Smartorhypo
Highly Overrated But Still Good
Iseerphia
All that we are seeing on the screen is happening with real people, real action sequences in the background, forcing the eye to watch as if we were there.
Kaydan Christian
A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.
Jerrie
It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...
robinsdh
The earlier reviews jarred my memory because I had not noticed the emphasis on the outlaws' point of view. Of course, it was mentioned that the theme shifted to mainstream good guys vs bad. But, come to think of it, the shows I do remember spent an awful lot of time on the "bad guys." Thanks to the reviews, I understand why now.But irony is what I remember most. In one episode, an embezzling bank teller is blackmailed into helping rob the bank. He feels trapped because he invested in silver only to have it decline in value. As the show wraps up--he and the professional crook caught--a prospector waving a paper gleefully shouts "Silver's up!" The best shows were like that.
Johnboy1221
This has to be my favorite TV western series. The first season was the better season, as it was rough, tough, and action-packed, with great guest stars (Cliff Robertson, Jack Lord, Jack Chaplain, Martin Landau, Robert Culp, Dean Jones, Robert Lansing, James Coburn, Dean Stockwell, Steve Forrest, etc). My favorite episode from the entire series was Sam Bass. Since I tended to favor the bad guys, this series was right up my alley, as it focused on the bad guys in every episode. The guys at Timeless Media tell me that they are trying to get this series for DVD release, so I can only hope that I live long enough to enjoy it again, after all these years. It will make a terrific box-set.
rexxous
I vividly remember this show as a kid. It had great music, as noted by others, and had a certain grittiness about it that was compelling. Don Collier had the perfect face for a US Marshal -- tough, weary, cynical, and (occasionally) smiling. That he was not handsome in a typical Hollywood way helped the series. He looked like he'd really just spent the last few days in the saddle on the trail of outlaws. Collier played the role of lawman in a serious and responsible way like all westerns back then, but somehow more realistically. I also remember the show for great shoot-out scenes, usually at the end of the show. TV westerns in the early 60s were going through a brief period of especially graphic shoot-outs, and Outlaws benefited from this. I don't mean blood or screams of pain, of course, but a lot of grazing bullets and fancy gunplay. The bad guys when shot would crash very forcefully through windows behind them, or would flip over the hitching post rail, etc. Great time for stuntmen. Great time to be a kid watching this show. I'd love to see it again.
bkoganbing
Perhaps the concept of telling the stories of the west from the bad guy's point of view had to wait until Law and Order Criminal Intent made its debut on NBC. Certainly nobody was as quirky as law enforcement official as Vincent Donofrio on The Outlaws.The Outlaws lasted for two seasons on NBC and it was set in Oklahoma Territory and it being a territory and not a state until 1906, it was a place where the outlaws roamed free, but for the presence of United States Marshals. Barton MacLane who in fact played mostly bad guys in his film career was the chief U.S. Marshal for the territory. He had two deputies Don Collier and Jock Gaynor. In the second season Collier was promoted to chief marshal as MacLane became territorial governor and Collier got Bruce Yarnell as a deputy. It didn't help, The Outlaws got canceled after two seasons.One thing the show did do was give Don Collier a long career in westerns. Take a look at that man's credits, I don't think you'll find three non-western films there. He was certainly a familiar presence in many a horse opera. Collier was probably born thirty years too late, he would have made a great B picture cowboy hero.I've often wondered though, did MacLane or Collier have a certain one eyed marshal named Rooster Cogburn working for them?