Judge Roy Bean - Volume 1 (DVD)

In the untamed frontier, the law of the Pecos was enforced by one man alone - the irascible Texan, Roy Bean. Edgar Buchanan (Petticoat Junction) stars as the powerful judge who, assisted by his pretty niece, Letty (Jackie Loughery) and Deputy Jeff Taggard (Jack Buetel), dispenses justice with common sense backed up by a Winchester rifle and a dollop of good humor. This 1956 television series is based on the true-life legend of the real Judge Roy Bean. Infamous in American folklore as "the hanging judge," Bean ran his courtroom from his own saloon in West Texas from about 1882 to 1902. Director John Huston would later explore this character in the feature film, The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean, starring a bearded and grizzled Paul Newman, in 1972.

BLACK JACK: "Black Jack" Ketchum breaks out of jail and kills his kindly Uncle Bart, forcing the Judge to lay down his law book and pick up a rifle to hunt the killer down.

LETTY LEAVES HOME: A couple of con men attempt to snare Letty into their scheme and spirit her away to San Francisco.

SLIGHTLY PRODIGAL: A dying woman comes to town hoping to visit her wayward son, perhaps for the last time. Judge Bean knows the boy is on the wrong side of the law, and tries to set him straight.

THE FUGITIVE: Crooks posing as newspapermen attempt to blackmail a local rancher in order to steal his land and property.

• television