Showing posts with label Westerns. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Westerns. Show all posts

Sunday, March 25, 2018

LAREDO: THE FORGOTTEN WESTERN COMEDY SPINOFF


Working on a possible novel, based on an earlier post on this and the previous long, I've been doing some research into the year 1966, that included some binge watching of the TV shows of that era. One old TV show I'm binge watching is a now obscure Western called Laredo, which ran from 1965 -1967. A few years ago, I posted list of what I considered the Top 10 Westerns. Laredo didn't make the list (because I wasn't familiar with it), but it is now one of my personal favorites.

From the 50s to the early 70s, Westerns ruled the television airwaves.  It started with the "kiddie" Westerns, which were carry overs from radio and the Saturday matinees. The rise of the "adult" Western boom (which coincided with the rise of rock & roll) in the late 50s lead to nearly every show on TV being a Western. Eventually there was a shake out in the early 60s, where many of the new Westerns were, pardon the pun, shot down the minute they rode into town. From then on, the big guns (another bad pun) stuck around for several years, but there were occasional waves of new Westerns.

In the early 60s, there was a trend toward heavy dramas involving doctors, teachers, detectives, lawyers, psychiatrist, military members and one show, Route 66, was about two guys cruising around the country. The Westerns started fading, until 1962, when NBC launched The Virginian, a 90 minute long, color Western, inspired by the book and previous movie versions.

As the drama trend began to fizzle out, the industry decided to try again, with Westerns in 1965. The fall season saw several new Westerns, but by the next year, many had rode off into the sunset (another pun). Three Westerns were the exception. One, Big Valley, was a copy of the top rated Western and TV show, Bonanza, only with a white haired mother, instead of a white haired father. Then there was Wild, Wild West, which combined the Western with the current spy show trend. The other Western to survive that season was Laredo.

I mentioned The Virginian because Laredo was a spin off of that show. In an episode, that aired in March of 1965, The Virginian (James Drury) sends Trampas (Doug McClure) to Mexico to buy a bull for the Shiloh Ranch. Trampas manages to get into a fight over a woman with three Texas Rangers: Reese Bennett (Neville Brand, a W.W. 2 Silver Star recipient), Joe Riley (William Smith) & Chad Cooper (Peter Brown). This episode was later released to movie theaters under the title Backtrack.

That fall, Laredo debuted on NBC. It was a hour long and in color. The producers wanted the show to be a sort of Western version of the Three Musketeers and Gunga Din, with a dash of Three Stooges. In regards to the later, some of the fight scenes were punctuated by cartoon sound effects. Laredo took a cue from another NBC show, The Man from UNCLE, and was rather tongue-in-cheek. Much of the humor was derived from Chad and Joe constantly making jokes about Reese's age, weight and looks.   

Reese Bennett


Reese Witherspoon

A little side story here: my sister laughs every time some one names a baby girl Reese. She knows they had Reese Witherspoon in mind, but she always, in the back of her mind, she pictures Neville Brand.


L to R: Brand, Brown, Smith, Carey

The main characters included the aforementioned Reese, a slovenly, dimwitted, hot-headed, middle-aged, former Union soldier with a face that only a mother could love and the voice that sounded like he gargled Draino, Chad the handsome, womanizing, gambling smart-ass, Joe the soft-spoken, muscular, reformed gunfight that was raised by Native Americans (explains the beads & buckskin he wears) and their stern, often frustrated boss, Captain Parmalee (Phillip Carey). 


In the second season, a forth Ranger, Erik Hunter (Robert Wolders, above), was added. Probably the most unusual character on a Western since Dr. Loveless of Wild, Wild West.  Erik, like Joe & Chad, was a young hunk. He looked like a cross between Michael Landon and Lee Majors, spoke like a cross between Cary Grant and Charles Boyer and dressed like a cross between Prince and Porter Wagoner. Erik is good at two things: plotting to ways to capture the criminals and stealing the woman Chad is interested in.  

Unlike other TV Texas Rangers such Jace Peason and Cordell Walker, these guys tend to screw up constantly or get sidetracked by a card game, bar fight or sex. Unlike those other shows, there isn't a heavy handed moral, but more of a off - the - wall tone, closer to 70s films like Animal House and Caddyshack. Pearson and Walker were like knights, the Laredo boys behave more like high school jocks or frat boys.

The show was placed on the prime time schedule opposite some of the most popular shows of the time. Another problem the show had was Neville Brand's drinking caused problems during production.

Laredo was not rerun until the advent of cable station with exclusive Western or nostalgic programming. However, fans seemed to have a fondness for the show. The DVD sets have come fast sellers.

I actually prefer the second season shows, because they seem to be satirizing Western lore, the dialogue is funnier, schemes are more outrageous (Reese in drag) and the traditional Western score is replaced with a jazz score.

Check out Laredo. It is a fun and overlooked Western that dared to be different. I think it defiantly needs a reboot or big screen adaptation. What better way to end this post than the front and back covers of the only Laredo comic book produced.





  


Sunday, July 24, 2016

GARY MARSHALL'S FORGOTTEN CLASSIC - EVIL ROY SLADE


Most news stories about the late Gary Marshall are mentioning his many successes in television, such as Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley, Mork & Mindy and The Odd Couple, as well as movies such as Pretty Woman, Runaway Bride, Beaches and The Princess Diaries. However, one of his biggest failures has become a cult classic.

In 1967, Marshall and his long time collaborators, Jerry Belson and Jerry Paris, came up with an idea for a Western comedy called Sheriff Who?. The show would feature a different guest star hired to be the sheriff, with the job of bringing to justice a outlaw named "Evil" Roy Slade, played by John Astin. At the end of the show, Slade would kill the new sheriff. Needless to say, NBC refused it because of violence. They re-wrote and filmed four different pilots of Sheriff Who? and each one was voted down by NBC. After the had a hit on ABC with The Odd Couple, the trio gave up on the comedy Western.

Then, in 1972, the four pilots were edited into a two hour movie for television called Evil Roy Slade. It aired on the network several times during the 70s and then was syndicated to local TV stations in the 80s. It became a cult favorite. At one point, rocker Alice Cooper was photographed wearing a T-shirt reading "Evil Roy Slade for President." In his autobiography, Marshall said it was one of his favorite projects of all time.


The plot revolves around a railroad, telegraph and bank magnate (Mickey Rooney) trying to bring Evil Roy Slade to justice. During a bank robbery, Slade meets a beautiful, idealistic schoolmarm named Betsy (Pamela Austin, the Dodge Girl). They fall in love and Betsy decides to reform Roy. She eventually takes him to Boston, where he is treated by a psychiatrist (Dom DeLuise). When he is cured he goes to work in the shoe store of her uncle (Milton Berle). Eventually, the railroad magnate hires a retired singing lawman (Dick Shawn) to hunt down Slade and marry Betsy.

The dialog in this movie is great. The funniest lines stay with you long after you watch the film. At one point, Betsy tries to teach Roy math with the problem of having six apples and a neighbor takes three. When she asked what he would have, Roy replies "A dead neighbor and all six apple." The absurdity of the humor takes the edge off of the idea that this is a movie about a vicious killer. The portion where Roy works at the shoes store has to be the funniest part.

Also the well-known cast make this film a fun experience. Of all of the stars involved, John Astin is the one who makes this work. He is perfect as the deranged but likable Slade. Throw in the narration by Western sidekick and Green Acres star Pat Butram and you have a great comedy package. Also look for Gary Marshall's sister, Penny Marshall, as a bank teller.

The movie is available on DVD as well as on YouTube.








 







      

Thursday, June 26, 2014

TV CHARACTERS THAT WERE REAL PEOPLE

When I was a kid, adults frequently told me that the characters on TV "are not real people." WHATEVER!?!? As I look back I've come to the conclusion that if I wanted to believe that Steve Austin and the Fonz are real people, I was entitled to that believe. Adults in Lebanon, Missouri were jerks.

The truth is there have been many shows that were about real life characters. The stories may not have been accurate, but these characters were real people. Here are what these people looked like. I've listed the names of the actors and actresses that played them but skipped posting a photo. Photos of the TV version are pretty easy to find thanks to Google or Pinterest.


Major Robert Roberts (1731-1795) was played by Keith Larsen on Northwest Passage.


Daniel Boone (1734-1820) played by Fess Parker.


Davy Crockett (1786-1836) also played by Fess Parker on Disneyland/The Wonderful World of Disney.


Jim Bowie (1796-1836) played by Scott Forbes on The Adventures of Jim Bowie.


Wyatt Earp (1848-1929) played by Hugh O'Brian on The Life & Times of Wyatt Earp.


Annie Oakley (1860-1926) played by Gail Davis (Gail was really kinda cute).


Bat Masterson (1853-1921) played by Gene Barry.


Laura Ingles Wilder (1867-1957) played Melissa Gilbert on Little House on the Prairie.


Eliot Ness (1903-1957) played by Robert Stack on The Untouchables.


Barney Ruditsky (1898-1962) played by James Gregory on The Lawless Years. I made an earlier post about both The Untouchables and The Lawless Years.


Greg "Pappy" Boyington (1912-1988) played by Robert Conrad on Baa Baa Black Sheep/Black Sheep Squadron.


Frank Buck (1884-1950) played by Bruce Boxleitner on Bring 'Em Back Alive. Buck wrote an autobiography called Bring 'Em Back Alive, but the TV show was more of a Raiders of The Lost Ark clone.


Dave Barry was played by Harry Anderson on the TV series Dave's World (1993-1997).


Wednesday, June 25, 2014

I HAD AN ODD CONVERSATION ABOUT ELI WALLACH ONCE

Eli Wallach as Tuco in The Good The Bad and The Ugly

Actor Eli Wallach died at age 98. He was in two of my favorite Westerns, The Magnificent Seven and The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, as well as an appearance on Batman as Mr. Freeze.

His death reminded me of a somewhat odd conversation about Wallach with legendary Springfield journalist/blogger Ron Davis at a going away party for Tony Messenger, when he was leaving The Springfield News Leader to go to The St. Louis Post Dispatch. Ron mentioned that Wallach had once shared a slow dance with Marilyn Monroe and how we, as journalist, would like to ask him what it was like to dance with Marilyn.

How did we get off on that subject? Ron brought up Wallach because of a strange incident that involved Tony Messenger from about a week or so earlier. It happened at what was supposed to be a panel discussion on immigration.  One of the participants on the panel besides Tony was a local talk radio show host with a huge cult following, even though this host had the mental stability of the proverbial outhouse rat. This guy is the reason I started the old blog. This guy had gotten into some battles with me on Ron's Chatter blog and Missouri Radio Message Board. I decided to start my own blog, so I could fully poke fun at this guy and make satirical comments on other news topics of the day. A person, who worked in the news department at the radio station that carried his show, told me that when he would read my blog he would fly into a mad fit cussing and throwing things. That makes me proud to find out i had that effect on him.
 
Franco Nero in Django

Back to the story. This host had showed up at this panel discussion dressed like Franco Nero in the movie Django. He ranted, raved and accused a local group that helps Mexican immigrants in the area of sneaking Al Qaeda terrorist into the country and changing their names to "Juan and Jose." Then he hurled a brown paper bag with two tennis balls at Tony, telling him it would be "the only sack of balls he would ever have."  As Dave Barry would say, I AM NOT MAKING THIS UP.

We began discussing why did this talk radio host dress in this Spaghetti Western outfit, when Ron Davis put forth an intriguing idea. "Maybe he thought he would be allowed to hang Eli Wallach like in The Good, The Bad and the Ugly."

And that is how we got off on the subject of Eli Wallach. 

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

DESDINOVA'S TOP FIVE WESTERN PARODY FILMS

According to a reference book on Western movies, that I read many years ago, the Western has been parodied more than any other film genre. That fact may have changed. The movie listing that accompanied this factoid was a photo from the film of two native American characters eating a submarine sandwich. I wish I knew what the name of that film was, because I would love to see if it was any good.

I have decided to list five of my favorite Western parody films. There are many Western comedies, however, I wanted to look at Western parodies only.

A parody, of course, pokes fun at the cliches that come with the genre. Western parodies have some characteristics all of there own.

1. Anachronism - Since Westerns take place in the 1800, Western parodies tend to stick current words, phrases, references and props into the Western setting.  In Son of Paleface, Bob Hope talks about television, the sound of a toilet flushing comes from a tee pee in Carry On Cowboy, characters in Blazing Saddles mention movie director Cecil B. DeMill, jazz musician Mongo Santamaria, Wide World of Sports, as well as Western actors Richard Dix and Randolph Scott. There is also Nazi's and Hell's Angels mixed in. Zachariah has Joe Walsh and the James Gang playing in the desert and, three years later, Blazing Saddles featured Count Basie and his orchestra performing in the desert. The sidekick in Rustler's Rhapsody's life is saved by a bullet proof vest.
2. The bad guy or unconventional hero wins - The Villain's Cactus Jack and Carry On Cowboy's Rumpo Kid do not get punished at the end. Miss Charming picks Cactus Jack over Handsome Stranger at the end of The Villain. In Rustler's Rhapsody, Colonel Ticonderoga gives up and throws a party for everyone.
3. Gay stereotypes abound - Maybe it has to do with Westerns being considered "manly" and "macho," but Western parodies feature enough gay stereotypes and gay jokes to fill a moving van. Carry On Cowboy and The Villain feature "gay" Indian chiefs, gay dancers fights the outlaws at the end of Blazing SaddlesRustler's Rhapsody gives us the paradox of people questioning the hero Rex's masculinity due to his flashy attire, while it is obvious that Colonel Ticonderoga is gay (Yes folks, Andy Griffith played a gay guy in a movie). Zachariah and his pal, Matthew, were forerunners of the main characters of Brokeback Mountain. In Son of Paleface, Junior says that he didn't know he was a boy until his was twelve.


1. Blazing Saddles (1974) - "Never Give a Saga an Even Break" was used in the advertising and Mel Brooks created a movie that manages to satirize Western cliches and racism in the same movie. Clevon Little is a railroad worker named Bart, who is to be hanged for hitting a supervisor (Slim Pickens) over the head with a shovel. The evil railroad company boss, Heddly Lamar (Harvey Korman), talk the governor (Mel Brooks) into replace the sheriff of Rockridge, that his henchmen murdered, with Bart in order to drive the resilient residents out of town, so the railroad can go through. After a not to warm reception, Bart teams up with an alcoholic gunfighter, Jim the Waco Kid (Gene Wilder), to save Rockridge from the railroad company. At the end of the film, the fight between the citizens of Rockridge and Larmar's outlaws spills off of the Western town set onto the set of a Bubsy Berkly-type musical, where the outlaws clash with the dancers. Bart has a gun fight with Lamar outside Grauman's Chinese Theater. The film ends with Bart and Jim riding off into the sunset in a limo.
The film is filled with great gags from Bart and his fellow railroad workers singing a Doo-Wop version of Cole Porter's "I Get a Kick Out of You" to Yiddish speaking Indian Chief (also Mel Brooks) to cowboys passing gas while eating beans around a campfire to a Gabby Hayes clone (Charles Starret) that nobody can understand. The film is also notorious for its use of the "N word," which shocked people in 1974 and is even more disturbing in these more politically correct times, yet its use, along with much of the humor, is a sharp poke in the eye at racism.


2. Son of Paleface (1952) - This is one of the first of two Republic Studios Western inspired parodies on this list. It is a sequel to the highly successful Bob Hope Western comedy film The Paleface. Unlike its predecessor, Son of Paleface pokes fun at Republic Studios Westerns that were still popular in theaters in 1952 and quickly becoming a mainstay of the new medium television. A gang of outlaws, lead by a masked villain called the Torch, is stealing gold shipments around the town of Sawbuck Pass. A federal agent named Roy (Roy Rogers) is sent to investigate the robberies, disguised as a singing cowboy. At the same time, Junior Potter (Hope) arrives in Sawbuck Pass to collect his inheritance. Both Potter and Rogers meet a sexy saloon owner named Mike (Jane Russell), not realizing that she is really the Torch. To complicate matters, the Indians want to kill Junior because his father, Paleface Potter (Hope's character in the previous film), was an Indian fighter that killed a great number of their tribe.
Many people say Son of Paleface is one of the few sequels that is better than the original. The film pokes fun at many of the traits that were exclusive to Republic Studios Westerns such as death deifying stunts, outlandish plots, masked villains, musical numbers (the big hit, Buttons and Bows, from the first film returns) and Republic's two biggest stars, Roy Rogers and Trigger. Not only is Rogers great at playing a parody of himself, but Trigger has a flare for comedy as well. Hope was at the top of his game at this point in his career, playing Junior as a nerdy wanna-be hero.


3. Rustler's Rhapsody (1985) - If Son of Paleface pokes fun at Roy Rogers, then Rustler's Rhapsody nails Republic's first major star, Gene Autry. It especially takes aim at his Cowboy Code that was followed by the other Republic cowboys (The Lone Ranger had a similar code too) and how movies changed (and society) from the heyday of Republic Studios in the 30s and 40s. Tom Berenger plays Rex O'Herlihan, a fancy dressed cowboy in a white hat arrives in the town of Oakwood Estates. He meets Peter the town drunk (G.W. Bailey), who is surprised when Rex tells him that "all Western towns are the same" and he knows how the story will end because he "can see the future." Rex has a brief gun battle with the henchmen of a rancher name Colonel Ticonderoga (Andy Griffith). The leader of the gang is shot in the back by his own men, who then tell Ticonderoga that Rex did it. Colonel Ticonderoga teams up with the owner of the railroad (Fernando Rey) and his "Spaghetti Western" henchmen to try and stop Rex. When that fails, Ticonderoga hires "Wrangler" Bob Barber (Patrick Wayne), a cowboy/lawyer, who dresses just like Rex. He begins questions Rex's adherence to the Cowboy Code and his sexuality in an attempt to discredit him as a Western Hero.
The basic theme of Rustler's Rhapsody could be "We can't go back to the good old days." It almost seems like it could be a clever retort to the Statler Brothers song "Whatever Happened to Randolph Scott?" In the real world and real Old West, the cookie cutter, happy ending world of the B-Western wouldn't exist, where as the dirty and violent Spaghetti Western world was probably closer to the truth. I should also mention two other great characters, the saloon owner/prostitute "with a heart of gold," who only talks dirty to men (Marilu Henner) and Colonel Ticonderoga's "sweet and innocent" daughter (Sela Ward), who can strip to her bloomers at the drop of a Stetson hat.

4. The Villain (1979) - The beautiful Charming Jones (Ann Margaret) collects her inheritance with help from a bodyguard named Handsome Stranger (Arnold Schwarzenneger), but the lawyer (Jack Elam) hires a black-leather clad outlaw known as Cactus Jack (Kirk Douglas) to steal the money back. The thing is Cactus Jack isn't very good at robbing stage coaches. The stagecoach has to pass through the territory of Chief Nervous Elk (Paul Lynde) and his klutzy Indian warriors.
Let's not beat around the tumbleweed here, The Villain (known overseas as Cactus Jack) is a cross between Tom & Jerry and the Road Runner cartoons using real people disguised as a Western parody. Kirk Douglas is a human equivalent of Wile E. Coyote slamming into rock bluffs and pulling boulders on top of himself. However, one of my favorite moments in the film is when Handsome Stranger (Schwarzenneger) has a conversation with a telegraph agent (Mel Tillis).


5. Carry On Cowboy (1965) - Prudish, teetotaler Judge Burke (Kenneth Williams - sort of the British equivalent to Paul Lynde) is the mayor of family friendly Stodge City. Outlaw Johnny Finger, known as the Rumpo Kid (Sid James) comes into town and turns Stodge City into a base of operations for his gang of cattle rustlers. After Finger kills the elderly Sheriff Earp (Jon Pertwee - the 3rd Dr. Who), Judge Burke sends a telegram to Washington, D.C. for marshal. Washington sends Stodge City an klutzy, young, Englishman Marshall P. Nutt (Jim Dale), a sanitation expert. who walked into the wrong room. Finger tries everything to kill Marshall including bringing in Chief Big Heap (Charles Hawtrey) on his Indians.
The Carry On films switched from comedies based on occupations to movie parodies in the mid 60s. This is one of the best of the parodies. Besides taking pot shots at the familiar Western cliches, this film is filled with double entendres and bad puns that were a mainstay of the Carry On films. Favorite gag in the movie is when Rumpo Kid arrives in Stodge City, a group of men walk up behind him. He quickly turns around and guns them down. He then says, "I wonder what they wanted?"


Honorable mention: Zachariah (1971) - I'm giving Zachariah an honorable mention because it is overlooked and could have been something great. It started off as a Western parody version of Herman Hesse's Siddhartha written by Firesign Theater, complete with a used buggy salesman (Dick Van Patten), an outlaw rock band (Country Joe and the Fish) and a madam who has slept with both Marshal Dillon and Marshall McLuhan. In the middle of the film, it turns into a serious story about two men who were lovers turning against one another. Firesign Theater disowned the movie, claiming they wrote a Western parody film "that never got made." Rumor has it MGM took the movie away from them and rewrote it. The movie became popular on VHS in the 80s when the film's stars John Rubenstein and Don Johnson were staring in popular TV detective shows (Rubenstein was on Crazy Like a Fox and Johnson was on Miami Vice). The opening sequence with the James Gang playing "Laguna Salada" in the desert is great, as is the prog rock band New York Rock and Roll Ensemble playing their song "Grave Digger."  For a great in-depth review of the film, check out this post on a site called Jim's Reviews.

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

MIKE WALLACE ON SKY KING



As many of you know, 60 Minutes host Mike Wallace past away over the weekend. Many don't realize that Wallace was not always the journalist asking hard questions, but was also an announcer and, in the 1950s, an game show host. I had always heard that Mike Wallace was an announcer on the Sky King radio show. Here is a great recording of the Sky King radio show with Wallace at the very beginning reminding kids to be safe.

Also, here is a great article from a Old Radio Shows blog about Mike Wallace's radio career.


MIKE WALLACE 1918 - 2012

Thursday, February 2, 2012

DESDINOVA'S LIST OF TV GREATEST WESTERNS


Recently, Salon had a list of what they considered TV's Greatest Western. It was a Top Ten list with some entries that I felt didn't belong because they didn't take place in the old West (McCloud and Firefly). Also, I feel that the list should have only included regular series and left out the mini-series, Lonesome Dove. They could have also included Centennial, The Sacktetts or those Kenny Rogers' Gambler movies.
So after reading that, I feel inclined to give you my list of my 15 favorite TV Westerns of the past. I'm going to include the shows I have watched thanks to DVD or reruns, so some of the more recent shows will not be included. Besides this is a "retro" sight (for the most part).


1. Gunsmoke (1955-1975): The king of the adult TV Westerns came from radio and went on to be one of TV longest running shows. Marshal Matt Dillon, Chester, Miss Kitty and Doc, along with Quint, Dooley and Festus became icons of the TV Western.


2. The Virginian (1962-1971): Based on the Owen Wister novel, The Virginian was the closest thing to a big screen "Big Sky"-style Western on TV every week. In color with great on-location scenery, good scripts, a big orchestral theme song by Percy Faith and 90 minutes long episodes, The Virginian was actually the third most successful TV Western behind Bonanza, yet I place it second for its effort. The last season, renamed The Men from Shilo, left the "Big Sky" Western-style behind for a "spaghetti Western"-style complete with facial hair, dusters, wide brimmed hats, an animated title sequence and Ennio Morricone music.


3. Bonanza (1959-1973): First color Western and the second most successful TV Western.


 4. The Wild Wild West (1965-1969): If Paladin was the Western version of the literary James Bond, James T. West (played by Robert Conrad) was the Western version of the movie James Bond. He had exploding buttons, hidden Derringer in his sleeve and megalomaniac enemies. Paved the way for the steampunk literary genre movement of the 1990s.


5. Have Gun-Will Travel (1957-1963): If Matt Dillon was the Phillip Marlow of the Old West, Paladin was the first James Bond of the Old West. Based on the Ian Fleming novel description of Bond, Sam Rolfe and Herb Meadow created a Western hero that was different than other TV Western heroes of the day. Paladin was dressed in all black while working and wore a tux at his home in the San Fransisco Hotel Carlton. He was a West Point grad who quoted Shakespeare, Socrates, Keats and Shelley. He carried business cards and charged a fee for his services. The business cards and his holster both had a chess knight on them. He saved Oscar Wilde's life, hunted a Sasquatch in Colorado, man-eating tigers in India and fought ninjas. The opening music was by Bernard Hermann and the closing theme was by country singer Johnny Western.


6. Rawhide (1959-1966): Besides featuring the first African-American cowboy, played by Raymond St. Jacques, this show is best known for a great theme song by Frankie Laine and Clint Eastwood as ramrod Rowdy Yates.


7. Kung Fu (1972-1975): With Alias Smith & Jones, Kung Fu was the last successful show of the original wave TV Westerns. David Carradine played Kwai Chang Caine, a Shaolin monk searching the Old West for his half brother Danny Cain. Caine didn't need a gun because he was a master of martial arts. First Asian hero of a Western.


8. Alias Smith & Jones (1971-1973): A hip comedy Western about two Kansas long-haired outlaws trying to achieve amnesty while still being wanted from the law. Inspired by the success of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Love that country-rock incidental music and the film edit that made Kid Curry/Thad Jones (Ben Murphy) look like the fastest gun in the West.


9. Wanted: Dead or Alive (1958-1961): Steve McQueen played a bounty hunter. Nuff said!



10. Maverick (1957-1962): One of the first "comedy" Westerns featuring an anti-Western hero. Lazy, cowardly, smart-mouthed gambler played by James Garner. His brother, Jack Kelly, and Southern cousin, played Roger Moore, were just as bad. The show even poked fun at other Westerns like Gunsmoke and Bonanza.


11. The Lone Ranger (1949-1958): The "Masked Man" and "his faithful Indian companion" rode from radio to TV to become the first Western produced for TV. A syndication effort in the 70s and a toy line by Gabriel introduced The Lone Ranger to Generation X.


12. Big Valley (1965-1969): Other than Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, Big Valley is the only Western to feature promanent female characters getting involved in the action. Many have dismissed Big Valley as a Bonanza knock-off, however, Big Valley seems to be more mature. Victoria Barkely (Barbara Stanwick) lives on a big ranch with her three sons, preppy lawyer Jared (Richard Long), hot-headed ranch foreman Nick (Peter Breck), baby Eugene (Charles Briles, who disappeared after the first season) and sexy daughter, Audra (Linda Evans). Add to this group Heath (Lee Majors), "the Bastard" son of Victoria's husband, who spends much of the show fighting with half-brother Nick or coming very close to making out with half-sister Audra or beating up the bad guy who tore Audra's blouse. I'm not sure but I bet this was the first TV show to feature the use of the word "bastard." Victoria is probably the only TV mom to be handy with a gun.


 
13. Wagon Train (1957-1965): The only TV Western than can claim a connection to legendary Western movie director John Ford. Wagon Train was inspired by a film called The Wagonmaster, which like Wagon Train, starred Ward Bond. Ford also directed one episode. The show even managed to continue with on after Ward Bond's death and Robert Horton left in a dispute with producers, with John McIntyre and Robert Fuller taking over. The real focus of the shows were rarely Bond or Horton (pictured), but the major guest star of the week.


14. Cheyenne (1955-1963): This was the first hour long dramatic TV series, as well as the first hour long Western. Clint Walker played Cheyenne Bodie, "a tall, handsome stranger" who traveled from town to town helping others. There was an obvious sexual undercurrent to this early entry into the "adult" Western boom of the late 50s. Cheyenne had a knack for attracting two women per show, probably because he was also the first man on TV to be shirtless most of the time.


15. The Rifleman (1958-1963): Chuck Conners plays Lucas McCain, the fastest man with a rifle in the West, who prefers to raise his young son and tend to his ranch. The Rifleman helped pave the way for the "family-oriented" Westerns such as Little House on the Prairie and Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, which focused more on a moral or message than action. The interesting thing is that The Rifleman was created by Sam Peckinpah, best known for violent "cutting edge" Westerns of the late 60s and 70s. Conners character was the first single parent on TV.

Some thing I wanted to point out with this list is that while many older people frequently lament the disappearance of the Western from TV as "good family entertainment," many of the "adult" Westerns broke ground as dramatic television as to what could be shown and themes that could be presented. Many of these shows featured stories that tackled such subjects as tolerance, domestic violence and poverty, which when tackled on current TV shows "upset' the people who are usually bemoaning the loss of the Westerns.

Now, let's see KYTV's Ethan Forhetz come up with his list of great TV Westerns. In the words of Gil Favor from Rawhide, "Head'em up - Move'em out!" 
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