Colt. 45- The Complete Series Blu-ray Review
“Colt. 45” will appeal to fans of TV westerns.
Based on the 1950 film of the same name, “Colt. 45” is a 1957 TV western series developed by Roy Huggins. The 1870’s set series revolves around Christopher Colt- an undercover U.S. Army Intelligence Corps. agent who disguises himself as a Colt. 45 gun salesman. Throughout the 3 season run comprised of 67 episodes, Colt chases and captures outlaws, engages in gunfights, fights off bandits, helps people (people being framed), sells guns, seeks justice for the innocent, takes on odd jobs (like bodyguard stints), takes on government jobs (like protecting a payroll), and encounters gunslingers, Indian attacks, a pirate, thieves, rebels, and Army deserters. In season 3, a new character emerges with Christopher’s cousin Sam Colt, Jr. essentially becoming the lead star during the season.
Long unavailable and somewhat forgotten, Warner Archive has resurrected this series from the vaults. Fans of 50’s and 60’s TV series (especially westerns) should definitely take note of this one as it’s certain to be in their comfort zone.
Admittedly, it’s a rather formulaic western that doesn’t rival classic shows like “The Rifleman” or “Rawhide.” With that said, it’s a perfectly entertaining television western with a heroic lead of strong morals that offers up all of the tropes that western fans treasure. On top of that, the series includes storylines involving real-life figures real-life figures like Pat Garrett, Billy The Kid, Doc Holliday, Buffalo Bill, and Jesse James and a whole host of notable guest stars Charles Bronson, Angie Dickinson, Adam West, Alan Hale Jr., Sandy Koufax, Leonard Nimoy, Robert Conrad and many more. Although no episode truly stands out here, episodes featuring big guest stars tend to be superior. Among my favorites were “The Devil’s Godson” which features Adam West as Doc Holliday and the pilot episode “Judgment Day” which serves as a quality introduction to the show. Fun fact- Adam West shows up as other characters in the series as well!
The series is led by Wayde Preston who, while a bit stiff acting wise, does a serviceable job as the lead. Donald May enters the picture as Sam Colt, Jr. and livens up the series before it eventually ended. He seemed a bit more comfortable with the western action and had more of a personality (at least in my opinion).
Video/Audio:
Presentation: 1.33:1 1080p. How does it look? The best part of this entire set is the picture quality which has been beautifully remastered from 4K scans of the original camera negatives. The B&W episodes look brand new; they are that crisp looking. It would be great to see more classic WB series get this same type of treatment.
Audio Track: 2.0 DTS-HD MA. How does it sound? The audio is super clean as well.
No extras have been included.
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