Will We See Again Laredo on Another Station Channel
| Laredo | |
|---|---|
 Title card | |
| Genre | Western |
| Starring | Neville Brand William Smith Peter Brown Philip Carey |
| Theme music composer | Russell Garcia |
| Composer | Stanley Wilson |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 56 |
| Production | |
| Camera setup | Single-camera |
| Running time | 60 minutes |
| Production company | Universal Television |
| Distributor | NBCUniversal Television Distribution |
| Release | |
| Original network | NBC |
| Audio format | Monaural |
| Original release | September 16, 1965 (1965-09-16) – April 7, 1967 (1967-04-07) |
| Chronology | |
| Related shows | The Virginian |
Laredo is an American Western television series that aired on NBC from 1965–67, starring Neville Brand, William Smith, Peter Brown, and Philip Carey as Texas Rangers. It is set on the Mexican border around Laredo in Webb County in South Texas. The program presented 56 episodes in color. It was produced by Universal Television. The series has a comedic element, but like another NBC series that premiered in 1965, The Wackiest Ship in the Army, it was an hour in length, had no laugh track, and characters were not infrequently killed in it, thus going against three unofficial rules for sitcoms at the time.
The pilot episode of Laredo aired on NBC's The Virginian under the title, "We've Lost a Train" (April 21, 1965; season three, episode 30). In 1969, the pilot was released theatrically under the title Backtrack. Three episodes from the first season of the series were edited into the 1968 feature film Three Guns for Texas.[1] [ self-published source? ]
Synopsis [edit]
Laredo combines action and humor with the focus on three fictional Texas Rangers. Ranger Reese Bennett (Brand) is older than his two partners, Chad Cooper (Brown) and Joe Riley (Smith). Reese was previously an officer of the Union Army during the American Civil War. Originally from New Orleans, Chad was in the Border Patrol during the war, and joined the Rangers to search for gunrunners who had ambushed fellow border patrolmen. Joe was a gunfighter, who was at times on the wrong side of the law. He joined the Rangers to obtain protection from a sheriff. Chad and Joe tease Reese about his "advanced" age; he was in his 40s.
The three Rangers are led by the stern and disciplined Captain Edward Parmalee (Carey). The character of Ranger Erik Hunter (Robert Wolders) joined the others in the second season, while Ranger Cotton Buckmeister (Claude Akins) worked with Reese and the others in five episodes.
Peter Brown recalled that the producers of the show wanted the three stars to have the same relationship and camaraderie as did the stars of Gunga Din, and had Brand, Brown, and Smith watch the film three times.[2]
Cast [edit]
Main cast [edit]
- Neville Brand...Reese Bennett
- Peter Brown...Chad Cooper
- William Smith...Joe Riley
- Philip Carey...Captain Edward Parmalee
- Robert Wolders...Erik Hunter, rookie Ranger (26 episodes, 1966-1967)
- Claude Akins...Cotton Buckmeister (five episodes, 1966-1967)
Guest cast [edit]
- George Kennedy
- Eve Arden
- X Brands
- Chad & Jeremy
- Ahna Capri
- Ellen Corby
- Robert O. Cornthwaite
- Bruce Dern
- Richard Devon
- Mimsy Farmer
- Shug Fisher
- Byron Foulger
- Gina Gillespie
- Leo Gordon
- James Griffith
- Julie Harris
- Myron Healey
- Rodolfo Hoyos, Jr.
- I. Stanford Jolley
- DeForest Kelley
- Jack Kelly (two episodes)
- Fernando Lamas
- Jack Lord
- Marlyn Mason
- Mort Mills
- Shelley Morrison
- Stuart Nisbet
- Cliff Osmond
- Gregg Palmer
- William Phipps
- Mike Ragan (three episodes)
- Donnelly Rhodes
- Roy Roberts
- Diane Roter
- Kurt Russell
- Robert F. Simon
- Dub Taylor
- Lyle Talbot
- Lee Van Cleef
- Doodles Weaver
- Jack Weston
Episodes [edit]
Season one: 1965–66 [edit]
Season two: 1966–67 [edit]
Selected episodes [edit]
In "The Would-Be Gentleman of Laredo", with Donnelly Rhodes as Don Carlos, three swindlers use Reese Bennett as a dupe in a land-fraud scheme by which they claim ownership of most of Laredo.[3]
In "Meanwhile Back at the Reservation", Joe Riley comes across Grey Smoke, an Indian boy portrayed by then 14-year-old Kurt Russell, who has been working for an outlaw gang. Joe and Chad take Grey under their wings, and the boy proves helpful when gunslingers try to occupy Laredo.
"The Calico Kid" focuses on a character used 11 years earlier in the syndicated Western series Buffalo Bill, Jr. In the Laredo version, the Kid is Sam Lowell, who has matured into a respected citizen of the fictional town of Guarded Wells, Texas. Chad and Joe try to help Lowell continue the deception of his true identity. Meanwhile, a businessman plots to steal gold bullion from the bank while the citizenry is distracted.[3]
In "The Golden Trail", Jeanette Nolan is cast as Ma Burns, who investigates the progress of a gold shipment that Reese Bennett is supposedly transporting from St. Louis to Laredo. Jim Davis appears in this episode as a sheriff.[3] Nolan also appeared as Martha Tuforth in "It's the End of the Road, Stanley" (1966) and as Vita Rose in "Like One of the Family" (1967).
Lane Bradford was cast five times in different roles, as Three-finger Jake in "Rendezvous at Arillo" and as Amos Slaughter in "Which Way Did They Go?" (both 1965), as Ben Slick in "The Treasure of San Diablo" and as Charley Smith in "Road to San Remo" (both 1966), and as Lyle in "Walk Softly" (1967).
DVD releases [edit]
Timeless Media Group released the entire series on DVD in Region 1 on November 24, 2009. The 12-disc boxed set features all 56 episodes of the series, as well as bonus features.[4]
References [edit]
- ^ Brian W. Fairbanks (November 2005). I Saw That Movie, Too: Selected Film Reviews. Lulu.com. pp. 401–. ISBN978-1-4116-3535-7.
- ^ p. 31 Brown, Peter & Sturt, Alesx The Fastest Gun in Hollywood 2013 Wild Horse Press
- ^ a b c Billy Hathorn, "Roy Bean, Temple Houston, Bill Longley, Ranald Mackenzie, Buffalo Bill, Jr., and the Texas Rangers: Depictions of West Texans in Series Television, 1955 to 1967", West Texas Historical Review, Vol. 89 (2013), pp. 115-116
- ^ Lambert, David (2009-09-24). "Laredo - Timeless Release of The Complete Series as a 12-DVD Set this November". tvshowsondvd.com. Archived from the original on 12 October 2012. Retrieved 28 November 2012.
External links [edit]
- Laredo at IMDb
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laredo_(TV_series)
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