Laramie (TV Series) .45 Calibre (1960) User Reviews

Tenderfoot marshal

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 24 March 2017]

The presence of Lee Van Cleef in this Laramie episode makes this one something special. He plays one truly despicable villain in this small screen episode.

Watching this one put me in mind of the Gary Cooper western Dallas where Reed Hadley played Wild Bill Hickok. Hadley and Cooper fake a shootout where Hadley pretends to kill Cooper allowing him to work incognito in rounding up some outlaws in Texas. Cooper takes with him U.S. marshal Leif Erickson who is from the East.

After Van Cleef comes into town and he and his gang murder the U.S. Marshal stationed in Laramie they reason they can come in and rob the bank at their convenience. Because as it turns out the federal government sends in a tenderfoot marshal in George Nader who shall we say has not gotten his baptism of fire. Don't worry there's Robert Fuller to assist with that.

Van Cleef makes this Laramie worth watching.

The middle is a lonely place...

[ronnybee2112 · 8/10 · 30 November 2020]

A new,and newly-married deputy chickens-out when the heat is on. His new bride loses respect for him. When more trouble comes,will he be able to handle it,or is he complete coward ?

Action-packed episode with Robert Fuller vs. Lee Van Cleef

[BrianDanaCamp · 30 January 2017]

".45 Calibre" is a Season Two episode of "Laramie" that finds Jess Harper (Robert Fuller) holding the fort while his partner Slim has gone off to Denver. Things heat up when the town marshal is killed by the outlaw Torrey brothers and his newly appointed deputy, Vern Clark (George Nader), a greenhorn from the east, arrives on the stage with his new bride and is suddenly thrust into the marshal's job. After an initial contentious encounter between Jess and Clark, Jess is compelled to demand a posse be formed to pursue the Torrey brothers and their gang after a neighboring rancher is killed. Fear of the Torrey brothers among the townsmen results in a smaller-than-necessary posse of five and when they reach the outlaws, an ambush kills two of the five and the new marshal flees for his life, a show of cowardice that leaves him filled with self-loathing. Even his Norwegian bride, Louisa (Anna-Lisa), shows contempt for him.

Under the circumstances, Jess finds himself covering up for the marshal and insisting to him that his actions in the next encounter will determine whether he's a coward or not. Louisa even makes a play for Jess, realizing he's the man she wants her husband to be. Jess tries to rally the townsfolk to build up defensive barricades and be ready to take a stand when the outlaws descend on the town, but he only finds two volunteers, one of them a drunkard who was the only other survivor of the ambush. The ensuing attack and its aftermath provide a grueling test for the new marshal.

The leader of the Torrey gang, Wes Torrey, is played by perennial western villain and future Italian western star Lee Van Cleef, who makes quite a formidable antagonist here, as he does in every western that he made in the 1950s, whether for movies or television. Even when the townsmen get the upper hand, he still gives them a run for their money right up until the end. Every time I spot Van Cleef in one of these shows, I perk up. He always delivers the goods, making this episode, directed by Lesley Selander, an experienced hand at this kind of action, well above average for this series, one of the better hour-long westerns of its era.