Old TV Westerns

[jdb1]

I'm with Lynn: I loved Clu Gulager, but I liked him better in that Billy the Kid show he did with Barry Sullivan. What was the name of that one? He was so Steve McQueen cool (as was Steve McQueen on his own series).

My all-time favorite as a kid was Bonanza, I was a Michael Landon fan for sure. However, I'm not enjoying it as much in re-runs. It looks pretty tacky to me now. At the time, it was the first TV show I had ever seen in color (on somebody else's TV), and I was duly impressed. But how come they never changed their clothes? Or was it that they had closetsful of the same ensembles? I recall Landon and Blocker joking about that on some talk show.

I never could figure out what Gunsmoke was supposed to be, and I'm not interested now, either. Something about it just doesn't speak to me.

I do recall Have Gun, Will Travel very well, and I'd love to see it again. Talk about cool - Boone was amazing - like the James Bond of the West (without the gadgets).

We in Brooklyn were always very partial to any TV show featuring Chuck Connors, who was a local boy. I liked Branded, and I think it could have been better and lasted longer with a bigger budget. Connors was very good in it.

One thing I do recall from the Westerns of the 50s and early 60s: all the WB westerns (mostly on ABC) had the same sound effect for a gunshot, no matter what type of gun was used.

I have to admit that my all-time favorite Western series was and always will be F Troop.

[moira finnie]

Hi Sholmes,
I inherited a Hopalong Cassidy lunchbox as my very first one from my elder siblings. I really liked it and Hoppy, though I can't recall seeing his movies or shows. Wish that I could've saved some stuff like that lunchbox if I'd known how valuble they'd become.

I've since learned via the Western Channel just how numerous and varied the Hopalong Cassidy franchise was. There was a great documentary about William Boyd and his remarkable career shown on there several times called Public Hero #1(2001). If you haven't seen it, I hope that you will someday. It seems that Boyd was a truly decent guy and a canny businessman too! I'd no idea of the depth of Hoppy's fame before seeing this movie, which includes interviews with Mr. Boyd's wife, Grace Bradley Boyd and is narrated by Dennis Weaver. You can read more about the doc here, if you'd like.

Btw, there's also another grand documentary about silver screen cowboys from the dawn of the cinema to the postwar era that's shown on the Western Channel periodically called Golden Saddles, Silver Spurs (2000). It's based on a terrific book by the film historian William K. Everson and you can read more about the movie here.

I love hearing about the Hopalong Cassidy paraphernalia you had as a lad and why you liked his show. Say, did you know that the author of the original Hoppy stories, Clarence E. Mulford, wanted character actor James Gleason to play his creation??

[mrsl]

jdb1:

The series with Clu Gulagher and Barry Sullivan was called The Tall Man - not my memory, it's imdB. I liked it too, and I was crazy about Clu. So many people have no idea who he is but his roster for roles played goes on and on. And you're right about his 'Steve McQueen' personna. He was happy to go the route of Ron Howards' Dad, Rance, and stick with supporting and character parts. His son John just made a horror movie recently which Clu has a small part in. It was on one of those reality things from Bravo and it's kind of funny but Clu looks ten times better than his son. Clu is still in pretty good shape, whereas his son is over weight and rather plain looking. Take a minute and look up Clu on imdB and check out his photo - he sure looked good!

Anne

[moira finnie]

Hey you Clu Gulager fans!

If you have a chance to check out the deluxe dvd of The Killers, which includes the 1946 Siodmak version and the '60s Don Siegel remake. The Siegel disc features a long interview with Clu Gulager about his career and specifically his role in The Killers. He does look well, though personally, I always wondered why he always seemed to be whispering in every part that he had?

[Sue Sue Applegate]

I liked Clu Gulager , too.
Yes, he did always sound like he was whispering, but I don't know why.
But his soft-spoken words always kept me interested, like he was getting ready to reveal a secret...

[ken123]

THE CISCO KID, along with WILD BILL HICKOK, are the first TV Westerns that I remember seeing. In WILD BILL Andy Devine played " Jingles ", Guy Madison (Hickok) sidekick. In THE CICSO KID Duncan Renaldo was CISCO, and Leo Carillo was his sidekick " Pancho ".

[mrsl]

Yesterday the last two episodes of the Rifleman series were aired, and unfortunately it was in the time that they just cancelled the show and didn't finish the stories of the folks involved. Sad to see. It would have been nice to see Lucas and Lou Mallory getting together in the final show, but such is life in TV land.

The funny thing is when the show ended, Johnny Crawford was about 16 or 17 and fully grown with a deep voice and fairly filled out physique for a young man. Then tonight, the first two episodes came on and what a shocker!!! Since I got the Western Channel, Mark has been approximately 15 and up, and at least past puberty. Now all of a sudden, there he is a little boy with a squeaky voice and just an adorable little rug rat. He was such a cutie pie! I had forgotten.

The amazing thing about the show is they really must have wanted to get it off to a good start. The guest stars were, Leif Ericson (just starting to make a name for himself), Sidney Blackmer (ex-movie banker, lawyer, etc., and Dennis Hopper (as a nice guy!), and the first episode at least, was written by Sam Peckinpah. I didn't catch who directed it though.

Earlier on The Big Valley, the guest star was Ronnie Howard. Another adorable little critter. It must have been filmed during an Andy Griffith hiatus because he was no more than about 7 or 8.

That's part of the fun of watching these old westerns, seeing who the guest stars are - but they're not always GUEST STARRING, sometimes they're just listed in the credits as bla, bla. Like last week also on the Big Valley, there was no guest star listed, but Mr. (?) was played by Charles Bronson, - 2nd name on the list.

Anne

[klondike]

> "

Oh great, now I've got "Julie Julie Julie Do You love Me" stuck in my head.

"


Don't mean to scare anybody with this lumpy little pearl of nostalgia, but I actually owned Bobby Sherman's Julie as a "flexie", which I had scissored out of the back of a cereal box!
And it really did play on any phonograph . . without a spindle plug, no less!

Klondike

[moira finnie]

MrsL wrote:

Yesterday the last two episodes of the Rifleman series were aired, and unfortunately it was in the time that they just cancelled the show and didn't finish the stories of the folks involved. Sad to see. It would have been nice to see Lucas and Lou Mallory getting together in the final show, but such is life in TV land.

Yeah, but Anne, Friday the first two episodes of The Rifleman aired and will be airing again today starting at 9:30am EDT! And these episodes were written by Sam Peckinpah when he was still a cogent observer of life and a dang good storyteller.

I'd never seen them before and could not believe how tiny Mark McCain (Johnny Crawford) was. In the second episode he claimed to be ten, (nah, I ain't buying that), and spent the night alone by a stream, imagining that a cougar & a snake were right next to his bedroll!! Since my viewership of the series since it started airing has been, ahem, "scattershot", yuk-yuk, I'm looking forward to catching it again on the fly. Btw, I'm told by others around the web that the episodes of The Rifleman being broadcast are not the series in its entirety, which can be purchased for over a hundred hard earned samoleans. Fortunately, if what I'm reading around the internet is correct, the series will continue to run through 2008, so I'll probably be able to see most of the episodes that the Western Channel has the rights to show.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Klondike wrote:

Don't mean to scare anybody with this lumpy little pearl of nostalgia, but I actually owned Bobby Sherman's Julie as a "flexie", which I had scissored out of the back of a cereal box! And it really did play on any phonograph . . without a spindle plug, no less!

Man, another slice of deep dish disillusionment has been served! Bobby Sherman indeed. Hey, do you realize how valuable that little 45rpm would be now? Your turn to feel queasy, Klondike.

[Hollis]

Good morning everyone,

I'm surprised no one has mentioned one of my favorites, Branded or my other fave, The Rebel, with Nick Adams as Johnny Yuma. Boy how I loved the theme song. Does anyone remember the words?

Thanks and as always, I remain,

Hollis

My apologies, jdb1 did in fact mention Branded earlier in the thread

[jdb1]

Good morning everyone,

I'm surprised no one has mentioned one of my favorites, Branded or my other fave, The Rebel, with Nick Adams as Johnny Yuma. Boy how I loved the theme song. Does anyone remember the words?

Thanks and as always, I remain,

Hollis

My apologies, jdb1 did in fact mention Branded earlier in the thread

This is the version as recorded by Johnny Cash.

Johnny Yuma was a rebel
He roamed through the west
Did Johnny Yuma, the rebel
He wandered alone

He got fightin' mad
This rebel lad
He packed no star
As he wandered far
Where the only law
Was a hook and a draw
The rebel, Johnny Yuma

He searched the land
This restless lad
He was panther quick
And leather tough
If he figured that
He'd been pushed enough
The rebel, Johnny Yuma

Fightin' mad
This rebel lad
With a dream he'd hold
'Til his dyin' breath
He'd search his soul
And gamble with death
The rebel, Johnny Yuma

[Hollis]

jdb1,

Thanks for reminding me that I was born in 1953. MUCH OBLIGED! My sunrises and sunsets are dwindling rapidly!

Hollis