The Young Country

The Young Country is a 74-minute 1970 American western made-for-TV film, written and directed by Roy Huggins (creator of TV's Maverick (TV series)). It starred Walter Brennan, Joan Hackett, Wally Cox, Pete Duel and Roger Davis. It was aired on 17th March 1970 in the ABC Movie of the Week strand. It was televised in the UK on 1st May 1970 and went on to be shown in Japan, Spain, South Korea and the Philippines. Made as a pilot for a potential series, The young Country was about con artists in the Old West. TV Guide describes The young Country as a lighthearted "Movie of the Week" Western, where a footloose young gambler is searching for the owner of a mysterious fortune. Stephen Foster Moody (Roger Davis, of TV's Dark Shadows) is "a serious student" of gambling, takes a personal oath to spend the rest of his life avoiding "hard liquor and hard work" after doing hitches in both the Union and Confederate armies. Aarom Grimes (Wally Cox) is a thief who robs a bank. They, and other various interested parties set about finding the said mysterious fortune. The Young Country was rejected as a series by ABC, however they broadcast it as a ABC Movie of the Week. Roy Huggins went on to develop a pilot, Alias Smith and Jones, which ABC accepted and was turned into a series of the same name. That followed the adventures of two reformed outlaws, who in character were not dis-similar to those played by Pete Duel and Roger Davis in The Young Country.