"THE OREGON TRAIL" (1976; 1977) Retrospective

Nearly forty-one years lalu saw the premiere of the NBC Western series called "THE OREGON TRAIL". Produced sejak Carl Vitale, Michael Gleason and Richard Collins; the series told the story about the westbound journey of an Illinois widower named Evan Thorpe and his family in the 1840s.

NBC aired a ninety (90) minit pilot episode of "THE OREGON TRAIL" in 1976. Rod Taylor portrayed Evan Thorpe, a widower with three children who had recently remarried. Blair Brown portrayed his newly married saat wife, Jessica. Douglas Fowley portrayed Evan's widowed...

"CENTENNIAL" (1978-79) - Episode Four "For as Long as the Water Flows" Commentary

The fourth episode of "CENTENNIAL", "For as Long as the Water Flows", strikes as an enigma in the episode. Well . . . not exactly an enigma. But I found it rather strange. As far as I know, it is the only episode in the 1978-79 miniseries that is based upon two chapters in James Michner’s novel.

"For as Long as the Water Flows" picked up some seven months following the end of the last episode. The story found Levi Zendt still mourning over the death of his bride, Elly, while isolating himself at the very cabin...

"BARBARY COAST" (1935) Review

I have seen a good number of Televisyen and movie Westerns in my time. But I find it rather odd that it is hard - almost difficult - to find a well known story set during the California emas Rush era. And I find that rather surprising, considering many historians regard it as one of the most interesting periods in the history of the American Old West.

Of the Filem and Televisyen productions I have come across, one of them is the 1935 Western, "BARBARY COAST". Directed sejak Howard Hawks and adapted from Herbert Asbury's 1933 book, the movie told the story about one...

"THE SHADOW RIDERS" (1982) Review

When I first set out to discover how many of penulis Louis L'Amour novels had been adapted for the Filem and television, I had assumed at least a handful had gone through this process. I was surprised to discover that many of his works had been adapted. And one of them turned out to be the 1982 Televisyen movie, "THE SHADOW RIDERS".

I have only seen two L'Amour adaptations in my life - "THE SHADOW RIDERS" and the 1979 two-part miniseries, "THE SACKETTS". Both productions seemed to have a great deal in common. The two productions are adaptations of L'Amour (which...