Colt .45 - The Complete Series - Coming to Blu-Ray on March 12th '24 (Warner Archive) (2 Viewers)

[Robert Crawford]

Of all of the genres which we have enough of, westerns lead the pack. So many good MGM, Lorimar and WB series still buried in the WB vaults, the last thing we needed was yet another western.

Then stop thread crapping in this western series thread.

 

[oldtvshowbuff]

Then give us Temple Houston starring Jeffrey Hunter and Jack Elam. Jack Webb sold it to NBC, and low ratings of this series cost him his job as executive producer as Bill Orr came back to helm the final five of 26 episodes! The show ran the gamut from straight legal drama to comedy ala Maverick.

 

[SuperClark]

Give us also
Lawman
Maverick
Cheyenne
Sugarfoot
Bronco
The Dakotas would be cool too
All in HD on blu ray in the same excellent quality as Colt .45
We will pay we promise)
We know 1 of these series is being prepped for release maybe with in 1 year.Probably Maverick

 

[Dan McW]

I watched episode 13, "Mirage," and the run time was only 23:47 or so. The last couple of episodes before that had dropped to a little over 24:00, although one had the mid-episode bumper. Assuming these are uncut, I wonder if they originally had more commercial time than other half-hour shows of the period?

 

[LouA]

I watched episode 13, "Mirage," and the run time was only 23:47 or so. The last couple of episodes before that had dropped to a little over 24:00, although one had the mid-episode bumper. Assuming these are uncut, I wonder if they originally had more commercial time than other half-hour shows of the period?

Possibly promos for other WB westerns or shows.

 

[Dan McW]

I checked another copy of Mirage that I had, and it had about the same running time as the Blu. But this other copy had a teaser at the beginning featuring the Frank Puglia character and Colt, while the Blu did not.

 

[bmasters9]

Possibly promos for other WB westerns or shows.

And said promos possibly being ABC network promos as well (I may be mistaken).

 

[Mark McSherry]

Glenn Erickson's take on Colt .45

 

[John Hermes]

I watched my first couple of episodes from the set today. The picture quality is phenomenal.

 

[Dan McW]

I've made a little more progress on Colt .45 but haven't quite finished season one yet. I notice that the WB logo after the end credits has disappeared on the last few episodes I've seen.

 

[oldtvshowbuff]

The sponsor billboard for Beech-Nut gum came after the end credits, a PSA, and the WB shield fanfare w/in-text credit and announcement, "THIS HAS BEEN AN ABC TELEVISION NETWORK PRESENTATION". You can find it on YouTube.

 

[Dan McW]

I watched the first two episodes of the final disc of season one tonight. Edd Byrnes, Paul Fix, and Dawn Richard guest-starred in the first one on the disc, "The Golden Gun." I found Ms. Richard easy on the eyes. Looks like this episode was one of her last credits in a relatively short career. If IMDb is correct, she is still with us at 88. Ron Hayes tried to brace gunfighter Fix in a saloon early in the episode. Final score: Fix 1, Hayes 0. The run time of this episode was 25:00-plus. It started with a teaser and ended with a next-week preview. There was no mid-episode bumper--haven't seen one of those for several episodes.

The next episode, "Circle of Fear," had a smaller cast, all stagecoach passengers and a driver who were wrecked during an Apache attack and hid out among some large rocks. There was a striking shot of flaming arrows launched by the Apaches against a black night sky into the hideout. Tol Avery, whom I know best from Buchanan Rides Alone but have seen in scads of other TV shows and movies, and Jean Willes were the guest stars I recognized most. This episode ran about 24 and change--it started with a teaser but had no bumper and no preview at the end.

 

[Jeff Flugel]

I watched the first two episodes of the final disc of season one tonight.

Good stuff, Dan! I'm just a bit behind you, having recently finished up Disc 3 of S1. Really enjoying the show, taking it slow and savoring it. Here's what I wrote about the last four episodes on Disc 3 in the "What did you watch this week in classic TV on DVD (or Blu)?" thread:

Colt .45
1.16 “Decoy”
Christopher Colt (strapping, laconic Wayde Preston) heads down to Mexico to flush out a notorious bandido leader responsible for the robbery of an Army shipment of guns which resulted in the deaths of many soldiers, and finds himself, along with the daughter (gorgeous Kathleen Crowley) of a disgraced colonel, in a Most Dangerous Game-type scenario, hunted by the ruthless Don Ramon (Christopher Dark).

1.17 “Rare Specimen”
Colt is wounded in a well-planned train robbery masterminded by the crooked local sheriff (Charles Cooper). Frank Ferguson plays a friendly herpetologist who, along with his pet lizard, comes through in a clinch to distract the baddie long enough for Colt to give him a well-deserved dirt nap. Also with Casey Rogers as a seamstress who played a key part in the case.

1.18 “Mantrap”
Colt is waylaid by the three rambunctious Birdwell brothers (Peter Whitney, Don “Red” Barry and Travis Bryan) who bring him back to their ranch as a combination guest and prisoner. Colt is perplexed as to their agenda, but it turns out the men hope he might become romantically interested enough to marry their shy, pretty younger sister, Valentine (Venetia Stevenson), who’s just turned 18. However, young Will Turner (Sammy Jackson), an orphan raised by the Birdwell’s, is in love with Valentine himself. Colt plays Cupid while corralling a notorious fugitive who’s been terrorizing the territory in this typically offbeat, quirky entry written and directed by the great Montgomery Pittman.

1.19 “Ghost Town"
Colt rides into the abandoned town of Something Springs, in the hopes of apprehending no-good outlaw Jack Lowden (Bing Russell) and freeing his hostage, Kate Henniger (Joanna Barnes). But it turns out that Kate is a willing accomplice…at least, until she learns just how bad the man she’s hooked up truly with is. She also learns some startling information about her long-absent mother from an old prospector (John Littel). Poor Chris Colt takes several pistol whacks to the head in this one. Warner Bros. shows always managed to gin up some nice spooky ghost town atmosphere in their westerns when required, and this one is no exception.

 

[oldtvshowbuff]

The sponsor billboard for Beech-Nut gum came after the end credits, a PSA, and the WB shield fanfare w/in-text credit and announcement, "THIS HAS BEEN AN ABC TELEVISION NETWORK PRESENTATION". You can find it on YouTube.

The W/O/C Archive has videos on Colt .45 in its fuzzy 16mm glory on YT!

 

[Dan McW]

I finished off season one and am looking forward to season two. I finally noticed in the last few episodes that the horse behind Preston, as he "shoots" the title of the show onto the screen in the opening credits, is startled by each shot. They must have been using loud blanks. There's a saloon scene in the CBS blooper reel hosted by James Arness (which I think is still on YouTube) where it sounds like they were using capguns, I suppose to give the actors something to react to, with the loud gunshots dubbed in afterward. But those aren't capguns in the Colt .45 opening!

The last episode of S1 featured Karl Swenson as another one of those "over the hill" characters but who was only about 49 when the episode was filmed, eight years younger than I am! I made a similar observation recently about another S1 episode. At my age, I'm starting to see people in shows who are my age or thereabouts but described as past their prime (or worse). Goes with getting older, I guess.

 

[oldtvshowbuff]

Just finished the Colt .45 complete series, now bring on The Alaskans this coming summer. I'll be making a purchase and will be waiting for it and watching all 37!

 

[ponset]

Making my way through Season 2.
Always nice seeing old friends like: Adam West, Alan Hale, Jr., Robert Conrad, and Neil Hamilton to just name a few.

 

[Todd_Z]

Here's hoping we will see many more WB series on Blu-Ray. The 4K remastering looks simply amazing and the prints struck are like nothing that has ever been exhibited on tv before. Thank you Warner Archives and here's to many years of continued support of great releases like Colt .45