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List Price: $12.98Price: $8.99You Save: $3.99 (31%)3 Godfathers
Actors: John Wayne, Pedro Armendáriz, Harry Carey Jr., Ward Bond, Mae Marsh
ASIN : B000O599US
Sales Rank : 9529
Director : John Ford
Brand : Warner Brothers
Studio : Warner Home Video
Region Code : 1
Format : Closed-captioned, Color, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Subtitled, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 0012569798595
UPC : 012569798595
Release Date : December 22, 2007
Publisher : Warner Home Video
Manufacturer : Warner Home Video
Availability : Usually ships in 24 hours
Label : Warner Home Video
Running Time : 106
DescriptionFugitive bank robbers Robert (John Wayne), William (Harry Carey Jr.) and Pedro (Pedro Armendariz) stand at a desert grave. Caring for the newborn infant of the woman they just buried will ruin any chance of escape. But they won't go back on their promise to her. They won't abandon little Robert William Pedro. Director John Ford's Western retelling of the Biblical Three Wise Men tale remains a scenic and thematic masterpiece. Ford adds color to his feature-film palette, capturing stunning vistas via cinematographer Winton Hoch, who would win two of his three Academy Awards * for Ford films. Again, populist-minded Ford asserts that even men of dissolute character can follow that inner star of Bethlehem to their own redemption. Amazon.comIt's hardly shameful that The Three Godfathers ranks as the slightest John Ford Western in a five-year arc that includes My Darling Clementine, Fort Apache, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, Wagon Master, and Rio Grande. The source, a Peter B. Kyne story both hard-bitten and sentimental, had already been filmed at least five times--once by Ford himself as Marked Men (1919). The star of that silent version, Harry Carey, had recently died. This remake is dedicated to him ("Bright Star of the early western sky") and proudly introduces his son, Harry Carey Jr. (who had already appeared in Howard Hawks's Red River--as did his father--but we won't quibble). Just before Christmas, three workaday outlaws (John Wayne, Pedro Armendáriz, Harry Carey Jr.) rob a bank in Welcome, Arizona, and flee into the desert. The canny town marshal (Ward Bond) moves swiftly to cut them off from the wells along their escape route, so they make for another, deep in the wasteland. There's no water waiting for them, but there is a woman (Mildred Natwick) on the verge of death--and also of giving birth. The three badmen accept her dying commission as godfathers to the newborn. Motley variants of the Three Wise Men, they strike out for the town of New Jerusalem with her Bible as roadmap. It becomes increasingly apparent that saving the child's life will cost them their own. Ford's is the softest retelling of the tale; in place of Kyne's bitter/triumphant final twist, he adds a very broad comic postlude. Elsewhere, the nearly sacramental treatment of the mother's death is followed by an extended gosh-almighty sequence of the banditos reading up on childcare. But it's all played with great gusto and tenderness--especially by Wayne, who's rarely been more appealing. Visually the film is one knockout shot after another. This was Ford's first Western in Technicolor, as well as his first collaboration with cinematographer Winton Hoch. What they do with sand ripples and shadows and long plumes of train smoke is rapturously beautiful. It's also often too arty by half, but who can blame them? --Richard T. Jameson
Reviews for the 3 Godfathers
List Price: $119.95Price: $83.99You Save: $35.96 (30%)The Lone Ranger: 75th Anniversary - Seasons 1 and 2
Actors: Jay Silverheels, Clayton Moore, John Hart, Lane Bradford, Gerald Mohr
ASIN : B001DJ7Q0E
Sales Rank : 7953
Director : George Archainbaud, George B. Seitz Jr., Hollingsworth Morse
Studio : Classic Media
Format : Box set, Black & White, Collector's Edition, DVD-Video, Full Screen, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 0796019815017
UPC : 796019815017
Release Date : December 11, 2008
Publisher : Classic Media
Manufacturer : Classic Media
Availability : Usually ships in 24 hours
Label : Classic Media
Running Time : 1900
DescriptionReturn with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear...when with one jaunty call, "Hi-Yo, Silver!" the Lone Ranger solidified his role as America's favorite hero of the Wild West. Mounted atop a white stallion, he remains a steadfast symbol for truth and justice, capturing the hearts and imaginations of generations of fans. Celebrate the Lone Ranger's 75th anniversary with this 13-disc collector's edition DVD, featuring seasons 1 & 2 of the original TV series.
Reviews for the The Lone Ranger: 75th Anniversary - Seasons 1 and 2
List Price: $14.98Price: $10.99You Save: $3.99 (27%)The Mark of Zorro (Special Edition) (Colorized / Black and White)
Actors: Tyrone Power, Linda Darnell, Basil Rathbone, Gale Sondergaard, Eugene Pallette
ASIN : B000A9QK8M
Sales Rank : 6147
Director : Rouben Mamoulian
Studio : 20th Century Fox
Region Code : 1
Format : Black & White, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, Special Edition, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 0024543205111
UPC : 024543205111
Release Date : December 18, 2005
Publisher : 20th Century Fox
Manufacturer : 20th Century Fox
Availability : Usually ships in 24 hours
Label : 20th Century Fox
Running Time : 93
DescriptionThis swashbuckling remake of the silent classic stars Tyrone Power as the dashing masked avenger who single-handedly saves Los Angeles from Spanish despots. Don Diego Vega (Power) is summoned home from his elite training corps in Spain to California, where he finds his father deposed and the people living in tyranny. Disguised as Zorro, a sword-wielding mystery man dressed in black, he works to restore his father to power and return the tax money stolen by the villains (J. Edward Bromberg, Basil Rathbone). He even finds time to romance the ruling tyrant's beautiful niece (Linda Darnell). Amazon.comWhen they say they don't make 'em like they used to, they're talking about 20th Century Fox's exhilarating The Mark of Zorro, starring Tyrone Power as the caped one, Linda Darnell as his love interest, and Basil Rathbone at his scurrilous best as Zorro's nemesis. More textured than the 1920 original with Douglas Fairbanks, this 1940 version has Don Diego/Zorro (Powers) returning from Madrid to defend his father and rally the caballeros (noblemen) against Los Angeles's corrupt new governor (J. Edward Bromberg), intent on taxing the peons to death. If this all sounds like an Old California redo of the classic Adventures of Robin Hood, that's because it is. Powers has a field day as Don Diego, the "fancy clown" betrothed to the governor's niece, Lolita (Darnell). Don Diego the effete snob performs silly parlor tricks, peers through pince-nez, and yawns disdainfully at one and all. Power's cowardly alter ego is so believable, his transformation to masked superhero becomes all the more thrilling. Imagine Captain Pasquale's (Rathbone) shock when, in the film's brilliantly choreographed showdown, this annoying fop turns out to be a world-class swordsman. Director Rouben Mamoulian, known for great period melodramas, does a skillful job of alternating garrison intrigue with big action scenes, including a nighttime ride that climaxes with Zorro on horseback leaping off a bridge. In the romantic highlight, Lolita confides her innermost desires to a suspiciously worldly friar. The first-rate supporting cast includes Gale Sondergaard as the governor's treacherous wife and the frog-voiced Eugene Pallette (Friar Tuck in The Adventures of Robin Hood) as a padre in cahoots with the masked one. Technically, this retelling rates an unqualified "Wow!" The cinematography, obviously influenced by Goya, makes full use of chiaroscuro shadows, and Alfred Newman's Latin-flavored score is irresistibly rousing and romantic. --Glenn Lovell
Reviews for the The Mark of Zorro (Special Edition) (Colorized / Black and White)
List Price: $14.99Price: $11.99You Save: $3 (20%)Seven Men From Now (Special Collector's Edition)
Actors: Randolph Scott, Gail Russell, Lee Marvin, Walter Reed, John Larch
ASIN : B000BDH6DU
Sales Rank : 6269
Director : Budd Boetticher
Brand : Paramount
Studio : Paramount
Region Code : 1
Format : Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Widescreen, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 9781415713952
ISBN : 1415713952
UPC : 097368876040
Release Date : December 20, 2005
Publisher : Paramount
Manufacturer : Paramount
Availability : Usually ships in 24 hours
Label : Paramount
Running Time : 78
Product DescriptionA former sheriff tracks seven men through the desert in an effort to avenge his wifes murder. Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 12/20/2005 Starring: Randolph Scott Lee Marvin Run time: 78 minutes Rating: Nr Amazon.comNot many Westerns can claim to be original. Seven Men from Now can. Its making, for the B-picture arm of John Wayne's Batjac company, was a modest enterprise. The screenwriter, Burt Kennedy, was just starting out; the director, Budd Boetticher, was a matador-turned-filmmaker with only one film of distinction (The Bullfighter and the Lady) in a journeyman career; the star, Randolph Scott, was regarded as "over the hill." Yet the three men's talents blended uncannily, producing not just a terrific Western but a cinema masterpiece--an ironical, beautifully spare bit of storytelling that became the ideal showcase for Scott's sandy reticence. You don't want anybody synopsizing the story for you; there's little of it, really, yet how it's told makes it complex and compelling. We know, from a memorable first scene, that Scott is hunting down seven men who did something terrible. He will be thrown together with several other characters, including Lee Marvin as an affable but deadly rascal with whom he shares some history. Everybody has private reasons to be traveling through Apache country. Savor every syllable of the laconic dialogue, what people say and what they don't quite say--what they think they understand about one another's motives, except that that understanding keeps getting rearranged. Seven Men from Now went missing after Wayne's death in 1979 threw the Batjac library into limbo. (Its success had inspired Scott, Boetticher, and Kennedy to collaborate on three other remarkable Westerns--The Tall T (1957), Ride Lonesome (1959), and Comanche Station (1960)--which, because they weren't made for Batjac, we've had little trouble seeing over the years.) The movie became legendary, a Holy Grail for film buffs. Now, with a beautiful restoration on DVD, it gets to be a movie again. A great one. --Richard T. Jameson
Reviews for the Seven Men From Now (Special Collector's Edition)
List Price: $12.97Price: $11.49You Save: $1.48 (11%)The Stalking Moon
Actors: Gregory Peck, Eva Marie Saint, Robert Forster
ASIN : B000QRI1GW
Sales Rank : 6580
Director : Robert Mulligan
Brand : Warner Brothers
Studio : Warner Home Video
Region Code : 1
Format : DVD-Video, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 0883929005079
UPC : 883929005079
Release Date : December 26, 2008
Publisher : Warner Home Video
Manufacturer : Warner Home Video
Availability : Usually ships in 24 hours
Label : Warner Home Video
Running Time : 109
DescriptionA veteran U.S. cavalry man retires, then runs across a woman and her catatonic son escaping enslavement. He cares for them, but must still face their captors. Amazon.comA scout in the old Southwest (Gregory Peck) undertakes to protect a white woman (Eva Marie Saint) and her half-breed son from the Apache warrior--the woman's captor-husband of 10 years--who wants them back. The scout is a man of estimable courage and resources (again, Gregory Peck), but the mostly unseen Apache is a veritable monster of determination, cunning, and bloodthirstiness: Peck and his two charges doom entire communities to extermination just by passing through the neighborhood. This fierce amalgam of Western and horror movie was the last of seven collaborations between director Robert Mulligan and producer Alan J. Pakula, of which To Kill a Mockingbird was the peak. The Stalking Moon isn't peak material, but it's a demonically effective palm-sweater, and fascinating as a prelude to Pakula's own breakout as director of the great paranoid trilogy Klute, The Parallax View, and All the President's Men. Robert Forster has an early role as a fellow, part-Indian scout. --Richard T. Jameson
Reviews for the The Stalking Moon
List Price: $14.98Price: $8.99You Save: $5.99 (40%)Broken Arrow
Actors: James Stewart, Jeff Chandler, Debra Paget, Basil Ruysdael, Will Geer
ASIN : B000OT6V0U
Sales Rank : 6515
Director : Delmer Daves
Brand : TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENT
Studio : 20th Century Fox
Region Code : 1
Format : Color, DVD-Video, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 0024543436799
UPC : 024543436799
Release Date : December 22, 2007
Publisher : 20th Century Fox
Manufacturer : 20th Century Fox
Availability : Usually ships in 24 hours
Label : 20th Century Fox
Running Time : 93
DescriptionIn 1870, when white men and Indians are fighting bitterly, Tom Jeffords (Stewart) strongly believes the Apaches are treated unfairly. After befriending their leader Cochise (Jeff Chandler) and arranging a truce, he is called upon by a U.S. Army general to negotiate a government peace treaty. Though he fulfills his mission, Jeffords soon experiences great tragedy when he, his Indian wife (Debra Paget) and good friend Cochise become targets of a renegade ambush. Amazon.comDelmer Daves's movie about ex–army scout Tom Jeffords's one-man peace mission to the Apaches, and the diplomatic partnership he formed with Cochise, has a child's-storybook clarity to it. That applies to not only its lovely Technicolor compositions but also its scenario, characterizations, and still-arresting mix of violence and delicacy. Broken Arrow wasn't the first Western to express sympathy for the Indian side in the frontier wars (Devil's Doorway came out earlier in 1950 and filed a more scathing brief on the Indians' behalf), but it was Daves's picture that had a decisive impact on popular consciousness and effectively amended the ground rules of the genre. James Stewart's Jeffords may be less compelling than the troubled Westerners the star would soon be playing for Anthony Mann, but there's real tenderness and vulnerability in the performance. Jeff Chandler scored a supporting-actor Oscar® nomination for leavening the dignity of Cochise with sly humor. --Richard T. Jameson
Reviews for the Broken Arrow
List Price: $38.99Price: $28.99You Save: $10 (26%)The Wild Wild West - The Complete First Season
Actors: Robert Conrad, Ross Martin, Michael Dunn, Jenie Jackson, Phoebe Dorin
ASIN : B000ERVJKO
Sales Rank : 6615
Director : Alan Crosland Jr., Alvin Ganzer, Bernard L. Kowalski, Don Taylor, Edward Dein
Brand : PARAMOUNT PICTURES
Studio : Paramount
Region Code : 1
Format : Box set, Black & White, Closed-captioned, DVD-Video, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 0097368881648
UPC : 097368881648
Release Date : December 06, 2006
Publisher : Paramount
Manufacturer : Paramount
Availability : Usually ships in 24 hours
Label : Paramount
Running Time : 1347
Product descriptionThe first season of the WILD WILD WEST follows the adventures of James West (Robert Conrad) and his sidekick Artemus Gordon comes as an unlikely pair of Secret Service Agents who work to protect President Ulysses S. Grant and investigate federal crimes in the old west. The 7-disc set is packed with 28 digitally remastered episodes, rare footage, audio commentaries and a special introduction to each episode from Robert Conrad. Amazon.com CBS had an instant hit on their hands when The Wild Wild West made its network debut on September 17, 1965. While many of the popular TV Westerns were running out of steam, series creator Michael Garrison ripped a page from the Ian Fleming/Sean Connery playbook and conceived The Wild Wild West as a "James Bond Western," energizing the genre by combining a traditional Western setting (primarily the San Francisco region in the 1870s) with the accoutrements of the spy genre. It was a foolproof formula, further refined by producer Fred Frieberger (who later produced the third and final season of Star Trek), and TWWW held its popular time-slot (7:30-8:30 on Friday nights) for its entire four-season run. Smart casting proved to be another source of audience appeal: While Robert Conrad fit nicely into his role (and tight-fitting costume) as macho Secret Service agent James West, doing his own challenging stunts and charming each episode's obligatory beautiful female guest star, Ross Martin proved an equally excellent choice to play West's skillful sidekick Artemus Gordon, a debonair dandy whose mastery of disguises and dialects would prove essential as they tackled dangerous crime-fighting assignments from President Ulysses S. Grant. The series' unique appeal arose from its clever and frequently bizarre plots. Every episode title began with a variation of "The Night of..." (including the pilot, "The Night of the Inferno," with more unusual titles thereafter), and as Jim and Arte plotted strategies from the comfort of their tricked-out custom railroad car, their exploits frequently led them into realms of the occult, mad science, bizarre inventions, and villains so eccentrically twisted that they became instant favorites among the show's growing legion of fans. Best of them all was the nefarious Miguelito Loveless, first appearing in "The Night the Wizard Shook the Earth" (original airdate 10/01/65) and played to perfection by dwarf actor Michael Dunn, a '60s TV regular familiar to Star Trek fans from his memorable role in the original series episode "Plato's Stepchildren." A gifted, intellectual renaissance man (like Ross Martin) with an angelic singing voice, Dunn was an overnight sensation, guest-starring in four of the first season's 28 episodes, with six more appearances in subsequent seasons. Dunn's gleeful malevolence (accompanied by his mute henchman Voltaire, played by giant actor Richard Kiel) was an essential addition to the series' sideshow esthetic; weirdness, humor, gorgeous women, and devious ingenuity (in plotting, action and gadgetry), became the trademarks that set TWWW apart from its more conventional TV Western competition. --Jeff Shannon On the DVD
For this much-anticipated DVD release, Paramount has made above-average efforts to satisfy fans. Virtually every episode looks and sounds practically brand-new, and with TWWW expert Sue Kesler serving as DVD co-producer, this seven-disc set features a wealth of archival extras, many culled from Kesler's own research as author of the out-of-print guidebook The Wild Wild West: The Series. In addition to excerpts from audio-taped interviews with Frieberger, writer (and "Dr. Loveless" creator) John Kneubuhl (who tells a fascinating story of how Liberace almost guest-starred on the show), music composer Richard Markowitz, and special-effects technician Tim Smyth, each episode includes brief but informative audio introductions by Robert Conrad, who also appears (with Martin) discussing the show (and their subsequent TV-movie revival of TWWW) in a 1978 talk-show appearance. Excerpts from the original music-theme scoring sessions were found in UCLA's Film and Television archive, and other extras include a network series promo clip (from a later season, after TWWW switched to color), a sketch by Ross Martin, a photo gallery, and even one of Conrad's notorious Eveready Battery commercials from the late '70s. All in all, this 40th Anniversary package should give TWWW fans ample reason to celebrate, boding well for the other season-sets to follow. --Jeff Shannon
Reviews for the The Wild Wild West - The Complete First Season
List Price: $14.98Price: $13.49You Save: $1.49 (10%)The Man Behind the Gun / Thunder Over the Plains / Riding Shotgun
Actor: Randolph Scott
ASIN : B000HT38I0
Sales Rank : 7477
Studio : Warner Home Video
Region Code : 1
Format : Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 0012569760257
UPC : 012569760257
Release Date : December 07, 2006
Publisher : Warner Home Video
Manufacturer : Warner Home Video
Availability : Usually ships in 24 hours
Label : Warner Home Video
Running Time : 238
DescriptionTall Randolph Scott is every inch a hero in three bullet-laced Westerns. The secessionist fervor of the 1850s comes to California, and undercover Army officer Scott aims to thwart the separatist passions in The Man Behind the Gun (Side A). There's Thunder over the Plains (Side B) and lightning in Scott's holsters in the second film. He portrays an army captain assigned to a lawless area of Texas after the Civil War. Next, Scott is Riding Shotgun (Side B) and heading into a whirlwind of trouble: a mob bent on vigilante justice wrongly suspects him of robbing a stagecoach. An action bull's-eye all the way! Amazon.comThis terrific triple-feature of Randolph Scott "B-movie" Westerns shows how Scott's image as a quiet, reliable gunman grew more refined and complex as the 1950s progressed. Scott is best remembered for the definitive Westerns he made with director Budd Boetticher in the late '50s (under the imprimatur of his Ranown production company, co-owned with producer Harry Joe Brown), and Hollywood historians would later speculate on Scott's allegedly intimate relationship with closeted gay star Rock Hudson, but the Warner Bros. Westerns on this DVD represent a period of transition, as Scott's screen persona underwent a fascinating and resonant makeover. Under the direction of Felix Feist (who would soon migrate to a prolific career in television), Scott plays an undercover Army officer in The Man Behind the Gun (1953), a standard-issue oater that pits Scott against secessionists in 1850s California, with a cast that includes Patrice Wymore (as Scott's schoolteacher love interest) and future Gilligan's island skipper Alan Hale Jr. Thunder Over the Plains (1953) and Riding Shotgun (1954) are two of the six Westerns that Scott made with one-eyed director Andre de Toth, signaling a maturity that would continue to deepen his screen persona. In the former, Randy's a Texas Ranger whose loyalties are tested when he's charged with capturing a carpetbagger (Charles McGraw) who's threatening to overrun the state. Riding Shotgun finds Scott doing just that, guarding stagecoaches and defending himself against a vigilante mob that suspects him of robbery. All three films deal with Scott defending his honor in a lawless land where honor (and expert handling of a six-gun) is all that a man can claim for his own. As action-packed B-movie programmers they can hardly be called classics, but this is sturdy, well-crafted entertainment, bolstered by the efficient Warner Bros. stable of contract artists including veteran cinematographer Bert Glennon and composer David Buttolph, whose work on all three films is characteristically superb. And while Warner Home Video hasn't lavished their full restoration process on this two-sided DVD (resulting in Technicolor films that look good but still show signs of mild fading, scratches, etc.), the budget pricing and triple-feature capacity make this an irresistible bargain by any standard. If you're going to buy this disc, you shouldn't hesitate to add its tandem partner that includes another Randolph Scott triple-feature of Fort Worth, Colt .45, and Tall Man Riding. If you're a Western buff seeking a greater appreciation of Scott's laudable career, you simply can't go wrong. --Jeff Shannon
Reviews for the The Man Behind the Gun / Thunder Over the Plains / Riding Shotgun
List Price: $14.98Price: $13.49You Save: $1.49 (10%)Hombre
Actors: Paul Newman, Fredric March, Richard Boone, Diane Cilento, Cameron Mitchell
ASIN : B000NQRR34
Sales Rank : 6489
Director : Martin Ritt
Brand : TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENT
Studio : 20th Century Fox
Region Code : 1
Format : Color, DVD-Video, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 0024543042112
UPC : 024543042112
Release Date : December 04, 2002
Publisher : 20th Century Fox
Manufacturer : 20th Century Fox
Availability : Usually ships in 24 hours
Label : 20th Century Fox
Running Time : 111
DescriptionJohn Russell (Paul Newman), a white man raised by a band of Arizona Apaches, is forced to confront the society he despises when he sells the boarding house his father has left him. While leaving town by stagecoach, several bigoted passengers insist he ride outside with the driver (Martin Balsam). But when outlaws leave them all stranded in the desert, Russell may be their only hope for survival! Diane Cilento, Frederic March, Richard Boone and Barbara Rush co-star in this action-packed Western classic. Amazon.comPaul Newman is the blue-eyed "savage," a white man raised by the Indians who rejects so-called civilized society for his spiritual family, in Elmore Leonard's take on Stagecoach. It's not exactly Grand Hotel on wheels. The hypocrites, crooks, and racists Newman travels with cast him out of their polite company in the coach, then turn to him for salvation when outlaws hold up the stage and hunt them through the desert. It's hard to "like" Newman's cold, hard survivor, but you can't help but respect his cunning and his unsentimental directness. Fredric March is sweaty with corruption as a crooked Indian agent, and Richard Boone smiles his deadly charm as a lusty bad man. While this 1966 Western wears its social politics on its dusty sleeves, director Martin Ritt tempers the revisionist moral of the tale with a stripped-down ruthlessness befitting the rugged, unforgiving landscape. --Sean Axmaker
Reviews for the Hombre
List Price: $49.99Price: $34.99You Save: $15 (30%)The Wild Wild West - The Fourth Season
Actors: Robert Conrad, Ross Martin, Dick Cangey, Whitey Hughes, Red West
ASIN : B00105307O
Sales Rank : 5789
Director : Alex Nicol, Bernard McEveety, Charles R. Rondeau, Herb Wallerstein, Irving J. Moore
Brand : Paramount
Studio : Paramount
Region Code : 1
Format : Box set, Color, DVD-Video, Full Screen, Restored, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 0097368532144
UPC : 097368532144
Release Date : December 18, 2008
Publisher : Paramount
Manufacturer : Paramount
Availability : Usually ships in 24 hours
Label : Paramount
Running Time : 1216
DescriptionJames West and Artemus Gordon are two agents of President Grant who take their splendidly appointed private train through the west to fight evil. Half science fiction and half western, the Artemus designs a series of interesting gadgets for James that would make Inspector Gadget proud. A light hearted adventure series. Amazon.comAt one uncharacteristically poignant point during Wild Wild West's final season, secret service agent James West raises a glass to toast "absent friends." That would be Artemis Gordon, West's resourceful sidekick and a master of disguise and the odd "diversion." Ross Martin, who portrayed Gordon, had suffered a heart attack and was missing in action for several episodes, so missed that it took several actors to fill his shoes: Charles Aidman as Jeremy Pike, William Scharlett (who early in the season portrays a villain in the episode, "The Night of the Gruesome Games") as Frank Harper, Pat Paulson, the hangdog mock-Presidential candidate on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, as the seemingly milquetoast Bosley Cranston in "The Night of the Camera," and Alan "The Skipper" Hale, Jr. as chemist Ned Brown in "The Night of the Sabatini Death," (which also features Jim Backus and contains a cute Gilligan’s Island in-joke at episode’s end). With or without Martin, this was a wild, wild season that offers genre-bending kicks in episodes that evoke James Bondian espionage, Jules Verne fantasy, bizarre Avengers-style villainy, and even The Phantom of the Opera. James and company are up against some entertainingly over-the-top megalomaniacs bent on world domination. Of course, the sun couldn’t set on the West without one last encounter with the series’ most popular villain, the "dictatorial, vain, short-tempered, and occasionally unreasonable" Dr. Loveless (Michael Dunn), who re-emerges yet again to pass judgment over those he professes to have wronged him in "The Night of Marguerite’s Revenge." Two of TV’s comedy icons, Harvey Koran and a pre-Mary Tyler Moore Show Ted Knight, play it straight as formidable foes in "The Night of the Big Blackmail" and "The Night of the Kraken," respectively. "The Night of the Winged Terror," the series’ only two-parter, is an effective creep show featuring a hypnotizing bulging-brained adversary. Conrad, as one character compliments him, is "better than ever," whether dispatching goons (he performed all his own stunts) or romancing the ladies ("He said something about showing the big dipper to the daughter of the Lithuanian ambassador," Artemis explains West’s absence in "Big Blackmail"). While there are signs that the series was poised to jump the shark, it is too bad it ended before further encounters with Professor Montague, who is introduced in "The Night of the Janis" as the Q-like creator of such nifty gadgets as a harmonica gun. --Donald Liebenson
Reviews for the The Wild Wild West - The Fourth Season
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