"26 Men" (1957) TV series 1957-1959

Director:

Joseph Kane

Writers:

Warren Douglas (writer)
Lawrence Resner (writer)

Seasons:

1 | 2

Genre:

Western

Plot:

True stories of the Arizona rangers around 1900.

Plot Keywords:

Arizona | Ranger | Corporal | Captain | Digit In Title

Cast

Tristram Coffin	...	Capt. Tom Rynning / ... (31 episodes, 1957-1959)
Kelo Henderson	...	Ranger Clint Travis (30 episodes, 1957-1959)

Runtime:

30 min (78 episodes)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Filming Locations:

Arizona, USA

Company:

ABC Films

First-rate western

Actor Tris Coffin, producer/actor Russell Hayden and director Oliver Drake had all been making B-westerns for decades by the time they got together and produced this show, and their experience and expertise combined to make this one of the best western series of the '50s, or any other era for that matter (to be perfectly honest, it's much better than many of the films they made before it!). Coffin is perfectly suited for the part of a tough Arizona Ranger captain--he has the look, the attitude and the bearing of an experienced lawman. The stories are uniformly interesting, intelligent and well written, the location work is well utilized and the show doesn't have the cheap, cramped look of other contemporary western series, such as "Annie Oakley" or "Judge Roy Bean," for example, and is not oriented towards kids, as those series were. It's more along the lines of another fine western series of the time, "Boots and Saddles," in that it doesn't have action for action's sake, and what action there is isn't of the cartoonish, Saturday-afternoon-serial type. And to top it off, it tied with another great western series, "Lawman," for the best theme song of any western series--EVER!

If this show happens to get rerun on The Western Channel or some other equally hip cable network, don't miss it.