Colt .45 - The Complete Series - Coming to Blu-Ray on March 12th '24 (Warner Archive) (1 Viewer)

[LouA]

Thanks for the screen caps Neal! Out here in Dogpatch, Lower Slobovia, I'm supposed to have my Colt .45 set by next Wednesday!

Big fan here of the great Andrew Duggan! What a presence he was in 12 O'clock High and Lancer, among his many guest starring roles in just about every series in my collection. He's one of those special guys who just elevate the proceedings, and makes it look effortless.

And for anybody who wants to seek it out, WB's 1959-60 detective series Bourbon Street Beat with another great in Richard Long (Archive.org has the whole 39 episode series from old Starz showings along with 77 Sunset Strip, Hawaiian Eye and Surfside 6). Andrew Duggan's archetype 'Southern Gentleman' character of retired New Orleans Police detective turned P.I. Cal Calhoun is smoothly charismatic! Here's a few screen caps I took not long ago from my DVD-Rs...
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Andrew Duggan was a frequent and welcome guest star in all the WB TV series of that era. And his single season sit-com with Peggy McCay, Room For One More (1961-62) would be a welcome long-shot WAC release, among many that I'd want. That is, if Warner Archive continues to give us more WB and MGM B+W TV series.

A Room For One More release would be welcome. It was a favorite of mine back during the 61-62 season.
And yes Duggan was always good in just about everything he did.

 

[SuperClark]

I have nothing but praise for this release.10/10.Bring on the next western series on blu ray.Great quality..I was happy to buy this but I did request a free review copy of the set.WB asked me well who you do you write for? I said 'Obscurity' magazine,Its very small but prestigious.You know those magazines they have in doctors waiting rooms? Ours is a freebie. They declined darn.

 

[tenia]

The caps are weird, as they're said to be untouched but they're 1602 x 1200 to begin with (even if cropped to remove the side black bars, they should be 14xx x 1080). May I ask how those grabs were captured ?

They're extremely smooth, there's not an ounce of grain on any of those HD caps. Eg those 2 :

https://www.hometheaterforum.com/community/attachments/colt-45-s03e12-impasse-jan-31-1960-18-jpg.216377/

https://www.hometheaterforum.com/community/attachments/colt-45-s03e12-impasse-jan-31-1960-41-jpg.216386/

Flashgear's feedback clashes with such a look, which is far from what recent 4K masters from 35mm OCN routinely look like, so it feels like these grabs may not be representative of what is on the discs (hence Konstantinos' puzzled posts).

 

[Jeff Flugel]

I received my Colt .45 Blu-Ray set today, and have hoovered through the first disc (first 6 episodes). Am very pleased with both the quality of the show (a solid lead actor and a good variety of storylines) and with the pristine video quality of the transfers. I concur wholeheartedly with Randall (Flashgear) re: the picture quality of this release. I watched these first six episodes projected onto a 120" screen, and the image looks beautiful. No complaints whatsoever. For those questioning this release judged solely on screencaps, I recommend you buy the set and see for yourselves, or if you're truly that worried, wait for more professional reviews to set yourself at ease. But frankly, anyone who owns or has seen their share of Warner Archive's Blu-Ray releases should be well aware of their high standards and reputation for top-notch image quality.

Some interesting things I noticed about these initial episodes of the show:

1) The first three episodes begin with a scene from the upcoming episode (a frequent technique used in WB westerns at the time), while the fourth has a brief "cold open" (i.e., a prologue of sorts, the scene not being repeated in the body of the episode itself). Eps 5 and 6 have neither, opening straight into the WB shield and show credits. I have no idea if this was a deliberate choice, or that not every "tease" or cold open still exists in the vaults. At any rate, I'm happy that WAC included them where available. A couple episodes time out just shy of 25 minutes, while the rest are a shade over, but all seem to be complete and uncut.

Speaking of the opening credits, in the first three episodes, when Wayde Preston (a.k.a. Christopher Colt), dressed in a natty gray coat, stares into the camera, draws his two pistols and fires, the ".45" part of the credits appears to the right of the word "Colt," all on the same line. But from episodes 4 on, the ".45" appears under the word "Colt." The font is also seemed bigger in these later 3 episodes. Apparently the producers were still tinkering with the show at this early stage.

And as previously mentioned by Mark McSherry upthread, the proper Colt .45 theme song is nowhere to be heard on Disc 1. I'm not sure if the music used in these first six episodes was composed specifically for the show, or simply stock music at this point. Either way, they're pleasant enough though fairly generic '50s western scores, unlike the very catchy theme tune the show is known for.

As I said above, I was impressed by the variety of storylines on display in these early episodes. Episode 5 in particular ("Small Man," co-starring Jay Novello) had a plot that went in some directions that I totally did not expect. Wayde Preston has a calm, quiet dignity and gravitas that I really like, and seems to have hit the ground running with his stoic, principled character fully intact. Production values look pretty good so far, though the majority of these episodes are town-based and thus don't require much location shooting. There's been a little bit of stock footage used but nothing egregious, and from what I can tell, it looks like Preston is doing the majority of his own stunts, at least in the fight scenes.

The show's premise - of Colt being an Army captain carrying out government missions under the guise of being a Colt .45 salesman - is a clever one, with Colt several times having to go to great lengths to keep his identity a secret....and even in one episode, impersonating a cold-blooded gunslinger. As a nominal gun salesman, Colt gets to show off his wares as well as his skill at gunplay, which leads to several fun scenes of shooting demos, trick shots and the like. I had only seen a single episode of this show before now (S3's "Calamity"), via a crappy old motheaten 16mm version on YouTube, so it's basically all new to me, and so far, I like the show a lot.

Overall, good stuff. Extremely happy with this release!

 

[Randy Korstick]

Received my set yesterday and watched the 1st episode. I like the show so far and the Quality is excellent. Not surprisingly better video quality than any of the other Warner Westerns on DVD.

 

[Robert Crawford]

How long are these episodes?

 

[Jeff Flugel]

How long are these episodes?

So far, there have been a couple in the 24:45 range, but most clock in a little over 25 minutes.

 

[oldtvshowbuff]

It was Hal Hopper, presumably multi-tracking his vocals w/echo delay
He and Douglas Heyes wrote the theme song. Should get it now by Saturday from Amazon.

BTW, Bert Shefter wrote the original theme tune in season one, and the Hopper/Heyes composition replaced it midway through season one for the end credits.

 

[Kevin Antonio (Kev)]

BTW, Bert Shefter wrote the original theme tune in season one, and the Hopper/Heyes composition replaced it midway through season one for the end credits.

I actually prefer the Shefter composition

 

[JoshuaB.]

Damn, after seeing the screenshots, I’m now compelled to pick up the set! It would be awesome if sales were strong enough to encourage Warner Archive to continue releasing vintage TV shows on Blu-ray (like Maverick)!

 

[Dan McW]

I watched the first episode of Colt .45 and was amazed at the sharpness of the picture. You could see clearly such things as Preston's miniature Colt .45 tie pin that he wears in the knot of the tie, as well as the disclaimer in small print at the end of the closing credits, something that's usually a little fuzzy.

Andrew Duggan made a great villain in the premiere--he was more affable than his later mostly stern authority figures that he specialized in.

Loved the mid-episode bumper that also contained a shot of the episode's title.

The run time was 24:45, as stated in a recent post. I've noticed in some Warner hour-long shows on DVD like Maverick that the run times are usually 49 and change, whereas most other hour shows without commercials from that era run 50-51 minutes. Maybe Warner shows just run a tad short, for some reason, unless all their released series are slightly time-sped.

The subtitles on the first episode of Colt .45, however, were only about 80 percent accurate. Cattle rustling came out as "cattle wrestling," for instance.

 

[Bob Gu]

The subtitles misspell some of the tribal names. But generally speaking subtitles are pretty hilarious.

Below are some clips from a 29 minute version of "One Good Turn", S1E7,showing the "brought to you by" sponsor tags, the out going to commercial bumper and the coming back bumper, plus original commercials. I found this on Daily Motion a couple of years ago. This is not from the Blu-Ray.

Press play. The opening with sponsor tags.

The mid point commercial break with out going and coming back bumper. (Hour long shows had an additional bumper in the middle between the commercials with the announcer saying "Maverick will be back after these messages".)

The end sponsor tag. Note the scene for next week, Episode S1E8, has a scene with Willard Sage and Wayde Preston that does not appear in the actual episode. This scene for next week does appear on the Blu-Ray, in episode S1E7 for S1E8.

 

[Dan McW]

John Beradino, who later had a long run on General Hospital, appeared as a barroom tush hog early in episode 3 of Colt .45, "The $3,000 Bullet." He had everyone intimidated until he tried to shoot a boy who had just left the bar to fetch the sheriff. He ended up getting carried out of the bar feet first (which is never good) by the 3 1/2-minute mark of the episode.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Just published my HTF official review of the set:

Colt .45: The Complete Series Blu-ray Review

Colt .45 has been somewhat of a holy grail title for television on disc enthusiasts. While all manor of classic shows came into print during the golden age of DVD, this title remained elusive, no longer even in syndication. After decades of unavailability, a new 4K-sourced restoration from...

www.hometheaterforum.com

 

[oldtvshowbuff]

Let me see, season two had just 13 episodes due to Wayde Preston having labor issues with Warners, but about the same time, ABC brought back Tombstone Territory from Ziv for a 13-episode run, too! Colt.45 was renewed for a third and final season, Tombstone Territory wasn't renewed, but went into first-run syndication instead over at Ziv.

 

[SuperClark]

All 18 seasons of Death Valley Days tv series can now be streamed free on amazon.In HD yay))

Amazon.com

www.amazon.com

 

[Dan McW]

I finished the first disc of Colt .45, not as quickly as did Jeff Flugel, and am enjoying the episodes very much. In signs that I've watched too much Warner product over the years, I noticed the studio's howling-wind sound effect in one episode and the body-thudding-on-the-ground sound effect in several more.

I first picked up on the wind sound effect, which recycles itself about every 10 seconds, after it was used in practically every episode of The Dakotas. The body-thudding effect is in loads of WB shows and movies. It's even in The Wild Bunch in the early rooftop scene with L.Q. Jones and Strother Martin, when one of them shoves the other down.

 

[Neil Brock]

All 18 seasons of Death Valley Days tv series can now be streamed free on amazon.In HD yay))

Amazon.com

www.amazon.com

I thought it was 20 seasons?

 

[SuperClark]

18 seasons

Death Valley Days (a Titles & Air Dates Guide)

A guide listing the titles AND air dates for episodes of the TV series Death Valley Days.

epguides.com

I finished season 3 of Colt.45. im ready for season 4
Josh -that was a fine review of the blu ray release.Nice job.
I hope we don't have to wait until next year for the next series release.Keep them coming.

 

[oldtvshowbuff]

18 seasons

Death Valley Days (a Titles & Air Dates Guide)

A guide listing the titles AND air dates for episodes of the TV series Death Valley Days.

epguides.com

I finished season 3 of Colt.45. im ready for season 4
Josh -that was a fine review of the blu ray release.Nice job.
I hope we don't have to wait until next year for the next series release.Keep them coming.

It was never renewed for a fourth season by ABC, Chris Colt's guns and holster were gathering dust in an office scene of a Maverick episode "Hadley's Hunters".