The Wild Wild West (TV Series) The Night of the Bogus Bandits (1967) User Reviews

Upsetting The Chess Board With Zapping Effect

[DKosty123 · 9/10 · 13 September 2009]

Irving J Moore directed a lot of episodes of Wild Wild West. This Dr. Loveless episode is one of the under rated ones by many. It starts with a shocking bank robbery being pulled off by a phony funeral set up. The opening is set up for shock value quite effectively.

Artemus gets a lot of work in this episode as he gets shot at one point in the episode, and towards the end he gets shocked by a large electrical jolt.

Once again, Dr. Lovelass is going to try and take over the western part of the United States. This time he is training an army of his own to perform the take over. West & Artemus blunder into his plot entirely by accident because of some robbery money which one of Loveless army members mistakenly spends. The mystery for West & Artie is that in spite of a huge series of robberies by these bogus bandits, this one bill is the only one which has shown up to be spent anyplace.

This is a solid effort & the Loveless escape at the finish is a light humored touch.

Bogus bandits but a real Dr Loveless...

[searchanddestroy-1 · 8/10 · 8 March 2019]

I like this episode, of course, because there are some unusual things here, as any episode. There are few bunnies, but no kiss between any of them and Jim West. That makes me think that in this season 2, I have not seen many, unike in season one...Kisses, I mean. or even "bogus" romance. The ending of this episode doesn't take place aboard the train, unlike the climax of the prevuois episode. But that's not the first episode which doesn't take place aboard the train, remember NIGHT OF THE MAN EATING HOUSE. I also guess there are some other épisodes ending this way too. One last thing, there is a very weird shot, when Dr Loveless brings West into the basement of this headquarters, a shot of Dr Loveless thru a gun "hole", as if he was seen by a sharpshooter. It takes only a few seconds, maybe two seconds, to see it. if you pick up your handkerschief, you can miss it. it would be a shame.

Dr Loveless meets Baby Herman

[grizzledgeezer · 7/10 · 16 April 2013]

As much as I enjoy Michael Dunn's performance as Dr Loveless (the series' Ernst Stavros Blofeld), * he's the straw that breaks the camel's back, the implausible character /so/ implausible as to destroy any sense of verisimilitude.

What makes this episode a standout -- and arguably the best of the Loveless episodes -- is a well-written /dramatic/ scene in which Loveless inveighs against everything he hates about Jim West -- including his unstunted athletic body. (West, surprisingly, quotes Shakespeare in his response.) There's a rough parallel between the fictional Loveless and the real-life Dunn, people who refused to let their disabilities control their lives. The Wikipedia article on Dunn is worth reading.

The opening scene rips off "From Russia with Love". Unfortunately, the writers missed a chance to rip off "Rocky & Bullwinkle" -- "Do you want the light reprimand or the heavy penalty?".

The ending is odd. Loveless says he admires West for his sharp thinking, but Jim completely misses Loveless's obvious means of escape. And given Loveless's stature, one has to wonder why West never grabbed the li'l creep by the ankles and smashed his head into a convenient pillar. Of course, "good guys" kill only in immediate self-defense, and we can't show such things on network TV. Not in that era, anyway.

This is a /particularly/ violent episode, in which several people in a bank holdup are murdered, Loveless kills a crony who made a mistake, and uses his "girlfriend" as a shield. (At least there are no open-mouthed kisses.) Though the show would run another two seasons, this episode anticipates the reason CBS dropped the series -- there were too many complaints about this and other series' violence.

* He has a wonderful turn in "No Way To Treat a Lady", in which he accuses the police of reverse prejudice -- "You think because I'm so short, I couldn't have committed the murders!"

A step away from fantasy

[robert3750 · 7/10 · 5 November 2021]

Unlike many other Loveless episodes, this one doesn't emphasize fantasy, although the usual Loveless megalomania is on full display. It was also interesting to see Loveless preparing to simply shoot West instead of the usual "kill him with a Rube Goldberg setup that he'll escape from" trope. West still escapes, of course.

Marianna Hill!

[lor_ · 5 August 2023]

Two favorites of mine, Michael Dunn and Marianna Hill highlight this campy, goofy episode of the hit show.

Long before Mike Myers did his groovy spoofs, "Wild, Wild West" captures the Swinging Sixties mood of over the top silliness better than anyone lese, and the vibrantpastel color schemes are vividly preserved in 35mm prints for the revivals like MeTV's current screenings.

I really enjoyed the Rube Goldberg type communications invention of Loveless. And Dunn's performance can't be beat! It's priceless how long and drawnout (to let us relish it) his scene of burning greenbacks deliriously is!