"Now in the legend of the West, one name stands out of all the rest..." - From the Bat Masterson theme song

classicsoncall

There were so many great TV Westerns during the late Fifties/early Sixties that you couldn't possibly watch all of them. As a kid, I would never miss 'Trackdown', 'Wanted: Dead or Alive', and 'Johnny Ringo'. Of course, it was my Dad who made the choice of what shows to watch, and not knowing any better, I had a blast with all of them. So as it was, 'Bat Masterson' wasn't on my radar back then, but it's a treat getting caught up with these old time shows as an adult with the ability to compare them with the ones I used to watch.

'Bat Masterson' aired for three seasons on the NBC television network from October, 1958 to September, 1961. Gene Barry was the star, portraying the suave and debonair frontier lawman who rarely used a gun, preferring instead his trusty cane to get the drop on cheating gamblers and otherwise nasty bad guys. During the show's first season, almost every episode reminded us that Bat was a 'legend in his own time' via voice over narration. Like it's contemporary on ABC, 'Tombstone Territory' (ahh, there's another one I couldn't miss!), this show's chronology jumped around, with events taking place generally between the years 1875 to 1886. In the very first episode titled 'Double Showdown', Gene Barry offered a little monologue on the historical Bat Masterson, and the show itself offered an alternate ending. I was surprised as all get out when in the second show of the series, Bat gets shot by a villain portrayed by Broderick Crawford. It usually took a few more episodes of a TV Western for the hero to get winged by an outlaw!

Many of the usual suspects would show up in the series, with character actors of the era like William Conrad, James Best, Alan Hale Jr., Warren Oates and Myron Healey showing up, sometimes more than once as different characters. Almost every episode would feature some lovely gal to provide a romantic interest for our hero, but no one could pin him down as he traveled from town to town in the Old West. Sometimes Bat would run into another historical figure like Wyatt Earp, who posed as a lawyer in episode #2.61, 'The Reluctant Witness', to help his friend and a woman accused of murder. I got the biggest kick out of a third season show titled 'Bat Trap', with Lon Chaney Jr. showing up for a turkey shoot competition. In that one, Bat's cane was rigged to fire a bullet!

Well, like most TV Westerns based on legendary characters of the Old West, historical accuracy was left in the dust to come up with entertaining stories, and 'Bat Masterson' was no exception. It was a fun show as far as that goes, and a neat complement if you're a Bat fan to the many movie Westerns based on Masterson's legendary career. If so, you might want to take a look at 1943's 'The Woman of the Town' with Claire Trevor as Bat's girl trying to persuade him into a journalism career, 1947's "Trail Street" with Bat portrayed by Randolph Scott, and the 1956 film 'Masterson of Kansas', where Bat teams up with Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday. Not that historical accuracy matters, all are recommended for fans of the frontier lawman and professional gambler.

score 7/10

classicsoncall 2 July 2020

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw5875135/