BARBARY COAST (1975-1976) – William Shatner was the main draw for this series set in 1800s San Francisco and its Barbary Coast section famed for gambling, crime, gunfights, brawls, partying and dance hall girls. Shatner starred as Jeff Cable, hero of the Union Army during the Civil War, now serving as a special government agent like Robert Conrad’s character in The Wild, Wild West.
Barbary Coast captured the same “Old West James Bond” appeal of the Conrad series combined with the same creative team’s similar series Bearcats from 1971. Dennis Cole, co-star of Bearcats, played Shatner’s reluctant partner, casino owner Cash Conover in the Barbary Coast pilot movie but was replaced by Doug McClure for the series.
Fans of The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. and Wildside (reviewed previously here at Balladeer’s Blog) would likely enjoy this series.
BARBARY COAST (May 4th, 1975) – This 2-hour telefilm was directed by the one and only Bill Bixby, who also made a cameo appearance. Jeff Cable (Shatner), West Point Graduate and Civil War hero fresh off fighting the Democrat Party’s hate group the Ku Klux Klan for President Ulysses S. Grant, arrives in San Francisco. Cable’s new mission is to shut down the Crusaders, an organization of Klan members who moved west and started their plot to become California’s version of the KKK. Continue reading
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