Which were your favorite 60s Western series?
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MsLexy — 12 years ago(September 14, 2013 06:19 PM)
Began in the 50s, ran into the 60s:
Gunsmoke
Cheyenne
The Rifleman
Bonanza
Maverick
Lawman
Bronco
Sugarfoot
Began in the 60s:
The Dakotas
Gunslinger
Big Valley
Wild Wild West
Jesse James
The Tall Man
The Deputy
The Loner
Guns of Will Sonnett -
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"
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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.
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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.