A sucker for 60's westerns, I wrapped a belt around the piano bench, set it in front of the TV and "rode" it with my western heroes; Roy, Yancy (with his collection of hide-out derringers), Lone Ranger (the original radio Lone Ranger, Brace Beemer, lived just up the road from me)Cisco Kid and Pancho, Wild Bill Hickock and Jingles, El Fago Baca, Mavericks (Bret, Bart and cousin Beau from England)I watched them all and this was one. I assume Bat's cane had a sword in it, most do, and I definitely recall one episode where he warned the town of an impending Indian raid by firing his "cane rifle" at the church tower bell - he was too injured to ride down in time. My question is, does anyone know what happened to this prop? Were there several? A Sword cane, a rifle cane? Modern westerns make at least 3 copies of any significant prop, i.e., Quigley's rifle. One for photos, one for dropping in the dirt, one for star to keep as memento. There were 4 James Bond Aston-Martins(Sean Connery didn't get any of them). Anyway, I was just curious about the cane and if it was functioning, or they just faked it for the film.

I can warmly recall western TV show tunes such as "Johnny Yuma was a rebel he rode through the west". And "All but one man died. There at Bitter Creek". And who could forget "da-dumb, da-dumb, da-dumb, dumb, dumb,de-dumb, dumb dumb" of The Wild, Wild West. And then there's Bat Masterson with "And those with too ready a trigger, Forgot to figure". And "He wore a cane and derby hat,They called him Bat". The show was okay. Paladin was more cerebral. Maverick was funnier. Cheyenne was pithier. Gunsmoke had a taller leading man. Bonanza had color. Even Yancy Derringer had better writing. But Gene Barry did an okay job of being a gentleman Marshall.

If you like genre bending shows like "Cop Rock," musicals like "Guys and Dolls," your favorite character on Star Trek is Neelix, your favorite reality show is the Bachelor/Bachelloret, you think PeeWee Herman is a genius, or you wish Clint Eastwood would do more movies like Bridges of Madison County, you'll probably like this "Western." Everything Western fans love about Westerns is unintentionally mawked. The only thing missing is a sidekick/butler named Quesso dressed in a bunny suit riding a three legged donkey.

I had to respond to that post. This WAS cool, unlike almost all the the westerns on television, and this child badly wanted (and received) a bat like Bat Masterson or his birthday. Gene Barry had the cool sure arrogance in this character that America was later to see in Burke's Law and the Name of the Game. In a different area of the country, this character would have been a great robber baron or 15 years ago,a great merger and takeover artist!This was fun - and Barry was a sort of James Bond (Roger Moore variety) in the Old West.