Review(s): DVD Branded - The Complete First Season
Great Series (for its time) - Poor DVD Transfer
What a shame.
The company that transfered these episodes to DVD should be "Branded" for doing such a poor job.
The sound is bodged into a strange 5.1 effect and on my DVD player the episodes show no run time or chapters (except bonus items which have a onscreen DOG (Digital Onscreen Graphic)).
Episodes seem cut and even a part of the end credits is cut from every episode (near credits end).
Bonus episode of Rifleman is cut badly at the point a chicken is killed.
what do you do when you're BRANDED?
Branded is about the life of Jason McCord, West Point graduate and former Captain in the U.S. Cavalry. He was stripped of rank for cowardice under fire during the Battle of Bitter Creek where he was the only survivor, McCord knows he is innocent but refuses to pin the blame where it belongs, his commanding officer, General Reed, who died in the battle.
Disc 1:
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1) Survival - Jason and his friend Roy ride into a town after working on a long cattle drive.
2) The Vindicator - a newspaper reporter from the New York Herald is sent west to do a story on Jason McCord
3) The Test - Jason unintentionally involves a Catholic priest in a deadly encounter with four drunken Comanche's.
4) Rules of the Game - As McCord arrives in the town of Mckinley, he runs into someone he knew from the past.
5) The Bounty - While standing at the bar, a cowboy comes up behind McCord and paints a yellow streak down his back.
EXTRA: The Rifleman: Day of the Hunter
Disc 2:
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6) Leap upon Mountains - While passing by a cemetery; McCord notices a Quaker lady kneeling over a grave and helps her.
7) Coward Steps Aside - A gang of thieves order the deputy to surrender his town. The deputy is play by Johnny Crawford.
8, 9 & 10) The Mission (Part 1, 2 & 3) - McCord is asked to return to Washington D.C. at the request of an old flame.
EXTRA: Four Star Playhouse: Vote of Confidence
Disc 3:
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11) The First Kill - McCord visits the family of a Confederate officer he was forced to kill in battle during the war.
12) Very Few Heroes - McCord becomes involved with a woman in danger of losing her farm.
13) One Way Out - Jason is tricked into visiting a ghost town.
14) That the Brave Endure - A West Point Cadet, Bain, faces ejection for making statements that support McCord's actions at Bitter Creek.
15) A Taste of Poison - McCord is escorting a woman to a medical outpost.
16) Price of a Name - McCord is hired to work on a ranch and it appears the people that want to harm him have more that Bitter Creek revenge.
EXTRA: Check Connors Biography
Branded
I was overjoyed when I learned that this series was on dvd and I was not disappointed in getting it. This was a well written ,well acted honest show,one of the last to show the importance of character and principles and of putting duty and country before self. Connors plays a strong character who knows who he is and a coward or deserter he is certainly not.A lesser man would have died of depression but Jason McCord rebuilds his life and teaches a lot of lessons of manhood as he roams through the west
making himself useful and helping those in need.
My 7 and 9 year old boys have eojoyed watching it as well.
I never cease to be amazed at what a misjudged man can do with a broken saber. Calling him a coward is not enough, you must also bother the ladies. This is a character study, a moral play, a religious experience. Watching this series in the 60's helped me prepare for the US Marines in the 70's.
More Info about this DVD Actor(s): William Bryant DVD Release Date: Released the 24 August 2005 Special Order
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Episode for episode, the second season of Have Gun, Will Travel (1958-59) is even better than the first. With a bona fide hit on their hands, CBS didn't mess with success, and these 39 episodes pushed ratings even higher with sharp direction (mostly by first-season veteran Andrew V. McLaglen), a wide variety of attention-grabbing plots, and intelligent, sensible dialogue. All of the first season's strengths are carried over, and while 41-year-old star Richard Boone (as the refined gunslinger-for-hire Paladin) is rarely given a serious test of his talents, he commands his role with depth, humor, and impressive displays of physical agility. (By comparison, series regular Kam Tong had almost nothing to do this season; he's relegated to routine duty as Paladin's Chinese hotel valet... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Richard Boone DVD Release Date: Released the 10 May 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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The uniquely cool talent that propelled Steve McQueen to movie stardom is fully evident in the debut season of Wanted: Dead or Alive. Having just boosted his big-screen potential with a starring role in The Blob, 28-year-old McQueen was reluctant to accept the role of bounty hunter Josh Randall in this trend-setting series; he balked at the demanding schedule and thought himself too contemporary for a Western series, but the producers (including Four Star Productions cofounders Dick Powell and Ida Lupino) were convinced that McQueen was perfect for the role, and the still-struggling actor couldn't refuse a $750-per-week salary. Once committed, McQueen developed Randall into an antihero with conflicting qualities of danger and compassion: With his infamous "Mare's Leg" (an... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Steve Mcqueen DVD Release Date: Released the 07 June 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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The first season of Have Gun--Will Travel makes it easy to see why this Western series was an overnight success. Making its debut on September 14, 1957, the half-hour show ranked no. 4 in the ratings for its entire first season, which ran almost completely uninterrupted (minus a one-week preemption) until June of 1958--a punishing schedule unheard of in present-day television. (It ranked even higher in subsequent seasons, holding the no. 3 spot, behind Gunsmoke and Wagon Train.) Richard Boone was perfectly cast in the lead role of Paladin, a cultured gunslinger whose West Point education, impeccable style, literate sophistication, and distinguished Civil War service made him unique among Western heroes, and the prototype for many dashing figures to follow. Based in... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Richard Boone DVD Release Date: Released the 11 May 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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there are some good episodes and some slow ones in here. 'Waste I and II' from disk 4 are excellent. Did you see the beautiful girlfriend that Mexican dude had! Also good is 'deadly image' and 'the Vaqueros' is an absolute classis desert revenge story. The encounters with the Mexican bandits are usually good. Rifleman is good, but sometimes I wonder if he had to wear jeans that tight! (just look at the picture on the cover)! but that's ok. Lucas is all man is this show. some of the most masculine honorable series made were made back in the 1950s! They could have improved the show with less of that cranky old sherrif dude. The interactions with the boy are nice and classic. to go through most of the disks disk1 'sharpshooter' a little slow 'home ranch' ok. some good... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Rifleman - Chuck Connors DVD Release Date: Released the 29 January 2002 Usually ships in 24 hours
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