RIP, Malachi Throne, one of the few actors to match and even give Richard Long's Jarrod pause to contemplate unanticipated wisdom in the opening train sequence in the series pilot, "Palms of Glory". Mr. Throne's Crown - emissary of and advance legal hit man on the railroad's mercenary side - was soooooo memorable one wished for his return which he did over more than a handful of eps (tho not as the originally impressive character he portrayed above).
In Appreciation, we're gonna watch that "Palms" sequence straight away as a homage to Mr. Throne's savvy skill and memorable impact.
Sadly gone, but the illustrious light of his work shall ne'er be forgotten ...
The delicious, ever-delectable Miss Evans didn’t have as much opportunity to shine during Season One as her more accomplished actoral compadres, yet when called upon she did deliver more than the sumptuous window-dressing she so effortlessly excelled at. This ep wasn’t one of ‘em, tho but it provided some interesting conflicts when Audra is rescued by a mysterious man (Sean Garrison) who turns out to be ramroding a deadly gang of mustang rustlers in the Valley.
The core sequence is when he’s invited to the Barkley ranch and her suspicious big-brothers (especially wonderfully hot-headed Nick) accost the guy in front of their sister’s horrified gaze.
Natch, it doesn’t end well and she’s left to nurse her heart’s wounds which ( being a Barkley) she takes a brave ride alone out into the country - to boldly take on whatever awaits whenever it comes
with spirit unbowed and unbroken ...
"Young Marauders" is noteworthy as the only first season episode of "The Big Valley" NOT scored by George Duning, but ironically enough, by his onetime orchestrator at Columbia (and former Four Star executive music director) Herschel Burke Gilbert (his last score until "Sam Whiskey") who had just left C.B.S. as their Executive Music Director (due to corporate meddling), though it's not known if this was an original score or was rerecorded library music he composed for Four Star.
The delicious, ever-delectable Miss Evans didn’t have as much opportunity to shine during Season One as her more accomplished actoral compadres, yet when called upon she did deliver more than the sumptuous window-dressing she so effortlessly excelled at. This ep wasn’t one of ‘em, tho but it provided some interesting conflicts when Audra is rescued by a mysterious man (Sean Garrison) who turns out to be ramroding a deadly gang of mustang rustlers in the Valley.
The core sequence is when he’s invited to the Barkley ranch and her suspicious big-brothers (especially wonderfully hot-headed Nick) accost the guy in front of their sister’s horrified gaze.
Natch, it doesn’t end well and she’s left to nurse her heart’s wounds which ( being a Barkley) she takes a brave ride alone out into the country - to boldly take on whatever awaits whenever it comes
with spirit unbowed and unbroken ...
"Young Marauders" is noteworthy as the only first season episode of "The Big Valley" NOT scored by George Duning, but ironically enough, by his onetime orchestrator at Columbia (and former Four Star executive music director) Herschel Burke Gilbert (his last score until "Sam Whiskey") who had just left C.B.S. as their Executive Music Director (due to corporate meddling), though it's not known if this was an original score or was rerecorded library music he composed for Four Star. Jn Burlingame says in his book "Television's Greatest Hits" that Duning composed the main title, a library for tracking purposes, and three episodes, yet the majority of the season was scored by him. Which episodes contain actual Duning scores?
Accept No Reel Battlin' Barkleys Substitutes Department:
Evidently that big screen mo'om pitcher version is pretty much kaput. The announced director was indicted for fraud re a coupla films he'd been involved with before-hand and this supposedly didn't sit overly well with the investors of the new flick.
Tho first twas Susan Sarandon proposed for then the equally admired Jessica Lange actually inked to essay a contemporary version of The Barkley matriarch, we can't say we're toooooooo disappointed.
To borrow from another long-lasting franchise: There Can Be Only ONE.
Put me in the last fifteen minutes of a picture and I don't care what happened before.
The not caring what happened before certainly applied to the rage-inducing "happy ending" to the otherwise excellent Big Valley episode "The Odyssey of Jubal Tanner", which I already grumbled about years ago in this very thread.
Now that The Big Valley is *finally* completing its dvd releases, Neo, you need to get your a-, uh, "self" back into this thread for a fresh look at the series (and that goes for me, too).
Of all the unforgettable guests on this classic series, one of the most towering was Robert Loggia’s powerful perf in “The Profit and the Lost” ep.
As cold-blooded killer Vern Hixon – tautly directed with unsparing intensity by Bernard McEveety from a top-notch unsentimentally rigorous script penned by Richard Wendley –
recruited to kill Heath by a vengeful rancher, Mr. Loggia paints a chilling portrait of a professional sociopath with no scruples whatsoever to accomplish his mission – up to and including assaulting “the most beautiful woman – Lady –“ [ Audra ] – to force her brother’s hand into facing him.
There’s psychologically-emotional subtext galore to Hixon that’s only revealed inna stinging confrontation in which Mr. Loggia holds his honorable own opposite the ever-imposing Victoria.
You can catch this incredible ep on YouTube. Just be prepared to watch and marvel at the many nifty nuances and illumating levels Mr. Loggia brings – from bemusement to amusement to astonishment to regret to surprising hints of a human heart beneath it all.
It’s far and away among the Top Five finest in the show’s illustrious history.
Richard Anderson was one of our favorite Rotating Repertory Company actors to repeatedly appear on the series –
Especially his haunted, tortured perf as the hunted doctor the Barkley Brothers engage to deal with Audra’s appendicitis in the impressive Season One concluding ep, “Last Train to the Fair”.
Later appearing as one of Jarrod’s more unscrupulous legal associates
who will leave nothing to chance to win his case.
Tho he later found more Universal Bionic fame, his uncommon intelligence as an actor of character
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