Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

The complete Classic TV Western, Branded, is being released - but by the same company that put out poorly produced single-season sets several years ago. The Chuck Connors series, which aired from 1965-1966, is well deserving of a quality DVD release. In 2004-2005, Timeless Media Group released individual boxed sets of Season 1 and Season 2 of the series. The problem was, the episodes were edited (chopped for commercial syndication) and the video quality was also very poor, more like copied from cut-rate VHS. An industry insider has told me that this new releasing is simply a repacking project. This means that Timeless Media Group has NOT remastered the episodes from 35mm film, nor has the video quality has been improved at all, and the episodes have NOT been restored but remain poorly edited and incomplete. As a result, I highly recommend that anyone who already has these sets to refrain from purchasing this boxed set. For anyone who does not have the earlier versions, it's a VERY worthwhile series to own, but be warned, and do expect high-quality DVDs. (FYI: That is the only reason I'm giving this release two stars, because it allows fans to buy the series in one DVD set.) Connors (best known for his riveting portrayal of Lucas McCain in "The Rifleman,") gives an equally compelling performance here as Captain Jason McCord, in a series created by Larry Cohen. McCord, a West Point graduate, is the sole survivor of an Indian battle at Bitter Creek in the 1800s. Court-martialed as a coward who ran, he was forever "branded" with that stigma and thrown out of the Army, his rank insignia ripped off and his Cavalry sabre broken in two in a military ceremony casting him out of the fort. The humiliating scene was replayed as the opening clip of each episode as a moving western ballad "Branded" was sung over the images. McCord, who is actually a man of deep conviction and principle, pleaded innocent but refused to testify in his own defense. As the series progresses, we learn that he did so to protect the memory of the honorable General Reid whose eventual senility resulted in what actually occured at Bitter Creek, and also to protect a peace treaty with the Indians. McCord believes that if those politicians who did not want peace learned that General Reid, who had negotiated the treaty, was unfit, they would nullify the document and resume the Indian war. Thus, McCord accepts his cruel label and fate, forced to live a nomadic life moving from survey job to job (a skill he learned in the military) because of the hatred people have for him. As far as the general public is concerned, McCord ran off to save his life, abandoning those under his command to all die at Bitter Creek. Remarkably, the series is able to explore in a sophisticated manner the true meaning of bravery and right and wrong as McCord seeks to help those in trouble whom he encounters. Everyone who deals with McCord ends up understanding that the coward's label pinned on him is far from correct, and that he is a man of grit, bravery and honor. In some ways, the themes of this series are similar to those explored in Kung Fu almost a decade later: lessons of morality, spirituality, honesty, bravery and the fundamental meaning of right and wrong and personal responsibility presented through the accessible medium of a western. This show's unforgettable ballad, music by Dominic Frontiere, lyrics by Alan Alch, entones in part: "All but one man died there at Bitter Creek, and they say he ran away... Not a single charge was true... Branded, marked with a coward's shame, what do you do when you're branded, will you fight to clear your name?" Forty-eight half-hour episodes were produced, and are all included here in a six-disc boxed set.