Solid early episode of this railroad Western with a script by co-producer and co-creator Stephen Kandel, making elaborate use of stock footage for avalanches, cattle herds, explosions, stampedes, scenic views, et cetera. Says Kandel, "TV is made on a tight budget -- and you can do miracles in the editing room" with stock footage because "you got a million dollars of production value for nickels."
Interestingly, there's very little action involving the train. Bad guy Royal McClintock (well played by Malachi Throne with a fearsome Scots accent) contracts for the railroad to deliver a herd of cattle and then wrecks a bridge, forcing the good guys to drive the steers overland or else pay crippling penalties that will lose them their railway. There follows a cat-and-mouse game whereby rail owner Calhoun (played by charismatic series star Dale Robertson) constantly outwits the bad guys who try to sabotage the trip. This leads to such deathless dialogue as "That Calhoun! No matter how ya stack the deck, he keeps pullin' out aces." Some of our hero's "ace" solutions seem a little far-fetched, but this is a slightly over-the-top boys' adventure story, so I can't complain too much.
Lots of action scenes (fistfights, gunplay, horsemanship, all with terrific work by the stunt crew) punctuated by pithy dialogue exchanges between the multi-ethnic cast (not always well-acted). We get to see one of my favorite semi-regular characters, the big axe-wielding Swede Nils Torvald (played by Roger Torrey), but there's also a cringeworthy scene where a Chinese cowboy shows off his trick-riding skills that's set to some clichéd orientalist music from Dominic Frontiere.
And here's the one exchange that made me laugh out loud:
Obnoxious villain McClintock: "That's what a man does -- stands up to what the world throws at him! I lost my wife to the fever in '68. I lost both my sons in the blizzard of '75. But I'm still here!"
Dry hero Calhoun: "Then, on the other hand, who'd have ya?"
The two actors are well-matched and make this worth watching, along with the stuntwork and Kandel's typically adroit plotting.
Interestingly, there's very little action involving the train. Bad guy Royal McClintock (well played by Malachi Throne with a fearsome Scots accent) contracts for the railroad to deliver a herd of cattle and then wrecks a bridge, forcing the good guys to drive the steers overland or else pay crippling penalties that will lose them their railway. There follows a cat-and-mouse game whereby rail owner Calhoun (played by charismatic series star Dale Robertson) constantly outwits the bad guys who try to sabotage the trip. This leads to such deathless dialogue as "That Calhoun! No matter how ya stack the deck, he keeps pullin' out aces." Some of our hero's "ace" solutions seem a little far-fetched, but this is a slightly over-the-top boys' adventure story, so I can't complain too much.
Lots of action scenes (fistfights, gunplay, horsemanship, all with terrific work by the stunt crew) punctuated by pithy dialogue exchanges between the multi-ethnic cast (not always well-acted). We get to see one of my favorite semi-regular characters, the big axe-wielding Swede Nils Torvald (played by Roger Torrey), but there's also a cringeworthy scene where a Chinese cowboy shows off his trick-riding skills that's set to some clichéd orientalist music from Dominic Frontiere.
And here's the one exchange that made me laugh out loud:
Obnoxious villain McClintock: "That's what a man does -- stands up to what the world throws at him! I lost my wife to the fever in '68. I lost both my sons in the blizzard of '75. But I'm still here!"
Dry hero Calhoun: "Then, on the other hand, who'd have ya?"
The two actors are well-matched and make this worth watching, along with the stuntwork and Kandel's typically adroit plotting.
