Buffalo Bill, Jr.

All I remembered of this kiddie Western was the theme song, a cheerful but hardly classic bit of TV doggerel. When I found a DVD with a few episodes I bought it expecting the very worst. What a surprise! Charming, well written and Dick Jones is an astounding athlete and horseman. He is obviously doing most of his stunts and doing so with a verve seldom seen anywhere. I was never a great fan of this show half century ago but now can appreciate this very fine effort, one of the last of the kiddie Westerns. Produced by Gene Autry's Flying "A" production company in the first years of the "adult" Westerns which came to dominate American television for year afterward: "Wyatt Earp", "Maverick", "Cheyenne" and "Gunsmoke" which spawned so many noble and ignoble offspring. But no matter how devoted one might be to those classic Westerns, Dick Jones and "Buffalo Bill Jr." is a creditable effort in entertainment that goes well beyond my expectations of a kiddie Western.