In this episode the British are still running things with no mention of an uprising against the British. In the previous episode the American Revolution is over!! This happens regularly in this series, as if the writers can;t remember what they wrote last .. it gets confusing at times.
2 Reviews
Filler time
militarymuseu-883991 May 2023
River pirate Joe Snag returns, this time leading a group of highwaymen - the "Cumberland Buckaroos" - who are robbing freight wagons coming into Boonesborough. Dan is asked by a royal representative to get on the case.
With the tilt of the series away from action-adventure and toward human interest, the occasional Westerns staple of a just-for-laughs episode seems redundant and not much a comedic break. Forrest Tucker reprises his role as a garrulous but lovable outlaw, and scene-stealing is handled by Robert Cornthwaite ("War of the Worlds," 1953) as a foppish "King's Marshal" (entirely made up). Fess Parker does show up for the whole day, as well as the usual Boonesborough crowd.
The hour is driven by Dan's attempts to keep the crown at bay and Snag away from trouble, plus keeping under wraps Boone's role as "Sidewinder" in a previous outing with Snag. In his career Parker never had much need to develop comedic talents; his best outing as I recall was a guest appearance in a sketch on the Red Skeleton show. His towering physical frame was ill-suited for humorous settings anyway, and had he remained in acting changing times probably would have compelled him to go the Leslie Nielsen-"Police Squad" route, with a less better fit. Probably best we remember him in his natural setting of action-adventure, and this story would have been better served by bringing in Don Knotts as the protagonist, perhaps as a Boone cousin or otherwise.
The outlaw band is not terribly threatening, and having Cornthwaite accompanied by a redcoat retinue could have at least provided some flintlock action, but his one attendant is a rather decrepit aide-de-camp.
No drama worth reporting here, and the slapstick is rather lame. Comedic 1960's Western episodes worked best when the previous week's installment featured no-win stories or tragic demises, and the setup is missing here; its another mundane around-the-fort outing.
With the tilt of the series away from action-adventure and toward human interest, the occasional Westerns staple of a just-for-laughs episode seems redundant and not much a comedic break. Forrest Tucker reprises his role as a garrulous but lovable outlaw, and scene-stealing is handled by Robert Cornthwaite ("War of the Worlds," 1953) as a foppish "King's Marshal" (entirely made up). Fess Parker does show up for the whole day, as well as the usual Boonesborough crowd.
The hour is driven by Dan's attempts to keep the crown at bay and Snag away from trouble, plus keeping under wraps Boone's role as "Sidewinder" in a previous outing with Snag. In his career Parker never had much need to develop comedic talents; his best outing as I recall was a guest appearance in a sketch on the Red Skeleton show. His towering physical frame was ill-suited for humorous settings anyway, and had he remained in acting changing times probably would have compelled him to go the Leslie Nielsen-"Police Squad" route, with a less better fit. Probably best we remember him in his natural setting of action-adventure, and this story would have been better served by bringing in Don Knotts as the protagonist, perhaps as a Boone cousin or otherwise.
The outlaw band is not terribly threatening, and having Cornthwaite accompanied by a redcoat retinue could have at least provided some flintlock action, but his one attendant is a rather decrepit aide-de-camp.
No drama worth reporting here, and the slapstick is rather lame. Comedic 1960's Western episodes worked best when the previous week's installment featured no-win stories or tragic demises, and the setup is missing here; its another mundane around-the-fort outing.
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