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Main Forums => The Outpost Cafe => Topic started by: Pilgrim on August 17, 2009, 02:10:26 PM

Title: Favorite western TV show?
Post by: Pilgrim on August 17, 2009, 02:10:26 PM
I'm sitting here with a bad cold, feeling lousy and watching the Encore western channel...which provides welcome diversion.

I was born in 1950 and my dad and I watched a ton of westerns on TV (heck, that was a big part of the programming that decade).  We liked almost all of them, but I think my favorite was Cheyenne.  Clint Walker was an impressive figure of a man, and the scripts were pretty darn good.  I looked forward toe very episode of Cheyenne.

Cheyenne was part of the Warner Brothers three-program rotation which included Maverick and Sugarfoot. Seemed like there were more episodes of Maverick than anything else, with Cheyenne second, and episodes of Sugarfoot pretty rare.

So I'm starting off with a vote for Cheyenne!  It was a great western from the 50's....and a VERY narrow winner over Have Gun Will Travel in my memories.
Title: Re: Favorite western TV show?
Post by: TBird1958 on August 17, 2009, 02:25:02 PM

 My serious answer is Bonanza...............


My trouser devil says: F Troop!
Title: Re: Favorite western TV show?
Post by: Pilgrim on August 17, 2009, 02:27:43 PM
Front & center, Corporal Agarn!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Title: Re: Favorite western TV show?
Post by: TBird1958 on August 17, 2009, 02:30:02 PM

 *So* non-pc! That show  ;)
Title: Re: Favorite western TV show?
Post by: lowend1 on August 17, 2009, 02:30:23 PM
My serious answer is Bonanza...............


My trouser devil says: F Troop!

We have a Forrest Tucker fan among us... :o
Title: Re: Favorite western TV show?
Post by: Barklessdog on August 17, 2009, 02:45:02 PM
F Troop & The Rifleman
Title: Re: Favorite western TV show?
Post by: Pilgrim on August 17, 2009, 02:49:51 PM
I remember Larry Storch's appearance in the epic movie The Great Race as Texas Jack...."NOW will ya gimme some fightin' room?!?!?"
Title: Re: Favorite western TV show?
Post by: TBird1958 on August 17, 2009, 03:00:13 PM

 I seem to recall Forrest Tucker hitting Larry Storch with his hat alot  ;)
Title: Re: Favorite western TV show?
Post by: Hornisse on August 17, 2009, 03:05:11 PM
I really liked Laredo and Alias Smith And Jones.
Title: Re: Favorite western TV show?
Post by: Dave W on August 17, 2009, 03:11:42 PM
We watched almost all of them, hard to choose, but I'll go with Have Gun, Will Travel.

I loved F Troop but IMHO it was a comedy first, a western second.

Larry Storch is 86 and still doing occasional standup.
Title: Re: Favorite western TV show?
Post by: lowend1 on August 17, 2009, 03:17:32 PM
I seem to recall Forrest Tucker hitting Larry Storch with his hat alot  ;)

From what I've read about him, ol' Forrest had something else he could have hit Agarn over the head with!
Title: Re: Favorite western TV show?
Post by: gearHed289 on August 17, 2009, 03:36:28 PM
Kung Fu
Title: Re: Favorite western TV show?
Post by: Lightyear on August 17, 2009, 07:27:52 PM
Gunsmoke
Title: Re: Favorite western TV show?
Post by: SKATE RAT on August 17, 2009, 08:10:22 PM
F-TROOP!
Title: Re: Favorite western TV show?
Post by: Dave W on August 17, 2009, 08:21:46 PM
Hekawi not fighters! Hekawi lovers!
Title: Re: Favorite western TV show?
Post by: lowend1 on August 17, 2009, 08:27:18 PM
It is ballooooon!
Title: Re: Favorite western TV show?
Post by: Pilgrim on August 17, 2009, 08:34:01 PM
Kung Fu is the surprise to me so far - but it absolutely qualifies!  I just hadn't thought of it.
Title: Re: Favorite western TV show?
Post by: Freuds_Cat on August 17, 2009, 10:07:06 PM
First thought was Kung Fu but I was surprised to see it mentioned already.
Title: Re: Favorite western TV show?
Post by: Rhythm N. Bliss on August 18, 2009, 05:07:13 AM
Gotta go with Kung Fu too. Me an' my gramps watched it every night of the week when it was on Mon.-Fri. in '89.
He had Alzheimer's (old timers lol) so he turned to me once & said,
"We've seen this before, haven't we?"
"Yep. Every night o' the week," I answered.
Loved that music!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEtKj6keoYU&feature=related

That was the shizzle!

Some other favs:

Texas John Slaughter
"Texas John Slaughter
made 'em do what they oughter
cuz if they didn't they died"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ne67mdMDHw8

Chuck Connors The Rifleman

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IX2oZ6Kv_qo

Gotta love the Bonanza theme:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjdRgBAY278

Even better--The Lone Ranger Theme aka William Tell Overture:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxIuIxqo2So&NR=1&feature=fvwp

Roy Rogers & Dale Evans "Happy Trails"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcYsO890YJY

Good memories!!!!! Coool thread


Title: Re: Favorite western TV show?
Post by: Pilgrim on August 18, 2009, 09:02:01 AM
Great post!

When I was a kid, my favorite was DEFINITELY the Lone Ranger.  Heck, I had the Ranger suit and hat, and a pair of chrome-plated Fanner-50's.

Soooooo, how many of you have enough grey hair to remember Fanner-50's?? 
Title: Re: Favorite western TV show?
Post by: TBird1958 on August 18, 2009, 09:05:42 AM

 Being Germany in 1970 it struck my brother and I as absolutely hilarious that all the local kids just loved "Big Valley", they'd even go inside on a nice day to watch it!
Title: Re: Favorite western TV show?
Post by: Pilgrim on August 18, 2009, 09:11:04 AM
Being Germany in 1970 it struck my brother and I as absolutely hilarious that all the local kids just loved "Big Valley", they'd even go inside on a nice day to watch it!

Every time I hear the title "Big Valley" I tend to equate it with Audra's cleavage.  My bad.
Title: Re: Favorite western TV show?
Post by: Highlander on August 18, 2009, 10:43:41 AM
The Virginian...

and possibly The Rifleman...
Title: Re: Favorite western TV show?
Post by: Dave W on August 18, 2009, 12:09:40 PM
Never noticed when I was little, but when I watched reruns of the Lone Ranger later on, it amazed me that just about every new town he and Tonto came to had the exact same big round perfectly smooth boulder on the outskirts.
Title: Re: Favorite western TV show?
Post by: Barklessdog on August 18, 2009, 12:10:32 PM
Maverick was "the man"
Title: Re: Favorite western TV show?
Post by: Stjofön Big on August 18, 2009, 01:41:14 PM
Lonesome Dove, or any western TV-series written by the great Larry McMurtry.
Title: Re: Favorite western TV show?
Post by: Highlander on August 18, 2009, 03:18:03 PM
Why not extend this thread to the BIG SCREEN...?

Obviously Mr Eastwood should get a mention...

and on the small screen... "Rawhide"
Title: Re: Favorite western TV show?
Post by: Pilgrim on August 18, 2009, 03:28:42 PM
There are hundreds of great choices on the big screen....but I'm really interested to see how the memories sort out for TV.  I suspect there will be some real differences based on whether we started watching TV in the 50's or 60's.

I have two seasons of Have Gun Will Travel on DVD.  I gotta say, those scripts were WAY advanced for their time.  They dug into some very weighty minority and civil rights issues.

Richard Boone was matinee idol-handsome in his HGWT days.  By the time he reached Hec Ramsey and The Shootist years, his whole face kind of slid downhill. 
Title: Re: Favorite western TV show?
Post by: Freuds_Cat on August 18, 2009, 05:03:11 PM
Maverick was "the man"

Ahh yes I'd forgotten about James Garner in Maverick.  I watched a nd liked that a lot.
Title: Re: Favorite western TV show?
Post by: jmcgliss on August 18, 2009, 05:11:11 PM
F Troop! We hosted a dinner party last month where the menfolk remember the theme song lyrics.  And we have friends whose "Fugawi Racing Team" is a take-off on "where the Hekawi?"

Other faves: Rifleman, Maverick, Bat Masterson, and Wild Wild West (granted it was more eclectic than a classic western). Does anyone remember Sky King?
Title: Re: Favorite western TV show?
Post by: Pilgrim on August 18, 2009, 07:17:13 PM
F Troop! We hosted a dinner party last month where the menfolk remember the theme song lyrics.  And we have friends whose "Fugawi Racing Team" is a take-off on "where the Hekawi?"

Other faves: Rifleman, Maverick, Bat Masterson, and Wild Wild West (granted it was more eclectic than a classic western). Does anyone remember Sky King?

Of course!  Sky King flew the Songbird, and Penny was his niece, if I remember correctly.

I can still sing the Bat Masterson theme...and the Wyatt Earp theme.  (And many others)
Title: Re: Favorite western TV show?
Post by: Dave W on August 18, 2009, 08:59:36 PM
Another one, the very first I remember, was The Range Rider starring Jock Mahoney. Great fight scenes, which I found out years later was because Mahoney was one of the premier Hollywood western stuntmen. Looking back at some clips on YouTube, the scripts were corny but the fights were still good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_ZtO7mSWPY
Title: Re: Favorite western TV show?
Post by: uwe on August 19, 2009, 03:49:41 AM
The Rifleman

Kung Fu

But how can anybody not have mentioned Branded?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhSHxb-rYEw&feature=PlayList&p=C767499DBBD14A84&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=16

Similarly unforgiveable is your ignorance of Bronco:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3QfmIT8BBE
Title: Re: Favorite western TV show?
Post by: nofi on August 19, 2009, 05:09:08 AM
"what do you do if you're branded and you know you're a man".
Title: Re: Favorite western TV show?
Post by: Rhythm N. Bliss on August 19, 2009, 05:12:10 AM

When we were kids it was fun to change the words for laffs:

"What do you do when you're PREGNANT & you know you're a man"


Title: Re: Favorite western TV show?
Post by: uwe on August 19, 2009, 05:32:39 AM
I love(d) that tune. Together with the German lyrics

 "Geächtet - ist er für alle Zeit,
 Es kãmpft ein Mann der geächtet - um Gerechtigkeit,
 Geächtet, entehrt und verachtet im Land, jagt ihn fort ...
 ... Jason McCord!!!"


it will forever be an imprint in my mind.

Beats the original, wenn Ihr mich fragt.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5Que1n-n0E
Title: Re: Favorite western TV show?
Post by: Highlander on August 19, 2009, 05:38:59 AM
At school, some of the more "challenged" types had a more "alternate" set of lyrics for boys with alternate leanings than girls...  :o

Gotta go... the shed beckons and I've pushed my luck too far... oops, hello dear, back from the shopping so soon...  :o  :o  :o
Title: Re: Favorite western TV show?
Post by: uwe on August 19, 2009, 05:52:21 AM
Must you ruin and soil all my childhood memories and now out even Chuck Connors as yet another  :gay: gay icon  :gay:?!!!  :mrgreen:

Speaking of which, I saw (Harvey) Milk on DVD a few nights ago. Now I know that Sean Penn's political convictions might push all the wrong buttons with some of you, but his acting in that movie ... Academy Award amply deserved I'd say. I was amazed how little I knew about the culture clash in the US regarding gay rights in the late seventies, somehow that conflict never swapped over to Europe in a public way. That is not that Europe was any less anti-gay in the seventies than some parts of the US, it was just more hushed up about it and - as often - the US was leading the sociological path by having an open and often painful discussion about it. We've come a long way since then (I hope) and that is a good thing. Who'd have thought that "Branded" played a role in it!  :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

(Uwe deplores and distances himself from the racial stereotyping in this clip "Ey, we haffa good time on de grrringo now ...".)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAeNmUjj_18&feature=related
Title: Re: Favorite western TV show?
Post by: nofi on August 19, 2009, 05:58:38 AM
the ironic part about the rifleman show was that lucas was forever lecturing mark on being a tolerant , god fearing good man. then he would mosey into town and gun down half a dozen men. i guess that was being righteous  in the old west. ;)
Title: Re: Favorite western TV show?
Post by: uwe on August 19, 2009, 06:12:19 AM
Well, that was how Kung Fu worked as well. Without any contribution whatsoever of his own "Grasshopper" would always end up in situations where he simply had to break a few necks with his karate chops to restore the good in humanity. Pacifism implemented in practice.  :mrgreen:

Speaking of "right-hand karate chops for righteous reasons", I also recall this here (at 2:35):



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhUBH6gpXV8


A brave movie (Wikipedia says it's a mix of a Western and a Film Noir, quite right) about anti-Japanese racism in the US at the time of Pearl Harbor, a crippled war veteran returns to a town to give the father of a Japamerican who has saved his life in the Pacific the Medal of Honor his son received posthumously, he uncovers that the father has been lynched by a white mob. Given that it stems from 1955 probably also a covert statement on McCarthyism.

Title: Re: Favorite western TV show?
Post by: gweimer on August 19, 2009, 06:46:41 AM
F Troop! We hosted a dinner party last month where the menfolk remember the theme song lyrics.  And we have friends whose "Fugawi Racing Team" is a take-off on "where the Hekawi?"

Other faves: Rifleman, Maverick, Bat Masterson, and Wild Wild West (granted it was more eclectic than a classic western). Does anyone remember Sky King?

We used to go canoeing when I was in high school.  We called ourselves the Fugawis.  I still have a button somewhere that we had made.

Yeah, I remember Sky King?  What about Sgt. Preston?

Favorite westerns?  I liked Have Gun, Will Travel best.  The other one I liked wasn't the most enduring - The Rebel, with Nick Adams.  Oh...and F Troop!   :mrgreen:
Title: Re: Favorite western TV show?
Post by: Dave W on August 19, 2009, 07:32:31 AM
Branded was so bad that SCTV's parody (John Candy as "Yellowbelly") was actually more believable.
Title: Re: Favorite western TV show?
Post by: uwe on August 19, 2009, 07:55:00 AM
 :-\ Thanks, how empathetic you are with my childhood memories.  :-*

I'm not revealing then that I liked this here too:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-wffXHceNY
Title: Re: Favorite western TV show?
Post by: Dave W on August 19, 2009, 08:41:36 AM
If Tammy qualifies as a Western, then so does Green Acres. At least it had Pat Buttram.
Title: Re: Favorite western TV show?
Post by: uwe on August 19, 2009, 10:05:46 AM
I don't even know which US State that was (supposed to be) where Tammy took place. But let's settle for "rural America" and that - to us Europeans - indicates that men in stetsons and cowboy boots, Bar-B-Qs, rattle snakes, wild mustangs and the howl of the coyote are never far off. Now don't ruin my clichée perception, how I hate that.  :mrgreen:

Thinking about it, the other clichée of rural America I have is Maine as described in Stephen King books. No stetsons there, granted, but all kinds of weird things happen anyway.  :-X
Title: Re: Favorite western TV show?
Post by: Dave W on August 19, 2009, 01:02:55 PM
You probably thought that Son In Law with Pauly Shore was a realistic western.  ;D

Title: Re: Favorite western TV show?
Post by: Stjofön Big on August 19, 2009, 02:03:11 PM
Tammy, wonderful tune... Wasn't it Debbie Reynolds who sang that one in some movie? What ever did happen to good ol' Debbie? Memories are made of this...
Title: Re: Favorite western TV show?
Post by: jmcgliss on August 19, 2009, 02:09:13 PM
Uwe, as we stoke your interest in all things cowboy, when will you reveal your room full of snakeskin cowboy boots, studded holsters, stetsons, and chuckwagon coffee pots? 
Title: Re: Favorite western TV show?
Post by: Dave W on August 19, 2009, 02:21:58 PM
Uwe, as we stoke your interest in all things cowboy, when will you reveal your room full of snakeskin cowboy boots, studded holsters, stetsons, and chuckwagon coffee pots? 

He's embarrassed to show his snakeskin boots, he didn't realize that you're supposed to take the skin off the snake before you have the boots made.
Title: Re: Favorite western TV show?
Post by: TBird1958 on August 19, 2009, 03:00:16 PM

 I think there's some very *special* chaps in that room  :gay:
Title: Re: Favorite western TV show?
Post by: uwe on August 20, 2009, 02:57:59 AM
Never much of a cowboy fan when it came to playthings and toys. But I was an ardent collector (it started early) of that fine Scottish product (Ken will be in ecstasy to hear this), Timpo Toys, as regards their produce of US Civil War toy figures. And I always had the blue guys win, I was an icon of political correctness even then:

(http://www.rofur-flags.de/berlinerzinnfiguren/54mm2timpo_ebay1.jpg)

(http://www.rofur-flags.de/berlinerzinnfiguren/54mm2timpo_ebay4e.jpg)

With general political awareness and after having watched movies such as Little Big Man and Soldier Blue, these guys here (loacated on the top of the cupboard in my dad's home office with their wigwams) became the good ones and started getting their due on the blue ones (located in their wooden Fort - I hated plastic Forts - underneath the table besides the cupboard), but always only in ample retribution for previous unwarranted genocide, the grey guys were decommissoned:

(http://www.local24.de/imgs/attachments/objects/003/074/690/008972590-0.jpg)


Now one other question: What was the name of that black and white TV series that featured a gamer (dressed in full period regalia all in white and with a small Derringer pistol too) on (mostly) a Mississippi steam boat who had a trusted friend/right hand Native American with him who was mute but threw knives when it was necessary which he kept in a scabbard behind his shoulder underneath a blanket? I can't even think of the German title, but I remember well being impressed by it.
Title: Re: Favorite western TV show?
Post by: nofi on August 20, 2009, 05:45:47 AM
yancy derringer.
Title: Re: Favorite western TV show?
Post by: uwe on August 20, 2009, 05:55:15 AM
Yesssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFGgsjaxj9c

(http://www.fiftiesweb.com/tv/yancy-derringer-1.jpg)


Gracias, Tom! My favorite injun after the guy in the Village People!
Title: Re: Favorite western TV show?
Post by: Dave W on August 20, 2009, 07:42:45 AM
Two Jock Mahoney westerns mentioned in one thread.

IIRC he was also Sally Field's stepfather.
Title: Re: Favorite western TV show?
Post by: Pilgrim on August 20, 2009, 07:53:17 AM
Playing quizzmeister......

And how many remember Trackdown, the western series Robert Culp starred in (before he became Kelly Robinson in 'I Spy')?  He played Texas Ranger Hoby Gillman.
Title: Re: Favorite western TV show?
Post by: Highlander on August 20, 2009, 04:04:01 PM
Sorry Uwe (I can appreciate it, though!), but I was playing with my Man From Uncle briefcase, complete with working spy camera, in those days... swallowed the Silver Dollar, whole...  ;)

How about dodgy series... what was that one starring William Shatner and Doug McClure, sort of western stuff, set in San Fran...?
Title: Re: Favorite western TV show?
Post by: Pilgrim on August 20, 2009, 04:17:38 PM
How about dodgy series... what was that one starring William Shatner and Doug McClure, sort of western stuff, set in San Fran...?

I admit it, I had to check the Internet for that one!

Barbary Coast!  1975-76

Doug McClure as Cash Conover (Dennis Cole in 'pilot')
William Shatner as Jeff Cable
Richard Kiel as Moose Moran
Dave Turner as Thumbs, the piano player
Title: Re: Favorite western TV show?
Post by: Highlander on August 20, 2009, 04:31:13 PM
That's the one, Al... preceded TJ Hooker (sorry to wander off thread - TREKKER ALERT... TREKKER ALERT...) and post Star Trek... SO BAD it was GOOD... storyline sort of crossed time in it's ideas, so stretched reality to the hilt...! probably why it attained "KLASSIK" status once it hit Brit shores...  :o
Title: Re: Favorite western TV show?
Post by: Dave W on August 20, 2009, 04:43:28 PM
Anyone remember The Quest? It had a short run in the mid-70s. Tim Matheson and Kurt Russell in search of their sister who had been captured years before by Indians.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ppGSsjv3Ms
Title: Re: Favorite western TV show?
Post by: Highlander on August 20, 2009, 04:51:10 PM
Rings a bell but not much I remember about it... looked it up - junked after 1 season...
Title: Re: Favorite western TV show?
Post by: Rhythm N. Bliss on August 20, 2009, 11:49:53 PM
Well I reckon we're plumb outa ol' tv series Westerns to type about.

Who was that goofy sidekick with the jeep he called Nellybelle?
What show was he in?
Not that I really wanna know, I'd rather forget. lol
 
Title: Re: Favorite western TV show?
Post by: gweimer on August 21, 2009, 02:56:49 AM
Well I reckon we're plumb outa ol' tv series Westerns to type about.

Who was that goofy sidekick with the jeep he called Nellybelle?
What show was he in?
Not that I really wanna know, I'd rather forget. lol
 

Roy Rogers
Title: Re: Favorite western TV show?
Post by: jmcgliss on August 21, 2009, 06:40:50 AM
I'll bet a lot of you guys practice making vocal sounds to emulate the gun sounds from Westerns, and war shows like Combat.  My wife says I'm the Jonathan Winters of gun sounds - different types of rifles, machine guns, anti-aircraft guns, and so on -  but I can't be the only one. We played combat outside (more so than cowboys-indians) and got a weekly dose of sound effects to copy from TV. Our gray plastic German helmets came from Eckerds drug store - times have changed!
Title: Re: Favorite western TV show?
Post by: eb2 on August 21, 2009, 07:13:41 AM
Did anyone see Dusty's Trail?
Title: Re: Favorite western TV show?
Post by: Dave W on August 21, 2009, 07:54:28 AM
Roy Rogers

The Roy Rogers Show, but the sidekick with Nellybelle was Pat Brady.
Title: Re: Favorite western TV show?
Post by: Dave W on August 21, 2009, 07:55:22 AM
I'll bet a lot of you guys practice making vocal sounds to emulate the gun sounds from Westerns, and war shows like Combat.  My wife says I'm the Jonathan Winters of gun sounds - different types of rifles, machine guns, anti-aircraft guns, and so on -  but I can't be the only one. We played combat outside (more so than cowboys-indians) and got a weekly dose of sound effects to copy from TV. Our gray plastic German helmets came from Eckerds drug store - times have changed!

I did, but I stopped about 55 years ago.   :)
Title: Re: Favorite western TV show?
Post by: nofi on August 21, 2009, 08:31:52 AM
what was that 'modern western' that starred bruce campbell back in the 90's. it did not last long.
Title: Re: Favorite western TV show?
Post by: Pilgrim on August 21, 2009, 09:02:03 AM
what was that 'modern western' that starred bruce campbell back in the 90's. it did not last long.

...The Adventures of Briscoe County Jr.  That series was a HOOT!!  I loved it!

And lest we forget, Roy Rogers was born Leonard Slye, but legally changed his name to Roy Rogers in the 40's.  He was called the King of the Cowboys.  His wife Dale Evans (born Lucille Smith, and quite a babe in her younger days) was referred to as Queen of the West.  Her horse was Buttermilk, and she wrote their trademark song, Happy Trails.

I remember seeing Roy, Dale and Pat Brady (in his Jeep, Nellybelle) at the Iowa State Fair when I was about six years old...that was a big deal in 1956!  

it was about six years ago that we were driving back from the Holiday Bowl (Washington State 28, Univ. of Texas 20!! http://www.coug.com/WSU%20Holiday%20bowl%20report.htm) and stopped at the Roy Rogers museum in Victorville, CA on the edge of the Mojave desert.  VERY interesting for fans...but the museum soon moved to Branson, MO where I'm sure it gets more traffic. http://www.royrogers.com/

All right, I have one that some of you will remember - and one that I liked a lot: Colt .45.  Starred Wade Preston as Chris Colt.  But one that impressed me more was Lawman, starring John Russell as Marshall Dan Troop - whose last western appearance was in Clint Eastwood's Pale Rider, as the crooked "Marshall" with the killer deputies.  I just about cheered when I recognized Russell in that role. The Lawman theme song was one of the really good ones! Check it out: http://www.televisiontunes.com/Lawman.html
(http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j306/apowell1/lawman-jr.jpg)
Title: Re: Favorite western TV show?
Post by: jmcgliss on August 21, 2009, 09:14:59 AM
I did, but I stopped about 55 years ago.   :)
You must not have to deal with Chicago traffic.   >:(
Title: Re: Favorite western TV show?
Post by: Pilgrim on August 21, 2009, 09:48:03 AM
BTW - here's a FANTASTIC bio of Roy Rogers:
http://www.bobnolan-sop.net/Biographies/The%20Story%20of%20SOP/Leonard%20Slye/Leonard%20Slye.htm

I had forgotten that he used the name Dick Weston for one picture in 1937 when Republic almost signed him as a replacement for Gene Autry - and he became Roy Rogers for good after that, in 1938.  I never knew that Pat Brady replaced him when he left The Sons of the Pioneers.

BTW - how many of you know that Ken Curtis was also one of the Sons of the Pioneers??  he had a wonderful role in The Searchers as the suitor Charlie McCorry, but is best known for playing Festus Haggan on Gunsmoke.
Title: Re: Favorite western TV show?
Post by: Rhythm N. Bliss on August 21, 2009, 04:16:58 PM
Ok, Goofy Sidekicks for $500~THE GUY WITH THE LIMP

Gunsmoke, warn't it? I hear echoes of "Marshall Dillon! Marshall Dillon!"

Who was Chester played by Dennis Weaver?

My memory is foggy but it's all coming back....

Just saw Pale Rider, Pilgrim, & loved it. That Marshall looked evil in that role!

Saw glimpses of the Lonesome Dove mini-series this week too but it ain't so good.
Title: Re: Favorite western TV show?
Post by: Pilgrim on August 21, 2009, 04:38:40 PM
John Russell has a wonderful voice - great set of pipes. He looked like a hard man in Pale Rider, but as you can see in the photo above, he always had a lean build and a striking face.

Yup, Chester was probably the most famous #2 on Gunsmoke, and he was indeed played by Dennis Weaver, who later starred in the TV western McCloud (as Sam McCloud).  He also starred in the early Spielberg movie Duel.

Anyone remember the role Burt Reynolds played on Gunsmoke?  I know you can do it....
Title: Re: Favorite western TV show?
Post by: Dave W on August 21, 2009, 04:48:42 PM
Yes, I've heard Ken Curtis sing, he also had solo releases.

I liked him as Festus better than Dennis Weaver as Chester.

I remember a young Burt Reynolds on Gunsmoke as the half-breed blacksmith Quint.
Title: Re: Favorite western TV show?
Post by: godofthunder on August 21, 2009, 05:06:58 PM
Years ago I was dubbed "Hoss" at the House of Guitars. It still sticks in certain circles.
Title: Re: Favorite western TV show?
Post by: Pilgrim on August 22, 2009, 02:44:15 PM

I remember a young Burt Reynolds on Gunsmoke as the half-breed blacksmith Quint.

One of the things I enjoy about watching old westerns - both movie and TV - is how many actors got their start playing bit parts in them.  Dennis Hopper did a lot of "B" western movies and TV westerns (Bonanza, Cheyenne, Rifleman), and some memorable movies - like a role in the Burt Lancaster/Kirk Douglas Gunfight At OK Corral (with that memorable Frankie Laine theme song) and a similar role in the John Wayne movie The Sons of Katie Elder.  

Then of course, there were the career character actors like Jack Elam, Paul Fix, Strother Martin, Dub Taylor, Slim Pickens, Chill Wills, Bruce Cabot, L.Q. Jones, Gabby Hayes, Pat Buttram, Arthur Hunnicutt, Andy Devine, Jay Silverheels, Will Sampson, Ben Johnson, Lee Van Cleef, Richard Farnsworth and of course, Walter Brennan.  

Some of the character actors either became leading actors or became so well-known they might as well have been.  Ben Johnson, Jack Elam and Walter Brennan come to mind
Title: Re: Favorite western TV show?
Post by: Highlander on August 22, 2009, 02:47:09 PM
Those names... I get the chills just thinking about some of their work...  8)
Title: Re: Favorite western TV show?
Post by: SKATE RAT on August 22, 2009, 06:16:59 PM
One of the things I enjoy about watching old westerns - both movie and TV - is how many actors got their start playing bit parts in them.  Dennis Hopper did a lot of "B" western movies and TV westerns (Bonanza, Cheyenne, Rifleman), and some memorable movies - like a role in the Burt Lancaster/Kirk Douglas Gunfight At OK Corral (with that memorable Frankie Laine theme song) and a similar role in the John Wayne movie The Sons of Katie Elder.  

Then of course, there were the career character actors like Jack Elam, Paul Fix, Strother Martin, Dub Taylor, Slim Pickens, Chill Wills, Bruce Cabot, L.Q. Jones, Gabby Hayes, Pat Buttram, Arthur Hunnicutt, Andy Devine, Jay Silverheels, Will Sampson, Ben Johnson, Lee Van Cleef, Richard Farnsworth and of course, Walter Brennan.  

Some of the character actors either became leading actors or became so well-known they might as well have been.  Ben Johnson, Jack Elam and Walter Brennan come to mind
Dennis Hopper was also in Rebel without a cause.
Title: Re: Favorite western TV show?
Post by: Pilgrim on August 22, 2009, 08:40:07 PM
Dennis Hopper was also in Rebel without a cause.

Yes! In fact, if you check a filmography of Hopper's, you would wonder how many films he was NOT in.  The guy has done an incredible range of work.  Even in his early days, he got into an amazing number of films.

Another actor I just thought of who became a near-lead was Harry Morgan.  He did a ton of westerns before being cast in Dragnet.  At the end of his career, he really put his stamp on the M.A.S.H. series.
Title: Re: Favorite western TV show?
Post by: Dave W on August 22, 2009, 10:02:25 PM
I loved watching Jack Elam. Anybody remember the F-Troop episode where he played the notorious gunfighter Sam Urp?  :)

L.Q. Jones... man, he's been in so many westerns, TV shows and movies, very few know him by name. He was a bad guy in Hang 'Em High, one of my favorites.

And speaking of Hang 'Em High, another bad guy was Bob Steele, who also played Trooper Duffy on F Troop. He was in dozens of TV westerns and was in B movie westerns all the way back to the silent era.

Strother Martin was another great bad guy.
Title: Re: Favorite western TV show?
Post by: rahock on August 23, 2009, 08:42:53 AM
Dennis Hopper, Henry Silva, Harry Morgan, Richard Jaekle.....You see these guys in so many movies that date back to the beginning of freakin' time and they only age a few years every three or four decades WTF. Are these guys androids or something???
When I hear that one of these suspected androids dies I'm still suspicious. I think they just go back to the factory and get rebuilt into someone else :o.
I think the Weekly World News should investigate this and quit wasting so much time with Batboy and Batbama ;)
Rick
Title: Re: Favorite western TV show?
Post by: Pilgrim on August 23, 2009, 09:39:49 AM
I loved Jack Elam in Support Your Local Gunfighter.  He pretty much parodied his own history.

You're right about some of these guys seeming to live forever.  Ben Johnson started out doing potboiler westerns, became one of John Ford's stable in 1948, and I think he appeared in just about every movie Ford made. His Sgt.Tyree in She Wore a Yellow Ribbon was just great.  His filmography is incredible - he appeared in more movies and TV shows than I can count.  Ben Johnson filmography. (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0424565/)

Ever notice how many of these guys you can spot even in a crowd scene by their VOICES?  In some cases, you can spot them when they were so young that you'd never recognize them.  It's that "wait, I've heard THAT voice before..." phenomenon. The "voice" crowd I've noticed includes:

Ben Johnson
Harry Morgan
Dub Taylor
Strother Martin
Harry Carey, Jr.
Ken Curtis
Andy Devine
Pat Buttram
Denver Pyle
Walter Brennan
Slim Pickens

Isn't it interesting that we got to know those voices so well?
Title: Re: Favorite western TV show?
Post by: rahock on August 23, 2009, 09:43:09 AM
Yep, I forgot about Ben Johnson....another android. Slim Pickens too.
Rick
Title: Re: Favorite western TV show?
Post by: Highlander on August 23, 2009, 11:18:16 AM
For me, Slim Pickens will always be the B.U.F.F. pilot...!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ynY5NvYsZY

sorry, not a western on the small screen, but it's his Texan drawl that makes it for me...  ;)
Title: Re: Favorite western TV show?
Post by: Dave W on August 23, 2009, 01:51:31 PM
Slim Pickens played an apparently daft old private investigator named Henry Beige in the movie Rancho Deluxe, from the mid 70s. Worth renting if it's available.

Pat Buttram may have been the king of bawdy comedians. No, don't link to any of it if you find it.
Title: Re: Favorite western TV show?
Post by: lowend1 on August 24, 2009, 12:03:42 PM
Slim Pickens too.
Rick

"Somebody's gotta go back and get a shitload of dimes!"
Title: Re: Favorite western TV show?
Post by: gweimer on August 24, 2009, 12:26:37 PM
Rancho Deluxe was pretty cool.
Title: Re: Favorite western TV show?
Post by: Pilgrim on August 25, 2009, 09:45:17 AM
I always wanted Clint Eastwood's hair.  Thought that short-upright hair looked great on TV, and he has kept it.

But - I've kept mine too, and at age 59 that ain't bad!!
Title: Re: Favorite western TV show?
Post by: TBird1958 on August 25, 2009, 10:23:57 AM
"Somebody's gotta go back and get a shitload of dimes!"


 LMFAO!

This is quoted regularly at my work.
Title: Re: Favorite western TV show?
Post by: Dave W on August 25, 2009, 12:14:06 PM
"Whut in the wide wide world of sports is a-goin' on here."

"Goldurn it Mr. Lamarr, you use your tongue prettier than a $20 whore."
Title: Re: Favorite western TV show?
Post by: Highlander on August 25, 2009, 02:49:15 PM
"Phew..! Ah think you boys have had enuf beans..."
Title: Re: Favorite western TV show?
Post by: lowend1 on August 25, 2009, 03:10:11 PM
Mel Brooks - one of the few REAL geniuses left.
Title: Re: Favorite western TV show?
Post by: TBird1958 on August 25, 2009, 03:59:01 PM

 "You're all jumpin' around like a bunch of Kansas City faggots!"

Slim Pickens had all the best lines in that movie!

Title: Re: Favorite western TV show?
Post by: lowend1 on August 25, 2009, 08:42:54 PM
Mel Brooks movies probably deserve a thread of their own.

Title: Re: Favorite western TV show?
Post by: Stjofön Big on August 28, 2009, 12:09:14 AM
Blazing saddles... What a great movie! Turned on, tuned in, saw it three times in a row. Laughed my head off. Haven't found it yet (as an answer to the question I suspect some of you guys might rise).
Title: Re: Favorite western TV show?
Post by: rahock on August 28, 2009, 05:35:04 AM
I saw Blazing Saddles at the theater when it first came out. I got dragged to the show by a friend as just something to do when we were bored. Had no idea what we were going to see, just went to the show and Blazing Saddles was playing. Totally clueless as to what it was all about,  just sat down to watch  what appeared to be a cowboy movie. The shock value made it even more than it was :o. I don't know if I've ever laughed harder at anything in my life ;D ;D
Rick
Title: Re: Favorite western TV show?
Post by: Pilgrim on August 28, 2009, 08:22:57 AM
.....As Le Petomane signs the bill, he turns to his red bikini-clad buxom secretary Miss Stein (Robyn Hilton), and speaks directly into the cleavage between her two bulging breasts:

    "Hello boys. Have a good night's rest? I missed you."
Title: Re: Favorite western TV show?
Post by: rahock on August 28, 2009, 09:02:37 AM
Way off the track here, but back in the days of Get Smart, before Mel Brooks went totally insane, did you ever see the episode where they were taking Max out of a building on a gurney, through a revolving door? Probably 20 minutes out of a 30 minute show.....freakin' hilarious ;D.
I can't even attempt to describe it, you just plain had to see it ;D
Rick
Title: Re: Favorite western TV show?
Post by: Freuds_Cat on August 28, 2009, 09:30:14 PM
I definitely remember that scene/s Rick.  Classic stuff.