"Dusty's Trail" (1973) TV series

User Rating:

6.4/10   

Creators:

Elroy Schwartz
Sherwood Schwartz

Seasons:

1

Release Date:

11 September 1973 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Western

Plot:

A stage and a wagon heading west get separated from the rest of the wagon train thanks to Dusty. Now they must make their way to California.

Plot Keywords:

Gilligans Island Character Similarity | Character Name In Title

Cast

Bob Denver	...	Dusty (26 episodes, 1973-1974)
Forrest Tucker	...	Mr. Callahan (26 episodes, 1973-1974)
Ivor Francis	...	Mr. Carson Brookhaven (26 episodes, 1973-1974)
Jeannine Riley	...	Lulu McQueen (26 episodes, 1973-1974)
Lori Saunders	...	Betsy (26 episodes, 1973-1974)
Lynn Wood	...	Mrs. Brookhaven (26 episodes, 1973-1974)
William Cort	...	Andy (26 episodes, 1973-1974)

Runtime:

22 min (26 episodes)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Company:

Metromedia Producers Corporation (MPC)

Trivia:

Callahan's horse is named "Blarney". Dusty's horse is named "Freckles".

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: In the show with the tornado coming towards the wagon train, it was quite obvious that someone superimposed a hand drawn, scribbled sketch of a tornado over the finished film. Has to be the worst replica of a tornado in television history!

Movie Connections:

Edited into The Wackiest Wagon Train in the West (1976)

It's Bad

As others have noted, this is a cheap rip-off of Gilligan's Island. Now, ripping off Gilligan's Island isn't such a bad idea given the popularity of that show but you would think that the creators of Dusty would have used at least a little creativity. Maybe replace the bickering rich couple with a pair of bickering trapeze artists! Or replace the innocent Iowa farm girl with an innocent Bulgarian farm girl who doesn't speak English! But no, this is a paint-by-numbers re-run of Gilligan which is shot through with cheap opportunism & cheaper production values.

The one thing the show had going for it was that it aired at an odd time, just before the networks prime time began. So if you wanted a sitcom at 7:30 on (I think) Friday night Dusty was your only choice. It's indicative of how bad the show was that it failed almost immediately in spite of that. I saw every episode when it first ran & that's the main reason I did so.

I have an especial animus for this show because the theme song has been imprinted on my memory ever since the show aired:

"Dusty's the reason for their plight; Thanks to Dusty, nothing's right! Only the Wagonmaster's hand; Can keep them a-rollin' to the promised land!", etc.

Maybe electro-shock therapy can get rid of it.