Laredo, with its blend of western comedy and high drama, is one of the best television westerns to be found. Laredo premiered in prime time as an episode of The Virginian and was such a big hit, with its wonderful cast, gorgeous color photography, western ambiance and tight, serio-comic scripts, that it was immediately signed for a full season.

Laredo

Season 1 Ep. 10: Which Way Did They Go

Reese, Chad and Joe capture the Slaughter Gang and take them to the nearest jail in San Sabo. They take the stolen money to the bank and meet Miss Emma there, who is a cultural lecturer selling tickets for her lectures on Greece with little luck. Chad and Joe trick Reese into helping her. He does so by employing saloon dancer Carlotta to warm up the crowd for Miss Emma’s lecture. While Miss Emma is speaking a gang robs the bank and releases the Slaughters at the same time to throw suspicion on them. While pursuing the robbers Reese crosses paths with Miss Emma and discovers there may be more then meets the eye concerning the “wealth” of her wagonload of books.

Laredo combined action with humor to tell the tales of three Company B Texas Rangers. Reese Bennett is older then his two partners, Chad Cooper and Joe Riley. Reese is in his forties and was previously a Union Army Officer. Chad was in the Border Patrol during the Civil War but is originally from New Orleans. He joined the Rangers to search for the gunrunners who helped ambush fellow border patrolmen. Joe was a gunfighter who was at times on the wrong side of the law and joined the rangers as protection from a sheriff or two. Chad and Joe love to tease Reese about his age. They had a Gunga Din like camaraderie.

They are lead by Captain Parmalee who was stern and disciplined. He would send them on their missions and many times was not amused by the shenanigans they got into. Erik Hunter joined them in the second season. Veteran actor Claude Akins played Ranger Cotton Buckmeister in 5 different episodes but never officially became part of the cast. The pilot, “We’ve Lost A Train”, appeared as an episode of The Virginian in April of 1965.

Reese’s horse Cactus was mentioned in several episodes. Chad’s horse was Amigo, which was Peter Brown’s own horse in real life.

Cast and Crew:

Neville Brand, Peter Brown and William Smith

Director: William Witney and others
Production Company: Universal TV
Original Air Date: 1965
Audio & Video: Mono – Color

AAdditional details in:

Laredo in IMDB | Laredo in Wikipedia

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