Who's the "Baddest" TV western good guy?

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Yeah Palladan was a real badass tv guy, Looked real mean too. My favorite though was James Garner in maverick fast and funny too. My favorite from the movies-- anybody remember these "That's pretty big talk for a one eyed fat man." "fill your hands you Son of bitches," or
"Just tryin to make a livin", "Dyin aint much of a livin"
or
"Are you an Outlaw?" "No" "Well then why do you have so many guns?" "' Cause I'm a sportsman." "Well, why then do you have a sawed-off Shotgun?" " 'Cause I'm a sawed-off sportsman."
 
What about Clint?

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Clint Walker as Cheyenne Bodie. Although not in the weekly serial format, it was a long running TV Western nonetheless.

Clint Walker was an animal.
 
If we are talking about TV Cowboys, then Paladin certainly is the ultimate. He was a threatening presence when confronting the bad guys, but had sophistication and inteligence to back it up. I have the complete DVD set of all the Have Gun Will Travel episodes, and the thing that strikes me from watching them now at age 57 as compared to when I saw them originally (I saw them all!) is how un-stereotypical they are. And how many notable actors of the time were in them. Like the time Paladin helped settle a dispute between an Armenian Grape grower in the San Fernando valley and his daughter, who wanted to run away to marry a cow puncher. Or when Struther Martin was the town Goat, and Paladin tried to advise him to be smart...
But Paladin shot many men (all of them deserved it). And none of it was faked Hollywood stuff (like 9 shots from your SAA). I think they read the manual , for it was certainly the most realistic of any TV show ever... western or otherwise. Gunsmoke comes a close second... very close. As Milburn Stone said... "Well, there you have it"


"Fortunately, I always keep my feathers numbered" -Foghorn Leghorn
 
Paladin. I got some of the DVD's. Too bad the sound track is so short.
The real Paladins were the 12 household knights of Charlemagne. One was the French knight Roland.
 
I enjoyed Richard B. in Palidin when I was a kid.

His main tone seemed to be a world weary wisdom and
an exasperation at having to "plug" the unlistening bad guy.

Definitely a curt irritated bad ass.
 
Don't know if he was the "baddest".....but Jack Elam certainly had the meaniest look with that one goofy eyeball.

ELAM3.jpg

story.elam.ap.jpg
 
Surely you jest, Sir...

Fun2Shoot,

There's only one- Richard Boone as Paladin, in "Have Gun, Will Travel." All the rest are light weighted poseurs.
 
Richard Boone, philosopher with a sixgun

Hard to remember all the adult westerns, but many simply fell into the formula and were pretty undistinguishable. Paladin seemed quite a bit more cerebral than most of the oater stars of the period.

I may have to invest in the videos and reconnect with my childhood.
 
I would vote for Paladin. I also watched all the TV westerns growing up. When Gunsmoke first came out it was past my bedtime on Saturday night. So I worked out a deal with my dad. I would go to bed at 8:00 (my bedtime) and at 10:00 my dad would wake me up to watch Gunsmoke. Always liked the opening scene.

Axeman - John Wayne also played Sherman in "How The West Was Won" It is probably my all time favorite western. It was filmed in Cinerama and was awesome, both audio and visual when watched in the theater.

Sawbones - Yes, I remember Mattels guns and ammo. The caps were neat but the cartridges were even better. They had a metal spring loaded case that a plastic bullet with two plastic legs that would go in the cartridge case and lock in place. Just like real ammo. Looked realistic to an 8 or 9 year old. You could shoot them with or without the "Greenie Stickon Caps". Either way the plastic bullet would come out of the gun when fired and would hit (with luck) what you were aiming at. Then you had to find the bullets to load them up again. Loads of fun in those days. I had the Rolling Block Rifle which was a copy of a Remington rolling block rifle. Not that anyone could even remotely think about making this today. I always have said my generation had the most fun growing up.
 
I think it's a toss up between Paladin and Eastwood in Pale rider.
Click to expand...
Paladin was a TV series, and thus qualifies as a legitimate answer to the original question. Pale Rider was a feature film, not a television series.

Boy, remember the bad guy with the silver nose in Paladin. I was 8-9 when I first saw him, boy, I couldn't figure why they didn't plug him on sight!
Click to expand...
Huh? I grew up in the heyday of TV westerns, including Paladin. I don't remember a guy with a silver nose. You sure you're not thinking of Lee Marvin's character in the movie Cat Ballou?

Overall, and I say this as someone who watched probably ALL of the weekly "oaters," the only possible vote would have to be Paladin. Cheyenne Bowdie was a good guy, but that show's "schtick" was to have a guy as big as Cheyenne get the crap beat out of him every week. Many of the others in the Warner Brothers Television western churn were pretty forgettable, like Sugarfoot, and Colt 45, and a bunch of others.

I don't know if my second-place vote actually counts. I watched him a lot on television, but I was young enough that I don't know if I was seeing made-for-TV shows, or reruns of former feature films. Anyway, my second-place vote goes to Lash LaRue. Third-place has to be Yancy Derringer.
 
I just can't quite put Jayne in the 'good guys' category. No, he's not (really) a bad guy, but ... nope, I just can't call him a 'good guy' either.

My vote has to be Malcolm Reynolds.

For those who say that Firefly isn't a real western - what are some TV westerns that have aired as new shows since 1980 when I can remember watching TV? The only one I can think of was that Pony Express one - but I only watched maybe 2 episodes. From what I remember either the Indian or the guy in charge from that one if I can't pick from Firefly.
 
what are some TV westerns that have aired as new shows since 1980 when I can remember watching TV? The only one I can think of was that Pony Express one - but I only watched maybe 2 episodes. From what I remember either the Indian or the guy in charge from that one if I can't pick from Firefly.
Click to expand...

Well, let's see:
Briscoe County
Deadwood
Lonesome Dove (mini-series)
 
LAK - "John Wayne. The Duke played it so often, and so well."

John Wayne was never in a teeeveee series.

John Wayne was in movies. ;)

L.W.
 
I dunno......
I never saw Ms. Kitty take any crap off anybody. :neener:
But then again, neither did Hop-Sing.
 
If we are talking about TV Cowboys, then Paladin certainly is the ultimate. He was a threatening presence when confronting the bad guys, but had sophistication and inteligence to back it up. I have the complete DVD set of all the Have Gun Will Travel episodes, and the thing that strikes me from watching them now at age 57 as compared to when I saw them originally (I saw them all!) is how un-stereotypical they are. And how many notable actors of the time were in them. Like the time Paladin helped settle a dispute between an Armenian Grape grower in the San Fernando valley and his daughter, who wanted to run away to marry a cow puncher. Or when Struther Martin was the town Goat, and Paladin tried to advise him to be smart...
But Paladin shot many men (all of them deserved it). And none of it was faked Hollywood stuff (like 9 shots from your SAA). I think they read the manual , for it was certainly the most realistic of any TV show ever... western or otherwise. Gunsmoke comes a close second... very close. As Milburn Stone said... "Well, there you have it"


X2 is about all I can add to that. I didnt really see the show on TV much but my uncle told me about it and I bought the DVD set. I watch them over and over. And Gunsmoke runs a real close second.
 
Lucas McCain of course! Although he doesn't favor handguns.
Click to expand...

He did in real life. He was a BIG time S&W revolver collector.

Now for the hypocrite cowboy star award.................. Jack Lord as Stoney Burk. He moved to Hawaii and tried to get the private ownership of any gun, outlawed. He wanted a Shangra La society.:fire:
 
Musings of an old fart

1 - Paladin (without question, the "baddest" of all TV good guys)
Complete 3-seasons of DVD's available on Amazon.com.
My favorite episodes always seemed to be written by Gene Roddenberry (of Star Trek fame, for you young whippersnappers).
Notable guest stars included Charles Bronson and James Coburn.
My overall favorite episode was "Molly O'Bannion." That episode alone got me interested in reading Shakespeare's poetry. Great stuff!
Worst blunder of the series was bragging about his hand-crafted "pistol" with a custom "2 ounce" trigger job. I cringed every time that was mentioned, and moreso when a bad guy got ahold of it and played with it like it was a toy.
Finally, calling his Chinese servant "Hey Boy" (actually that was his name) wouldn't go over well in today's PC society.

2 - Wild Wild West (Jim West and Artemis Gordon)
First two seasons of DVD's available at Amazon.com.
Acting and fight scenes were superior to Paladin.
My overall favorite episode was "The Night of the Man-Eating House." Right typical of Ambrose Bierce or Edgar Allen Poe prose.
Generally, I hated the usually inane Dr Loveless episodes.

Wuppidee Wuppidee... That's all folks!!!
 
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