Despite the fact that a number of episodes have Bowie encountering a variety of historical celebrities {including J.J. Audubon} that the real knife-wielder probably never actually met, the series is not without some historical value. Most of the westerns from the "Golden Age of TV" are supposed to represent the 1870s, but sometimes have technology from a much later date & a range of locale quite impossible for anyone to cover on horseback in a single lifetime. This saga accurately situates Scott Forbes' Bowie in the 1820s & displays the single shot pistols & musket rifles that were in use at the time. It also keeps Bowie pretty much confined to LA, where the real personality prospered until he ran afoul of the law & was forced to re-locate in TX where he ultimately met his end at the Alamo. The effort to chronicle the diffusion of French culture into Louisiana bayou is rather commendable for any TV program, especially in the late 1950s. Surely corny but somehow cool at the same time.
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rbdrdbrd13 February 2009
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bkoganbing20 September 2006I think I remember this series because right around the time that I saw this on television I read Marquis James's two classic biographies of Andrew Jackson and Sam Houston which covered the era in our American south that Jim Bowie was operating in. If anyone has not read anything by Marquis James I urge them to. Better biographies have come out on both these guys, but as a writer James can't be beat. Maybe he romanticized the south a little too much, still his is the most readable of history.
The real Jim Bowie whose life was ennobled by martyrdom at The Alamo was a thoroughgoing scoundrel. But you won't find it here. Scott Forbes with an easygoing southern charm and accent that British players find so easy to adapt is the Jim Bowie of our frontier legends.
During the course of the two year run of the series, Bowie ran into just about everyone of consequence in that part of America most of whom he may never have met. One episode had him with Davy Crockett and in fact those two never met until The Alamo. Andrew Jackson appears in a couple of episodes. In fact Jackson might have carved Bowie up with his own knife had they occasion to meet for Bowie's politics made him a supporter of Henry Clay.
One guy who does pop up in the series a few times is pirate Jean Lafitte. He and Bowie did a considerable amount of business together including buying and selling of slaves and stealing and double selling same. That's not in the series however.
The Adventures of Jim Bowie was distinguished by that theme song which I can still remember sung by the King's Men and hummed at various points of the episodes for effect. I had occasion to see some episodes a few years back and they were as I remember them as a kid. But I have to confess I burst out laughing when the King's Men sung about how Bowie fought for the rights of man.
Jackson, Houston, Crockett, Lafitte, John Howard Payne, Johnny Appleseed, John James Audobon, Osceola, just some of the folks you'll run into in this series even if the real Jim Bowie never did. -
debemser24 January 2021It is really annoying when facts easily found are discarded by neophytes to Westerns. Scott Forbes was South African, not British The "humming" to only humming theme to a series is wrong. Those are the Ken Darby Singers who ALSO THEMED TO The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp series and during the show of Earp until Season 4 Episode 4. And only the opening theme since. The Darby singers were used by the Desilu studios and appear in other westerns.
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I bought the Volume 2 DVD of the Jim Bowie TV series at Wal-Mart and was entertained by its contents! Three episodes which feature entertaining actors, stories and fight scenes! So what if it's low-budget; Have you noticed that modern TV and movies are 99% monstrous mega-budget junk?! Jim Bowie is retro-cool action from a simpler time and conjures up fond memories of visiting Frontierland and Pirates of the Caribbean at Disneyland! Scott Forbes plays well as the strapping Bowie and his narration adds a nice extra touch to these episodes. I'm probably a bit biased because I'm a fan of all things vintage, but if you enjoy "boy's adventure" themed movies and books like Tom Sawyer you'll appreciate this series. I'm on the hunt for the other volumes!
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classicsoncall14 November 2019I didn't watch this show during it's initial run during the late 1950's, quite possibly because one of it's seasons ran opposite to "Trackdown" with Robert Culp which I never tried to miss. The show aired on the ABC television network on Friday evenings from 8:00 to 8:30, spanning the time frame September 1956 to August 1958. It might surprise folks to know that back then, it wasn't unusual for a series to run as many as thirty nine episodes per season; this one had thirty eight for a total of seventy six half hour programs.
Now even though I don't recall ever watching the show, somehow I do remember it's opening with that famous Bowie knife striking a wooden door. That caught my attention with such fascination that I began trying to emulate the practice with jackknives and sheath knives of my own. I got pretty good after a while but it took a lot of practice. One thing I learned is that you had to compensate for distance so that the blade would strike the tree I was aiming for just right. Oh man, cool memories.
Anyway, this series capitalized on a famous name of the old American West and South, even if it's stories were highly fictionalized. Actor Scott Forbes portrayed the legendary hero, attired equally comfortable in frontier buckskins or the refined look of a New Orleans gentleman. One thing prominent in a number of shows I just recently watched is that the stories went in for breaking a lot of furniture whenever Bowie was confronted with an altercation of some sort. Forbes was a pretty big guy, at times taking a page out of the Lone Ranger playbook by disguising himself as another character the way Clayton Moore used to in his show. One such example was when he appeared as a pirate along with Mike Mazurki in Episode #1.14 - 'Outlaw Kingdom'.
A number of actors had a recurring role in the series, like Robert Cornthwaite who appeared as naturalist John James Audobon, and Minerva Urecal, who showed up a few times as Bowie's mother. Other guests in the series included Michael Landon, Chuck Connors, and Mike Connors before they went on to bigger and better things, along with character actors like Denver Pyle, Claude Akins, William Schallert, and even June Carter Cash! Watching them today, the stories are pretty minimalist, and Forbes himself wasn't the greatest actor compared to some of the other TV Western stars of the era like Chuck Connors, Clint Walker or Hugh O'Brian. An annoying aspect of the shows I recently viewed was the A capella accompaniment during the low spots of the stories. They were performed by Ken Darby and the King's Men, who did similar work on 'The Adventures of Wyatt Earp' during that show's early run. Somehow the sound of that harmonizing humming just irritates the heck out of me.
Still, if you're an old time TV and movie Western fan, this show can be entertaining in it's own way, especially with it's revolving cast of guest stars. If you were intrigued by the New Orleans locations that many of the stories took place in, you'd be able to follow up this series when it finally went off the air by tuning into 'Yancy Derringer', which came on the scene in October 1958 on the CBS television network. -
pensman5 July 2016I was about eleven when this series appeared and it was a favorite of mine along with Yancy Derringer, Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson, and Davy Crockett. We weren't looking for historical accuracy, just heroes. We had all heard of Jim Bowie and the knife he made, so this was a perfect show. Jim was all the things it said about him in the theme song: he was brave, courageous, and bold. The stories were pretty simple; but Scott Forbes looked the part, and he had some interesting adventures. Now that they have started to rerun the series on Cozi TV, I get a kick out of the revisionist history and the portrayals of Jean Lafitte, Sam Houston, Davy Crockett, and even George Washington. A modern audience might either be confused or interested in watching Bowie in his many trading trips into Texas which to him is a Mexican territory. Bowie always tries to be courteous in his dealings with the Mexicans and everyone else. There is a bit of a mystery about the series as it was a hit for Desilu and for no apparent reason the series was canceled. It is still a watchable show but actually more character than action driven.
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The Adventures of Jim Bowie is a prime example of the approval and promotion of the rampant racism and genocidal behavior of the American People, their Government and their Religions. In far too many Jim Bowie episodes, it is ASSUMED that American Indian Natives are evil, untrustworthy, and less than human. The plot line is very clear.......KILL these Savages, or at lease use violence and trickery to steal their land, break Treaties with them, and demonize them entirely. The same is true of the series' treatment of American Blacks. Shameful stuff. The value in watching Jim Bowie is to recognize and understand the shameful racism and bigotries in our American past, and that it continues today in more subtle, yet even more entrenched ways. Our Nation's (U.S.A.) political and financial support of the genocide against Palestinians is a good example of our ongoing national shame. People of Conscience understand this. Hollywood does not, even to this day. One wonders if Amazon will allow this viewpoint to be expressed?
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aimless-4629 February 2008Adventures of Jim Bowie originally aired on ABC from 1956-1958. This DVD contains the entire run of the series whose target audience was probably pre-teen boys. Today it is fun just to see the incredible historical liberties taken by the writers.
Scott Forbes (a British actor who had found a home in American television's many dramatic anthology series) plays the title character. Bowie and his brother Rezin (Peter Hanson) had invented the "Bowie Knife" and the opening credits begin with a knife being thrown into a wooden door. Then begins the theme song by the King's Men Quartet (not to be confused with the pop group that gave us "Louie Louie" a few years later).
Based on a novel "The Tempered Blade" by Monte Barrett, the series is set in the Louisiana- Texas region during the 1830's and the many episodes have Jim interacting with historical figures from the period like Andrew Jackson, John James Audubon, and Jean Lafitte the Pirate. If you were a young boy back in 1957 you could have mistakenly formed the impression that Lafitte was a central figure in American history, as it was his gold doubloons that the Hardy Boys were after on the "Mickey Mouse Club's serial: "Applegate's Treasure".
Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.
"Jim Bowie Jim Bowie, he was a bold adventurer man. Jim Bowie Jim Bowie, he battled for rights with a powerful hand. His blade was tempered and so was he, indestructible steel was he. Jim Bowie Jim Bowie Jim Bowie, he was a fighter, a fearless and mighty adventurer man". -
T-2726 October 2005Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe that Jim Bowie is the only TV show to have its theme song hummed. Maybe there was music too, but there was also the sound of men humming with it.
Since I have to have ten lines of text I guess I will go on with this comment of Jum Bowie. Since I was born in 1951, I was only four or five when this show was on, but I remember it well. I guess that would prove that it is an impressive show for someone that young to remember it. What I remember particularly is two men fighting. One of them stretches the other man's arm out over a fire and the other man screams in pain.
All I really wanted to do is submit the trivia about the humming of the theme song, you can throw the rest of this out since I am only rambling on to get the minimum ten lines of text. -
Captain_Couth23 June 2004Adventures of Jim Bowie (1956) was a sappy western that was produced during the early years of television (a.k.a the golden era). Well like most television show during this time they made a lot of westerns. This one was about a frontiersman who was famous for two things, he died at the Alamo and along with his brother created one of the world's most famous knife. I'm talking about Jim Bowie! Yes, they made a show about a guy and his phallic knife. What was so funny was the knife had almost an equal amount of screen time as the lead character. Watch the infamous Jim Bowie and his trusty knife carve up the villains and safe they day! Cheesy hoke-um that isn't worth your time. Unless you're in a hankering for some low budget western action!
The acting is pretty melodramatic except for Jim who's as stiff as a board. Shot in black-and-white and made on the cheap. It was funny to see a sappy old fashion western but the charm wears off after about ten minutes. Boring stuff that has a few unintentional laughs.
Not recommended unless you want to watch a mildly amusing revisionist fluff