Colt .45: The Complete Series Blu Ray Review (Warner Archive Collection)

Colt .45 is a 1957 Western television series. It was directed by Lee Sholem (This is the Life, Death Valley Days, Maverick, Cheyenne, Bronco, and Adventures of Superman), Herbert L. Strock (The Devil’s Messenger, How to Make a Monster, The Veil, Blood of Dracula, and I was a Teenage Frankenstein), Leslie H. Martinson (Batman: The Movie, Small Wonder, Fantasy Island, Dallas, Wonder Woman, The Brady Bunch, and Mission: Impossible), and many others. It was produced by William T. Orr (Mister Roberts, Sugarfoot, The Alaskans, Temple Houston, Cheyenne, Lawman, Maverick, Bronco, and Hawaiian Eye). It’s based on the original film from 1950. Lead actor Wayde Preston left the show after a pay dispute. It premiered and aired on ABC. Christopher Colt (played by: Wayde Preston from Captain America, Revolt, Bonanza, Ballad of Death Valley, A Man Called Sledge, Wrath of God, Death Knows No Time, and I Live for your Death) goes undercover through the old West as a gun salesman for the Colt Patent Firearms Company from Connecticut. He is really a government agent that wants to do good with his power and ambition on the job. He tries to track down every notorious bad guy around him. He decides to use the classic Colt revolver that his father originally invented!!!!

Colt .45 was a unique western television series with it’s undercover agent subplot. Western TV shows were very popular at the time when this was produced for ABC. It didn’t push the boundaries like a few but it wasn’t soft or silly like some of the others, it kinda in the middle between those two when it came to it’s delivery. Warner Bros had all kinds of western television at the time and unfortunately this one was probably the least popular out of all of them. Lead actor Wayde Preston was no stranger to the sub-genre when he joined Colt .45 as the main character. The series started to get a little buzz so he actually demanded to be paid more but the network wasn’t backing down considering it had so much other western material out there at the time. He would eventually come back but he ended up missing 10 episodes during this holdout.

They replaced him with his cousin Sam played by actor Donald May (The Edge of Night, The Roaring 20’s, The Crowded Sky, Texas, and West Point) as the new lead. The solid supporting cast includes Charles Bronson (Death Wish), Kenneth MacDonald (The Ten Commandments), Adam West (Batman), Don ‘Red’ Barry (The Swarm), Angie Dickinson (Dressed to Kill), Lee Van Cleef (The Good, the Bad and the Ugly), Charles Fredericks (Gunsmoke), Arthur Space (The Bat People), Harry Strang (Cheyenne), Chris Robinson (Stanley), Don Gordon (The Exorcist III), Leonard Nimoy (Star Trek), and George Kennedy (Just Before Dawn). Colt .45 has it’s moments and the action was pretty good here. The biggest problem was that it borrowed from so many other shows that were airing before this so even newer episodes just felt like some rerun. The creative team kinda gave up at the end and that’s why it couldn’t survive those ratings. It’s kinda forgotten at this point but it’s nice to see it resurrected from the Warner Archive Collection so maybe it will get a new life after all these years!!!!

Let’s discuss this high definition presentation from the Warner Archive Collection and Warner Bros! These 67 1080p (1.33:1) episodes look great especially for it’s age on this 10 disc set. Very impressed with the restoration for this older western television show. 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. Unfortunately, there’s no extras here but considering the price that’s kinda expected and you can forgive it. It’s available everywhere right now including MovieZyng.com, CHECK IT OUT!!!!