The Adventures of Jim Bowie (1956)
The Adventures of Jim Bowie is an American Western television series that aired on ABC from 1956 to 1958. Its setting was the 1830s-era Louisiana Territory. The series was an adaptation of the book Tempered Blade, by Monte Barrett. The series stars Scott Forbes as the real-life adventurer Jim Bowie. The series initially portrayed Jim Bowie as something of an outdoors-man, riding his horse through the wilderness near his home in Opelousas, where he would stumble across someone needing his assistance. He was aided by the Bowie Knife, his ever-present weapon. He designed it in the first episode, The Birth of the Blade.
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Episode 1 - The Birth of the Blade
Release Date: 1956-09-07How Jim Bowie came to invent his famous Bowie knife
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Episode 2 - The Squatter
Release Date: 1956-09-14Bowie tries to talk a neighbor out of throwing a couple of penniless German squatters off her land.
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Episode 3 - An Adventure with Audubon
Release Date: 1956-09-21Bowie assists legendary painter/naturalist John James Audubon avoid French forces that are hunting for him.
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Episode 4 - Deputy Sheriff
Release Date: 1956-09-28Volunteering as a temporary deputy to guard a prisoner, Bowie comes to believe that the young man may be innocent.
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Episode 5 - Trapline
Release Date: 1956-10-05A fur company is apparently trying to keep the Cajun fur trappers in line by killing anyone who trades with an independent dealer - like Jim Bowie.
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Episode 6 - Broomstick Wedding
Release Date: 1956-10-12A trade of horses leads to an angry father mistaking Bowie for his neighbor, the potential object of a shotgun wedding.
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Episode 7 - Natchez Trace
Release Date: 1956-10-19A group of travelers ask Bowie for help against a rumored highwayman on the trail to Natchez.
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Episode 8 - Jim Bowie Comes Home
Release Date: 1956-10-26On returning from a trip, Bowie finds that the town near his home has been taken over by a gang of young hoodlums.
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Episode 9 - The Ghost of Jean Battoo
Release Date: 1956-11-02Bowie encounters a group of farmers who are being duped into paying protection money to an old woman against the ghost of a famous Louisiana pirate.
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Episode 10 - The Secessionist
Release Date: 1956-11-09Bowie finds that a friend of his has been asked by President Andrew Jackson to try to talk a group of French planters out of seceding from the Union.
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Episode 11 - Land Jumpers
Release Date: 1956-11-16Just when Jim and his brother try to sell a large tract of land, a Frenchman shows up claiming to have the proper title to the property, which is verified by a local judge.
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Episode 12 - The Select Females
Release Date: 1956-11-23Bowie encounters the headmistress of a school for young ladies, and she tells him that one of her students has been kidnapped.
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Episode 13 - Bowie and His Slave
Release Date: 1956-11-30Bowie comes to the aid of a former slave who he had freed, but who has been captured and is being sold again at a slave auction.
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Episode 14 - Outlaw Kingdom
Release Date: 1956-12-07Bowie goes after a gang of river pirates who have stolen his cargo.
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Episode 15 - The Swordsman
Release Date: 1956-12-14Bowie runs into trouble when an attractive woman in New Orleans, where he has gone to purchase an estate, turns his head.
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Episode 16 - The Return of the Alcibiade
Release Date: 1956-12-21Bowie goes after the thief who stole an expensive Christmas gift he bought for his mother.
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Episode 17 - Monsieur Francois
Release Date: 1956-12-28Bowie comes to the aid of a French boy and his aunt, newly arrived in New Orleans, who are the victims of confidence tricksters.
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Episode 18 - A Horse for Old Hickory
Release Date: 1957-01-04Bidding for a racehorse to present as a gift to President Jackson, Bowie finds that he is up against Sam Houston.
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Episode 19 - The Beggar of New Orleans
Release Date: 1957-01-11Bowie tries to help a former champion fencer who has become a street beggar.
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Episode 20 - Osceola
Release Date: 1957-01-18Bowie comes to the aid of the native Seminoles, whom the army is trying to move from their traditional home to a tract of less desirable land.
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Episode 21 - Master of Arms
Release Date: 1957-01-25An expert French swordsman sells Bowie a lottery ticket, but then after Bowie wins he decides that the winings should belong to him and comes after Bowie.
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Episode 22 - Convoy Gold
Release Date: 1957-02-01Bowie tries to get a gold shipment safely through to New Orleans.
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Episode 23 - Spanish Intrigue
Release Date: 1957-02-08Bowie meets Simon Bolivar, who wants to liberate all of Latin American from the yoke of Spanish rule.
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Episode 24 - Bayou Tontine
Release Date: 1957-02-15Naturalist Audubon returns to ask Bowie for help in protecting a young girl whose life is in danger after she inherits a fortune.
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Episode 25 - German George
Release Date: 1957-02-22Bowie goes after the gambler who cheated and then killed Bowie's friend and partner.
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Episode 26 - An Eye for an Eye
Release Date: 1957-03-01Trying to stop an Indian uprising, Bowie only gets into more trouble after telling a native Cherokee princess the story of John Smith and Pocahontas.
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Episode 27 - The Captain's Chimp
Release Date: 1957-03-08Bowie goes after a thief who has trained a chimpanzee to climb up through people's windows.
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Episode 28 - Jackson Assassination
Release Date: 1957-03-15Bowie is duped into helping a group that is plotting the President's assassination.
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Episode 29 - Rezin Bowie, Gambler
Release Date: 1957-03-22Unaware that it is a setup, Jim's brother wins big and decides to become a professional gambler.
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Episode 30 - Thieves' Market
Release Date: 1957-03-29When Bowie escorts his young French friend to the notorious thieves' marketplace in New Orleans, they are set upon by - thieves.
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Episode 31 - The Pearl and the Crown
Release Date: 1957-04-05After a newspaper prints a poem about him, Bowie confronts the editor, who is later found murdered.
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Episode 32 - The General's Disgrace
Release Date: 1957-04-12Bowie suspects a connection between recent holdups and the heavy gambling losses of a general's son.
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Episode 33 - The Lottery
Release Date: 1957-04-19Bowie organizes a lottery to help an orphanage, unaware that the men he has hired plan to fix the drawing so that they will collect the winnings.
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Episode 34 - The Intruder
Release Date: 1957-04-26Bowie tries to help a young burglar who was caught robbing his friend Francois.
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Episode 35 - Country Cousin
Release Date: 1957-05-03Bowie gets into trouble with his relatives when he cuts his visiting cousin in on a deal that turns out to be a hoax.
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Episode 36 - The Bound Girl
Release Date: 1957-05-10Bowie resolves to help an indentured servant girl from Ireland, whose unwilling services have been purchased by a mean widower.
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Episode 37 - Bounty Hunter
Release Date: 1957-05-17When Bowie and his newspaper friend unwittingly help a fugitive from justice, a bounty hunter pursues them all.
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Episode 38 - Gone to Texas
Release Date: 1957-05-24As if his passport difficulties weren't enough, when Bowie crosses the border into Texas he finds out that someone is trying to kill him.