaii and told Danno to "book 'em" he starred in a short lived television series about a modern saddle bronco rider named Stoney Burke. Western fans please note the closeness in the name of that Three Mesquiteers character Stoney Brooke that John Wayne among others played on the big screen.

Two shows went on television about the rodeo circuit Stoney Burke and The Wide Country. Sad to say that both failed to find an audience in an increasingly urban viewing audience.

That is sad because the rodeo itself is drama and any number of decent stories were created with that background in this series. The characters too were a likable bunch. Having been a PBR fan and having met some real bullriders I can attest that most are definitely a likable people.

Jack Lord was just such in this series. But he had a quest for the championship Golden Buckle in his chosen event to be given in Las Vegas. Just like the PBR today has its finals there. It was the Holy Grail Of Saddle Bronco Riding.

Stoney Burke had the usual collection of peers cast like Bob Dowdell of Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea and a rising Warren Oates who would soon be pretty much on the big screen. Oates played a character named Ves Painter who was quite an operator. It was the first real notice that Oates got.

Both Lord and Oates had really good careers and Stoney Burke gave them quite a boost.

My brother and I loved this programme as teen-agers, and tried to see it again in brief syndication on Detroit television in 1963-64. I have not heard of it since. STONEY BURKE was, yes, uplifting in a way. The music by Dominic Frontiere (sp?) who also did THE OUTER LIMITS was some of the best for television in the 1960s and sticks with me through the decades. Much of STONEY BURKE was shot on location with the allure of the exotic in a modern, but still great west. Perhaps as a westerner the previous comentator found the series especially compelling, along with a religious angle which is quite unique in a television review of a pretty secular offering. The "Golden Buckle" is a thinly veiled take-off on the Golden Fleece, so there was the flavour of a grand quest in which the hero and his company meet adventures and interesting characters. Maybe the "stuff of legend" (such as it was) attracted my brother and me, as it did the previous writer. If memory serves, STONEY BURKE gave Warren Oates his start, a pity he died young, and the same for Jack Lord who bounced back with HAWAII FIVE-O.

Theoretically I have little interest in a show about a stoic, pure, gentlemanly rodeo cowboy, but this show was beautifully done in all departments. Ambitious executive producer Leslie Stevens really showed greatness in his first TV series.

Jack Lord never gave a better, more heart-felt performance than as Stoney Burke, but Warren Oates almost stole the show as his shifty but lovable best friend Ves Painter. Jack Lord played Stoney as quietly noble, while Warren Oates played Ves as the opposite of quietly noble. They made a great team. Bruce Dern was also memorable as another of Stoney's friends. Three superb actors.

Dominic Frontiere's rousing theme music was impossible not to respond to.

Conrad Hall's black and white photography was stunningly beautiful, turning "Stoney Burke" into a moody noir rodeo drama.

Leslie Stevens created another superb series the next year with "The Outer Limits". Sadly, Stevens shows weren't business successes, and his production company Daystar went out of business. From then on, Stevens was a hired gun (mostly at Universal), and his work was never again as striking.

I wish ABC had given "The Fugitive" to Leslie Stevens to produce, rather than to his fellow independent producer Quinn Martin. Stevens was much more creatively ambitious than Martin, if not as astute a business man. Leslie Stevens did two of televisions' greatest, most original noirs: "Stoney Burke" and "The Outer Limits". Stevens would have been a perfect fit for "The Fugitive". Conrad Hall's black and white photography was made for "The Fugitive" as was the great directing of Gerd Oswald and Byron Haskin on "The Outer Limits". Stevens' touch could have made a fine series even better, although you have to wonder who he would have cast in the lead.