Search - Sugarfoot/U.S. Marshal on DVD

TWO GREAT GEMS OF YESTERYEAR!

Noel Serrano | Tampa, Florida United States | 11/24/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Sugarfoot is the title of a TV western that aired from 1957 to 1961. The series featured Will Hutchins as fledgling frontier lawyer Tom Brewster and Jack Elam as sidekick Toothy Thompson. Brewster was a correspondence-school graduate whose apparent lack of cowboy skills earned him the peculiar nickname "Sugarfoot".

The show had no relation to the 1951 movie Sugarfoot, but its pilot episode was a remake of an offbeat 1954 Western called The Boy from Oklahoma, starring Will Rogers, Jr. as Tom Brewster. As played by Rogers in the movie, Brewster never used firearms, preferring to vanquish villains with his roping skills (à la Will Rogers, Sr.) if friendly persuasion failed. Perhaps for practical reasons, the pilot altered the character slightly, making Brewster reluctant to use firearms, but able and willing to do so as a last resort. That was the way he remained throughout the series, and the title song even mentioned that he carried a rifle as well as law book. Sheb Wooley and Slim Pickens reprised their roles from the movie in the pilot, entitled "Brannigan's Boots."

Sugarfoot was one of the earliest products of the alliance between ABC and the fledgling Warner Brothers Television Department, chaired by William T. Orr. During the same period, other similar shows would appear, including Maverick with James Garner and Jack Kelly, Cheyenne with Clint Walker, Bronco with Ty Hardin, Lawman with John Russell, and Colt .45 with Wayde Preston. Hutchins appeared as Sugarfoot in crossover episodes of Cheyenne and Maverick, and in an installment of Bronco called "The Yankee Tornado" featuring Peter Breck as the young Theodore Roosevelt.

The TV series Sugarfoot is mentioned, and the theme song is sung, in an episode of Arrested Development titled "Spring Breakout". When shown in the United Kingdom, the show was entitled "Tenderfoot." This left British viewers somewhat confused, because the theme song still referred to the character as "Sugarfoot."

U.S. Marshall
Excellent police procedural. Derived from "man from Cocise" but stripped of that previous series' sentimentality and occasional cuteness. Professionally written, produced, directed, acted, photographed, essentially a series of 50 minute B-movies.

On a par with M-Squad and Highway Patrol, in some ways ahead of its time. Future stars abound as villains and side-characters, including Michael Landon and Jack Lord.

Tough dialog, tough situations, violent, sharp edge. just great entertainment for those who love Police procedural/action films with cheaper budgets.


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