12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
How the West was Fun, April 30, 2001
This review is from: Smithsonian: Western Favorites (Smithsonian Collection) (Audio Cassette)
I'm not much of a Western fan, but the collection contained a "Tales of the Texas Rangers" episode, so I bought it. I was not disappointed. In fact, I was pleasantly surprised. The "Texas Rangers" story was, of course, a 20th Century detective story, but it had a Western setting, and Ranger Jase Pearson got to ride his trusty horse Charcoal as he tracked the bad guy through the mesquite. "Texas Rangers" was a little out of place, but not much.
The other stories easily divided themselves into three types:
[1] Juvenile Westerns: "The Lone Ranger", "Hopalong Cassidy", and "The Cisco Kid". All three were boyhood heroes of mine, and the stories proved quite enjoyable. "Hopalong Cassidy" actually turned in a creditable mystery. I also learned that Clayton Moore was not the only person ever to play the Lone Ranger. Brace Beamer did a superlative job of playing the masked man.
[2] Western episodes from anthology series: "The Lux Radio Theatre" turned in a radio dramatization of the movie "The Plainsman", an inaccurate, forgettable biopic on Wild Bill Hickock. "Screen Director's Assignment" presented "Stagecoach", directed by John Ford and starring John Wayne and Ward Bond. The production values were excellent. They had to cut some characters and delete plot features to compress the movie into a 30 minute radio play, but the story was still compelling. "Wild Jack Rhett", from "Escape", inspired the long running radio and TV series "Gunsmoke". The show might also have influenced John Wayne's final Western, "The Shootist".
[3] Adult Westerns: "Gunsmoke" has to be the archetypical adult Western, and William Conrad makes for a convincing Matt Dillon. Hearing his voice, however, I couldn't help but conjure up a mental image of his later TV character, "Cannon". The other offerings, however, were every bit as good. Jimmy Stewart turned in a great performance as "The Six Shooter" in a melodramatic murder mystery. The episode from "Frontier Gentleman" may have been influenced by the Greek myth of the Bed of Procrustes. It might very well also have influenced or been influenced by Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho". "Have Gun, Will Travel" presented a rather trite story of the dude Easterner coming of age in the rough and tumble West.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Lots of fun and memories, February 25, 2009
This review is from: Smithsonian: Western Favorites (Smithsonian Collection) (Audio Cassette)
The Smithsonian Collection of Old Time Radio Westerns is copywrited 1996 by Radio Spirits, Inc. The retail price pre-printed on the box is $24.98. I hope you enjoy these shows as much as I did.
The Shows:
1. Lone Ranger 07-09-54 "Trouble at the Rafter H" w/ Brace Beemer, John Todd, Fred Foy
2. Screen Director's Assignment 01-09-40 "Stagecoach" w/ John Wayne, Claire Trevor, Ward Bond
3. Cisco Kid 1950s "Hotheaded Sheepherder" w/ Jack Mather, Harry Lang
4. Lux Radio Theater 05-31-37 "The Plainsman" w/ Fredric March, Jean Arthur, Anthony Quinn
5. Tales of the Texas Rangers 08-10-52 "Last Stop" w/ Joel McCrea, Whitfield Connor
6. Gunsmoke 06-17-56 "Cheap Labor" w/ William Conrad, Parley Baer, Georgia Ellis
7. Escape 12-17-50 "Wild Jack Rhett" w/ John Dehner, Lawrence Dobkin, Parley Baer
8. Six Shooter 05-06-54 "Anna Nordquist" w/ James Stewart, Harry Bartell
9. Hopalong Cassidy 04-09-50 "Hoppy Takes the Bull by the Horns" w/ William Boyd, Joe DuVal
10. Frontier Gentleman 11-02-58 "Nasty People" w/ John Dehner, Parley Baer, Virginia Gregg
11. Have Gun, Will Travel 01-11-59 "The Englishman" w/ John Dehner, Ben Wright
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