Laredo (1965)
Laredo is an American Western television series that aired on NBC from September 16, 1965, to April 7, 1967. Laredo stars Neville Brand, William Smith, Peter Brown, and Philip Carey as Texas Rangers. It is set on the Mexican border about Laredo, Texas. The program was produced by Universal Television. The pilot episode of Laredo aired on NBC's The Virginian under the title, "We've Lost a Train". It was released theatrically in 1969 under the title Backtrack. Three episodes from the first season of the series were edited into the 1968 feature film Three Guns for Texas.
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Episode 1 - The Legend of Midas Mantee
Release Date: 1966-09-16Midas Mantee is out of prison and back into his old career: stealing gold from banks. Reese unwittingly foils Erik Hunter's plan to go undercover and join Mantee's gang. So Erik stages a gunfight in front of one of Midas' men, ""killing"" Chad and escaping Joe. Parmalee joins them having heard of Chad's ""death"". Mantee's master plan for the Val Verde Bank involves a lady dentist, nitrous oxide and camels.
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Episode 2 - Dance of the Laughing Death
Release Date: 1966-09-23Chief Tohpay, whose land has been stolen by the white man, is on the warpath. With modern military training provided by former army specialist John Garth they have taken a fort and captured Winchester rifles and a Gattling gun. Garth has been promised the hand of Tohpay's beautiful daughter Lohray as a reward, although she is unwilling to marry Garth. Reese and Chad are sent to investigate a town controlled by a crooked sheriff and armed Indian guards while Joe and Erik search for Tohpay's camp. All four are captured but break loose. Erik discovers the secret of the stone fire-breathing idol Tohpay has been using to convince his people that the God's support him. Erik uses this to discredit Tohpay as the other rangers try to capture the Gattling gun.
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Episode 3 - A Double Shot of Nepenthe
Release Date: 1966-09-30Jake Murdock wants revenge on Parmalee for sending him to prison. His plot involves Dr. Duvain who has a mind-controlling drug that can make a man kill his best friend. To remove suspicion they plan to have a ranger kill the captain. Reese is picked and undergoes a series of injections to prepare him for the murder. A $5 gold piece is the key to controlling Reese, whenever he sees one he is to obey the next verbal command which results in Reese allowing an outlaw to escape, immersing himself in a horse trough (Go soak your head) and busting up the saloon. Chad investigates the doctor's background and reads books about chemistry and the brain. He figures out what is causing Reese's strange behavior and convinces Parmalee of it who then devises a way for the plan to backfire on Murdock and the doctor.
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Episode 4 - Coup de Grace
Release Date: 1966-10-07Pro-Juarez rebel Juan Morales is taken from Ranger protection by the LeBec gang across the border to a French prison to await execution as an enemy of Emperor Maxmillian. The four rangers are sent to retrieve him and gain access to the prison with the help of cantina owner and Juarez sympathizer Carmella Alveras, who is also an old girlfriend of Erik's. Erik devises a plan to rescue Morales ""after the execution"". Reese, Chad and Joe sneak into the firing squad barracks and load the rifles with blanks while Erik does the same for the captain's pistol which will be used for the coup de grace, the final shot to the head. The pistol is fired at Erik when he's leaving the fort so he, Chad and Joe intercept soldiers sent from Maxmillian and impersonate them with Reese reluctantly posing as Morales' wife. Erik poses as a major and uses his ""rank"" to fire the coup de grace himself.
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Episode 5 - The Land Slickers
Release Date: 1966-10-14The four Rangers stake out and foil a bank robbery by the Emerson Gang, capturing leader Wayne Emerson and killing the rest except for Wayne's younger brother Ed. Reese's yearly enlistment with the Rangers is up and he intends on using his share of the reward money to buy some ranch land. He buys parcel 16 from the Fletchers and is excited until he discovers the land is under alkaline water! Eric sets out after the Fletchers, posing as a wealthy European who wants to buy land in Texas. Reese, Chad and Joe, with prisoner Wayne, in tow head for a rendezvous with Erik and the Fletchers in town. Reese wants to get his money back by force but Erik, Chad and Joe plan to get it back with finesse so they handcuff Reese to the bedpost in the hotel's bridal sweet along with Emerson. Later Chad and Joe decide Reese and Emerson would be safer in jail. They get Reese to sign his re-enlistment paper by telling him they will get the sheriff to let him out but keep it instead. Eric gets the Fl
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Episode 6 - Finnegan
Release Date: 1966-10-21Sean Finnegan is intent on starting organized crime in Texas. He recruits name outlaws wanted outside of Texas and teaches them methods and techniques in various rackets. A stage robbery planned by him goes awry when one man is killed and Oklahoma's fastest draw Tom Fox is identified as the gunman. Parmalee sends Reese and Chad to Dry Wells to scout around and they find Sheriff Gorman has ""disappeared"" and been replaced by one of Finnegan's men. They soon discover the entire town is under Finnegan's control. Reese and Tom Fox get into a gunfight and Reese things he outdrew Fox, although Finnegan actually shoots him from the saloon as Fox was now wanted in Texas and a risk. Erik and Joe infiltrate the gang as outlaws Zack Johnson and Cherokee Joe, two outlaws whose recent capture has not been publicized. Finnegan decides to do away with Reese by putting his feet in cement and rolling the wagon where they are hiding him into a lake. Erik and Joe devise a plan to rescue him. Erik
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Episode 7 - Any Way the Wind Blows
Release Date: 1966-10-28The rangers are investigating a series of bank robberies. They discover the robbers come in through the ceiling. Erik suspects a circus and joins it as a magician, romancing the lovely lady tiger tamer, Eve. Tolliver, the circus owner, uses an air balloon to transfer the money after the robbery. He then cases out the next bank to be robbed dressed as a wealthy gentleman and deposits their stolen funds into it. He also uses the circus performers, strongman, tightrope walker and acrobats, to carry off the robberies. Eve has second thoughts when she thinks Tolliver has murdered Erik. Erik figures things out and with the help of Joe and Eve, who saves his life, foils the last bank robbery. Erik takes Eve up in the balloon and drops a note to Chad and Reese stating all is well and, much to Chad's frustration, Eve sends her love.
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Episode 8 - The Sweet Gang
Release Date: 1966-11-04Reese and Erik attempt to deliver a mine payroll but are ambushed by the Sweet Gang, a hillbilly gang lead by Ma Sweet, and have to retreat. Parmalee, Chad and Joe ride to join them, meanwhile Erik tries to find another route to the mine but is taken prisoner by the Sweets, becoming a romantic interest for Billie Lou Sweet. The Rangers use the local sick wagon to transfer the mine payroll. They are attacked by the Sweets who, holding Erik as prisoner, force them to disarm and surrender the payroll. The Rangers use psychology and then force to capture them. Reese, Chad and Joe catch the measles due to being around or in the sick wagon.
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Episode 9 - One Too Many Voices
Release Date: 1966-11-18Emerson Whitby III is a millionaire who travels to Laredo to participate in a marathon poker game with other millionaires including the beautiful Sabrina Lane. The Rangers stop an attempt to kidnap Whitby from the stage and discover Whitby and Reese have the same sounding voice. Since the kidnappers didn't see Whitby but only heard his voice the Rangers devise a plan to substitute Reese for Whitby in the poker game. The plan is to let Reese be kidnapped and then follow the gang to their hideout. Reese is captured but puts up too good a fight and Joe, hiding in a bush, has to knock Reese out with his gun butt so the kidnappers can subdue him. The switch is discovered and the real Whitby is spirited away in a trunk. The Rangers rescue him and catch the ringleader when the gang attempts to get the ransom money.
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Episode 10 - Road to San Remo
Release Date: 1966-11-25Joe is on a stage that is held up by Indian Pete's gang and their only intent seems to have been trying to kill a 9 year-old girl passenger. The stage arrives in Laredo and the girl is dismayed to find out it doesn't continue to San Remo where she is going to live with her Uncle Charley. Reese, Chad and Joe go to draw their pay but are overdrawn so Parmalee gives them $5 each as a loan. They lose it at the saloon playing double or nothing so the girl, Gussie Smith, offers to pay them to take her to San Remo. Since they are broke on their weekend off they accept the girl's $10 offer. Captain Parmalee has also warns them to be on the lookout for a character who is passing bad checks. They arrive in San Remo, a near ghost town, and Chad goes to ask the sheriff where Charley Smith's place is. The sheriff turns out to be a gunfighter who murdered one of Chad's friends years ago. After being kicked off the land by ""Uncle Charley"" and shot at the Rangers discover the real Uncle Charle
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Episode 11 - Last of the Caesars - Absolutely
Release Date: 1966-12-06The four Rangers mission is to find out who has been raiding settlements, kidnapping skilled workers and killing the rest. Reese and Joe track the raiders for three days and are captured. Joe eventually becomes a gladiator second class and Reese a slave in the camp of Hannibal Rex, a would-be Roman-type emperor in Texas. Chad and Erik pose as a sculptor and an architect and are also abducted by Hannibal's henchmen. Hannibal's favorite wife Celeste invites Erik to her tent but he suspects a trap. Chad goes instead and is punished by being hung on a slowly heated metal pole that is suspended over a pit of poisonous snakes. Joe, Reese and Erik free Chad and they succesfully battle Hannibal Rex and his henchman. Erik ends up having a picnic with Celeste who he has handcuffed himself to.
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Episode 12 - A Prince of a Ranger
Release Date: 1966-12-09Prince Lazlo of Ambrasia is fascinated with the Texas Rangers and picks Laredo as the site to sign a treaty with Aguacaldo. His half sister Helena and consort Karl see this as their perfect opportunity to kill Lazlo, which they attempt with poison and a hired gun. Chad Cooper is a dead ringer for the Prince and Captain Parmalee decides they should switch identities for the Prince's safety. Reese believes the Prince to be Chad dressed up until the Prince passes out from drinking a shot of red-eye. The ruse is eventually figured out by Helena and Karl whose hired gunman goads the Price dressed as Chad into a gunfight. Chad is able to substitute for the Prince at the last moment and scares the gunman off with his fancy gun-handling. The gunman kidnaps the Prince and demands more money from Helena. Reese and Joe rescue the Prince and return him in time to sign the treaty and expose Helena and Karl.
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Episode 13 - Oh Careless Love
Release Date: 1966-12-23Chief Kicking Bear and his tribe do not want wagon trains camping in their valley and threaten to attack the one camped there now. Captain Parmalee, Reese, Chad and Joe arrive to help. After a meeting with Kicking Bear and war eager Many Horses Parmalee sends Chad to fetch the Indian Affairs Commissioner. He assigns Reese and Joe to ride to the Indians camp to negotiate, stall for time, until Chad gets back. Parmalee stays with the train to keep the hot-headed wagon master from starting something. While in camp Reese competes in several games and wins them, attracting the attention of the Chief's hefty, giggling daughter Lost Bird, who decides she wants to marry him. Many Horses wants to marry Lost Bird and challenges Reese to several matches. Reese pretends to be injured for the last two contests and Joe steps in, winning the knife throw and the horse race. Lost Bird decides she now wants Joe for her husband. Chad arrives with the Commissioner and peace terms are agreed to.
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Episode 14 - Leave It to Dixie
Release Date: 1966-12-30Parmalee sends Chad and Joe after the Sam Dixie Gang, who Erik has been trailing for two weeks. Meanwhile, Reese is assigned to catch the thieves who stole merchandise from Morgan's Store. He tracks them down and is captured by the thieves, a group of four orphan boys lead by Dixie's teen cousin Matt who wants to join up with Sam Dixie's gang. Erik has been romancing Dixie's girl Mollie and while searching for the Dixie Gang runs into Reese and the orphans. Sam Dixie eventually meets up with the orphans but wants nothing to do with them. Reese managed to save the life of Midg the youngest of the boys and the orphans are determined to keep Sam Dixie from killing Reese. Is the Dixie Gang strong enough to do battle with two Texas Rangers and four orphan boys?
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Episode 15 - The Seventh Day
Release Date: 1967-01-06Clay Morgan runs a reverend out of Black River because he feels the reverend's presence will eventually lead to local law enforcement. Joe keeps the reverend from being murdered by one of Morgan's thugs. It turns out that the reverend was Parmalee's first arrest as a young ranger. Parmalee sends Eric and Chad to Black River disguised as ministers. The three rangers work with the town's church committee to get a church established, the reverend back and Black River out of Morgan's control.
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Episode 16 - Scourge of San Rosa
Release Date: 1967-01-20Reese gets the drop on outlaw Johnny Rhodes but his horse Cactus is spooked by a rattler and Reese is thrown and knocked unconscious. Rhodes' horse is lame so he takes Cactus. When Reese wakes up he has amnesia and because of the horse with Rhodes name on it he is mistaken for the outlaw. Chad and Joe have been sent to track Rhodes in the hopes it will keep him too busy to attack a gold shipment. They come upon Reese in San Rosa and observe him as ""Johnny Rhodes"". They approach him as his ""outlaw"" buddies, assuming he is undercover. After their conversation they get the true picture of Reese's condition. Reese has Mio, the cantina owner with eyes for Reese, help him tie up Chad and Joe after they've been slipped knockout pills. The real Rhodes appears with his gang. They take Reese, Chad and Joe prisoner and tie them up in the cantina. Mio cuts their ropes and helps them fight off and capture Rhodes and his gang.
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Episode 17 - Short, Happy Fatherhood of Reese Bennett
Release Date: 1967-01-27Red Gully and his gang of brothers attack camped Indians and kill everyone except young boy Black Wing. His uncle Flying Cloud also survives but Black Wing does not know as he has already left to trail his father's killers. Chad, Joe and Erik are sent to bring Reese back from an extended weeks vacation and to get the Gully Gang. Reese, who is partying with three saloon girls, asks what day it is, realizes he is late getting back and heads for Laredo. Reese stops on the way where he is ambushed by Black Wing who shoots him in the buttocks with an arrow. The two quarrel at first and then establish a caring relationship as Black Wing eventually asks Reese to be his dad. Chad, Joe and Erik telegram their situation to the Captain and spend their time waiting with the saloon girls. The three trail the Gully Gang, running across three mail order brides who had everything they owned stolen from them by the Gullys. Black Wing finds the Gully's camp and shoots an arrow into it. Reese ge
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Episode 18 - The Bitter Yen of General Ti
Release Date: 1967-02-03Joe saves Jem Sing from a traitor of General Ti who has stolen her and Ti's opium. Jem Sing tells Joe, ""Sterling One, you save Jem Sing's life, now life is yours forever."" Joe becomes frustrated with her customs and her calling him master. General Ti wants to make Jem Sing his wife and is also trying to close an opium deal with the syndicate. He kidnaps Jem Sing and Joe from the Ranger barracks, wounding Parmalee in the process. The Captain grants Chad and Erik ""vacation"" to go after Ti in Mexico. They intercept the syndicate representatives and impersonate them. They join with Joe to escape Ti's cell and do battle with Ti and his troops as they attempt to foil the syndicate deal and rescue Jem Sing.
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Episode 19 - The Other Cheek
Release Date: 1967-02-10Grover's Bend storekeeper Mr. Tinker telegraphs Parmalee that cattleman Ed Garmes is bullying a sheep raising religious group called the Peaceables, who refuse to defend themselves because of their beliefs. Chad, Joe and Reese are sent to protect them. Reese hurt his back in Laredo and is in need of bed rest by the time they reach Ernest Snilly's sheep ranch. Chad and Joe head into Grover's Bend while Reese is cared for by Snilly's daughter Delia who does her best to convert Reese to their non-violent ways. A pacified Reese is roughed up by Ace Brady and the other toughs Garmes has hired while Chad and Joe set to jailing half the gang, arresting one or two at a time. Ace and the gang ambush Chad and Joe who take refuge in the jail. Chad tries to snap Reese out of his new beliefs by convincing Garmes that Delia loves him but wants him to be more forceful. He attempts this at the Snilly house where Delia cracks him on the head with a frying pan when he touches her. Reese comes to
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Episode 20 - Enemies and Brothers
Release Date: 1967-02-17Laredo's new lady doctor is Captain Parmalee's sister-in-law, widow of his brother Frank who died in the Civil War. Reese, Chad, Joe and Erik are sent after outlaw Bart Cutler. They soon learn that Cutler is actually Frank Parmalee and, although they try to keep the Captain from finding out, developments eventually lead to a showdown between the Parmalee brothers.
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Episode 21 - Hey Diddle Diddle
Release Date: 1967-02-24Joe, Erik and Cotton Buckmeister meet printer Lemuel Beamish, who asks to travel with them the next day. Unknown to the rangers Beamish has three men following him. Beamish's cinch breaks and Cotton stays behind with him, spending the night at an abandoned fort. They are attacked and Beamish is killed. Before he dies he recites a nursery rhyme Cotton is to repeat to Beamish's niece when he delivers his belongings to her, which include a satchel of money. The money turns out to be counterfeit and the rangers suspect that the three men and possibly the niece are after something else, such as engraving plates. The nursery rhyme may be a clue to where they are hidden but Cotton can't remember how it goes!
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Episode 22 - The Small Chance Ghost
Release Date: 1967-03-03Reese is caught in a downpour and heads to Small Chance for cover. He finds a nearly deserted town that seems susceptible to earthquakes and murder that the three remaining inhabitants, Kay Comstock, Sgt. Durgom and Old Charlie, say are caused by poltergeists. After another murder and two near fatal accidents Reese finds out there is a gold mine underneath Small Chance. He is held prisoner in the mine with a fourth Small Chance inhabitant Monte, a huge, simple man who works the mine. Erik rides in looking for Reese, which forces Kay and Durgom's hand.
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Episode 23 - A Question of Guilt
Release Date: 1967-03-10Joe's old friend John Bright Star is accused of killing Clara McDermott, a woman who had befriended him. Joe and Cotton are picked for jury duty and Judge Lamprey is presiding, his family was killed by Apaches. After a quick trial Joe is the lone not guilty vote but is soon joined by Cotton and muleskinner Abbie Heffernan who has ideas about marrying Cotton. While the jury deliberates Parmalee sends Chad to look for evidence that will corroborate Bright Star's alibi. Parmalee, Eric and the Judge fend off a lynch mob and Parmalee concocts a re-enactment of the crime he hopes will catch the real killer.
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Episode 24 - Like One of the Family
Release Date: 1967-03-24Captain Parmalee assigns Reese is to protect the rightful owner of the Willingham Ranch, which means evicting the Willinghams to make way for the railroad. The Willinghams are an eccentric but gracious and likable Southern family of artists who lost a son in the Civil War. Reese falls and ends up in bed with a sprained back. Parmalee sends Chad to check up on Reese. Chad arrives and sees two railroad surveyors pushing Mrs. Willingham around and promptly decks them. He and Reese agree to find a nice way of getting the Willinghams to leave. Joe is sent next and walks in on Reese, Chad and the Willinghams singing Swanee River. They discover that brother Alcott signed the bill of sale but had no ownership right to the property. All they have to do is find the waiver he signed stating so. Joe is persuaded to pose for a sculpture and after Erik arrives he's soon reading Shakespeare. The four rangers search for the waiver with the Willinghams as railroad toughs approach the ranch de
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Episode 25 - Walk Softly
Release Date: 1967-03-31Chad, Joe and Cotton Buckmeister are offered a $50 bonus to transport a bottle of Nitro Glycerin and the Professor who invented it to an army fort. A quick-change artist keeps trying to steal the Nitro and eventually succeeds. The Rangers manage to capture him and get the Nitro back.
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Episode 26 - Split the Difference
Release Date: 1967-04-07Captain Parmalee receives an invitation to the reading of Jake Ringo's will, a man he arrested who has been hanged. Parmalee will be the only law officer amongst a who's who of criminals that includes Linda Littletrees. Chad and Joe, who Linda has feelings for, are to accompany Parmalee but Chad convinces Erik that Linda is like Pocahontas and he takes Joe's place. The meeting place is the Halfway Mansion which has the America-Mexico Border line running right down the middle of the house. The will states that the money gets split evenly among everyone, as long as they are alive. Since this is a group that already hates each other Captain Parmalee, Chad and Eric have their hands full as they try to stay alive, arrest those they can and return the $75,000.