TV WESTERNS FROM YESTERDAY

Post by Doris McCraw
writing as Angela Raines

Photo property of the author

As I pondered this months post, I wasn't sure what I would write about. Of course, I would prefer to write about history, but when time is short, research isn't always an option. Then it hit me, I've been streaming old TV shows. So, here are some of the oldie by maybe goodie's I've caught up on over the last year.

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

Angela Raines - author: Where Love & History Meet

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