Wed 9 Dec 2015
A TV Series Pilot Review by Jonathan Lewis: THE WILD WILD WEST “Night of the Inferno” (1965).
Posted by Steve under Reviews , TV Westerns[6] Comments
THE WILD WILD WEST. “Night of the Inferno.” CBS, 17 September 1965. (Season 1, Episode 1.) Robert Conrad (James T. West), Ross Martin (Artemus Gordon). Guest Cast: Suzanne Pleshette, Victor Buono, Nehemiah Persoff, James Gregory (as President Ulysses S. Grant). Written by Gilbert Ralston and Michael Garrison (creator). Director: Richard C. Sarafian.
Directed by Richard C. Sarafian, “Night of the Inferno†was the pilot episode for The Wild Wild West, the genre bending spy-Western series that aired on CBS from 1965-1969. The series starred Robert Conrad and Ross Martin as Secret Service agents tasked with foiling plots against the U.S. government after the Civil War. Conrad portrayed the series’ hero, Jim West, while Martin portrayed his memorably named partner/sidekick, Artemus Gordon.
In “Night of the Inferno,†the audience meets Jim West and Artemus for the first time. The two Secret Service agents set out from Washington to the New Mexico Territory in order to hunt down a warlord by the name of Juan Manolo. Along the way, West encounters a seductive woman from his past and also has to face off against a Mexican general, Gen. Andreas Cassinello (portrayed by the prolific character actor, Nehemiah Persoff, who appeared in numerous television series during his long career and was the voice actor for the animated character Papa Mousekewitz in the An American Tail film franchise).
Altogether, this pilot episode works quite well in both introducing the two main characters as well as the gadgetry that Jim West would make extensive use of while fighting to save the Union from various super villains and their devious plots. An interesting tidbit: when the series was in the works, the title was going to be The Wild West. Perhaps it sounded just a little too basic, hence the additional of the second “Wild†when the episodes began to air.
PHOTO GALLERY:
December 9th, 2015 at 8:39 pm
One of my favorite ’60s TV shows. Michael Dunn as Dr. Loveless, who first appeared in the third episode, is an iconic TV villain as James West’s recurring adversary. Always felt a little sorry for the train’s engineer, since it seemed like he could never be off duty. Hard to believe the series was often criticized for excessive violence, considering the crime/action shows nowadays.
December 9th, 2015 at 8:52 pm
Like many series of this era I preferred the more serious first black and white season. The show avoided silly better than most of its type though and managed to go out still on top of its game thanks to being prematurely canceled because of concerns about violence though the violence here was always cartoonish.
December 10th, 2015 at 11:58 pm
I’ve just watched this first episode, and while there are some very good scenes in it to suggest a long successful series, I found this particular story line muddled and not very interesting. And do I have the premise right? Jim West is acting as an undercover agent for President Grant under his own name, dressed up like a dude and riding his own private train?
This is not a series I have ever watched before. I don’t know why.
Incidentally one of the options on the first disc is to see the opening with the original THE WILD WEST title. There is no indication that this opening ever aired.
December 11th, 2015 at 3:02 pm
Steve,
The series can vary wildly in quality, but there are some excellent episodes including one from I think the third season with John Williams as a Holmes like Scotland Yard Inspector pursuing a Moriarity like villain while he and West are trapped on an island with an old dark house replete with eccentric household, a string of murders, and thunder storm.
Sammy Davis Jr. and Peter Lawford guested in on memorable episode about a former slave trying to avenge a crime, and those with Michael Dunne as Dr. Loveless are usually worthwhile if only for his bravura performances and lovely singing voice, though they can go from tongue in cheek to camp easily.
There are some offbeat episodes worth catching including one with an invisible killer that has a nice twist, a puppet master with life size puppets, a fine ghost story with Hurd Hatfield and William Talman, Burgess Meredith and Kathy Browne as a geologist who causes earthquakes and his daughter, a well done Devils Island with Theo Marcuse, Carroll O’Connor as a murderous funeral home director, William Windom and Leslie Parrish and UFO’s in “The Night of the Flying Pie Plates,” Yvonne Craig as a Russian princess, and quite a few more with some fine turns by guest stars enjoying getting to chew scenery in period costume.
Plots hold up at least as well as THE MAN FROM UNCLE usually, but most are an excuse for a certain number of fights, Martin’s disguises, West’s gadgets, and colorful guest villains.
At its best the series could be atmospheric and even mindful of THE TWILIGHT ZONE. Anyone who likes modern Steampunk SF will feel right at home with many episodes.
One oddity, the novelization by Richard Wormser (the only one published while the series was running, the others by western writer Robert Vaughn appeared long after the series had ended) is based on an actual episode that guest starred Leslie Neilson, and not an original story. That happened with pilot films like the one for SEARCH (aka PROBE), but seldom with individual hour long episodes of a series, and one that wasn’t a pilot either.
December 11th, 2015 at 3:05 pm
One other constant in the series is Robert Conrad’s Houdini like escapes in most episodes. They often make even mediocre episodes worth catching.
October 27th, 2017 at 8:54 pm
Strange that I only just got around to reading this one …
The write-up has some holes in it; to fill them in requires a SPOILER WARNING:
As the episode unfolds, you’re supposed to think that Nehemiah Persoff’s character is ‘Juan Manolo’.
It’s only at the finish that you find out that the real ‘Manolo’ is the fat Chinese doctor played by Victor Buono.
The Big Finish doubles down, sort of:
‘Won Mon Lo’ the fat Chinese guy, turns out to be ‘Juan Manolo’ in Fu Manchu drag (‘Who would believe a fat Chinese taking over the world?”)
Well, it was a Different Time, you know …