"Overland Trail" (1960) TV series

Seasons:

1

Release Date:

7 February 1960 (USA)

Genre:

Western | Adventure | Action

Plot:

The adventures of a crusty superintendent for the Overland Stage Co. and his young sidekick as they try to keep the stage routes safe.

Cast

William Bendix	...	Frederick 'Fred' Kelly / ... (5 episodes, 1960)
Doug McClure	...	Frank 'Flip' Flippen (5 episodes, 1960)
Harry Guardino	...	Johnny Caldwell (3 episodes, 1960)

Also Known As:

Overland Stage

Runtime:

60 min (17 episodes)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Filming Locations:

Backlot, Universal Studios - 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, California, USA

Company:

Overland Stage-Bilben Productions

A fun, entertaining, but forgotten western...

William Bendix starred in this show as Fred Kelly who worked for the Overland stage company along with Doug McClure as Frank 'Flip' Flippen. Flip was raised by Indians and had a reckless streak in him which the gruff Kelly tries to keep in check. The episodes I've seen are very entertaining and are a sort of mix of The Tales Of Wells Fargo but with some of the humour of Laredo. It's the banter between the older, gruff Bendix and the very youthful McClure which makes this quite a fun show. For example, Flip isn't as tied to the job as Kelly and sometimes has notions of leaving the job- in one episode to get married! Kelly isn't above conning Flip into taking 'one last job' for the company which always leads to him staying on. The show had a short run, lost in the glut of TV westerns, although the trend was past its peak. An entertaining show nonetheless.