Laramie: Season One

The essence of Laramie rested on the relationship between the two main characters...Slim and Jess! Season 1 began with how the two came together and how the friendship began. The story was never the main focus....the same themes reverberated throughout every existing western series. They were reworked and rewritten over and over again. The year is 1870....five years after the end of the Civil War. John Smith is Slim Sherman...basically confident, moral, hardworking, loyal, and a product of a seemingly loving family and stable home. He has ties to the community and deep roots already established. Into his life rides one Jess Harper (Robert Fuller)....a bone-weary gunfighter with no roots, a hair-trigger temper, and poor self image....who moves from place to place....and as he tells the younger brother, Andy, has gotten used to the lonliness of his life (though there is a certain sadness when he says that!) Thrown together because of a dangerous situation, Jess is offered a job on the Sherman Ranch. He accepts the offer....and therein lies the basis of the series. Jess moves in and out of life on the ranch...but always returns. Somehow we know he will always come back....just as we know he will find a reason to leave. It takes time for it to become a home for him. Still, his troubles (as Slim says) always remain a part of who he is.The casting of Smith and Fuller was perfect. Smith was first signed to play Jess....but someone realized he would be a better Slim Sherman. Fuller was cast as Jess Harper. The rapport between them was excellent...they were a wonderful fit...and when they shared the story and the screen, Laramie worked very well. And, then as happens with successful shows, someone decides to change things...first they let go of certain characters, then they change format (less of the two playing together) in Season 2. Then they add characters in Season 3. They add color in Season 3 (not a bad idea). But something was lost.....that wonderful relationship that made Laramie special. Jess begins to mature and calm down....but still shows the grittiness now and then. Some of the fun of the earlier episodes was their interaction...whether joking, or disagreeing, or caring for each other, or showing genuine concern....or punching each other around. When they shared the screen, there was a sense of enjoyment. Yes, they did well when not sharing screen or story...but we needed them to interact with each other....we missed how they played out the relationship between them. Laramie is one of the best western series ever made....due to the two actors who made it work for the most part. It is worth watching....I have one criticism, however! The first two seasons were in B&W....the quality was not the best. The color seasons were better....but restoration could have been, and should have been, much better!

I didn't believe it possible! But the video quality is MUCH BETTER than the Season 2 and 3 DVD's I bought, which were not remastered at ALL and just painful to watch and listen to. Still though, it's the best western ever, so I highly recommend buying them all. But especially this season 1 - it's the best of the 4 year-run.(And sorry - it's NOT remastered to the quality of what GRIT or STARZ show - I didn't mean to mislead you. But they're just so much better than S2/S3 DVD's that I got all excited!)

I loved watching Laramie as a kid, and yes it is Black and White... uh so were 90% of the shows in 1959, and it shows some slight wear but I can make out all the pictures just fine, and the audio is great. Season 1 is my favorite because the episodes have Hoagy Carmichael and Robert Crawford Junior. I think dropping them in season 2 was a HUGE mistake. Hoagy as Jonesy was a loveable curmudgeon and it was really a bonus when he'd tickle the ivories. Andy was to Laramie what Mark was to the Rifleman, both were superb actors and deserved better. I don't know if I'll get Season 2, although I'm tempted just to complete my Laramie collection. Make no mistake, though, having Season one is a true collector's item by now. If you can get it for less than $37.00 or thereabouts... jump at it! I've seen it selling for nearly $100 on many sites. Of course, you should also like westerns, and in particular, this one. I did. I'm glad I got it and am very satisfied with what I got.

This is a slow developing show that by the 3rd disk you really start to like. The two main characters (Robert Fuller and John Smith) basically run a stage relay station and deal with all sorts of unsavory characters. Hoagy Carmichael (I heard the name, but never knew who he was) is the old cook and general maintainance man with Robert Crawford (brother of the young son on "The Rifleman") as the kid brother of John Smith. These two characters seem to vanish in the second season with no reason and are not replaced. In the third season a grandmotherly actress and another kid move into the relay station and I still cannot figure out why, who or where they came from. The show had great casting all around with plenty of faces you will recognize if you grew up in the 1950's or 1960's and great scenery too. A gritty hard shoot em up type western. Someone gets shot in every single episode including the stars, who are always wounded. I guess the West was really dangerous.Bad problem with this show is the restoration. It does not appear to have been digitally restored in the slightest which is a letdown because it leaves the screenshots kind of dark with bad sound too on the first two season disks. The third season is extremely washed out, very much like the old Cisco Kid TV show. The actors seem to shake like the old movie projectors we had in elementary school too on the third disk. Another problem with the third season is the disks make a lot of noise in the DVD player.Can't figure out who would cancel this series in it's fourth year? Great show (even though I never saw it or heard of it till I ordered this set). I think had the product been restored I would be happier with the purchase, but overall I got to see a show I never saw before. I gave it 5 stars for the show....the quality of film is poor and if I rated that it would be maybe one star.

Methinks some people are perhaps never satisfied. I have waited literally years for this, and Timeless Video have not let me down. Yes, I know the prints aren't quite mint, but boy, have I seen worse?? Yes, I have. The prints here are perfectly watchable and the price thru Amazon is excellent (I would have paid more). The whole season 1 is here in, I reckon, the best available quality. Just lets be grateful and enjoy one of the best western series ever. (perhaps in fairness I should say I have only had time to check 3 random eps, but they were all OK). Now, where is series 2?? Mind you, 31 eps will take some time, so no hurry Timeless V...

I Havent seen this series since the early 1960s, as a 10 year old, it is have some reviewers have said abit Grainy in Black and White BUT it is brilliant, still Stacks up against, Rawhide, The Virginian and some of the period Movies, so much so, I bought Season Two!, well worth alook if you like Great Westerns.

I recently bought the first season of Laramie. I last saw the series on danish tv when I was about 9-10 years old.It was great to watch it again after 45 years. I was right back there with my kidsize hat and gunbelt.It's still a good show with both violence and exitement, but never over the limit. I can recommend it to both grown-ups and children.Granted the picture quality could be better but it is great to see anyway. Now I have to get the colour seasons too!

This box is a great item for collectors.I gave irt four instread of five stars because the very first episode, "Stage Stop", should be in colour. The first season was filmed in black and white except for this first episode. How do I know? In Germany, just a few sected episodes came out in three "Best of"-boxes including "Stage Stop" in colour. In the accompanying booklet you can read the history of these western series.

The sound was poor as was the vision but the worst think was some episodes wouldn’t play at all and those that did often got stuck half way through.