"The Loner" An Echo of Bugles (TV Episode 1965) Poster

(TV Series)

(1965)

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8/10
Excellent First Episode
gordonl567 February 2013
Warning: Spoilers
THE LONER- "An Echo of Bugles" – 1965 This is episode one of the 1965-66 western series, THE LONER. It stars Lloyd Bridges as an ex Union Cavalry officer who heads out west after the Civil War.

It is a month after the end of the civil war and Bridges rides into a small Texas town. He stops at the saloon for a beer. Inside he finds a young man of 17, Tony Bill, verbally abusing an old crippled veteran of the Confederacy.

Bridges watches quietly till Bill starts beating on the man, Whit Bissell. He steps in to stop Bill. Bridges roughs the youth up a bit and forces him to give Bissell an apology. A furious Bill challenges Bridges to a duel. The time is set for an hour later.

Bridges agrees and sips his beer. He then thinks back to the last battle of the war he was in. He had killed a young Confederate soldier literally minutes before hearing the war was over.

Bridges meets Bill at the appointed time for the gunfight. He is quicker off the mark and wounds the lad in the shoulder. He helps bandage the lad and tells him to grow up. The next man he picks a fight with might kill him. He then heads off again on his trek westward.

Not bad at all in my humble opinion.

The director was Alex March. The series was created by the great, Rod Serling. Serling also wrote this particular episode.

The score was by Gerry Goldsmith.

Also in the cast are John Hoyt, Lou Krugman, Mike Mortensen and James B. Sikking. (b/w)
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10/10
I loved the barroom scene!
mitchrmp27 January 2011
Warning: Spoilers
I must say that this was certainly a very dramatic way to start this short-lived series. Tony Bill did an excellent job acting out this scene. I can only imagine how hot things were just after the war. This old man, I'm sure, wasn't as old as he looked. After all, prison camp turned many young men into old men.

Also, the scene where Colton killed the young confederate boy...16 or 17 years old...that made me stop and think, because I'm sure many found themselves in such a position. The war was over, yet Colton hadn't received word yet...not until AFTER he had run the boy though. I cannot even imagine the emotions that go through a person when they learn that they killed a man when they didn't have to. What did he say a one point? Five minutes later and it would have been called murder...

Anyways, for a first episode, I was very impressed! It's probably one of my favorites, because it's the one I remember the most after watching them a couple years ago...
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