The Loner

This is a brilliant western. I can see why it only lasted one season. It shows the west as it really was. The episodes frequently do not have happy endings. They are often thoughtful and disturbing. Rod Serling's writing is top notch, as good as on the Twilight Zone. Powerful.

While many TV series from many years past have grown fonder as our memories of such series get older, like sci-fi, for example,only to come out as major embarrassments at worst,or ridiculously hokey, at best, it seems that the western holds out quite well Whether the western is fairly recent or very old, it still comes out as a welcome addition to any DVD collection. In short, this series is long overdue for release on DVD! I remember this series when it aired on CBS in 1965/1966. While I was going through a phase where westerns didn't hold my interest,this show still had me addicted. From the haunting theme song to the captivating plots on to the closing credits,this was one show that was as thought provoking as it was thrilling. Here is where this western stood above the rest. Most westerns centered around a plot which was more or less action based... the bad guys vs the good guys, whether the bad guys were Indians on the war path or bandits out to rob a bank or train. THE LONER was different as its plot often evolved around the main character's inner turmoil or lack of peace.

In its own modest way, the single best television series Lloyd Bridges ever helmed. Though it only lasted 26 half-hour episodes in the mid-1960s, this rumination on the psychological and moral readjustments anguishing former Union soldier William Colton (Bridges) as he returns to the trail of a loner in post-Civil War America, had a freeform, experimental texture unlike any television western of its day -- most likely due to the significant contribution made to its teleplays by Rod Serling. Great direction and dialogue, too. The premiere episode, "An Echo of Bugles, " featuring an unforgettably poignant performance by a virtually unrecognizable Whit Bissell as "weak-as-a-kitten" former Confederate POW "Ab Nichols", sets the tone for this meditation on the lingering schizophrenia of divided loyalties that plagued our post-Lincolnian land as Grant assumed its presidency. A revelation to be rediscovered -- best writing of any TV Western I ever encountered. Truly a Western with an adult sensibility, obviously created as a centennial reflection on the aftermath of the War Between the States as seen through the eyes of the quintessential American cowboy archetype of the "loner". Serling will never be duplicated and, boy, is he missed! Haunting and haunted.

Lloyd Bridges plays an ex-Union officer who was forced to kill a teenage Confederate during a skirmish. Adding to his self reproach and soul searching is the news that arrives moments later the same day that Lee surrendered. Disillusioned, his post-war journeys in the West brings him to a variety of situations, many quite original. Rod Serling created The Loner and wrote many scripts. The dialogue is excellent and if Bridges sounds smooth, he plays a West Point officer with 12 years in the cavalry. This is one of those great shows the network programmers were afraid to relocate and probably had little interest in saving. It's amazing what NBC did for Star Trek to keep it going for 3 seasons because of.... letter-writing from fans? If a show like The Loner is a ratings loser, the head honchos have the power to try and save it. Regrettably, no one wanted to see this great show by Rod Serling succeed. It's now on DVD and the stories hold up and prints are crystal clear.

Could have been a cool show, especially with Rod Serling as the writer. But he's wearing politics on his sleeve, and while many Twilight Zone episodes are cautionary tales, they relate universally.

This show, fitfully titled THE LONER, about a former soldier on an endless road happening upon various human varmints who love the thought of war without having been through it... or without having learned from what they did experience while in it... takes away from what each story could have given the viewer other than a message, which overrides each plot-line and buries the theme: to where our wandering hero seems more like a brooding know-it-all than someone making the perfect pawn upon each eclectic adventure. In other words, he has so much to teach he never actually learns anything...

And worse yet, he never seems in danger so there's little to no urgency in his would-be, world-weary travels. He simply winds up lecturing everyone not as enlightened as he is...

A lot like the political side of Hollywood, which Rod Serling was much, much better and deeper than. But he had more of a sermon to tell her than a story. See the early Gunsmoke episodes for how a great Western series should be.