Which were your favorite 60s Western series?
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MikeF-6 — 12 years ago(September 18, 2013 03:20 PM)
Westerns were the most popular series on TV in the late 50s - early 1960s. Some came and went pretty quickly and some were syndicated for the younger set and played on Saturday mornings. Here are a few, perhaps ephemeral shows, but which I have fond memories of enjoying and watching frequently, even if I couldnt describe a single weekly plot today.
Memory can play tricks on you. When I started doing research for this post, I was surprised. I remembered many of these shows coming later and lasting longer than they did. That is why several are late-1950s.
The Adventures of Jim Bowie
. 1956-1958. The theme song began Jim Bowie Jim Bowie. He was a bold adventuring man. Scott Forbes played Bowie in the same dashing way that Fess Parker was playing Davy Crockett.
The Range Rider
. 1951-1953 Jock Mahoney played the title character. His sidekick was played by Dick Jones, a former child actor billed as Dickie Jones. This was a kids show.
Yancy Derringer
. 1958-1959. After The Range Rider ended, Mahoney grew a mustache and went all over New Orleans riverboat gambler who was really a secret agent for the New Orleans police. His right-hand man was a Pawnee Indian played by X Brands.
Whispering Smith
. 1961. Audie Murphy starred in the one-season oater about a Denver detective who solved crimes using the latest developing scientific forensic methods. This was more than a decade before Hec Ramsey.
Tate
. 1960. A Civil War soldier with a injured arm wrapped in black tape traveled the west as a gunslinger. Pretty violent for its time. Tate left a lot of dead bodies in his wake.
mf
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jrparz — 12 years ago(September 30, 2013 11:36 AM)
I'd go with
- The Rifleman (Nobody more deadlier than Lucas McCain)
- The Big Valley (Always remember Jarod for his brains, Nick for his brawling, Heath for his fast gun; Audra for her beauty, and Victoria for her class.)
- The Wild Wild West (James Bonder I mean, West)
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amyghost — 12 years ago(October 03, 2013 04:24 AM)
Wild Wild West
(for
all
the obvious reasons, lol)
High Chaparral
, for the enormous crush I had on Manolito (BTW, Henry Darrow still looks bloody good for his age)
Early
Gunsmoke
(before it tried to become softer and more 'humourous') -
binapiraeus — 12 years ago(October 03, 2013 06:21 AM)
Yeah, Manolito was cute (and so funny!); but for some reason I don't even know myself I liked that grumpy Buck even better 'High Chaparral' was my second favorite after 'Bonanza'.
Let's be realists, let's demand the impossible. -
binapiraeus — 12 years ago(December 18, 2013 10:13 PM)
Oh, I see, you were a "Bonanza" fan by force With us it was just the other way round: I went to my grandparents' every day (because we didn't have cable TV at home), and made them turn their TV to "Bonanza"
Let's be realists, let's demand the impossible. -
rj-27 — 11 years ago(June 26, 2014 11:53 AM)
Never missed "
Have Gun, Will Travel
" if I could help it.
I also liked "
Stoney Burke
" with Jack Lord.
"
Rin Tin Tin
" was another good one. That dog could get anyone out of trouble.
Honorable mention also goes to "
Johnny Yuma
" and "
Cheyenne
".
Democracy is the pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance. H.L. Mencken -
rj-27 — 11 years ago(June 27, 2014 06:39 AM)
Here's one more. It was unusual in that a Native American was the protagonist and hero - "
Brave Eagle
". It only ran for two seasons but I remember looking forward to watching that as well.
Democracy is the pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance. H.L. Mencken -
GSPdude — 11 years ago(July 02, 2014 05:39 AM)
Encore Westerns just picked up Cheyenne (actually more 50s than 60s). Yesterday they had sea.1, ep.1. Outlaws, Indians, Calvary, James Garner as Lt.. Good stuff. Cheyenne even had a sidekick who I had no recollection of. I checked, and he only lasted 3 episodes.
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srklondie — 11 years ago(December 21, 2014 09:43 AM)
I'm amazed that it took so long for someone to mention ' HG-WT '. For my money, that's the best western tv series that I've ever seen. I've always been amazed at how much they could put into a 30-minute episode. Of course, the 30 minutes wasn't destroyed with so much commercial time back then.
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binapiraeus — 11 years ago(June 30, 2014 12:48 AM)
Oh yeah, "Gunsmoke" sure was one of the very classic western series; and I must admit I quite liked James Arness - although his 'little' brother Peter Graves was more in my line
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jazzgirl1920s — 11 years ago(July 16, 2014 10:17 PM)
My favorite all time Tv show is The Wild Wild West. But it is not really a western like Bonanza, or High Chaparral. Wild Wild West is a unique show in a genre by itself.
"50, count 'em 50, ambassadors will definitely appear at the peace conference." -
binapiraeus — 11 years ago(July 17, 2014 12:00 AM)
Yeah, you're absolutely right, "Wild Wild West" is really a unique 'show' which is just set in a Western atmosphere, it uses the 'Wild West' scenery for depicting stories that could have happened (almost) anywhere, at any time - and it was very good, too!
Let's be realists, let's demand the impossible. -
jazzgirl1920s — 11 years ago(July 17, 2014 09:49 AM)
Thanks for your comment. I would like to add that unfortunately there are far too few unique TV shows out there. Wild Wild West was definitely one of them. Ross Martin was superb playing all those different characters. I read here that he spoke multiple languages so that was definitely an advantage in playing his character on the show. Additionally Robert Conrad IS James West. He was great in that part.
"50, count 'em 50, ambassadors will definitely appear at the peace conference." -
binapiraeus — 11 years ago(July 17, 2014 10:48 AM)
Oh yes, you're absolutely right, there are VERY little TV shows with have got their very own, unmistakable 'character' - and unfortunately, in recent years the number has gone down to about zero
Robert Conrad is a REALLY great actor, yes; I also liked him a lot as 'Pappy Boyington' in "Black Sheep Squadron", where he was like a real 'father' for his 'black sheep' during the difficult days of War in the Pacific And Ross Martin was immensely versatile - like a kind of latter-day Chester Morris, who'd surprised us all so many times in his so many different 'roles' in the "Boston Blackie" movie series!
Let's be realists, let's demand the impossible.