The High Chapparral

 

 

 

The High Chaparral is an American Western-themed television series starring Leif Erickson and Cameron Mitchell, which aired on NBC from 1967 to 1971.

 

The show revolves around "Big John" Cannon (Erickson), a rancher living in the dry desert of southern Arizona Territory, near the Mexican border in Apache Indian country in the 1870s. He runs the ranch, called "The High Chaparral" (named for a local plant/brush), with his brother Buck (Mitchell) and John's son Billy Blue (known as "Blue Boy") (Mark Slade). Blue Boy's mother, Anna-lee Cannon (Joan Caulfield), is killed in the first episode by an attacking Apache Indian arrow. John then marries a beautiful Mexican woman named Victoria (Linda Cristal), 30 years his junior, the daughter of powerful neighboring Mexican rancher Don Sebastián Montoya (Frank Silvera). In what is initially a marriage of convenience, she soon appreciates his strength and character, falls in love with him and becomes very supportive. John's marriage to Victoria also brings her brother Manolito (Henry Darrow) to live with the American "gringo" family on the extensive ranch.