In this 1960 NBC TV western, William Bendix (The Life of Riley) and Doug McClure (The Virginian, Checkmate) star as the Overland Stage superintendent and his young sidekick as they struggle to keep the stagecoach safe from thieves, vigilantes, Native Americans and general mayhem as they move the stage line West from Missouri, across the Rockies, and on to California. Bendix shines as Frederick Kelly, the crusty superintendent who, in addition to his official duties, must keep an eye on his more reckless young assistant, Flip Flippen, played with élan by a young Doug McClure in his first series starring role. The chemistry between McClure and Bendix is nowhere more apparent than when the two share danger, but the show is filled with good humor as well, and has been described as a cross between Tales of Wells Fargo and Laredo.
Each episode of Overland Trail finds the pair pitted against some new threat to the stage line, and the series, although short-lived, has an impressive guest cast list, including Harry Guardino (Perilous Passage), John Anderson (The High Bridge), Denver Pyle (Lawyer in Petticoats), Werner Klemperer (The Vigilantes of Montana), Claude Akins (Fire in the Hole), Slim Pickens and Mercedes McCambridge (Sour Annie), John Carradine (The Reckoning), John McIntire (The Most Dangerous Gentleman) and many more.
