Was the Rifleman one of your favorite shows?

I see it every once in a while in TVL.

DM

It is available on Hulu, and is currently broadcast on the MeTV and RTV networks. http://www.hulu.com/search?query=The+Rifleman&st=0&fs=null http://metvnetwork.com http://www.myretrotv.com/index2.html And, of course, on DVD.

I like it. He didn't really get into gunfights that often, though. In fact, in an episode I watched a couple of hours ago, he threw the rifle at a man on horseback, knocking him off.

No, even as a child I realized that it was total BS.

That's pretty harsh, Mr Sparks. Remember, it was a show that was also meant to be watched by young people. There was often a moral to the story of the day. Sure it was light at times.

Find the episode that guest-starred Sammy Davis Jr. doing "trick" gun handling (fast draw, twirling, etc.) and shooting. That is actually him doing it.

I found it here: http://www.hulu.com/watch/94335/the-rifleman-two-ounces-of-tin

Sure did watch it and loved it!

I liked the rifleman, but my favorite was the lone ranger.

This was all FICTION. The old West was nothing like what was portrayed on TV and the movies in the 1950's and 60's. That was MAKE BELIVE aimed primarily at gullable children.

The Rifleman, Sky King and Sergeant Preston of the Yukon!

I'm 39, but my dad got me into watching it on reruns when I was a kid. Now that dad is gone, it reminds me of him. It's on sometimes early Saturday mornings in WI. I still find it ironic that Chuck Connors was a fellow Brooklynite (NYC), yet he plays an expert gun shooter. He played a good role though.

Quote: "This was all FICTION. The old West was nothing like what was portrayed on TV and the movies in the 1950's and 60's. That was MAKE BELIVE aimed primarily at gullable children."


Thanks, didn't know that.
Guess it flew right over me.

Wasn't Chuck Connors an NBA star before he became an actor?
I have heard that he was seven feet tall in real life.

Wasn't Chuck Connors an NBA star before he became an actor?
I have heard that he was seven feet tall in real life.

Click to expand...

Not really a "star," but he did play pro basketball, and I believe baseball as well. He was ~6'6", and totally ambidextrous, which is the reason he handled the rifle equally well with either hand.

I'm pretty sure that no one here was fooled into thinking the Rifleman was an accurate representation of life in the Old West. "Wild, Wild West," on the other hand, I think had most of us fooled. :/

The Lone Haranguer:

Quote:
"Wasn't Chuck Connors an NBA star before he became an actor?
I have heard that he was seven feet tall in real life."

Not really a "star," but he did play pro basketball, and I believe baseball as well. He was ~6'6", and totally ambidextrous, which is the reason he handled the rifle equally well with either hand.

Click to expand...

I knew he had played baseball, but didn't know he'd played basketball.

There were also widespread rumors that (as Jerry Seinfeld would say) he "played for the other team" (Not that there's anything wrong with that).

Jim Bowie and

Jim Bowie as well as Wanted Dead or Alive [ Steve McQueen ].

Bat Masterson.

And my alltime favorite The Lone Ranger.

He was the reason I believe I became an LEO [ and I carried SILVERTIP .357 hollowpoints ]

And Scott Forbes as Jim Bowie is the reason I have a hang up with LARGE blades and collect and use them.

RINGOLEVIO - I had heard that about Connors also.

Dont stop that show from being cool,just as Vin Deisel has that same issue and he too is a good and enjoyable actor.

Even as a kid when the show was fresh, I preferred "Death Valley Days" with the Old Ranger,
True stories of the old west,sponsored by 20 mule team borax,even the commercials were tuff.
robert

You do realize that you are "outing" us old pharts. Don't you?

Have Gun Will Travel
The Rifleman
Bat Masterson
Sky King
Lone Ranger
Zorro

A knight without armor in a savage land

'Sorry, but for me "The Rifleman" (or any other Western) can't hold a candle to my all-time favorite, "Have Gun, Will Travel".

"HGWT" and "Gunsmoke" were the first "adult Westerns". For you youngsters, that's not the same "adult" as in "adult bookstore" or "adult website". But, in its day, the show was decried for its violence, not to mention that its protagonist actually killed people.

That protagonist, Paladin (played by the late Richard Boone, an acne-scarred actor whom TV Guide called "the ugliest man on television") was a highly-cultured, highly-skilled and highly-ethical gun-for-hire. The word "Paladin" means "a crusading knight". The first Paladins in history were the knights of the Court of Charlemagne (the name Paladin also now designates a 105mm motorized howitzer).

Lots of characters in Westerns carried two guns, but Paladin was the first shown carrying a BUG (the Derringer he kept behind his belt-buckle).

In any number of episodes, Paladin went up against a gunfighter who was faster. But Paladin was always more accurate. He was a true pistolero and epitomized Col. Cooper's motto of Diligentia, Vis, Celeritas; if Paladin were alive today, you know he'd wield a hand-fitted 1911.

Did you know that one of the writers of "HGWT" was Gene Roddenberry, who went on to create "Star Trek"? With that in mind, I think it's a lucky twist of fate that Richard Boone played Paladin and William Shatner played Capt. Kirk, and not the other way around!

Palidin was also one of my favorite shows, along with Gunsmoke and that one with Lorne Greene (memory lapse at this time) with Hoss and Little Joe.

Bonanza, it's still on every day in reruns...

DM