Outlaws

I vividly remember this show as a kid. It had great music, as noted by others, and had a certain grittiness about it that was compelling. Don Collier had the perfect face for a US Marshal -- tough, weary, cynical, and (occasionally) smiling. That he was not handsome in a typical Hollywood way helped the series. He looked like he'd really just spent the last few days in the saddle on the trail of outlaws. Collier played the role of lawman in a serious and responsible way like all westerns back then, but somehow more realistically. I also remember the show for great shoot-out scenes, usually at the end of the show. TV westerns in the early 60s were going through a brief period of especially graphic shoot-outs, and Outlaws benefited from this. I don't mean blood or screams of pain, of course, but a lot of grazing bullets and fancy gunplay. The bad guys when shot would crash very forcefully through windows behind them, or would flip over the hitching post rail, etc. Great time for stuntmen. Great time to be a kid watching this show. I'd love to see it again.

Perhaps the concept of telling the stories of the west from the bad guy's point of view had to wait until Law and Order Criminal Intent made its debut on NBC. Certainly nobody was as quirky as law enforcement official as Vincent Donofrio on The Outlaws.

The Outlaws lasted for two seasons on NBC and it was set in Oklahoma Territory and it being a territory and not a state until 1906, it was a place where the outlaws roamed free, but for the presence of United States Marshals. Barton MacLane who in fact played mostly bad guys in his film career was the chief U.S. Marshal for the territory. He had two deputies Don Collier and Jock Gaynor. In the second season Collier was promoted to chief marshal as MacLane became territorial governor and Collier got Bruce Yarnell as a deputy. It didn't help, The Outlaws got canceled after two seasons.

One thing the show did do was give Don Collier a long career in westerns. Take a look at that man's credits, I don't think you'll find three non-western films there. He was certainly a familiar presence in many a horse opera. Collier was probably born thirty years too late, he would have made a great B picture cowboy hero.

I've often wondered though, did MacLane or Collier have a certain one eyed marshal named Rooster Cogburn working for them?

Frankly, if Slim Pickens had not been a regular in the second season, this show might have no place at all in the history of series television. As it is, the niche is small enough. My brother and I got hooked late in the first season, its theme song compelling for early adolescents. The kind of western THE OUTLAWS was also had appeal because the story was told largely, albeit not completely, from the bad guys' point of view. Since we were not devotees of CRIME AND PUNISHMENT at that tender age, a distaff tale was something unique in a time when bad was bad and who cared why or how they felt . . . and one could always count on the comeupance. Of course the lawmen prevailed in the end on THE OUTLAWS too, if the wrong-doers were not destroyed by their own flaws. I have never seen an episode since 1962, and presumably only an ardent student of television subscribing to exotic cable channels would ever have the opportunity. To be honest -- a refreshing change -- it would not have its appeal to me forty years on, to be sure.

This has to be my favorite TV western series. The first season was the better season, as it was rough, tough, and action-packed, with great guest stars (Cliff Robertson, Jack Lord, Jack Chaplain, Martin Landau, Robert Culp, Dean Jones, Robert Lansing, James Coburn, Dean Stockwell, Steve Forrest, etc). My favorite episode from the entire series was Sam Bass. Since I tended to favor the bad guys, this series was right up my alley, as it focused on the bad guys in every episode. The guys at Timeless Media tell me that they are trying to get this series for DVD release, so I can only hope that I live long enough to enjoy it again, after all these years. It will make a terrific box-set.

This was one of the better westerns. I forget the main star's name who, with head sheriff Barton McClaine, were the setting for each week's new bad guy's story. Yes, Slim Pickens was in it. And in an odd twist late in the series, there were a few episodes of great comedy and adventure with Neville Brand and 2 other guys as cavalry soldiers. These segments had nothing in common with the regular series of Outlaws but were introduced with a story, as I recall. Too bad TVLand doesn't bring this back plus the even older Cimarron City.