A western with a face-lift, Captain Gallant of the Foregn Legion simply relocated the hero to the Arabian Desert. Buster Crabbe’s Captain Gallant may not have ridden a horse and fought Native Americans, but he did have a camel, bad guy Arabs, and even a comic sidekick in the form of Fuzzy Knight.
Gallant was the guardian of Cuffy Sanders (Crabbe’s 10-year-old son Cullen), a boy who was orphaned after his Foreign Legion father and brother died. Buster Crabbe was gung-ho for a series about a young boy helping him defend justice and shot 39 episodes in 9 months. The actor was considerably less excited about the sandstorms that he and his son would get caught in.
In the beginning, the show was filmed at an outpost on the edge of the Saharan Desert, French Morocco, Marrakech, Paris and Athens. Under the guidance of future James Bond producer Harry Saltzman, the filming moved to Lybia, Tripoli and Italy, where the political climate was less hostile.
The show ran as Foreign Legionnaire in syndication.
production details
USA / NBC – Syndicated – Frantel / 65×25 minute episodes / Broadcast 13 February 1955 – 5 December 1957 (on NBC) and 1958-1963 (Syndicated)
cast
Buster Crabbe as Captain Michael Gallant
Fuzzy Knight as Pvt. Fuzzy Knight
Cullen Crabbe as Cuffy Sanders
