It takes guts and determination to go from being a big screen star to be the matriarch of a western TV series, just as it does to actually be a matriarch in the Wild West. Barbara Stanwyck did it, already having appeared in a dozen screen westerns and a few television westerns as well in a few guest appearances. Her love for the wild west had shown earlier on her year-long anthology series which occasionally took her out into the open. Of the four big screen legends (the others being Davis, Hepburn and Crawford), Stanwyck was the only one who took that risk in her career and it paid off big-time with several Emmy Awards and a reputation that has maintained its respect because of that as well as her many big-screen appearances. She is surrounded by a group of younger actors, a few of them newcomers who she took under her wing and helped grow in the profession.
The episode that opens the series establishes each of the major characters as well as the family's reputation as wealthy but loyal to their community of Stockton California. This episode focuses on a railroad baron's efforts to scare off the locals in order to expand the railroad right through their properties as well as the arrival of Stanwyck's late husband's illegitimate son, played by a young Lee Majors. Stanwyck's children are played by the young Linda Evans, Peter Breck and veteran actor Richard Long of the "Ma and Pa Kettle" movie series.
Of course, Majors and his half-siblings don't hit it off with Evans, initially acting like a kitten with a whip as she witnesses Majors trampling on the flowers she planted near her father's grave. Earlier, sensible attorney half brother Richard Long had witnessed Majors racing the train he was on, but upon his arrival, hot-headed Brick gets into a fight with Majors, leaving him to be one of the men working for the ruthless railroad barons. Evans, much like future "Dynasty" stepdaughter Fallon Carrington, is presented as fiery and shameless, a constant worry for her mother. Stanwyck, getting special "and starring" billing throughout the series, makes her entrance into the room of her sons, seemingly oblivious to everything that is going on other than the return of son Long, would prove to be more than just the petticoat wearing widow she appears to be here, and just as strong as the men, often getting into situations that made her as commanding as all of the men she was surrounded by. The look of horror on her face when she realizes who Majors is does not require any words, making Stanwyck's performance all the more powerful.
It is obvious from the opening in this series that the Barkleys are not to be messed with by anybody, get well respected and well loved by the people who turn to them in times of hardship. This opening grabs you from the start and adding in two major female characters gives it more room to grow. Of course this also adds heart to the series as we get to see a bond grow between Majors and the entire family, especially Stanwyck who would come to accept him as if she was his natural mother. In fact, when she does finally speak to him, it is a scene that may have you in tears. Some might consider the opening of the series to be the start of a western soap opera, but I consider it to be the start of a western saga which makes the soap opera aspects of the plot all the more acceptable and gripping. It's too bad that Stanwyck didn't have the same look as the matriarch of the first season of "The Colbys". She is dynamic.
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