[DonQatU]

I've seen this old series on TV! I really like it!

Don

[SquirrelNuts]

What channel?

-SquirrelNuts

[jsalcedo]

Used to be Nick at night sometimes TBS or PAX

Chuck Connors was a real life gun-nut I've got some old hangunner books showing him at the range and competing with handguns back in the 60's


"Lucas McCain can fire a round with his specially modified Winchester in three-tenths of a second. That and his resolve enable him to help the sheriff maintain order while raising his son Mark on a ranch near North Fork, New Mexico."


http://us.imdb.com/Title?0051308

[Steve in PA]

I remember watching the original programing.........not re-runs!!! Oy!!!!! :what:

[JohnBT]

I'm not quite old enough to remember his sports career, but do remember the 'old folks' saying he should have stuck with baseball. JT

Quick Google search...

"After a stint as an original member of the Boston Celtics, Connors switched to baseball and was signed by the Dodgers, debuting in 1951. His big break was being acquired by the Cubs and assigned to the LA Angels, a posting that allowed him to begin picking up small movie roles. After landing a part in Tracy & Hepburn's "Pat and Mike" in 1952, he decided to take up acting full time."

[oweno]

Here's a nice link via findagrave.com - pictures of Chuck and of his tombstone - note the Cubs and Celtics logos on the stone as well as a picture of him as the Rifleman.

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=1145&pt=Chuck%20Connors

Owen

If this link don't work, just go to:

findagrave.com

and search for Chuck Connors

[TallPine]

I remember watching the original programing.........not re-runs!!!

Yeah, me too :)

And when people mention Clint Eastwood, the first thing that I think of is "Rawhide"

And then there was "Paladin, Paladin, where do you roam?"

[DonP]

It has been my not so humble opinion that the decline of our civilization started about the time they took the Lone Ranger off the air (along with The Rifleman, Paladin, Wyatt Earp and other cowboy shows).

Now, being a "Cowboy" is a bad thing according to the media whores and the Euro Trash. Who'd a thought it way back when.

We, ahem older types, grew up seeing images on TV of honest men that protected women and children, fought for the right, respected their elders and never used their guns for anything but self defense. In the case of the LR his best friend was a minority (practicing diversity in the old West!)

The Lone Ranger almost always included a little homily in the show about doing the right thing. Yeah, it sure corrupted our morals. Let's see, would I rather have my grandkids watch the latest Madonna video or the Lone Ranger and Tonto?

I wonder who makes one of those Winchesters? I wouldn't mind having one for a wall hanger in my Family Room and the occasional trip to the range. I may neeed to break down and buy me a SAA wheel gun too.

Come on, admit it guys, the William Tell Overture still has a different meaning to many of us. "Come with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear ... Fiery Horse with the speed of light ..."

Hiyo Silver, away.

(Self proclaimed Founder and President of the CTRCEAVTA: Commitee To Return Cowboy Ethics And Values to America)

Don P.

[4v50 Gary]

Another one who grew up in the era of TV cowboys.

[Dean Speir]

 

Big argument raging back 43-48 years ago, as to who was the fastest of the cowboy actor gunners. The general consensus was that it was ol' Hugh O'Brian (Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp) hisself, Tuesday evenings at 2030 hours on ABC, but I think that was some Press Agent's pipe dream because anyone who ever watched Wayde Preston as Christopher Colt in another ABC 30-minute oater, Colt .45, which ran for three seasons… now he was genuinely fast!

Both shows had excellent theme songs, right up there with Have Gun, Will Travel and Lawman! I think I can still sing all of them!

Sure, The Lone Ranger may have been fast, but even when the chips were down ("Condition Black"), he and some of the others went for the "shot the gun right out of his hand" thing, while Paladin jus' killed'em!

 

[Jeeper]

The Rifleman is my favorite western show of all time.

[J Miller]

CTRCEAVTA: Commitee To Return Cowboy Ethics And Values to America

How do I join?

God, I miss the good times I had as kid. Things have sure gone down the pipes since about 1966. And it isn't slowing down yet.
I'd be willing to give up this computer, and even my Ruger BH just to go back in time to the freedom and peace we had then. I'd even be willing to watch black and white t v. Yeah, and I'd be willing to adjust the points on my Buick every so often too.
I'll bet there's members of the THR that have never seen a set of points.
What I miss the most is freedom. Need I say more?

[Ledbetter]

All I Need to Know I Learned from Watching Bonanza.

[Penforhire]

Don't forget Steve McQueen's Wanted, Dead or Alive !

When I was a young'un watching the Rifleman I seem to remember another show but I can't recall the title. All I rmember was that in the opening credits the lead actor is kicked out of the cavalry and his saber is broken.

Anyone have a clue?

[DonQatU]

BRANDED. Don

[MonkeyMan]

While we're headed down memory lane, I recall a set of three shows when I was a kid; Sugarfoot, Cheyenne, and can someone please tell me the third one?

Now that was the golden age of television.

[Dean Speir]

&nbsp

Bronco, Bronco , tearing across that Texas plain, Bronco, Bronco, Bronco Lane!

&nbsp

[sm]

Yep, guilty.

I watched those original old black and white shows, with lever action cap gun in hand.

Paladin...yeah, just went for the kill.

Add my name to list of club members.

[Ledbetter]

Laramie

[Penforhire]

The internet is a seriously scary place. After Don refreshed my memory I actually found someone web page that has the original recorded theme song to Branded:

http://www.melaman2.com/tvshows/mp3/Branded.mp3

[TechBrute]

Cowboys rule!:cool:

[Wil Terry]

about Hugh O'Brian who evedently was a real pompous ??? and a big blowhard wannabe tough guy. Seems ol' Hugh challenged all the other cowboy show actors to a fast draw as he saw himself as the ne plus ultra of such martial arts. Don't know the results of all of these challenges but one day Hugh got around to challenging one Audie Murphy who was definately not someone you wanted to mess with as Audie was indeed the REAL MCCOY!!
Audie said fine, he'd love to meet Hugh...it'll be on the street and it will be with real live kill-'em-dead-now ammunition. Ol' Hugh gulped once or twice, walked away, and never offered another challenge to any one else.
And so it goes...

[Ledbetter]

Old Hugh is also deef from using full-load blanks for "realism."

[Monkeyleg]

Another old fogie chiming in: don't forget Johnny Yuma (Nick Adams) in "The Rebel."

[STW]

Chuck Conners was also a nice man. One of my younger sisters and a group of friends (aged about 12) were eating at a smorgesborg about 1/2 way between Palm Springs and LA about 1970 when they noticed CC at another table. My sister got up the courage to say something to him, which he answered graciously. Lots of giggles from the girls. After he left, when my sister and friends went to pay they found out he'd picked up their tab.

[hops]

OK, I'm not an old foggie yet. I remember watching American Westerns in Germany in the late '60's - my pre-teen years.

Rifleman was among my favourites as well as all the others.

There was one show. It had a grandpa with a Confderate hat, his daughter (I think it was Ann Francis), her daughter a cute blond and this goofy town sheriff whom they always seemed to bailout.

All I remember that at then end of the show, whenever the Sheriff and Blond young daughter tried to kiss, grandpa or Mom shot to break up the near kiss,

What was the name of that show? Saw it in Germany all the time too.


It was really weird for me to see them in the U.S. speaking english wilth very different voices - especially the indian and african-american characters.

[bobs1066]

Here's a blast from the past. Johny Crawford, who played the Rifleman's son, was in the Army in the 60's and appeared in a series of training movies. In the films I remember, he was always the Pvt. Doofus type that needed help learning things like saluting.

The craziest thing about the Rifleman was that no matter how many times he'd let daylight thru some bad guy, the very next week another owlhoot would show up to call him "sodbuster" & start the ball all over again.

IIRC, Sam Peckinpah directed some episodes of Rifleman and some of Gunsmoke back when it was a 30 minute B&W show.

[Dean Speir]

 

Ledbetter isn't even close when he suggests that Laramie was the third in the "ABC western trilogy" which Warner Brothers came up with as "replacements" for its Tuesday evening biggie, Cheyenne, when the studio started having contract troubles with its star Clint Walker.

Laramie ran on NBC for four years ('59-'63) in the 7:30-8:30 p.m. time slot.

Cheyenne ran on ABC from '55-to-'63, the first four years in that 7:30-8:30 p.m. Tuesday time slot. In '59 it switched to Mondays.

Bronco, with Ty Hardin as Bronco Layne, ran on ABC from '58-'til-'62 in the 7:30-8:30 p.m. time slot, for the first two years on Tuesdays, and the final two seasons on Mondays, always alternating with Cheyenne, with Sugarfoot sometimes in the mix.

Sugarfoot, Will Hutchins in the title role, ran in rotation with Cheyenne and sometimes Bronco, on Tuesdays, and then Mondays between '57 and '61. Laramie had nothing to do with anything except itself on another network.

 

[DonQatU]

Did you ever notice how Micah is always out of town or something else when there's serious trouble?

I'm right now watching the Rifleman episode with Sammy Davis Jr. as a gunfighter. Micah is out of town......... again!

Don

[Backwoods]

Hops

You're thinking of "Pistols and Petticoats" and it was hilarious. Here is a link to a site that tells a little about the show.
http://www.tvparty.com/recpistols.html

Don in Ohio

Or maybe it wasn't. You said Ann Francis and the show I"m thinking of starred Ann Sheridan.

[DonP]

He must have since he never did anything except sit around the General Store's pot belly stove (Dunkin Donuts hadn't been invented yet) and make the citizens fend for themselves every week.

That's not toally true I guess. After Lucas shot up the bad guys he would pick up their guns and walk the survivors over to jail.

Don P.

[PlayTheAces]

You guys are breaking my heart - doesn't anyone remember the Bat Masterson show?

[Dean Speir]

  He wore a cane and derby hat, they called him "Bat," Bat Masterson! Sure, Gene Barry played the role of William Bartley Masterson in an NBC half-hour show on Wednesdays (then Thursdays) for three seasons between '58 and '61… on the show he had a strange little gun which he rarely used, preferring to knock those who required it, on the head with his gold-topped walking stick.

In real life, he was very particular about his handguns, and letters exist today between him and Colt's. He was a newspaper editor in NYC.

 

[hops]

Thanks Backwoods. Got my Ann's mixed up. It was Ann Sheridan in that Pistols & Petticoats show. Interesting that such a short lived American western show was shown in Germany. But, American western's were huge in Germany in the 60's. I saw them all in German, before I saw them again in English. F-Troop is the only western type show I do not seem to recall seeing in Germany.

[MeekandMild]

I've seen this old series on TV! I really like it!

Old? :scrutiny:

I'm surprised there aren't more Wagon Train fans here. It was a tossup whether Wagon Train or Rawhide was my favorite until Star Trek came along. Of course Star Trek was more of the same.

Never really liked Bat Masterson much, though I though Have Gun, Will Travel and Gunsmoke were cool.

Liked the music too.

[Penman]

Chuck Connors was also something of a diplomat. When Breshnev was Premier of the USSR, in the early days of detente, he toured the US and was a fan of Westerns. When he met Chuck Connors, Connors gave him a brace of Colt SAAs which had custom grip frames for Connor's large hands. Colt replaced the guns for Connors, and Breshnev sent Connors a silver samovar set. Breshnev was also presented with a .338 rifle by one of the US diplomats.

Anyone recall the character Johnny Ringo? I think that was a short lived series. Perhaps Dean can enlighten us.

[Ledbetter]

Yow, Dean. I was only 4 at the time. Cut me a little slack.:scrutiny:

and what about "The Bounty Hunter" with Steve McQueen and the Mare's Leg.

[bobs1066]

Aw,"Wanted Dead or Alive", I don't much care what he was like in real life, but Steve McQueen was the coolest human being on the planet on TV or in movies.

A few years ago in a gun rag I saw that somebody was taking Winchest 92's and making replicas of the Mare's Leg. That was the good news, the bad news was that they were kinda pricey.

Does anybody remember "Stoney Burke" or "Empire"?

So far I would rate this thread as GP (Geezer Pleaser).:D

[SodaPop]

I wouldn't know..... I'm not that old..:neener:

[Art Eatman]

Don't remember the source; gunzine or some such; but some 30 or 40 years back Jerry Lewis was the fastest actor to draw and hit with a single-action revolver. Sorta early daze CAS. Yeah. The scrawny little guy who stooged for Dean Martin.

:), Art

[geegee]

The Rifleman was one of my favorite shows. I think it used to be on right after Soupy Sales (White Fang and Black Tooth...man, what entertainment! :p ) I probably shouldn't say this, but I think that if Black Tooth would meet up with Barney today, he would be one hurtin' dinosaur. That purple tub of goo would be no match for the powerful balled up fist laying in wait inside that black sock puppet.

I'm glad I got that out, and I won't apologize. :neener: geegee

[Dean Speir]

 

About the only "Johnny Ringo" on TV back then was played by Britt Lomond from time to time on The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp… but then that series was peopled with all manner of "historical characters" including Curley Bill Brocius, Bat Masterson (played by Alan Dinehart III, not Gene Barry), Ben Thompson, Ned Buntline, Dr. John "Doc" Holliday, etc., as well as two of the Earp brothers and sundry Clantons.

So I don't know of a series built around any Johnny Ringo; but I wonder if you might be thinking of a really terrific western series entitled Hotel de Paree, with Earl Holliman as The Sundance Kid (with a great hat!) and Strother Martin as a regular cast member.

Yes, bobs1066, I well remember both Stoney Burke and Empire, starring, respectively, Jack Lord and Richard Egan. Didn't much care for the latter (also named Redigo later on in its run), but Stoney Burke had as his sidekicks Bruce Dern and the always terrific Warren Oates as Ves Painter.

I remember that Jerry Lewis "story" as well, Art… it was probably a press agent's work product, just as was his purported skin allergy to dry cleaning fluids which caused him to donate all his expensive (alpaca?) sweaters after only one wearing! But I also recall that Sammy Davis Jr. was pretty good in that discipline, too, and that they shot wax bullets out of primed cases. I think the genuine fast draw champions of that era were Rod Redwing and Arvo Ojala. (Met him, and his soap actress daughter, at SHOT '90 in Las Vegas… just look at his credits (http://us.imdb.com/Name?Ojala,+Arvo)!)

 

[bobs1066]

For those of tender years, "Stoney Burke" and "Empire" were modern-day Westerns. Stoney was a rodeo cowboy and Empire was about a very large ranch.

"Empire" was an hour long at first, then they did away with most of the cast & renamed the series "Redigo", which was Richard Egan's character name.

I'd forgotten that Stoney had such later-distinguished sidekicks. :)

Okay, now it's trivia time, in what show did "Old Fooler" appear?

[Art Eatman]

From back before "talkies", my mother remembers the real Bat Masterson as a rather dapper gentleman...

:), Art

[mrstang01]

Sammy Davis Jr. is supposed to have been one of the fastest pistoleros in the cowboy acting group.


Michael

[MonkeyMan]

Dean, thankyou, thankyou, thankyou!!!:)

I've heard stories that Don Knotts, AKA "Barney Fife" was also quite the pistolero. Any truth to that.

I'll also give this thread a GP:D

Anybody remember "Tale of Wells Fargo"?

[JohnBT]

I saw a show on cable recently that included clips of Martin and Lewis doing some fancy gun handling. It was from one of their westerns - Pardners maybe. The claim was made that they were the best at drawing and twirling and all that Harlem Globetrotter stuff. I don't recall anything being said about shooting. Anyhow, what I saw them do was simply amazing.
________

Anyone remember the 1958-59 series with Jock Mahoney as Yancy Derringer? How about his co-star X. Brands as Pahoo-Ka-Ta-Wah? (I cheated and looked up Pahoo's full name)

I was a kid and this is the show that taught me that Pahoo's sawed-off shotgun would blow a man clear across the room and up against the wall.

John

[shootist2121]

Oh my God Guys and Gals….I feel the time warp…Let’s do the time warp dance..LOL

Lone Ranger,
Annie Oakley
Rin Tin Tin
Colt 45
Laramie
Suger Foot
Maverick
Cheyenne
Have Gun Will Travel
Gun Smoke
Wanted Dead Or Alive
Wyatt Earp
Bat. Materson
Lash Laroo
Sargent Preston of the Yukon
Wagon Train
Roy Rogers
The Tin Star (TV)
Bonanza
Law Man
Cimarron Strip
Johnny Ringo
Alias Smith & Jones
Cisco Kid
Tails of Well Fargo
Tombstone Territory

Here’s a fun sight

http://www.peterbrown.tv/links.html[/URL]


:cool: :cool:

[foghornl]

I also remember some of those shows.....sort of vaguely, but do remember.

How about the series that was placed in Tombstone, AZ? The show had an opener that was something along the line of "The Tombstone Epitaph (sp?) The newspaper and history of a town to tough to die..."

Death Valley Days, narrated by former President Ron Reagan, anyone ? ?

I liked the way Gunsmoke demo'd safe rifle storage. All the rifles were in a wall-mount vertical rack, with a heavy padlocked chain going through each lever. Marshall Dillon always got the bad guys, with some help from Festus & Newly. Don't recall actually seeing Chester (Dennis Weaver) shoot anyone.

"...Have Gun Will Travel reads the card of a man.
A Knight without armor in a savage land......."

[Joe Demko]

Sammy Davis jr. did have quite a reputation as a fast-draw artist; so did Johnny Cash. Kirk Douglas is supposed to have been pretty fast too, as well as able to do some rather fancy gun-twirling.

[Bonker]

Have Gun WIll Travel is the best western of all time to me and Paladin is the ultimate hero.

But Rifleman is the best show ever to just sit and watch with your kids (ok maybe Andy Griffith too)

[280PLUS]

one summers eve and the am radio jock i was listening to with my little earplug asks the trivia question "who's motto was, "have gun will travel"

so i calls him up on the extension in my room and lo and behold i am now on the air, 2 am in the morning.

so i answers,"the rifleman"

"oh no, son, it was paladin" (whom i'd never heard of)

just about that time MOM picks up on the other extension and says nothing more than, (in her best evil voice) "You get off of this phone right NOW!!" for the untold millions(?) of listeners that night.

mr dj says, "uh, i think you gotta go"

so we hangs up and i face the wrath of mom next day...

and if thats not bad enough, when i go back to school in the fall a friend asks me, "was that you getting yelled at by your mother on the radio this summer?"

mom, never quite understood till much later that she was live on the air with the biggest am station in the area.

i remind her now and then... :evil:

[DonQatU]

I'm troubled, Sammy Davis Jr. was killed by Lucas McCain using a Winchester 1892 in 1884 in a previous episode. Now Sammy Davis has returned as a different character! But, this time Sammy didn't get killed. He just did a lot of gun twirling and scared the bad guy off.

Also....... I noticed that Mark's "Model 73" .22 is a pump gun!

Despite these technical flaws, I still enjoy The Rifleman series.

I think Miss Mallory is especially HOT! ;)

Don

[Dean Speir]

 

Sammy Davis Jr. played Wade Randall in November 1962 after having played Tip Corey in February of that same year.

Something which no one has yet mentioned, which might account for some of its appeal here, is that The Rifleman series was created by the great Sam Peckinpah, who, as bobs1066 has already noted, often directed some of the episodes.

 

[DonQatU]

Sammy Davis Jr. played Wade Randall in November 1962 after having played Tip Corey in February of that same year.

Thanks for the info Dean!

Despite the fact that certain actors are reincarnated in later episodes and that there are certain technical firearms errors, I still think the The Rifleman Series is great!

Oh..... and Miss Mallory is still HOT! ;)

Don

[Guy B. Meredith]

DonP says it all.

The Rebel
The Lone Ranger
The Rifleman
Cheyenne
Suger Foot
Have Gun Will Travel
Wanted Dead Or Alive
Roy Rogers
Wild Bill Hickock (sp?)
Cisco Kid

And that gambler dude in Lousiana with the really cool Indian pal were the top of my list. I was too young to be allowed to stay up for some like Gunsmoke.

[Dean Speir]

And that gambler dude in Lousiana with the really cool Indian pal were the top of my list. That would of course be Yancy Derringer and Pahoo-Ka-Ta-Wah, the title character being played by the late Jock Mahoney, previously TV's The Range Rider, later Hollywood's Tarzan, and Sally Field's step-father. He was for years a stunt man, did all his own stunt work in his two Tarzan flicks, and was the basis for the Brian Keith character in Burt Reynolds' Hooper.

[Jay Bakerr]

"Gunsmoke," was the longest running dramatic series in the history of television. Twenty years: 1955 through 1975.

J.B.

[Neal Bloom]

Back in the late 60's while in Junior High we had an assembly that featured some quick draw artist. Don't remember his name but I do remember him telling us that the fastest 'draws' in Hollywood were Jerry Lewis, Sammy Davis Jr., Glenn Ford and Clint Eastwood.

While watching American Shooter the other night Bob Munden also said that Jerry Lewis and Sammy Davis Jr were the fastest followed by Glenn Ford. Maybe it was Munden I saw in junor high assembly?

Anyway I always liked the Rifeman. Cheyenne was a favorite. Wanted so much to be as broad shouldered as Clint Walker. Maverick was a favorite also. Man, I sure do miss Westerns!

[Guy B. Meredith]

Dean,

That is "cool", not "kewl". About 35-40 years difference there. Now said in Air Head mode, previously by druggees who just seemed just like the Air Heads as they were zoned out.

[DonQatU]

Somebody pointed out that the Rifleman always double, triple, or quadruple taps the bad guys. I saw a couple episodes were he only plugged the bad guy once. BUT..... this only happened when he was using a borrowed handgun or a single shot rifle.

Question.........how many shots does the Rifleman fire in the opening scene? Time?

Don

[Penman]

Okay, anyone recall the series "Whiplash"? Supposedly set during "The Great Australian Goldrush"?

[Dean Speir]

 

…Whiplash is pretty esoteric… James Arness' kid brother Peter Graves, trying to set up the "Cobb & Company Stage Line" in New South Wales. It was a syndicated show here, and only ran one season, I think. It was kinda heavy on bullwhips and boomerangs, but was the Australian Gold Rush in the 1850s?

Guy B. Meredith, if your morning bran isn't working, there's always prunes.

 

[Penman]

I recall something in the "Whiplash" theme song about 1881, but it was a looooonnnng time ago...

[NIGHTWATCH]

I bought the entire series on DVD a few months ago and I love em. Watched about half so far. :cool:

The Rifleman DVD Series (http://www.mpihomevideo.com/productlist.asp?cat=17&subcat=44)

[Sunray]

It's, "Thundering hoof beats, a cloud of dust and a hearty cry of Hi Ho Silver."
Wanted: Dead or Alive is on Lone Star, up here, week days at 6, I think it is. After 'Wagon Train' or 'The Virginian'. They alternate. 'Johnny Ringo' is on on Saturday afternoons as well. Lone Star is all westerns all the time.
Saw Buddy Hacket on Carson one night, long ago. He had just traded 100 guns and $36,000 for an original Paterson Colt. Said he had a ship board Gatling gun in his living room. Carson says, "What for?" Hacket says, " A conversation piece." Gotta love it. He also said all those trick shots he did on 'Circus of the Stars' away back when, were real.
"He was a newspaper editor in NYC." Masterson was a sports writer in NYC. Refereed some of the early, heavy weight, bare knuckle, boxing matches. I forget which ones. 1900ish, I think.
Hey, Ceesco, let's went.

[TexasVet]

I always wanted the armored Jeep that the sidekick on Roy Rogers drove, Lulabell. Heck, I STILL do!:D