MovieChat Forums > Tombstone Territory (1957) Discussion > Great series, despite fatal flaws

Great series, despite fatal flaws

posted 10 years ago by qormi
3 replies | jump to latest

The acting was top notch. Pat Conway was just as good as Chuck Connors was on The Rifleman. The direction of Tombstone Territory was very innovative...lots of interesting angles and big screen techniques.The dialog was great and the plots were interesting. But the reason it lasted just a year and a half before going into syndication may well be the strange format.....the unnecessary narration naming the month, day, and year; and the out of place newspaper editor with a tie-in to the Tombstone Epitaph daily news. This baloney just bogged the show down.The theme song would have been nice if it weren't for the weird whistling in the background. Take away these flaws and I'm sure the show would have enjoyed a much longer run.

[–] aa56 9 years ago

I agree. How can you recite dates that occurred during the same year as the gunfight at the O.K. Corral yet completely replace the Earps with the fictional sheriff Clay Hollister? And in the first episode, "Gunslinger from Galesville," outlaw Curly Bill Brocius is deputized??? Must have been a show for people who knew nothing about history. Also in that episode was sloppy direction. When Hollister and Monk face off, the long shot shows Monk with his back to the water trough, but from Hollister's POV, Monk's back is against the horses.

Despite these flaws, it was as good as the other westerns of that era.

[–] carrie45 9 years ago

No mention of the Earps was probably because Wyatt Earp was on at the time. I'm watching on GetTV right now. They didn't play the theme song which lyrics I still remember, at the beginning. I hope they play it at the end.

[–] david_weinstock 8 years ago

i am watching 'the assassin' episode. it is one thing to show gunfights without blood on a fifties tv show, but supposedly six guys picked up the sheriff after he was shot in a fake gun duel and someone in the scene would definiitely have expected a lot of blood. good music, but too many cliches. ernie kovacs did a feature about 'too many westerns'. this is an example.