Post by Zone Fighter on Aug 8, 2005 18:40:38 GMT -8
Stories of the Century (1954)
2 seasons, 39 episodes
Jim Davis - Matt Clark
Mary Castle - Frankie Adams (First Season)
Kristine Miller - Margaret Jones (Second Season)
Railroad detective Matt Clark and his female partner track down outlaws and renegade Indians.
This series consisted of fictionalized accounts of the capture or killing of famous real life western outlaws. As each episode was only 30 minutes years had to be condensed down into a few minutes. Sometimes there were odd changes. For instance instead of The Wild Bunch being led by Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid its led by Butch Cassidy and the Smiling Kid and Chief Crazy Horse instead of being shot is clubbed over the head. Some names were familiar to me some not. The more famous names include Doc Holiday, Geronimo, the Younger Brothers, Frank and Jessie James, Billy the Kid, Belle Star, Chief Crazy Horse, Black Bart, the Wild Bunch, the Daltons. The inclusion of Matt Clark and either woman detective is totally fictional and doesn't always fit well.
Some trivia: the first man to rob a stage coach was the hooded, shotgun toting bandit Black Bart. Although Jessie James was probably the most famous train robber, Rube Burrows was the first man to rob a train single handed. The infamous Billy the Kid, before being shot dead at age 21, by Sheriff Pat Garrat, killed 21 men, but he was far from the most deadly gunman of the old west. That would be John Wesley Hardin who had killed 40 men. He suffered a similar fate to that of Billy the Kid. There were some female outlaws, the best known was probably Belle Star known as the "Bandit Queen". She married several and was friends with the likes of the Younger Brothers and the James boys. Somebody ambushed her, with a shotgun. Her killer was never identified.
This was a low budget series and sometimes the acting was very bad. Several times Matt is supposed to be surprised so he responds with a very poorly done "Wow". Jim Davis heart was obviously not in it. One crook's grabbing his leg and falling down was done so badly I thought he was faking it to trick the posse, but it turned out he was actually hurt and was really surrendering. That actor was just bad at his job.
Despite the flaws "Stories of the Centuries" is a good western series. If nothing else you'd learn about a lot of real people you've never known about before.
All 39 b/w episodes are available on a 4 disc DVD set entitled "Legends of the old West". The box says "42 episodes". The extra 3 are from a later series about "Judge Roy Bean" and are in color. The "Stories of the Century" episodes are not in proper order which is not really a problem except that Matt seems to switch back and fourth between two different partners, which is not what actually happened.
I bought this 4 disc set at Best Buy for $9.99 (plus tax).
Although Jim Davis spent most of his career in westerns, sometimes playing the good guy, sometimes the bad guy, he's probably best known for his final role of John Ross 'Jock' Ewing, Sr in TV's "Dallas".
2 seasons, 39 episodes
Jim Davis - Matt Clark
Mary Castle - Frankie Adams (First Season)
Kristine Miller - Margaret Jones (Second Season)
Railroad detective Matt Clark and his female partner track down outlaws and renegade Indians.
This series consisted of fictionalized accounts of the capture or killing of famous real life western outlaws. As each episode was only 30 minutes years had to be condensed down into a few minutes. Sometimes there were odd changes. For instance instead of The Wild Bunch being led by Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid its led by Butch Cassidy and the Smiling Kid and Chief Crazy Horse instead of being shot is clubbed over the head. Some names were familiar to me some not. The more famous names include Doc Holiday, Geronimo, the Younger Brothers, Frank and Jessie James, Billy the Kid, Belle Star, Chief Crazy Horse, Black Bart, the Wild Bunch, the Daltons. The inclusion of Matt Clark and either woman detective is totally fictional and doesn't always fit well.
Some trivia: the first man to rob a stage coach was the hooded, shotgun toting bandit Black Bart. Although Jessie James was probably the most famous train robber, Rube Burrows was the first man to rob a train single handed. The infamous Billy the Kid, before being shot dead at age 21, by Sheriff Pat Garrat, killed 21 men, but he was far from the most deadly gunman of the old west. That would be John Wesley Hardin who had killed 40 men. He suffered a similar fate to that of Billy the Kid. There were some female outlaws, the best known was probably Belle Star known as the "Bandit Queen". She married several and was friends with the likes of the Younger Brothers and the James boys. Somebody ambushed her, with a shotgun. Her killer was never identified.
This was a low budget series and sometimes the acting was very bad. Several times Matt is supposed to be surprised so he responds with a very poorly done "Wow". Jim Davis heart was obviously not in it. One crook's grabbing his leg and falling down was done so badly I thought he was faking it to trick the posse, but it turned out he was actually hurt and was really surrendering. That actor was just bad at his job.
Despite the flaws "Stories of the Centuries" is a good western series. If nothing else you'd learn about a lot of real people you've never known about before.
All 39 b/w episodes are available on a 4 disc DVD set entitled "Legends of the old West". The box says "42 episodes". The extra 3 are from a later series about "Judge Roy Bean" and are in color. The "Stories of the Century" episodes are not in proper order which is not really a problem except that Matt seems to switch back and fourth between two different partners, which is not what actually happened.
I bought this 4 disc set at Best Buy for $9.99 (plus tax).
Although Jim Davis spent most of his career in westerns, sometimes playing the good guy, sometimes the bad guy, he's probably best known for his final role of John Ross 'Jock' Ewing, Sr in TV's "Dallas".
