Laredo remains one of my all time favorite western series.Action packed & plenty of humor with a terrific cast.I have to say though that Reese added the flavoring to this recipe.The episodes missing Reese or that had his limited presence just were not as fun for me.Neville Brand was a fantastic actor & brought a colorful character to life that was compelling to watch.
shareCompletly agree, Laredo without Reese was lame and not worth watching.
shareI respectfully disagree. I personally thought he held the show back. To me, he just didn't seem to fit the bill as a cowboy. It came across like he was trying to force everything. To me, the star of the show was Peter Brown. As Chad Cooper, pretty much all of the action flowed through him. He and Joe were supposed to be the law, and instead they usually ended up bending it.
shareAnd I must respectfully disagree with your analysis.I found the Reese Bennett character a very refreshing change of pace from the majority of tv westerns.Compared to Bonanza or The Virginian,from which Laredo spun-off,Reese was unique.He wasn't handsome like so many of the leads in westerns,he wasn't always the sharpest tool in the shed whereas other tv western stars were all shrewd & smart.His clothes looked dusty & lived in as opposed to Little Joe Cartwright's perfectly pressed shirt,jacket,& pants.Reese's hair could be messy,no perfect Beverley Hills haircut for him.He could be loud,obnoxious & full of himself.All very human characteristics that rarely,if ever,you saw with the leads of other western shows who were near perfect in every episode.Reese was fun & funny,something you almost never saw in other western tv shows.Reese was always interesting to watch & not a bland hero as so many other western leads were on their shows.
shareWell we can all respectfully agree / disagree can we not? For me as a child if Reese did not figure in an episode it became a bore. Now as an Adult with the dvd sets I only watch the Reese episodes. The show is at it's best when the 3 Rangers work as a team and play off each other. Peter Brown and William Smith were fine but it was Brand's superb mugging and great charaterisation that took the series to another level for me. And no matter what anyone thinks officially Brand was the star and lead.
shareI was a little kid (like 4 years old) when this originally aired, and I was afraid of Reese-he had that scary voice and was always yelling!
Years later watching it, I was mature enough to appreciate his gruff and rugged charm. A great character actor.
"Twilight follows the brightest day,
And every cat in the twilight’s gray,
Every possible cat."