BAT MASTERSON - SEASON 1(1958)
Bat Masterson is Gene Barry's wonderful series about a
the man who was known as fair and likeable! Always for
the down trodden! And a legend in his own min - - oops,
time!
While this series is about the old west and sometimes
deals with pretty serious subjects, it still is done
in a very lighthearted way! Probably why I enjoyed it
as a youngun!!
SEASON 1:
EPISODE 01: DOUBLE SHOWDOWN(Oct. 08, 1958):
Bat rides into a town to help out an old friend who's
being railroaded out of business(he owns a gambling
hall)!
This is interesting as it shows two possible endings!
Guest starring: Elisha Cook Jr.(The Maltese Falcon, House
On Haunted Hill, Magnum P.I.), King Donovan(Invasion Of The
Body Snatchers[1956], The Bob Cummings Show)! A
EPISODE 02: TWO GRAVES FOR SWAN VALLEY(Oct. 15, 1958):
Bat comes to a new town run by a very mean dude!!
Guest starring here is Broderick Crawford(Highway Partrol)! A
EPISODE 03: DYNAMITE BLOWS TWO WAYS(Oct. 22, 1958):
Bat sits down at a poker game in Laramie and promptly
wins 1000 head of cattle! But in the talk afterword,
he discovers that the cattle are worth 5 times what
they're worth in town in Cheyenne! Come to find out,
no one seems to be able to get there from Laramie!!
What they all doen't know is that there's a traitor
amongst them herding the cattle! B+
EPISODE 04: STAMPEDE AT TENT CITY(Oct. 29, 1958):
This time Bat takes on a group of horse rustlers!
Guest starring: William Conrad(Cannon, the original voice
of Matt Dillon in Gunsmoke on the radio, Jake And The
Fatman), James Best(Dukes Of Hazard)! A
EPISODE 05: THE FIGHTER(Nov. 05, 1958):
Boxing, why'd it have to be boxing! C
EPISODE 06: BEAR BAIT(Nov. 12, 1958):
Bat is "hired" to guide a dude to Canada, who just
happens to be a bank robber and murderer!!
Guest starring: James Westerfield(On The Waterfront,
The Absent-Minded Professor, Bikini Beach, Son Of
Flubber)! A
EPISODE 07: A NOOSE FITS ANYBODY(Nov. 19, 1958):
A friend of Bat's asks him to see if he can help his
brother who's in jail for a murder he idn't commit! A
EPISODE 08: DUDE'S FOLLY(Nov. 26, 1958):
Bat tries to help a young man who's always been
trodden on! Was it a good idea??! B-
EPISODE 09: THE TRESURE OF WORRY HILL(Dec. 03, 1958):
Some people come to Bat and ask him to help them find
a buried treasure!!
Guest starring: Ross Martin(The Wild, Wild West)! B
EPISODE 10: CHEYENNE CLUB(Dec. 17, 1958):
Bat gets asked by a man to discover who's cheating at
the local poker game!!
Guest starring: Louise Fletcher(One Flew Over The Cuckoo's
Nest, Star Trek: DS9)! A
EPISODE 11: GENERAL SHERMAN'S MARCH THROUGH DODGE CITY(Dec. 24, 1958):
And the citizens are not very happy about it!! Bat is
deputized to keep the general and President Hayes safe! B
EPISODE 12: TRAIL PIRATE(Dec. 31, 1958):
There's a "trail pirate" who's been shanghaiing wagon trains
and there's a train heading out from town that Bat has volunteered
to guide, but the stupid woman supposedly running the whole
shebang thinks he's the pirate1! B
EPISODE 13: DOUBLE TROUBLE IN TRINIDAD(Jan. 07, 1959):
There's a man in Trinidad who's posing as Bat and of course
Bat show up in town to find out what's going on!! A
EPISODES 14: ELECTION DAY(Jan. 14, 1959):
Bat goes up against an extortionist! A
EPISODE 15: ONE BULLET FROM BROKEN BOW(Jan. 21, 1959):
The white men think that they own the whole counry
and keep trying to puch forward, when the Indians
try to push back and take a couple of girls hostage
(not as young as the story would leaveyou to believe!)!
Guest starring: an uncredited Robert Conrad(The Wild,
Wild West, Hawaiian Eye, Black Sheep Squadran)! A
EPISODE 16: A PERSONAL MATTER(Jan. 28, 1959):
A trail pirate(Hale) bushwakes Bat and steals his
horse, gun and saddle!!
Guest starring: Alan Hale Jr.(Gilligan's Island)! A
EPISODE 17: LICENSE TO CHEAT(Feb. 04, 1959):
Bat lands in a town where cheating at cards is not
only ignored, but encouraged!! A
EPISODE 18: SHARPSHOOTER(Feb. 11, 1959):
While in Dodge City, Kansas a man who's supposed to
be Bat's friend hires a sharpshooter to kill Bat!! A
EPISODE 19: RIVER BOAT(Feb. 18, 1959):
River pirates take over a river boat(bet that surprises
you) and robs the patrons on it, including Bat!! A
EPISODE 20: BATTLE OF THE PASS(Feb. 25, 1959):
There's a race to build a railroad between two factions,
and Bat takes the side of the guy that doesn't owe him
money!!
EPISODE 21: MARKED DECK(Mar. 11, 1959):
Another croocked town, poker game and sheriff!!
Guest starring: Denver Pyle(no realation to Gomer! LOL,
anyway, known for Dukes Of Hazard, Maverick[movie])!! A
EPISODE 22: INCIDENT IN LEADVILLE(Mar. 18, 1959):
Bat comes to a town wherein a woman who owns a
newspaper rags on him, calling him a murderer and
other fun stuff! She finds out just how wrong she
can be when he comes to her aid!
Guest starring: Edward Platt(Get Smart)! A-
EPISODE 23: THE TUBLEWEED WAGON(Mar. 25, 1959):
Bat shows up to take a murderer to his trial when
he finds out that the dude is about to get married!
Guest starring: John Carradine(the father of the several
famous Carradines, he played Dr. Frankenstein, Count
Dracula, Ebenezer Scrooge as well as many more monster
movies!)! A
EPISODE 24: BRUNETTE BOMBSHELL(Apr. 01, 1959):
An episode that could never be made today! LOL! Great
ending! Anyway, apparently Bat owns a boxing club of
which a group of very unsavory characters, including
the Mayor's wife, want to get rid of to make a large
casino! B+
EPISODES 25: DEADLINE(Apr. 08, 1959):
A couple of bandits stop a stagecoach just to steal
the horses! It's all about a woman trying to stop
an execution! A
EPISODE 26: MAN OF ACTION(Apr. 22, 1959):
A former associate of the doctor has excaped his captors
and he is out for retribution!!! He insists that there is
a conspiracy that's headed toward the good doctor! A
EPISODE 27: A MATTER OF HONOR(Apr. 29, 1959):
Well all he wanted was a new set of clothes!!
Guest starring: Harold J. Stone(Girl Happy, The Wrong Man)! A
EPISODE 28: LOTTERY OF DEATH(May 13, 1959):
Bat wins half a lottery ticket, and the sister of the
dude he won it from is steamed! Later that same episode,
the dude gets killed by someone who now owns half of
$100,000!!! A
EPISODE 29: THE DEATH OF BAT MASTERSON(May 20, 1959):
People are dying at an alarming rate and in unusual ways
in a small town and the intrepid troup go there to untangle
the web!!
Guest starring here is Claud Akin(Sherlock Holmes: Incident
At Victoria Falls, The Gambler Returns: The Luck Of The Draw,
The Mis-Adventures Of Sheriff Lobo, Movin' On), Ruta Lee
(Seven Brides For Seven Brothers, Funny Face)!! A
EPISODE 30: THE SECRET OF DEATH(May 27, 1959):
Bat has been hired by the government to bust a crooked
group of businessmen in Cheyenne! A
EPISODE 31: PROMISED LAND(June 10, 1959):
Bat gets hired by crooks to run their town's bank
because they don't trust each other! Problem is, they
shouldn't have trusted the bookkeeper!!
Guest starring: Rance Howard(father of both Ron[Ronnie]
and Clint!, 3 episodes of Babylon 5) A
EPISODE 32: THE CONSPIRACY: PART ONE(June 17, 1959):
There's supposedly a co-conspirator in the Lincoln
assassination, a dude named Surratt, of whom the local
newspaper is doing a story on! A couple of issues here:
the niece of the dude wants Bat to clear his name, and
the dude is dead!! B+
EPISODE 33: THE CONSPIRACY: PART TWO(June 24, 1959):
Continued from the previous episode!! A-
EPISODE 34: THE BLACK PEARLS(July 01, 1959:
Bat goes to jail! OK, he's there to try to get information
from a prisoner who robbed a train and stole a pearl
necklace that another dude wants back!!
Guest starring: James Coburn(In Like Flint, Our Man Flint,
The Great Escape, The Magnificent Seven, Charade, Hudson
Hawk)! A
EPISODE 35: THE DESERT SHIP(July 15, 1959):
Bat meets up with a father daughter team looking for
a sunken treasure supposedly in the Colorado River!
Guest starring: Michael Forest(Star Trek: TOS episode
"Who Mourns For Adonais?", Star Trek: TNV epsiode "Pilgrim
Of Eternity")! A
EPISODE 36: THE ROMANY KNIVES(July 22, 1959):
Bat saves a Gypsy's life and he repays him by "giving"
him a girl that they found along a wagon train!! At
first Bat says no, but then another of the group says
the woman is his! Bat takes her, and the other dude goes
out after them! A
EPISODE 37: BUFFALO KILL(July 29, 1959):
Last episode of the season!
Bat takes over for a bully to lead a buffalo hunting
party! He's a real sweetheart and frames Bat for killing
a Sioux Indian brave! A
From another reviewer at IMDb.com:
This was a fun series that wasn't supposed to be taken seriously.
Gene Barry was perfect as the suave Masterson, who apparently made
a living playing cards at nearly tavern west of the Mississippi
River. It was a preview for his role in "Burke's Law" five years
later. Like with all westerns of that era, there is a lot of
drinking, fighting, kissing and killing. The bad guys wore black
hats and the women were (almost every time)gorgeous -- even if
they seem to be wearing 10 pounds of clothes. Watch as well for
some guest character actors who later went on to modest successes
(like James Best, Louise Fletcher, Ross Martin).It's worth a half
hour of your time. - dwright53