Reviews (2)

And boy, don't forget to finish your homework
"The Rifleman" was No. 1 on television in the late 1950's, when 20 Western Oaters floated over the airwaves. ABC's genius was the casting of Chuck(Touch) Connors, former baseball player, as father Lucas McCain, Johnny Crawford as his son Mark, and veteran movie actor Paul Fix(long-time friend of John Wayne) as Micah, the town sheriff. Connors would go on to star, co-star, or narrate 5 more TV series. This Volume 4 DVD is one of the best, featuring 5 episodes. The first stars Robert Culp as a bounty hunter in a flimsy, slow story, with Culp mugging and hamming all the way. He would write the next episode, then move on to star in TV's "I Spy". Episode 2 stars Hollywood Rat Pack's Sammy Davis, Jr., as a flashy gunfighter with an agenda. His mock death-scene in the arms of Lucas McCain is nearly risible, with both actors on the verge of laughter. Episodes 3 and 4(perhaps the best) star TV veteran Vito Scotti as a Mexican bandit leader, with McCain and company stranded in a desolate ghost town. The 5th episode features Connors in a dual role, portraying McCain and his evil twin, hard-drinking Earl Bantry. Connors literally fights and talks to himself with the aid of an optical printer and trick photography. This marvelous DVD package is an enchanting window on a 1950's America that no longer exists. Then it was a simpler world. Good men were good. Bad men got shot. Everyone loved it. And in the end, there was America's favorite father counseling his son..."Boy, don't forget to finish your homework..."

Prime Chuck...
Chuck Connors stars as Lucas McCain, also known in some parts as "The Rifleman". McCain lives on a small ranch outside of the town of North Fork, New Mexico, with his son Mark (Johnny Crawford). His good friend is Marshal Micah Torrance (Paul Fix). This is the fourth collection of their adventures. Here are summaries and/or comments for the episodes in this set. Episode ratings are on a scale from one to five (best).

Man From Salinas (4): Lucas is acting marshal, when a bank robber drifts into town. McCain wounds the man when he attempts to escape, after robbing the town bank. The news that the man is badly hurt and expected to die, is telegraphed to Salinas, the town the man just came from. There, an unscrupulous fellow (Robert Culp), aware that there is a large reward on the dying man, schemes to come and claim the body. A suspenseful episode, featuring the acting of the charming, smooth-talking Culp.

Two Ounces of Tin (4): Sammy Davis Jr. guest stars as "Corey" a trick shooting gunfighter. Out to avenge the death of his father, he has a huge grudge against the lawmen of North Fork. Corey threatens to kill whoever wears the Marshal's (tin) badge. Unaware of this, Mark does the stranger a good turn, and in return he receives a jaw-dropping exhibition of lightning fast gunhandling and trick shooting. Lucas however is not impressed. As acting marshal, he is Corey's next target. Davis's fine performance as a lonely man with too much pride is both emotional and tragic.

Waste (4): This two-part adventure finds Lucas, Mark and Micah traveling near the Mexican border where they run into a gang of banditos in an abandoned town. Veteran character actor Vito Scotti, who specializes in portraying ethnic characters, is truly loathsome as the leader of the banditos (lovely dental work). They capture Lucas and Mark, and lead them to Micah who is buried up to his neck in the ground. Soon McCain is digging a hole preparing to join him in the dirt. Only Lucas's quick action saves them from the ruthless band of outlaws. McCain has all he can handle trying to save their lives, and is also called on to do an unexpected service, receiving feminine gratitude for his trouble. Mark is a real pain, not following his father's instructions and constantly asking questions. Micah is too injured to be of any help whatsoever. Of interest, is the fact that this tale was written by actor Robert Culp.

The Deadly Image (3): It seems almost every TV program from the 60's used this gimmick sooner or later, as Chuck Conners plays a dual role. "Earl Bantry" is a lookalike for Lucas McCain. When Bantry commits murder, a witness believes that McCain is guilty. The lookalike and his partner reach North Fork, causing a ruckus. Marshal Torrance gets careless, and winds up unconscious on the floor. Then the men head for the McCain ranch for more "fun". "Bantry" is particularly dislikable, and it is probably a safe guess that Conners enjoyed being the "bad guy" for a change.

The Rifleman Volume 4 is the best of the collections in this series so far. The stories are well written, and action packed. The guest stars are excellent, with depth to their characters. Justice is swift and McCain exceeds his average of one kill per episode. As usual, women are almost nonexistent. The transfer to DVD is excellent, the only complaint about this series is that there could easily be more than five episodes per disc. At this rate, it will take 34 DVD's to present all of The Rifleman episodes. Do you have the shelf space? ... Read more

Reviews (1)

2 Great Bonanzas!
The Blodd Line is an emotional Bonanza about a boy who must get over his father's death. But Death at Dawn is really fun. The murderer, Farmer Perkins, laughs throughout the show. I know it's supposed to be a mean laugh, but it's hilarious. This guy killed a store cashier in cold blood and only the cashier's wife was an eyewitness to the murder. They sentence Perkins to hang, but his friend has held Ben to hostage to free Perkins. It's up to the three boys to save their pa and still hang Perkins. This is probably the best Bonanza dvd that you'll find. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

I beg you, RELEASE IT NOW!!
So maybe I'm a bit of a nerd to get upset with TVLand when they have their marathon weekends and I have to miss out on the Beav. But enough already! So I can't watch it on television most weekends anymore . . . I NEED the DVD.

"Leave it to Beaver" is really the only program on television I have ever faithfully watched, and with much amusement too I have to say. I'm only 29 and society says I should be watching "Friends"....but what do they know? I think that kids should be forced to watch "Leave it to Beaver" in the classroom! I can't think of a better example of kids learning good values, learning to be conscientious and learning from their mistakes.

And for the record, to the person down below, I happen to be one of the farthest Americans from the "far right" as one can possibly be. My love for the Beav has nothing to do with my extreme liberalism and I doubt it does for many other people either.

I can't wait!!

I Can't Wait for This to be Released!
"Leave it to Beaver" is one of my all-time favorite shows. It will be great to have this series on dvd. I would certainly be a customer for each and every season that is released on dvd. What a pleasure it will be to watch this show complete and uncut. Long live the Cleavers!

Gotta have The Beav on DVD
I sure hope the first,second, and third season of Leave it to Beaver is put on DVD. I can remember watching this show over and over on rerun and I still do on TV Land but I would sure love to own the series on DVD and watch it at my leisure. Sure was a simpler time and it is nice to look back at those characters and relate some of their antics to my own life. Lots of fun and good family entertainment. It would be a winner. Thanks

Attack of the pod people
Lucy Ricardo and Laura Petrie had spunk and were not afraid to show it, but this show is HORRIBLE. I decided to torture myself one afternoon and try to see what the American far right likes in this infamous series. I came away with an exacerbated toothache and a headache.

From the opening credits (mom is serenely waking up her kids!!) to the end, the only redeeming quality is 'bad' boy Eddie Haskell. Poor scripting decisions unfortunately prevent the character from telling off the insipid Cleavers and he is reduced to sickening compliments. I know people like these at my current workplace, and when they comment on your dress that frequently, they are not doing it out of genuine niceness.

June is a housewife, but looks perfectly coifed all day long. That creeps me out even more than the robo-voice she greets her 'boys' with in nearly every other minute of the show. The Cleavers do not have enough money to hire domestic help, so the viewing audience is encouraged to believe she is spotless after performing chores all day. Yeah, right...this series was clearly made by people who never set foot in a kitchen unless they were eating food. ... Read more

Reviews (7)

If it happens......
It will be the hit of the year!
But for the people who can make this happen, don't forget The Green Hornet, another William Dozier/Greenway Production.
This is a long awaited DVD box set that is overdue.Currently no offical DVD release is available and we all want to see The amazing Bruce Lee as Kato, and Van Williams as The Hornet and the stunning Black Beauty.
Wake up people, this is a must do just like Batman!

WHAT MIGHT HAPPEN
We all love this show. Right? And we want season box sets. Right? Well it may not happen that way. I believe the studio that released the LOST IN SPACE tv series will release this.That's IF they choose to do so. Which could mean split sets. 2 volumes for Season 1 and at least 4 volumes for Season 2 considering that was a whopping 60 episodes, and back to 2 volumes for season 3. And you know what? THAT WOULD BE PERFECTLY FINE WITH ME. Because it's a lot better than not being released at all. In fact, come to think of it.., the split LOST IN SPACE sets may have been a testing of the waters for this show. SO GO! GO NOW! TO THE ATM, HIT THE FAST CASH BUTTON, AND BUY THOSE LOST IN SPACE SETS YOU"VE BEEN PUTTING OFF. Oh! And write nice reviews about LOST IN SPACE on AMAZON. While you're doing all this just keep humming the BATMAN THEME to yourself. IF.. YOU... DO... NOT... OBEY...MY...COMMANDS...IT... WILL.. BE...YOUR... FAULT... THAT... The BATMAN tv series never got released. Then again, what do I know? I could be totally wrong.

Mind-blowingly cool!
Wow! We have a great local station in Chicago that plays only classic TV (MeTV, Channel 23, Chicago). Today, they are playing a 6-hour Batman marathon, and even though it is the sunniest, most beautiful day of the year thus far after a long winter, I am so wanting to stay in and watch. I did have the great pleasure of showing my young children their first Batman, which they greatly enjoyed. I had to drag them away or they too would have watched until 6.

Man, these shows are SO much fun. They are just super cool. Adam West's earnestness is beyond description. The groovy sets, snappy, campy dialogue...all I can say is wow! I love how BM & R are so un -buff in their skin-tight suits. Its not that they're flabby, but by today's standards, they seem to have no muscle definition. I love it.

I was given a box set of the first season of Dukes of Hazzard, and while the camp value was fun for a couple episodes, it just doesn't have much staying power, viewing it as an adult. But Batman...it just keeps getting better. I must get this DVD when it comes out.

Steven Slaughter
Renewed Batman Fan
Chicago

Da-da-da season one!!
Season one of Batman is chock-full of fun for the whole family. Kids are going to love the comic book appearance, and older viewers are going to appreciate the double entendres and in-jokes flying at them faster than the batcopter.

Bruce Wayne (Adam West) is the caped crusader. Together with young ward Dick Grayson (Burt Ward) as Robin, he protects Gotham from crime. Police Commissioner Jim Gordon (Neil Hamilton) and Police Chief O'Hara (Stafford Repp) are incapable of fighting crime on their own.

The dynamic duo lives at Wayne Manor with Alfred Pennyworth (Alan Napier) and Aunt Harriet (Madge Blake). The `Aunt Harriet' character was created specifically for this series so any suggestion that Batman and Robin were gay icons would be defused. Personally, superhero sexuality had never crossed my mind while watching this TV series, I was only interested in seeingBatman and Robin save the day (as usual).

This season (1966) has 34 episodes of comical hjinks. Each episode was a 2-parter which aired on different nights during the same week. This filming technique allowed for a greater scripting depth than would have been expected from a comedy genre made in the pop-wild 60's. Camp was indeed king in this Gotham City.

My favorite episodes include "The purrfect crime/better luck next time" which introduces us to the Catwoman (played by Julie Newmar during both this season and season 2). It also hints at the sexual tension existing between Catwoman and Batman. They are on opposite sides of the law, but this pair still feels for each other.

`Instant Freeze/Rats Like Cheese' has Batman and Robin battling Mr. Freeze (George Sanders) who for the sake of this TV series is really Dr. Shimmel instead of Victor Friese. This episode is memorable because Batman and Robin (despite all of their bat-gadgets) cannot recover from being frozen on their own and subsequently must receive treatment from the `Super-Hypotherm-De-Icifier Chamber Mark VII' machine located at Gotham City Hospital. Batman and Robin are crime-fighting superheroes, but they are not invincible or immortal.

Series aficionados will want to note the important trends begun during this season.

`The curse of Tut/The pharaoh's in a rut' is important because it is the first episode creating all-new villains specifically for this TV series instead of attempting to borrow from the Bob Kane detective series (which WASN'T happy go-lucky). At this point this villain roster expansion does not date itself as being set in the 1960's.

Jerry Lewis provides the first batclimb cameo appearance in `The bookworm turns'. These episodes had ironically aired during National Library week 1966. Lewis sticks his head out a building window to briefly chat with the dynamic duo while they are in hot pursuit of a criminal. A whole galaxy of stars and public figures followed his appearance in later episodes. It became a race to see who could get on the television.

The criminal lairs are always filmed `crooked' but there is not any violence as is measured by today's TV standards. Comic-book exclamations conveniently appear whenever there is a fight and no blood is spilt during any of the scenes.

The bat computer is now-obsolete, but for the 1960's and then to a 1980's child making do with a Commodore 64, it was really hi-tech.

Holy injustice - Batman's not on DVD.
I watched and enjoyed Batman when I was a kid. Back then, I took it seriously. Now, I'd like to get it so that I can appreciate it for what it is. As a side note, I'd also like to see The Flash on DVD as well. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Terrible Hossless...
No Hoss. Poor fellow died prior to this episode, so we don't get to see the big guy. But that's not what makes this episode terrible. If you want to see what really killed off this series, watch Landon (Little Joe) overacting in this reinterpretation of "The Miracle Worker". Painful! Poor Altman and Landon were just doing their jobs. The blame goes to the scriptwriter and producer of this wasted effort. IMPORTANT NOTE: The DVD does NOT use the original "Bonanza" title theme, which was probably too expensive for them to procure, but substitutes a nice little alternative country-music ditty. Should be banned from all reissue. Not worth watching, even for Altman fans, which begs the question ... why is it that [junk] like this is available, but Robert Altman's wonderful films "Three Women" and "Images" remain unattainable?

I don't know about the quality, but I know about the episode
Little Joe is in one of his best episodes in this one. He tries to teach a deaf girl to talk with her hands and needs the help of the girl's daughter. But there's another man who don't care about her talking; he just wants to kiss her and all. Anyway, so Little Joe gets a book to help teach her and she soon catches on. Until she says she's in love with Joe. The Joe gets mad, but apologizes. They go back to normal later and then it has a surprising ending. A great early Bonanza to own. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Outstanding fun and suspense.
This is a definite dvd to add to your Bonanza collection. It's about a cold blooded murder by a murderer who denies killing a storeowner. Her wife testifies in court of the cold blooded murder and it makes the murderer to be sentenced at dawn to be hanged by the neck until death. But the murderer'd friend takes Ben into hostage into a stable so that if they hang him, Ben gets hung. It's up to Joe, Hoss, and Adam to go on with the hanging and save their father. Such a suspicious and entertaining Bonanza; so fans, don't pass this by. ... Read more