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The Dakotas on DVD (1 Viewer)

JohnHopper

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On March 24, 2015, Warner Bros will release the single season of the monochrome western series The Dakotas (1963),

starring Larry Ward, Jack Elam, Chad Everett, Mike Greene.

Any thoughts on the series itself?


Thanks.
 

Pathfiner

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Be good to see ANY b/w sixties shows getting a DVD release, and in the case of 'The Dakotas' at least episode 20 should finally get seen !!


the show was of course axed following viewer outcry over episode 18 'Sanctuary at Crystal Springs' having two men killed in a church...ABC went into meltdown and after the following episode 'A Nice Girl From Goliah' was screened axed the show and pulled it from the schedule before the 20th episode could be shown...


funny but back then in 1963 had 'certain words' re say, race, creed, etc been used in the show no one would have batted an eyelid...yet murders in a church caused public outcry and the networks to immediately axe the show.... !


today possibly the REVERSE would be true...how times change !


good to see this TV Western show again, it was a darker grittier show than the more 'family' orientated ranch based TV westerns


and it will be good to see Jack Elam - normally an 'evil villain' who died a thousand deaths on TV - in a regular role on the right side of the law for a change !
 

jperez

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Jack Elam was almost a regular in Bronco and basically stole the films in James Garner's Support Your Local Sheriff/Gunfighter films.
 

Randy Korstick

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Jack Elam was also a semi-regular on Sugarfoot season 4 and probably would have been a regular on that show if there was a season 5.
 

ChrisALM

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The Dakotas will be a definite purchase for me. Nice to see continued movement on the WB westerns.
 

Professor Echo

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Jack Elam also STARRED in his own short lived series (only 8 episodes), THE TEXAS WHEELERS from 1974-75. Gary Busey and Mark Hamill played two of his four sons.
 

Professor Echo

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LouA said:
At the moment WBA is the main company releasing B&W TV. I've never seen the Dakotas , but I'll be buying this set. Lets hope we get all of the WB shows from the 50s and 60s .
As well as the MGM ones they also own. ;)
 

blakey55

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just watched the first four episodes,am really enjoying them.what a shame there was only 19 episodes made,but there is no episode 20 in the boxset.i got this boxset from importcds and they are pressed discs!
 

Bob Gu

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Count again, Stephen, there are twenty episodes on this set including the pilot. The alleged never aired 21st episode is an internet myth along with the story of the show being removed from the network schedule. It reran into September, including the church shooting episode.

Church shootings were no big deal to ABC or Warner Brothers. That same season there were some in an episode of the GALLANT MEN and in another GM episode a sour guest star, Peter Breck, expressed some anti-God statements.

Yesterday, I just watched, from the previous TV season, a BRONCO Season Four episode where, two nuns, a driver, and a lawman were killed in a stagecoach accident. A bad-girl survivor masquerades as one of the nuns so Bronco will escort her to a convent school where four bad-guys and the fake nun get killed in the convent chapel.
 

blakey55

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your right bob I cant count! I meant that the episode that had not been aired wasnt in the set.but it is just an internet myth you say,ahh well that explains why it isnt there.
 

RBailey

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Professor Echo said:
Jack Elam also STARRED in his own short lived series (only 8 episodes), THE TEXAS WHEELERS from 1974-75. Gary Busey and Mark Hamill played two of his four sons.
Jack Elam also starred as the Frankenstein Monster (called just "Frank") on a VERY short-lived CBS series called "Struck By Lightning". Ten episodes were produced but I seem to remember CBS only airing 2 or 3 before the plug was pulled. I saw the pilot but remember very little of it besides enjoying Elam's performance. Love to see this again.


http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078695/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_37
 

Neil Brock

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Professor Echo said:
Jack Elam also STARRED in his own short lived series (only 8 episodes), THE TEXAS WHEELERS from 1974-75. Gary Busey and Mark Hamill played two of his four sons.

Actually there were 13 episodes. I believe ABC aired them all as a summer burn off.
 

John Karras

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Neil Brock said:
Actually there were 13 episodes. I believe ABC aired them all as a summer burn off.
13 produced. 4 aired in the fall of 1974. 3 additional burned off in the summer of 1975. 6 unaired on the network.
 

JohnHopper

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disctrip said:
Just watched the first 2 episodes. What happened to the "eye patch" from the season pilot?

I watched the pilot which was fabulous. The print was clean and crisp but no English subtitles and no extras.

The pilot was part of another series entitled Cheyenne so they didn't know if it would sell hence the eye patch.

The first official episode is n°2: Return to Dryrock.
 

JohnHopper

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¶ Episode #1 (pilot)

"A Man Called Ragan"
written by Anthony Spinner
from a novel by Harry Whittington
directed by Richard C. Sarafian


produced by Jules Schermer

cinematographer: Bert Glennon, ASC

executive producer: William T. Orr
composer: Howard Jackson
cast: Larry Ward, Chad Everett, Jack Elam, Mike Greene
guests: Jeanne Cooper, Arch Johnson, Lee Van Cleef, Don O'Kelly, Norman Alden



The pilot about a corrupted town run by a gangster looks like a Film Noir and the cast members reinforce that feeling: see Lee Van Cleef and Jack Elam. Director Richard Sarafian's film-making is excellent as usual. The leading character of Frank Ragan—wearing an eye patch—enters the ghost town of Stark City as a silent lone wolf who rushes to the hotel-saloon to get a room. He is later on questioned and abused by the henchmen of the local proprietor responsible for the death of his friend John Wilson. It's "almost" like watching Clint Eastwood as the Stranger. The four lawmen have the following background: one gun-less retired Federal Marshal (Frank Ragan), one corrupted sheriff (Vance Porter), one hired killer who is the son of a preacher (Smith), one adopted man (Del Stark) and son of the proprietor gangster. For the anecdote, actor Larry Ward playing Marshal Frank Ragan look and act like actor Peter Breck.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
 

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