Overview: Everyone knows of William Tell: the marksman who shot an arrow through an apple atop his son s head. Few know the heroic circumstances surrounding the event. Now, the legendary tale of William Tell s struggle for freedom is captured in Crossbow. Robert Forester, Harry Carey Jr. and Johnny Crawford co-star in this thrilling medieval spectacle of drama and action.

DVD Verdict: Fourteenth Century Europe is the majestic backdrop as William Tell and his son Matthew are imprisoned by the tyrannical Gessler.

As governor of Austria, Gessler plans to stop the Swiss uprising against him by capturing Tell, the leader of the resistance. But there is no stopping William Tell s legendary strength and skill.

His struggle for freedom and revenge lead him to dashing battles, amazing escapes, heroic rescues and finally, a climactic confrontation with the evil Gessler.

Now out for the very first time ever in its series entirety on DVD, all 72 episodes are spread across all 3 seasons and brought forth over 6 discs! Inclusive of popular guest stars such as Sarah Michelle Gellar, Roger Daltrey, Steve Buscemi, Robert Guillaume, and more, this popular TV show is as great, as fun to watch today as it was back then.

The only trouble it had was that being produced back in 1986, it was considered just too similar to the highly successful 'Robin of Sherwood' (1984-86) TV series that had just finished its run in June of that very same year.

Thus, 'William Tell,' as it was called in the UK, was shown at primetime in Summer 1989 and just didn't get the viewing figures. Which is a shame as, in truth, it's actually a rather sumptuously filmed, and quality production that comes complete with a stunning soundtrack.

Filmed in France and Europe, the similarities with its British cousin ('RoS') were obviously just too much, but that said, the actors were perfect for the roles! Especially Will Lyman as William Tell and Jeremy Clyde as Hermann Gessler.

Again, for my money, the soundtrack - composed by Stanislas Syrewicz - is as good as they come for this era of filming, and the story lines were all as good as each other. There was always a lot of action, some great stunts, but never too much real OTT violence - which I think was very important at the time, given the fact that children and young teens were starting to watch the show. This is a Widescreen Presentation (1.78:1) enhanced for 16x9 TVs.