The Show That Waited Forever To Be Aired!
Yep, this was an obscure western series from 1959-60, but it waited until late in the 1960-61 season when it finally made its debut, because of one problem after another. First, Guy Mitchell, the singer-actor who played George Romack, broke his shoulder falling from a horse, therby halting production for several weeks, enabling Audie Murphy to do a movie. Sam Buffington, who played Smith and Romack's boss Capt. John Richards comitted suicide in May 1960, guess he wasn't happy doing the series. When Whispering Smith did make it to the air in May 1961, it was met with low ratings, critical dismissal, and lambasted by politicians in a Senate subcommittee on TV violence, so this show met its demise in September 1961, leaving five episodes unaired.
But now, its all here in this 3-DVD collection from TMG, the quality is quite good, similar their earlier releases of other classic shows like Riverbaot, The Tall Man, etc. under license from NBC Universal, and Audie Murphy excels in the...
Audie Murphy
I took a chance on purchasing this set. I love Audie Murphy movies. I do not remember this series, but was not disappointed. The stories & content are great. Some of the episodes did lack clarity for the picture. Overall pleased with the set and was glad of my purchase. If you truly like Audie Murphy you will like this series and Guy Mitchell as his side kick was a treat. You will also find a young Robert Redford & Richard Chamberlin just a couple of guest stars that made a big name for themselves in later years.
What a surprise!
Although I'm a big Audie Murphy fan, this TV series caught me by complete surprise, as I was only aware of his movies. This was an intelligently-written show, and even the less-rewarding episodes are well-done, with Murphy showing both intelligence and bravery in his role. Those who dismiss Murphy as a real-life hero that managed to have a decent film career are missing the point. Murphy was a superb actor who was unfortunately quite pigeon-holed into playing the hero, but there are subtleties in his many performances that show he could hold his own with many of the more-famous stars of the day. And as one who personally know (or knew) many of Murphy's co-stars, I can state that all of them felt he was an excellent actor who seldom received the recognition he should have. "Whispering Smith" is different from many westerns of the era because the title character is a detective who uses his brains as much as his brawn, and it's very surprising that series had trouble due to its...
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