The Virginian (TV Series) The Fortress (1967) User Reviews

Akin to a good Maverick episode...

[rixrex · 24 July 2014]

In this one, we have the Virginian being fleeced of $100,000 of Shiloh money that was paid for cattle he delivered, and the theft is by the very same rancher who paid the $100,000 in the first place. This Canadian rancher also owns much of a town just across the Canadian border.

In order to retrieve the cash, Virginian must go to this town and devise a plan to somehow get into the rancher's safe and escape unharmed, since every hand in town is beholden to this rancher.

Well, the plan is set, but complications make Virginian have to adjust it somewhat. In this episode, one can only think of Maverick, and how several of those episodes had similar setups. It's actually a fun episode and different from the regular Virginian episodes, and a very Maverick-like ending. Virginian maintains his persona throughout, and composure at setbacks, as is within his character in most episodes, but it's easy to see Maverick replace him in this kind of story, and add some of that Maverick charm and humor.

Nielsen has Winthrop City pretty wired

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 21 March 2019]

This episode of The Virginian has our title character driving a herd of cattle to a Canadian border town to be sold to Leslie Nielsen. Only the second that Nielsen brings in the money and James Drury gets a bank draft the bank is robbed. Drury has no choice but to trail the robbers and the road leads to Nielsen's town in Alberta.

Nielsen's the Ben Cartwright of the area and he's got the local Ponderosa. He's not an honest guy like Ben Cartwright and he steals back the $100,000.00 he bought the cattle from The Virginian because he has a cash flow problem. But he's got his town of Winthrop City pretty wired.

He does have a weakness for women and Drury bringing in pretty French coquette Barbara Bouchet to get Kim Hamilton jealous looks like a good gambit. Nielsen and Hamilton are in fact living together without benefit of clergy. It's the 60s now and even in westerns set in the previous century that could now be shown.

Nielsen's a shrewd guy, but The Virginian proves to be foxier.

Offbeat episode

[pfors-647-501497 · 6/10 · 31 March 2013]

Glossy plot, loaded with drawing room intrigue, seems more suitable for a James Bond escapade or a nighttime soap than a Western. Nielsen's expertise at playing polished cads helps. Drury looks amused by the far-fetched theatrics and contrived complications. Lovely Barbara Bouchet looks about as animated as an expensive piece of furniture. An episode like this, which strays far afield from the problems of running the massive Shiloh ranch, would be unthinkable earlier in the series but is symptomatic of a long-running show's difficulties in coming up with fresh plots week after week. Stories were more believable and down to earth in earlier seasons.

Premise has hole from beginning.

[mjbacon-33353 · 6/10 · 3 December 2021]

The story has the Virginian herd $100,000 worth of cattle from Shilo Ranch in Wyoming to a town in Montana near Canada by himself. Not plausible. He would have many cow hands with him. He gets a bank draft for $100,000 that becomes worthless when bank is robbed. When the Virginian gets to Leslie Neilsen's ranch in Canada Leslie is already there with the cattle. The Virginian left town in Montana first without the incumberance of $100,000 cattle herd. The Virginian would have many cow hands help him that herded the cattle and chase down the bank robbers. The Virginian gets caught in act of breaking into Winthrop's safe but Winthrop lets Virginian live to try another day.