Search - 26 Men on DVD

Actual History Lessons

Only-A-Child | 03/25/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The 78 half-hour episodes of the television western "26 Men" were originally broadcast during the 1957-59 television seasons. The series was produced by Russell "Lucky" Hayden, the same guy who played Hopalong Cassidy's sidekick Lucky Jenkins in many of Hoppy's western films during the late 30's and early 40's. Ten episodes from throughout the run of the series are included on this DVD release. Resolution is a bit grainy and overexposed so don't expect a great image-but it is viewable and given the reception quality in many households during the original broadcasts the image will feel like authentic 1950's television viewing. No special features on the DVD's-just the episodes.

Much like its counterpart, "Tales of Texas Rangers", the series focused on the historical adventures of the Arizona Rangers who operated in Arizona while it was still a territory. Some names were changed but the idea was to recreate actual cases from the files of the Rangers.

The Arizona Rangers were created in 1901 by the Arizona Territorial Legislature to deal mostly with rustlers along the Mexican border. Modeled on the Texas Rangers the group was originally limited to one company of 14 men, in 1903 the force was increased to 26 men (hence the series title).

Many of the 26 were Spanish-American War veterans of Teddy Roosevelt's Rough Riders unit. They were expert horsemen, trackers and marksmen. Because the force was small and their mission was big the territory made sure they were equipped with the best horses and the most modern weapons. And they apparently were legends in their own time, widely publicized and conspicuous. And so successful that local law enforcement worked lobbied hard to have this elite force disbanded.

In the television series Tris Coffin plays Captain Tom Rynning (the actual name of the unit's second commander) and Kelo Henderson plays Clint Travis. "Coffin" was appropriately named as his main claim to fame was an incident a couple years earlier on the CBS anthology series "Climax". Coffin was playing a corpse during a scene and suddenly just stood up during shooting and walked out of the frame. He had thought the scene over and the camera turned off. For this he was nationally nicknamed "dead man walking".


"The Recruit" - 15 October 1957 - The newspaper editor of Wilcox asks the Rangers for help, and two of them are dispatched to the town. However, when they get there they find the editor has been lynched and is hanging from a tree.

"The Wild Bunch" - 29 October 1957 - A member of the notorious Wild Bunch bandit gang escapes from Ranger Clint Travis' custody, resulting in his being fired. Furious, Travis sets out to take on the whole gang and salvage his career and reputation.

"Border Incident" - 5 November 1957 - Clint Travis goes undercover as a gun smuggler to stop Mexican revolutionary Juan Morales' plans to topple the Mexican government.

"Incident at Yuma" - 19 November 1957 - A gang of convicts has escaped from prison, but Capt. Rynning's can't get any more men to help capture them.

"The Slater Brothers" - 26 November 1957 - When Clint Travis is falsely accused of Murder. Rynning sends him into Galioro Mountains to prove his innocence by finding the cattle rustlers who actually committed the crime.

"Trouble At Pinnacle Peak"

"The Big Rope"

"Trail of Darkness"

"Trade Me Deadly"

"The Bells of St. Thomas"


Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

Saddle up, saddle up, saddle up.

This is the story of 26 Men.
Who rode the Arizona Territory.
High is the glory of 26 Men,
Whose parish helped to fill the Territory.

26 Men who saddled up and then
Rode out to answer duty's call.
26 Men who lived to ride again
And fight for the rights and the liberty of all.

This is the story of 26 Men
Enforcing law within the Territory.
Praise be the Glory of 26 Men
Who rode the Arizona Territory.

Ride on. Ride on. Ride on."

Great quality for older B & W film, these are based on True

Picky Shopper | 07/22/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"All of the '26 Men' are GREAT QUALITY(I don't see grainy stuff, but not looking right at screen with eyes, maybe it's there-but really good for being old films for being older & B&W(black & white), these ARE REAL true stories before Arizona became a state & the Rangers that made it possible. Coffin plays a great Capt., very sure of himself, a good leader & works with his men. At beginning, there is a statement explaining about it being based on a true story.
I just read a review from 'Actual History Lessons' Mar. 25,'08, By 'Only A Child'. Nice review. A lot person wrote was correct, but about in 'The Recruit' episode, editor of Wilcox does request for help, the Capt. asks him to hold on while he is sending 2 Rangers to critical points where they are needed. The Capt. ends up telling editor he'll get to it when he can. Meanwhile, Kelo Henderson who plays 'Clint Travis', he is 'THE NEW RECRUIT' is arriving by horseback & sees the paper clipping in front of Rangers office & reads The Rangers are seeking for a new Ranger & age preference, etc., & to check within. He goes in & talks to the Capt., who informs him the qualifications needed & they go outside to test his handling of his gun for shooting. Chris(the new recruit)is showing how he can be fancy with his gun & Capt. tells him he's not trying for a circus & what he would do if someone tries to push him around suddenly, Capt. quickly pushes him down, but The Recruit fires gun & does get the containers they were using for testing his shooting capabilities, Capt. goes back in to instruct he'll be gone & asks the new recruit if he still wants to be a Ranger & says yes 'sir', Capt. makes sure he calls him, yes, 'Capt.', they mount & go to Wilcox, theme song of '26 Men' starts softly for a few seconds as they ride off to Wilcox, where the editor is from & of course fix problem. The Recruit makes one mistake at getting gun out of hoster w/o using it to shoot, remember, he is 'The Recruit', ends up learning fast & he also is a real-life professional how to handle a gun, taught a lot of the legends of western movies.
These are good history for anyone, even 'The Legends of the Old West'(I got the box set-4 discs) are also based on true events, with Jim Davis as the Railroad Detective along with Mary Castle his partner, they really have their humorous moments when they say some things to each other. There is another lady also who plays his partner in other episodes.
Excellent for learning about our history with very good acting & very good for being old films, very much worth getting.
"