Home > Western TV Show > The Dakotas

The Dakotas

1963

Seasons & Episodes

  • 1

EP1 Return To Drydock Jan 07, 1963

Deputy J.D.Smith was run out of town when he was a gunfighter. He had only one friend stand behind him & now that man has been murdered. J.D. intends to find out who & why.

EP2 Red Sky Over Bismarck Jan 14, 1963

Marshal Ragan becomes involved with a woman and her half breed son. The woman asks that he help as she is afraid of the local justive of the peace.

EP3 Mutiny At Fort Mercy Jan 21, 1963

The deputies return a escapee to Fort Mercy. It is run by a brutal Captain Ridgeway. After inhumane treatment a full scale riot erupts.

EP4 Trouble At French Creek Jan 28, 1963

A woman mineowner drives her employees at work beyond their endurance. Things get so bad that the men walk out. The woman hires gunslingers to control the men. Marshal Ragan is called in to put things under control.

EP5 Thunder In Pleasant Valley Feb 04, 1963

A rancher's daughter has been kidnapped & held for ransom. There is a conflict between Marshal Ragan who wants to catch the kidnappers & the rancher who only wants his daughter back.

EP6 Crisis At High Banjo Feb 11, 1963

Marshal Ragan's wife had been murdered several years ago. He runs across Johnny Fox who admits he was paid to do it. A conflict arises in the Marshal who wants to kill Fox & a part of him who wants to find why she was murdered.

EP7 Requiem At Dancer's Hill Feb 18, 1963

Morgan Jackson, the town's bad boy has been killed by a posse. He was accused of murdering Lucy Christian .Hatred of the boy is led by Ross Kendrick.Dark family secrets lead to a astonishing conclusion.

EP8 Fargo Feb 25, 1963

Deputy J.D. Smith has a big problem. Local sheriff has been running his small hometown like a king.Merchants & citizens alike must submit to his ruthless demands & tribute.

EP9 Incident At Rapid City Mar 04, 1963

It appears that lloyd Mitchell has given the calvary spoiled food & poisoned some of them. The calvary demands that deputy Del Stark turn the man over to them. But it appears to Del that the calvary men he sees are renegades or deserters.

EP10 Justice At Eagle's Nest Mar 11, 1963

Classic case of farmers vs the cattlemen.Farmers near Eagle's Nest bring in Judge Daniel Harvey to enforce the law,their version. As it looks like war will ensue. Marshal Ragan decided to investigate the old judge.

EP11 Walk Through The Badlands Mar 18, 1963

Story of Marshal Ragan & his deputies, a group of outlaws,some calvalry men all meet together in the wilderness. Who's chasing who?

EP12 Trial At Grand Forks Mar 25, 1963

A German Countess is sentenced to death for killing her husband in a trial at Grand Forks. Marshal Ragan tries to find out why the woman would not defend herself at the trial. But he has little time before the execution.

EP13 Reformation At Big Nose Butte Apr 01, 1963

Deputy J.D.Smith once was a outlaw.His former leader is now free out of prison & wants to start the gang back up. He is summoned to go back to the old ways.

EP14 One Day In Vermillion Apr 08, 1963

A Sioux chief is brought to Vermillion by Marshal Ragan for the signing of a peace treaty. But it is not peace that is coming their way!.

EP15 Terror At Heart River Apr 05, 1963

The railroad is coming thru Heart River. But the railroad has abandoned the workers with no money or food.As the workers come into town it is apparent the people are not going to welcome them & there is going to be real trouble

EP16 The Chooser Of The Slain Apr 22, 1963

Del & Vance admit killing a man in self defense but no one believes them. Marshal Ragan must find the only witness to the shooting or the two deputies are to be hanged.

EP17 Feud At Snake River Apr 29, 1963

Two brothers are aiming to become wealthy enterprizers.But when brother Simon starts running farmers off their land he & his brother George become apposed to one another. Marshal Ragan tries to rally the rest of the farmers against Simon.

EP18 Sanctuary At Crystal Springs May 06, 1963

Del & D.J. kill two Barton brothers as they take over a church & hold the pastor hostage. A third brother says he will kill the pastor if Del & D.J. don't turn themselves into him.

EP19 A Nice Girl From Goliath May 13, 1963

A girl's lying testimony sends a man to be hanged.Now she has learned the man's brother is coming after her & ask's Del for protection.
8.1| 0h30m| TV-PG| en
Synopsis

The Dakotas is an ABC/Warner Brothers western television series starring Larry Ward and featuring Jack Elam broadcast during 1963. The short-lived program is considered a spin-off of Clint Walker's Cheyenne. The Dakotas is perhaps most notable for the fact that it was cancelled one week after heavy viewer protest over an objectionable scene.

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Reviews

Scanialara You won't be disappointed!
Plantiana Yawn. Poorly Filmed Snooze Fest.
Solemplex To me, this movie is perfection.
Kimball Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.
patmyhill Well what does one say, others have said it all! Like the other contributors I saw The Dakotas in my mid teens, thought it was the best western to date, and, of course it was the great Jack Elam that made the show! J D Smith could have been a good feature film story. Oh if only Peckinpah had used Jack Elam more (in Pat Garrett & ...) and earlier - imagine Jack partnering Warren Oates, especially in The Wild Bunch as the Gorch brothers.But to details. Now, in Oct 2007 I have realised an old ambition and got hold of all 20 episodes that were shown. Look on ebay if you want them.A little research shows there is a fair bit of misinformation around, but Wikipedia is a good start, together with this site and Classic TV Archive.21 episodes were made in all, the last, number 20, Black Gold was not transmitted in the US. The first, number 0, A Man Called Ragan was first shown in the US in 1962 as part of Cheyenne.But what about the UK? I'm sure it was on Sat night, 8 or 9pm and that the series started with number 0, possibly retitled as The Dakotas. So all the web info appears to relate to the US. I recall complaints in the UK about the violence, but was the series terminated early in the UK as well? Or was it all shown. what happened in the UK, was it bought, leased/rented/syndicated or is there a copy, maybe of the full set lying in a vault somewhere? 16mm versions of some episodes are available on US ebay, suggesting that is how Warners distributed it. So is there a Warner Bros archive? So you guys in the UK try and remember when you saw it, it might be traceable. You guys in the US, what about it? These 16mm versions came from somewhere. The thought of a full set of high quality print DVDs is tantalising.This series is probably the greatest memorial and testament to one of the west's finest character actors, so for Jack's sake...........
wgroves44 I have just watched 15 episodes of The Dakotas, This is a group of men that the public was not ready for. These guys were awesome. The episode that started their demise "Sanctuary at Crystal Springs" where the TV public wrote in and complained to take it off the air. This was due to the shooting that JD and Dale did inside of the "Church" That was going too far said the public. But, remember the priest in his remarks to Dale in the Church. "Nothing goes on in here unless God permitted it to happen". 1963 TV public, God led them there for what reason I do not know, but he did. This should have been the longest running western in the 60's As a boy, age 9 in 63' I was not happy when it went off the air. So I have spent the last few years searching for those episodes, I have 5 more to locate.
captaindallas28 As an adolescent when this show debuted, I immediately fell in love with the character J.D. Smith, so adeptly played by Jack Elam. In the pilot ("A Man Called Ragan"), he was a gunfighter called in by Del Stark's stepfather to kill Frank Ragan, the Federal Marshal. Realizing that Ragan might have more to offer him than his boss, he decides to join the marshal's team (including young Del Stark and town constable Vance Porter) and begin bringing justice to the Dakota Territory. J.D. Smith is somewhat uneasy in his new role as a deputy, using wry humor as a means to temper his natural tendency to dispense his own brand of 'justice' to those who cross him or otherwise bully the downtrodden. Having seen some of the episodes recently, the stories are good, albeit some a bit preachy, but Jack Elam is absolutely delightful to watch. This character "made" the show and was clearly the forerunner to The Man With No Name and Dirty Harry, and nobody could have done it better than Jack Elam!
dhines5703 I was 8 years old when this was on. I don't remember too much about this show other than Jack Elam as J.D. Smith. I thought his character was real cool. He wasn't physically handsome like the other "good guys" on television at the time but the way that he portrayed his character and the way he walked made this 8 year old boy take notice. I just watched an episode that I have on tape and realize that this was a well-made western. Too bad that it didn't last longer.