The Big Valley
The Big Valley is an American western television series which ran on ABC from September 15, 1965, to May 19, 1969, which starred Barbara Stanwyck, as a California widowed mother. It was created by A.I. Bezzerides and Louis F. Edelman. The producer was Levy-Gardner-Laven.
Historical background
The TV series was based loosely on the Hill Ranch located at the western edge of Calaveras County, not far from Stockton (one episode places the Barkley Ranch a few hours' ride from town while another has Jarrod riding past a Calaveras County sign on his way to the TV series' ranch). The Hill Ranch existed from 1855 until 1931, exceeded 1,000 acres (4.0 km2), and had the Mokelumne River running through it. Lawson Hill ran the ranch until he was murdered in 1861. His wife Euphemia (aka "Auntie Hill") then became the matriarch. During their marriage they had four children, one daughter and three sons. Today, the location of the ranch is covered by the waters of Lake Camanche. A California state historical marker standing at Camanche South Shore Park mentions the historic ranch. The set used to film the exterior of the Barkley Mansion stood on the backlot of Republic Studios from 1947 until 1975.
In the first episode ("Palms of Glory") the grave of Thomas Barkley (1813-1870) is shown after it is commented that he fought the railroad six years ago establishing that the show was initially set no later than 1876.
Characters
Main
- Victoria Barkley, portrayed by Barbara Stanwyck, was the widow of Thomas Barkley. She was the head of the wealthy, influential Barkley family who living in 19th century Stockton in California's Central Valley. She was the main character of the series. Victoria Barkley was the undisputed mistress of the Barkley ranch. In fact, Stanwyck's refusal to portray Barkley as fragile was controversial at the time. Barkley's husband had been killed six years prior to the beginning of the series. Victoria Barkley loved and was proud of all her children, including her late husband's illegitimate son, Heath, who she would refer to as "my son." Stanwyck, who was able to go effortlessly and convincingly from the refined, elegant lady of the manor to a jean clad cowgirl as tough as any cowboy, appeared in the most episodes for a total of 103 of the 112 episodes. Her episodes were often surprisingly hard hitting, seeing her character either locked away in a lunatic asylum to prevent her testifying as eyewitness at a murder trial ("Down Shadow Street"), or taken prisoner in a prison wagon to replace a dead female convict ("Four Days to Furnace Hill"), or trapped underground following a cave-in ("Earthquake"). Stanwyck always took her featured lead roles with all the confidence of a Hollywood legend, being both credibly warm and tough as and where the scripts required.
- Jarrod Thomas Barkley, the eldest son, was a respected attorney. Richard Long played the role of the educated, refined and calmer of the Barkley sons who handled all of the family's legal and business affairs. While Jarrod preferred the law to settle disputes, he was known to resort to frontier justice and violence when necessary. He was briefly married in one episode ("Days of Wrath") only to see his new wife murdered, with a bullet intended for him, in a memorable episode in which an enraged Jarrod loses all his calm genteel mannerisms then relentlessly tracks down the killer and is in the process of killing him with his bare hands before both his brothers Nick and Heath arrive just in time and have to physically stop him. Long appeared in 96 of the 112 episodes.
- Nick Barkley Hot-tempered brawling younger son, who managed the family ranch, was portrayed by Peter Breck. Well-known for his black leather vests, large black hat and black leather gloves, as well as his loud and brawling demeanor, he was notorious for getting into fist fights. At times, he would fight with his brothers as well, though underneath the gruff surface Nick was warm and caring, had a fun-loving carefree side, a wonderful sense of humor, and he loved his family deeply and would give his own life for any one or all of them. Breck appeared in 101 of the 112 episodes.
- Audra Barkley played by the beautiful Linda Evans, Victoria's only daughter. Audra was a tad self-absorbed, bold, and forward. Far from demure, she performed daring stunts and rode astride, like her brothers. Audra, like Nick and Eugene, was initially leery of Heath's story that he was her father's son. Early on, she unsuccessfully attempted to seduce Heath, so as to expose him as a fraud. Later however, Audra and Heath become very close as a real brother-and-sister bond develops between them. Audra also has a caring side tending the orphanage children, and a few episodes dealt with her romances, one notable episode being "My Son My Son" in which Robert Walker Jr. guests as a suitor of Audra's who proves to be mentally unstable. During the show's final two seasons, Evans' appearances were reduced because she wanted to spend more time with her husband John Derek.
- Heath Barkley was the illegitimate son of Victoria's late husband, and he literally had to fight his way into the Barkley home. Lee Majors portrayed even-tempered but rough and tumble Heath, who was often angry and aggressive throughout the early episodes due to his later-to-be-proven-false belief that Tom Barkley had abandoned his real mother after she became pregnant. In truth, Tom Barkley never knew about Heath, as Heath's mother had never told him, and never even told Heath until she was on her deathbed. Heath gradually gained acceptance from the rest of the Barkley clan as the first season progressed until he became as much a "Barkley" as the rest of the family, and his love for them became equal. Heath would come to call Victoria "Mother" when speaking to her directly and about her with his siblings. Although Nick was initially leery of Heath and felt he had to test Heath's mettle, Heath would go on to prove himself worthy of even Nick's acceptance, and eventually Nick seemed to grow even closer to Heath than he was to Jarrod, perhaps in a sense due to Heath having more in common with him than Jarrod did. Audra became closer to Heath than any of her other brothers. Majors, who is initially very blond-haired but gradually gets darker haired as the show continues, appeared in 95 of the 112 episodes.
Minor
- The youngest Barkley son was Eugene, a medical student studying at Berkeley, played by Charles Briles. Like his older brothers he was known to have a temper as seen in the Season 1 episode "Boots with My Father's Name". He was seen sporadically in only seven first season episodes and then written out. Only once was his name ever mentioned again. In real life Briles was drafted and sent off to Vietnam.
- Leah (Thomson) In "Boots with My Father's Name" one ultimately learns of Heath’s origins. Victoria Barkley goes to the town of Strawberry in search of the truth regarding Heath’s origins. She learns Heath’s mother is dead. From a servant (Hannah) she learns her husband, Tom Barkley, was badly beaten, robbed and left for dead in an alley. Leah, a young woman, finds Tom and nurses him back to health. They have an affair and Barkley goes back to Stockton, never knowing she is pregnant. The result is Heath. Tom writes a letter to Leah stating he loved her and she should some day marry and have children, as “she was meant for that.” Leah however never mentions she is pregnant.
Guest stars
The Big Valley was well-known for its plethora of guest stars. Among others:
Cancellation
Despite the show's popularity, it was canceled in 1969 because at that time TV Westerns were fading out to make room for more modern TV shows.
Production notes
While The Big Valley is set primarily in and near the city of Stockton, the filming of the series took place in Southern California.
Crew
The theme music was composed by George Duning. Paul Henreid, of Casablanca fame, directed a number of episodes. Four Star Television produced the series.
Wilfred M. Cline, A.S.C., Technicolor Associate Cinematographer on Gone with the Wind (1939), was director of photography of several Big Valley episodes, together with Chas E. Burke, A.S.C.
Adaptations
Comic book
Dell Comics published a short-lived comic book for six issues in 1966-69. (the last issue reprinted the first, and came out two years after issue #5). All issues had photo covers.
Film
Film columnist Patrick Goldstein reported in the Los Angeles Times in July 2009 that filmmakers Daniel Adams and Kate Edelman Johnson were producing a feature film version of The Big Valley with production to begin in April 2010 in New Mexico and Michigan.[1]
Several episodes of the original TV series have been combined into concurrent running feature length TV movies, while the notable two part episodes: 'Legend of A General' and 'Explosion !' have also been made into feature length TV Movies. These have also been issued as TV Movies on DVD as a box set, along with seasons one and two.
DVD releases
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment released the first season on DVD in Region 1 on May 16, 2006.[2] Season 2, Volume 1 was released on January 30, 2007.[3] Season 2, Volume 2 has yet to be released and it is unknown if it ever will be.
References
- ^ "The Remake Watch: 'Big Valley' edition". Los Angeles Times. 2009-07-15. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/the_big_picture/2009/07/the-remake-watch-big-valley-edition.html. Retrieved 2009-07-26.
- ^ http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Big-Valley/6676
- ^ http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Big-Valley/6676
External links