The wonderful, simple but poignant theme music by Jerry Goldsmith introduces "Black Saddle" and brings back fond memories of the short-lived series which was among my favorites when first broadcast as part of the Western boom on TV in the late '50s. Along with "Yancy Derringer" "Bat Masterson" and "Wyatt Earp" it was must-see Westerns TV for me as a kid, followed in the '60s by dozens of the hour-long sagebrush sagas, especially from Warner Brothers, that dominated my viewing habits.
Opener concisely sets the table, with Peter Breck a forceful but unusual main character, the traditional stranger in town, but seeking to set up his shingle as a lawyer, abandoning his previous life as a gunfighter. Yet series creator John McGreevey's script manages to establish that the gun still rules, per Western mythology, as Breck outsmarts the segment's villain, a finely underplaying Onslow Stevens who has bought up nearly the entire town in his quest for revenge over the death of his son which he claims "the town's life for my son's life".
With lovely Euro actress Anna-Lisa as his very first client, Breck with the aid of local marshal Russell Johnson brings the dying town back from the precipice and all three of them walk off arm in arm at the episode's conclusion to launch a new Western series successfully. It's exhilarating and typical of the simple pleasures of TV I so greatly enjoyed as a kid.