Westerns and Spies
On my way back home to Oshkosh via highway 41, I stopped by Wal-Mart Saturday night to take a look around. (Yeah, I’m feeling un-American buying something from that pithole). But buy I did.
Last Tuesday was the release date for the first season of the classic series Wild, Wild West. I’m not talking about the crappy movie version with Will Smith and Kevin Klein. Nope. This is the real deal.
I didn’t know about its release at the time. I pried it out of the Wal-Mart shelves for a hefty price of $31.
This is the best of the best in classic science-fiction during the 1960s. The first season was filmed entirely in B&W. But don’t let that bother you. The stories are the strongest here. Every episode is well-crafted with a solid plot and a memorial villain. There’s plenty of horses, stagecoaches and gunfights.
The real twist are the gadgets they used in the series… clever things. It could be a fold-up derringer or smoke bombs. Taking the trend of 007 Bond movies, the series mixes it up with a western setting during the Reconstruction era.
The United States was still a young country. It was trailing behind the heels of the recent assassination of a Civil War president. The secret service had a job of protecting the current president.
The series, especially its first year, sets up the tone. Espionage plays a huge part in some government conspiracies--usually someone wanting to take over part of the United States. It was a gimmick that paid off. The villians were memorial. The stories took a strange life of their own.
It’s hard to choose which episodes jump out and grab you. All 28 episodes excels. “Night of the Red-Eyed Madman” was a pretty good one with Martin Landau as the crazed secret society leader. “Night of the Human Trigger” has Burgess Meredith as a scientist creating earthquakes from explosives. One of my all-time favorites is “Night of the Burning Diamond”--where the culprit discovers a way to slow down time by taking a formula. Another one called “The Night of a Thousand Eyes” was about a former ship captain, blind from an accident, who uses his agents as “eyes” to take control of the Mississippi river. The ideas are fantastic, getting more bizzare. The series worked with its creative surge of stories.
No one can forget the diminutive Dr. Loveless and his larger-than-life conquest of the States. His bombastic point-of-view was always a great contrast to the reasonable James West.
What also helps are the two leads. Robert Conrad and Ross Martin are terrific as secret service agents James West and Artemus Gordon working for President Ulysses S. Grant. Their on-screen chemistry is always on target.
Conrad does his own stunts which strikes up the show’s believability. It brings in a huge portion of action. Not very many TV shows at its time starts off with a real puncher like “…Red-Eyed Madman.” The series makes its own distinctive style. Conrad was a black belt martial arts expert… watch as Conrad jumps into a stance in his fights as he composes himself.
The role of Artemus Gordon was specifically written for Ross Martin. Because of his poor heart condition, he was never up for a lead role in any movies or TV spots. The series gave Martin a chance to shine as the man of disguise. Martin was very intelligent as he once studied law practice and decided to become an actor. He had a 160 IQ and was an accomplished violist. He was also fluent in a dozen languages. His talents were endless.
He was more than a sidewalk. He was an equal to West.
If this is going to be the only DVD set of the Wild, Wild West to come out, I would be happy with it. The B&W season is a welcome foray into the science-fiction realm as it broke new grounds for television. I’d like to see more of the series come out… people need to be aware that there’s still some good television. Wild, Wild West is a shoot-em-up classic.
Last Tuesday was the release date for the first season of the classic series Wild, Wild West. I’m not talking about the crappy movie version with Will Smith and Kevin Klein. Nope. This is the real deal.
I didn’t know about its release at the time. I pried it out of the Wal-Mart shelves for a hefty price of $31.
This is the best of the best in classic science-fiction during the 1960s. The first season was filmed entirely in B&W. But don’t let that bother you. The stories are the strongest here. Every episode is well-crafted with a solid plot and a memorial villain. There’s plenty of horses, stagecoaches and gunfights.
The real twist are the gadgets they used in the series… clever things. It could be a fold-up derringer or smoke bombs. Taking the trend of 007 Bond movies, the series mixes it up with a western setting during the Reconstruction era.
The United States was still a young country. It was trailing behind the heels of the recent assassination of a Civil War president. The secret service had a job of protecting the current president.
The series, especially its first year, sets up the tone. Espionage plays a huge part in some government conspiracies--usually someone wanting to take over part of the United States. It was a gimmick that paid off. The villians were memorial. The stories took a strange life of their own.
It’s hard to choose which episodes jump out and grab you. All 28 episodes excels. “Night of the Red-Eyed Madman” was a pretty good one with Martin Landau as the crazed secret society leader. “Night of the Human Trigger” has Burgess Meredith as a scientist creating earthquakes from explosives. One of my all-time favorites is “Night of the Burning Diamond”--where the culprit discovers a way to slow down time by taking a formula. Another one called “The Night of a Thousand Eyes” was about a former ship captain, blind from an accident, who uses his agents as “eyes” to take control of the Mississippi river. The ideas are fantastic, getting more bizzare. The series worked with its creative surge of stories.
No one can forget the diminutive Dr. Loveless and his larger-than-life conquest of the States. His bombastic point-of-view was always a great contrast to the reasonable James West.
What also helps are the two leads. Robert Conrad and Ross Martin are terrific as secret service agents James West and Artemus Gordon working for President Ulysses S. Grant. Their on-screen chemistry is always on target.
Conrad does his own stunts which strikes up the show’s believability. It brings in a huge portion of action. Not very many TV shows at its time starts off with a real puncher like “…Red-Eyed Madman.” The series makes its own distinctive style. Conrad was a black belt martial arts expert… watch as Conrad jumps into a stance in his fights as he composes himself.
The role of Artemus Gordon was specifically written for Ross Martin. Because of his poor heart condition, he was never up for a lead role in any movies or TV spots. The series gave Martin a chance to shine as the man of disguise. Martin was very intelligent as he once studied law practice and decided to become an actor. He had a 160 IQ and was an accomplished violist. He was also fluent in a dozen languages. His talents were endless.
He was more than a sidewalk. He was an equal to West.
If this is going to be the only DVD set of the Wild, Wild West to come out, I would be happy with it. The B&W season is a welcome foray into the science-fiction realm as it broke new grounds for television. I’d like to see more of the series come out… people need to be aware that there’s still some good television. Wild, Wild West is a shoot-em-up classic.
posted by K.M. Paters at 6:11 PM
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