It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Here's another of those blink-and-you-missed-it gems lost among the tide of ridiculous, cotton candy TV shows that were insulting to both adults & children alike in the mid-1960s. Rod Serling crafted something rich & meaningful in his series about a former Union officer in search of himself - and maybe America too - in the wake of the Civil War. While it clearly addressed the divisions widening in 1960s America, it's just as applicable today, when those divisions have not only reappeared but widened all the more. But let's make one thing clear: like everything Rod Serling did, this is solid entertainment that stirs the heart as much as it engages the mind. A wonderful example of the humanist tradition in early TV its concerns are[t just social, they're very much personal. How does a man who has seen the horrors of war, participated in them himself, begin to find peace, understanding, and a place for himself in the world? For that matter, how does anyone who has lived through turmoil, hatred, death, whether in the military or not? What is a life really all about?Wisely, "The Loner" offered no pat answers. If it offered any at all, it was that the seeking was what mattered, the continual struggle to confront both outer & inner darkness & despair, to strive for some sort of meaning in an uncertain, unmoored world.In Lloyd Bridges, the series found its perfect lead. Capable of showing both stoic strength & revealing fears & doubts as well, he embodied a basically good & decent man with both strength & sensitivity - a man of character & soul. And he wasn't afraid to show the weaknesses that beset all men, but are seldom revealed by many, to their own further wounding. And all the while, he's searching & learning ... Finally released on DVD, this sadly short-lived series is a treasure waiting to be discovered by anyone who loves quality TV.

While many TV series from many years past have grown fonder as our memories of such series get older, like sci-fi, for example,only to come out as major embarrassments at worst,or ridiculously hokey, at best, it seems that the western holds out quite well Whether the western is fairly recent or very old, it still comes out as a welcome addition to any DVD collection. In short, this series is long overdue for release on DVD! I remember this series when it aired on CBS in 1965/1966. While I was going through a phase where westerns didn't hold my interest,this show still had me addicted. From the haunting theme song to the captivating plots on to the closing credits,this was one show that was as thought provoking as it was thrilling. Here is where this western stood above the rest. Most westerns centered around a plot which was more or less action based... the bad guys vs the good guys, whether the bad guys were Indians on the war path or bandits out to rob a bank or train. THE LONER was different as its plot often evolved around the main character's inner turmoil or lack of peace.

Amazing how few people know of this TV series, and I was addicted to it as a teen in the 60s. Lloyd Bridges played a veteran of the Civil War, and the episodes were poignant because he never found peace even when helping people. And no, it wasn't like Chuck Connors in Branded - the stories were much more thoughtful and less physical. Rod Serling wrote the scripts, which I remember as being top notch and, in usual Serling style, thought provoking. What I particularly remember is the beautiful intro theme to the series - to this day, I can hear it and would love to own it. I've watched some of the episodes at the Museum of Radio and Television in NYC - unfortunately, they don't even have all of the episodes last I checked. Definitely an overlooked - and greatly underrated - classic TV Western.

In its own modest way, the single best television series Lloyd Bridges ever helmed. Though it only lasted 26 half-hour episodes in the mid-1960s, this rumination on the psychological and moral readjustments anguishing former Union soldier William Colton (Bridges) as he returns to the trail of a loner in post-Civil War America, had a freeform, experimental texture unlike any television western of its day -- most likely due to the significant contribution made to its teleplays by Rod Serling. Great direction and dialogue, too. The premiere episode, "An Echo of Bugles, " featuring an unforgettably poignant performance by a virtually unrecognizable Whit Bissell as "weak-as-a-kitten" former Confederate POW "Ab Nichols", sets the tone for this meditation on the lingering schizophrenia of divided loyalties that plagued our post-Lincolnian land as Grant assumed its presidency. A revelation to be rediscovered -- best writing of any TV Western I ever encountered. Truly a Western with an adult sensibility, obviously created as a centennial reflection on the aftermath of the War Between the States as seen through the eyes of the quintessential American cowboy archetype of the "loner". Serling will never be duplicated and, boy, is he missed! Haunting and haunted.