writing as Angela Raines
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Of course, a new oldie is "The Adventures of Brisco County". I've always been a fan of Bruce Campbell. He carried the show on some pretty impressive shoulders, with some great tongue in cheek.
Who can forget "Wild Wild West" which was popular during the hey day of the James Bond craze. I confess I was a bigger fan of Ross Martin than Robert Conrad, but the chemistry between the two made the show.
Then I found "Yancy Derringer". Although not technically a Western, Jock Mahoney filled the screen with a panache that was fun to watch.
In short order, there was "Whispering Smith" with Audie Murphy, "Tombstone Territory" with Pat Conway and Ricard Eastman, and "Hopalong Cassidy" with William Boyd.
Of course there is a special place in my heart for "The Cisco Kid" and "The Magnificent Seven".
Although the Cisco Kid was filmed in color, it aired in black & white. To watch the streaming now, the colors are interesting, as the show was filmed in 1950. The stars and their backgrounds make the watching even more fun. I may do a post just on the show and its stars. (For those who are interested, there were numerous movies in which the Cisco Kid was the star, and it had Duncan Renaldo and Leo Carrillo as the same characters they play in the TV show. imdb.com is a great resource if you want to look into those early movies.)
I saved what I consider the best for last. "The Magnificent Seven" television show was based on the movie of the same name. As some already know, the movie was based on the Kurosawa film "The Seven Samurai" an absolute top of the list movie for me. Although the TV show only lasted two seasons, the writing and acting were so top notch for the time. Ron Perlman, Michael Biehn, Eric Close, Dale Midkiff, Anthony Starke, Rick Worthy and Andrew Kavovit chemistry on screen only added to the already fabulous scrips.
I know there are so many others, but I've just not had time to catch up with most of them. And yes, I watched Brisco, and Magnificent Seven when they first aired. The others were either a bit before my time, or on networks that were not available where I grew up.
What were some of your favorites and why? Any the same as mine? Did these older shows inspire your own Western Stories?
Doris Gardner-McCraw -
Author, Speaker, Historian-specializing in
Colorado and Women's History
Colorado and Women's History
Angela Raines - author: Where Love & History Meet
For a list of Angela Raines Books: Here
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Gunsmoke was my overall favorite. James Arness and Ken Curtis were a good pair. Tough but fair in their handling of miscreants.
ReplyDeleteJerry, you know it was a good one, given its ong life even after it ended. Always enjoyed Ken Curtis. Doris
DeleteJerry, I've been listening to the old-time radio versions of Gunsmoke starring Robert Conrad, Parley Baer, Georgia Ellis and Howard McNear. Good stuff.
DeleteGunsmoke is on a local station for three hours every day. When I'm not busy, I try to catch it, though I've seen most of them several times. It is one of my favorites.
DeleteDennis, I've heard of those radio programs but have yet to find them to listen to. Doris
DeleteAgnes, Gunsmoke runs on a couple of chanels here, but I'm usually working so unless it streams I miss them. Glad you get the chance ot watch the classic.
DeleteYou should watch THE DAKOTAS. Great scripts and cast. Jack Elam steals every scene he's in as a good guy for a change, a gunfighter turned deputy U.S. marshal. But you always get the feeling that he's not too good and could go back over to the wrong side of the law at any moment. It lasted only one season and was cancelled abruptly over concerns about how violent it was. I think if it had lasted it would be remembered as one of the great TV Westerns.
ReplyDeleteJames, now I'm going to have to go find this one and check it out. I love when I find new/old shows to check out. Thank you for this lead. Yay! By the way, I love Jack Elam too. Doris
DeleteOh, gosh, I loved them all! One I was not crazy about was The Virginian. I think because it was too long--90 minutes--and that was too much for my lil ol' attention span back then. But...my all time favorite western was Lancer, which only lasted a couple of seasons. Also liked Bonanza and Gunsmoke, and Alias Smith and Jones, during my early teens. But I've always watched westerns from the time we got a tv in our house and still do, when I get the chance. It's really hard to pick one! LOL Enjoyed this post, Doris, and you've got me thinking now!
ReplyDeleteCheryl, I guess because I'm a couple of years older, I enjoyed the Virginian. One of the ways I unwind these days, when I'm not reading, is to find these old westerns and stream them and episode at a time. It really is a fun thing to do. LOL Doris
DeleteHave Gun Will Travel is my top favorite, followed by early Gunsmoke and Maverick. Maverick was a better show than current reruns suggest. They aren't showing the very best.
ReplyDeleteOh yes, Have Gun Will Travel was a classic. I used to use and episode to two in my acting classes to highlight good acting and writing.
DeleteWhat I loved about a lot of these shows are the writers who were involved. One of my favorite Maverick episodes was written by Louis L'Amour. Doris
I, like so many others, was a fan of most all westerns on tv. My favorites were, Gunsmoke, especially the early one's with Dennis Weaver as Chester, Have Gun Will Travel, Tombstone Territory, Shenandoah, and as a kid growing up in the 50s loved Roy Rodgers.
ReplyDeleteNeil, Roy Rogers, Sky King and Mighty Mouse were my Saturday morning routine growing up. It does sound like we had similar taste. Doris
DeleteVery interesting choices, Doris, not the obvious ones. For me far and away the best TV Western series was THE HIGH CHAPARRAL, particularly season 1 and 2, because of the quality of the scripts, the excellent casting and its gritty authenticity, enhanced by the Old Tucson colour location photography, which made the HC beautiful to watch. I have blogged about the HC but I won't include the link here as that would be too shameless a plug!
ReplyDeleteAndrew, you and my friend. She cannot stop talking about how she love High Chaparral. It is a good show and I catch it in reruns every now and then. Doris
DeleteAs a kid, I loved Bonanza. But now, I don't think there is anything that can beat Gunsmoke. I remember when Dennis Weaver quit, people were saying it would hurt the show, and it would never be the same, but Ken Curtis stepped on board and made it better than ever. Thanks, Doris, for the memories!
ReplyDeleteVicky, you are welcome. I watched Bonanza as a young child, and although I enjoyed Dennis Weaver, Ken Curtis more than filled the emptied shoes. Doris
DeleteThe only TV show my father watched when I was a child was Gunsmoke. Have Gun Will Travel and Maverick were my favorites, but I also watched many of the others. We had a nice assortment of westerns back in the day.
ReplyDeleteWe really did, and I have pondered how those have impacted my continued love of the genre. I know I really enjoy revisiting these old shows. Doris
DeleteWatching reruns of old westerns is a fun way to pick out the great character actors and emerging stars in their own series or movies, and discovering some I had never identified in past viewing. For instance, I had no idea of Mort Mills. He appeared in dozens of TV series and sometimes in movies - He was the cop in Psycho -
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Charles. Some of the great actors started in these old westerns. I keep thinking of people like Bob Steele, Clayton Moore, Alan Lane, Denver Pyle and Strother Martin. They made every show they were in that much better. Doris
DeleteYes... I'm late to comment. Not fashionably late, but embarrassingly late. Anyway, Yancy Derringer was one of my favorites. I can still sing the theme song. And Zorro with Guy Williams... I dressed up as Zorro at Halloween for many years.
ReplyDeleteSome of those shows were so good. I really pity young people who didn't get the chance to watch Zoro in actions. Oh the memories. Doris
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