Le grand Chaparral

The High Chaparral was an excellent western. The show had it all-- superb acting, awesome writing, great storylines, characters that had a sense of humor, and gorgeous horses.

Cameron Mitchell was clearly outstanding as Buck Cannon. Never one to back away from a fight, Buck always came to the rescue when needed.

Henry Darrow also did a wonderful job of portraying Manolito Montoya.

Although other westerns were on the air longer than The High Chaparral, I loved this one more than the other ones that did run longer. The characters were more lovable and more believable.

I remember The High Chaparral from when I was a child and rediscovered it as an adult from reruns. What is most noticeable about THC as opposed to other TV westerns are two things; it was actually filmed outdoors instead of on a soundstage, unlike large chunks of other TV westerns such as Rawhide and Gunsmoke and especially The Big Valley. Because of this the show and the actors have an authentic dirty and sweaty look to them appropriate to the period and place. I mean hey, cattle ranching in Arizona now is hard, sweaty and dirty, think about how is was before running water. The other thing I liked about it is that not only did the recurring characters not always get along, some of them flat out just didn't like each other. Kind of like in the real world and unlike other TV westerns. These distinctive features along with superb acting, writing, and technical work (just watching the shows makes me want to sweat) adds to up to one heck of a show.

This show is one of the best TV shows I have ever seen, and definitely the best western.

This show is ahead of it's time in many ways. I wasn't even born when this show had it's original run but saw it on re-runs during the 80's and 90's and the show still held up to modern TV shows. Where most old TV shows tend to seem a bit dated 25-30 years down the track High Chaparral is still top quality viewing. The stories are well written and the acting is quite good.

The way that the Apache aren't just portrayed as mindless savages is also a very modern outlook. If the show is ever re-run again I will make a point to watch every episode.

This television series originally aired on NBC on Friday nights from 7:30 to 8:30 PM for almost its entire run. It ran right before another one of television's greatest programs, "The Name of the Game." I used to wonder if the reason I remembered this show with such admiration was due to the age that I was when the show originally ran, but recently seeing it again, I have to say that it stayed with me so long because it's just a fantastic show.

The show is centered around the character of John Cannon, played flawlessly by Leif (pronounced "Life") Erickson, and his brother Buck, played by Cameron Mitchell. Also in the cast were Linda Cristal as John's wife Victoria, Henry Darrow as Victoria's brother Manolito, and Mark Slade playing John's son Billy Blue Cannon.

When I was just a kid in grade school, my cousins and others I knew were tuned in to ABC's Friday night line-up, which was quite popular at the time. I couldn't tear myself away from this show though, and it's difficult to explain why without revealing too much about it. Let's just say that the stories were impeccably written and directed, doing much the same thing as Bonanza would do, alternating between high drama and humor. A good example of this is an episode entitled "The Firing Wall." If you ever get to see this series, keep an eye out for that episode. My personal favorite is an episode called "Champion of the Western World." Fun episode! The casting was perfect. Every regular cast member really seemed to like the characters they were portraying. Henry Darrow was outstanding in giving his character real depth and range of emotion. Cameron Mitchell also did some really fine work in this series. In fact, when you get right down to it, they all did!

I could go on about this show by using all the known adjectives, stupendous!, wonderful!, ect..., but if you're reading this, then you probably already share a certain amount of the same enthusiasm that I have for this show. If you're reading just out of curiosity however, then if you ever get the opportunity to do so, by all means, treat yourself to one of the finest programs that television has ever offered.

When I was a child, watching The High Chaparral was something the whole family was looking forward too. We would sit on the couch at least 15 minutes before the broadcast started and were 'glued' to the screen during the whole show. The rest of the week we would talk about what happened. Almost 40 years later the show hasn't lost anything of it's charm, my children love it. It is not just an 'adventure' western. Teenagers identify themselves with the troublesome relationship of Blue and his father John. There is something in it for everyone.

It has a wonderful cast, Leif Erickson as patriarch John Cannon, Cameron Mitchell as his brother Buck, Mark Slade as his handsome blue-eyed son Blue, Henry Darrow is a playful Manolito, and Linda Cristal the beautiful Victoria. The Bunkhouse boys add a little extra to this series, Don Collier, Bob Hoy, Ted Markland, Roberto Contreras and Jerry Summers are a treat to watch.

All actors are outstanding and their characters are so believable, that you forget you are watching a TV series. You are 'there', with the heroes in the Arizona Territory , fighting their fights, crying their tears, and laughing their laughs.

It was and is one of the most realistic Westerns series. Apaches were often played by Apaches, Mexicans by Spanish speaking actors. The heroes sweat, get tired, upset and the aren't infallible.