Cheyenne: The Complete Series Blu Ray Review (Warner Archive Collection)

Cheyenne is a 1955 Western television series was directed by Richard L. Bare (Wicked Wicked, 77 Sunset Strip, Green Acres, Maverick, and Petticoat Junction), Leslie H. Martinson (Batman: The Movie, The Alaskans, Hot Rod Girl, Black Gold, Chips, Mission: Impossible, and Small Wonder), Lee Sholem (Superman and The Mole-Men, Adventures of Superman, Hell Ship Munity, This is the Life, Bronco, and Colt .45), Robert Sparr (Lassie, More Dead than Alive, Batman, Lawman, and Hawaiian Eye), George Waggner (The Wolf Man, 77 Sunset Strip, Man Made Monster, Batman, Jack the Ripper, and Horror Island), Paul Landres (The Vampire, The Return of Dracula, Flipper, Bonanza, and The Rifleman), and many others. It was executive produced by William T. Orr (77 Sunset Strip, Hawaiian Eye, Mister Roberts, Temple Houston, The Dakotas, Lawman, Bronco, Maverick, The Alaskans, Colt .45, and Sugarfoot). Bronco was a 1958 television spin-off from this series. After surviving the Civil War, the mysterious drifter Cheyenne Bodie (played by: Clint Walker from The Dirty Dozen, Small Soldiers, The Night of the Grizzly, The Serpent Warriors, Kodiak, More Dead than Alive, Scream of the Wolf, and Killdozer) went all the way to the West looking for a variety of villains to beat up and women to seduce while exploring this unfamiliar territory. He’s mainly a loner but he doesn’t mind helping out the locals when needed. Cheyenne Bodie is always looking for different work since he’s a jack of all trades, what trouble will he get into next???? Cheyenne was one of the first real big Western TV shows developed by Warner Bros. The original season was only aired every third week and it was included in the anthology series known as “Warner Brothers Presents” with a few others. It caught on really quick and it became a steady television series after getting some serious attention. It took some stuff from earlier novels and movies but added their own spin on them. It was a longer show at the time, all of the episodes would be basically 50 minutes without commercials, promos, and advertisements. During it’s long run, Cheyenne made sure to be completely different from all of it’s competition which made it stand out even more. Clint Walker as Cheyenne Bodie is a man trying to get away from his past and he’s trying to find somewhere new for a fresh start. Bodie is an orphan that was raised by Cheyenne Indians after both of his parents were killed. Walker honestly isn’t the best actor when it comes to this but he knows exactly what type of show that he’s making. The writers all catered to his style so it worked out for him. He’s a gentle giant that gets into some dangerous scenarios but luckily he can handle those situations. They tried to give him a sidekick Smitty (played by: L.Q. Jones from Casino, The Wild Bunch, The Edge, The Mask of Zorro, and The Beast Within) in the first few episodes for Cheyenne but they quickly abandoned that idea and he went back to being a loner. The rest of the supporting cast includes Ron Howard (Happy Days), James Hong (Big Trouble in Little China), George Kennedy (The Naked Gun franchise), Slim Pickens (The Howling), John Marley (The Godfather), Adam West (Batman franchise), James Best (The Dukes of Hazzard), James Coburn (The Magnificent Seven), Ellen Burstyn (Requiem for a Dream), Sally Kellerman (M*A*S*H), Richard Crenna (Rambo franchise), John Carradine (The Monster Club), Angie Dickinson (Dressed to Kill), Lee Van Cleef (The Good, the Bad and the Ugly), Dennis Hopper (Blue Velvet), James Garner (Maverick), Julie Adams (Creature from the Black Lagoon), and Michael Landon (Bonanza). Cheyenne had all kinds of action and chaos during it’s run. Bodie went up against various bad guys like savages, outlaws, and gunslingers. This Western always liked to switch it up so it never got repetitive or boring. I will say that they didn’t really pay attention to continuation here because a few things just didn’t make sense. Someone would die, they would show up again or mentioned like they were still alive later on. I mean it made it unintentionally hilarious but I know that wasn’t the point. They let the violence get kinda brutal for being on early TV but that’s one of the highlights for this. It’s awesome that the Warner Archive Collection is restoring and resurrecting lots of these older productions, RECOMMENDED!!!! Let’s discuss this high definition presentation from the Warner Archive Collection! These 107 1080p (1.33:1) episodes look great especially for it’s age on this 30 disc set. Very impressed with the restoration for this older western television show. It’s from a brand new 4K restoration from the original camera negative. I’ve only seen episodes here and there over the years before this, this set blows those previous versions away. It has English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono tracks for the TV series. All of the dialogue is very clean, the action is elevated, and the music has a solid boost to it here. It has English SDH subtitles. It has the almost 14 minute ”The Lonely Gunfighter: The Legacy of Cheyenne”. It’s a 2006 interview with lead actor Clint Walker. It’s available everywhere right now including MovieZyng.com, CHECK IT OUT!!!!