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Post by Richard Kimble on Dec 24, 2017 23:52:53 GMT
Have Gun Will Travel"The Hanging Cross" s1 e15 Directed by Andrew McLaglen Written by Gene Roddenberry On Christmas Eve Paladin works to reunite a cruel rancher and his son who had been captured by Indians, and at the same time avoid an Indian war.The kindest, gentlest Paladin of all. Roddenberry's script makes Paladin his mouthpiece for Peace on Earth sentiments, which would seem wildly out of place in any other episode. Edward Binns is the rancher, Johnny Crawford his son, Abraham Sofaer the Indian chief.
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Post by Richard Kimble on Jan 4, 2018 2:24:31 GMT
Have Gun Will Travel"The Protégé" s2 e6 Directed by Andrew McLaglen Written by Frank Gilroy Paladin teaches a young man to defend himself with a gun. But the young man, now a fast draw, becomes drunk with power -- will the student end up destroying the teacher? One of my favorite HGWT episodes, with an excellent script by future Pulitzer winner Frank Gilroy ( The Subject Was Roses). Peter Breck overacts a bit as the student, but this doesn't hurt the episode. Trivia tidbit: At one point in the dialogue Matt Dillon is mentioned.
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Post by Richard Kimble on Jan 8, 2018 7:10:15 GMT
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Post by Richard Kimble on Jan 14, 2018 0:18:29 GMT
Have Gun - Will Travel"The Wager" s2 e16 Directed by Andrew McLaglen Written by Denis Sanders and Terry Sanders Paladin is hired to protect a railroad tycoon -- or is it all just a game?Although the ending is a bit anti-climactic, this is a classic example of HGWT's occasional Nietzsche-Darwin undertones, harking back to The Most Dangerous Game and even forward to Deliverance. Written by the brothers Denis & Terry Sanders, the first film school vets to make an impact in Hollywood, a decade before Francis Coppola. They won an Oscar for the short A Time Out Of War (1954) and kept threatening to accomplish even greater things, but never quite did. Paladin demands the truth from the tycoon's rival (Ken Lynch)Denis and Terry Sanders
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Post by telegonus on Jan 14, 2018 5:38:10 GMT
Thanks for starting this thread, Richard. Westerns were among the glories of early television. Their peak period was roughly 1955-65. The real peak was probably the Sixties cusp (1958-61). It seems that the shifting away from half-hour series to hour longs gave the western more depth (as in room for character and story development), and yet, as so often happens, as the half-hours faded and the hour long and then ninety minute long series ruled, westerns came to feel like Too Much.
Anyway, some great posts all-round here. My memory of specific episodes of classic western isn't nearly so good as others on this board. Curious how the western morphed, from kidvid early on-Hopalong Cassidy, The Lone Ranger, Wild Bill Hickock, the Roy (Rogers) and Gene (Autry) shows,--into series for, depending on which show you're talkin' about, entertainment for the entire family or just plain old westerns for grownups. A good deal of the charm of westerns came from their "family feel" of regular characters featured in every week's episode, although as the more feature film-like "property western", of which I believe Bonanza was the first, came along, my interest in westerns waned somewhat.
The Rifleman and The Rebel were favorites of mine when I was growing up, and they still play well. I was also fond of some of the more offbeat, novelty or near novelty westerns such as Yancy Derringer and Hotel de Paree. A good one that ran only a couple of seasons: The Tall Man. The set-up, based on the friendship between Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, was borderline weird, yet the show itself was intelligently written and well acted by Barry Sullivan and the at the time newcomer Clu Gulager. An irony worth mentioning: the golden age of the TV western was almost entirely during the period was prime time was dominated by black and white shows. One might have guessed that the shift to all color prime time would have helped the already somewhat waning western. Didn't happen.
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Post by Richard Kimble on Jan 14, 2018 9:49:58 GMT
as the more feature film-like "property western", of which I believe Bonanza was the first, came along, my interest in westerns waned somewhat When the "adult westerns" started in 1955 there were essentially two formats: 1) The Lawman ( Gunsmoke), and 2) The Drifter ( Cheyenne -- Roy Huggins, creator of the latter, later said The Fugitive was intended to be a modern "Drifter" western). Wagon Train in 1957 would prefigure a third format: The Ranch or as you call it Property western. The train was a moving ranch, but the next year The Rifleman placed it in on a literal ranch, then in 1959 came Laramie and the big one, Bonanza. This emphasis on home life made the genre more domestic (and female-oriented). Think about this. After 1959, there really only four more hit TV westerns: The Virginian, The Big Valley, The High Chaparral (all Ranches) and The Wild Wild West. I've seen one Hotel De Paree. To be as kind as possible, let's just say Earl Holliman deserved better. The Rifleman got formulaic very quickly -- perhaps that's why it remains popular. I actually prefer its spinoff Law Of The Plainsman, with Michael Ansara as a Harvard-educated Apache turned US marshal. I'm a big Barry Sullivan fan but didn't care much for the one Tall Man I've seen. I'm not a big fan of Clu Gulager -- if kept under control he's tolerable, but if you let him twitch away... (if you want to see the twitchiest performance of all time check out his Untouchables as Mad Dog Coll) You mention two recent discoveries of mine. About a year or so ago I watched almost all the episodes of Yancy Derringer, which deserves to be much better known. The scripts were intelligent and stylish w/o HGWT's more arcane conceits, and the production was absolutely top notch (compare it to the threadbare Jim Bowie, set in the same milieu). Besides, I'm a sucker for stories of old New Orleans. Jock Mahoney gives a shockingly good performance in the title role -- he's not quite Gene Barry, but dang close. Considering he was pretty boring before and after YD, he must have had a great drama coach here. Even more impressive was The Rebel, which I watched for the first time shortly after discovering YD. The Rebel is truly a lost classic, with many episodes having a noirish, existentialist vibe that even surpasses an actual noir like Johnny Staccato, and that would not be equaled by a continuing series until The Fugitive. I'm sure i'll be writing about The Rebel as the thread goes along.
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Post by Richard Kimble on Feb 2, 2018 15:37:30 GMT
Alias Smith & Jones as my generation's Maverick. Not surprisingly, the same man was responsible for both, Roy Huggins (he also created The Fugitive). Pete Duel was in some ways just as talented as James Garner, and some AS&J episodes can more than hold their own with Maverick's best. An especially enjoyable aspect of AS&J was the Burke's Law-style casting, emphasizing familiar western faces. Among the sagebrush vets who guested on the show: Walter Brennan John Russell James Drury Neville Brand Andy Devine Jack Elam Earl Holliman George Montgomery Forrest Tucker Pernell Roberts The classic card game from "Night Of The Red Dog" (a reworking of a script Huggins had originally written for his series Run for Your Life). Note the presence of western standbys Calhoun and Kelly. Paul Fix of Rifleman fame was also in it.
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Post by telegonus on Feb 4, 2018 8:36:02 GMT
Alias Smith & Jones as my generation's Maverick. Not surprisingly, the same man was responsible for both, Roy Huggins (he also created The Fugitive). Pete Duel was in some ways just as talented as James Garner, and some AS&J episodes can more than hold their own with Maverick's best. An especially enjoyable aspect of AS&J was the Burke's Law-style casting, emphasizing familiar western faces. Among the sagebrush vets who guested on the show: Walter Brennan John Russell James Drury Neville Brand Andy Devine Jack Elam Earl Holliman George Montgomery Forrest Tucker Pernell Roberts The classic card game from "Night Of The Red Dog" (a reworking of a script Huggins had originally written for his series Run for Your Life). Note the presence of western standbys Calhoun and Kelly. Paul Fix of Rifleman fame was also in it.
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Post by telegonus on Feb 4, 2018 8:41:33 GMT
Interesting pic from Alias Smith & Jones, Richard. It was a fun series, maybe the last hip western, one people our age (my age?) could watch and laugh along with rather than laugh at.
I think it must have been shortly after Night Of The Red Dog aired that Joe Flynn, appearing on some late night talk show, maybe Merv Griffin, not sure, talked about the fun he had making it, then commented on the "Irish brotherhood" (or some such) of actors on the episode, naming Calhoun, Kelly, Murphy and Flynn. Like St. Paddy's Day at the Galway Tap (I paraphrase), I would imagine.
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Post by Richard Kimble on Feb 5, 2018 11:19:55 GMT
Interesting pic from Alias Smith & Jones, Richard. It was a fun series, maybe the last hip western, one people our age (my age?) could watch and laugh along with rather than laugh at. I think it must have been shortly after Night Of The Red Dog aired that Joe Flynn, appearing on some late night talk show, maybe Merv Griffin, not sure, talked about the fun he had making it, then commented on the "Irish brotherhood" (or some such) of actors on the episode, naming Calhoun, Kelly, Murphy and Flynn. Like St. Paddy's Day at the Galway Tap (I paraphrase), I would imagine. Flynn seems to bearing wearing black "hard rim" glasses. Did those exist in the 1870s?
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Post by Richard Kimble on Feb 5, 2018 11:21:14 GMT
Have Gun, Will Travel"First, Catch A Tiger" s3 e1 Directed by Ida Lupino Written by Harry Julian Fink Rather than wait for an assassin to come after him, Paladin goes to an isolated mountain hotel for a nerve-racking game of cat and mouse.The premiere episode of season 3 is an especially tense example of the "waiting" subgenre, a la Bad Day At Black Rock (possibly the most imitated situation in movie history -- it must have inspired a hundred TV episodes). This one is a veritable convention of heavies, with John Anderson (taking a break from The Rifleman -- he seemed to guest on that every other week), Don Megowan, Stacy Harris, and Harry Bartell (the latter two having been mainstays of West Coast radio). Richard Boone's bio claims that at one point he tried to be a professional boxer, and I can believe it from the one-two left he throws in the fight scene with Megowan. Writer H.J. Fink would later co-script Dirty Harry. Traveling gun salesman (or is he?) Stacy Harris seems to have the drop on Paladin
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Post by telegonus on Feb 5, 2018 20:46:14 GMT
Interesting pic from Alias Smith & Jones, Richard. It was a fun series, maybe the last hip western, one people our age (my age?) could watch and laugh along with rather than laugh at. I think it must have been shortly after Night Of The Red Dog aired that Joe Flynn, appearing on some late night talk show, maybe Merv Griffin, not sure, talked about the fun he had making it, then commented on the "Irish brotherhood" (or some such) of actors on the episode, naming Calhoun, Kelly, Murphy and Flynn. Like St. Paddy's Day at the Galway Tap (I paraphrase), I would imagine. Flynn seems to bearing wearing black "hard rim" glasses. Did those exist in the 1870s? Joe Flynn wore those horn rims like he was born with them. All the time. Actually, that was only after McHale's Navy. Prior to that he went without them occasionally, as on a Highway Patrol in which he holds Broderick Crawford at gunpoint. No, it wasn't a comedy episode. It seems that it must have been in his contract or something that he wear them all the time after that. I don't recall seeing him without them afterwards. Kind of like Phil Silvers...
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Post by Richard Kimble on Feb 5, 2018 21:19:07 GMT
Joe Flynn wore those horn rims like he was born with them. All the time. Actually, that was only after McHale's Navy. Prior to that he went without them occasionally, as on a Highway Patrol in which he holds Broderick Crawford at gunpoint. No, it wasn't a comedy episode. It seems that it must have been in his contract or something that he wear them all the time after that. I don't recall seeing him without them afterwards. Kind of like Phil Silvers... I believe I've actually seen that Highway Patrol -- doesn't Joe rob a gas station? There's some movie where sans-glasses Joe is a terrorized driver -- The Desperate Hours?He's wearing specs as early as 1956, as the Harry Truman figure in The Boss. I have very vague semi-memory of Joe Flynn in something as a Honolulu cop but a cursory look at his IMDb page can't place it for me.
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Post by Richard Kimble on Feb 7, 2018 7:41:39 GMT
Photo below is from the June 22-28, 1957 TV GUIDE. Left to right, Dick Jones as “Buffalo Bill Jr.”, John Lupton of “Broken Arrow”, Guy Madison as “Wild Bill Hickok”, James Arness of “Gunsmoke”, Clint “Cheyenne” Walker, Peter Graves of “Fury” (Arness' brother -- a rare photo of them together in character) and Dale Robertson of “Tales of Wells Fargo”. From the same June 1957 issue, depicting five new TV western heroes set to make their debuts in the fall. (L-R) Will “Sugarfoot” Hutchins, Richard Boone, Paladin on “Have Gun Will Travel”, James Garner as “Maverick”, Ward Bond, Major Seth Adams on “Wagon Train” and James Best, set to star in “Pony Express”. (The pilot was made but didn’t sell. It later sold starring Grant Sullivan.)
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Post by Richard Kimble on Feb 21, 2018 3:43:58 GMT
Gunsmoke"Bloody Hands" s2 e21 Directed by Andrew Mclaglen Written by John Meston Matt is forced to kill three men in the line of duty. Appalled by what he has done, he takes off his badge and leaves Dodge. But outlaws are coming to town...Most of the half-hour Gunsmoke scripts were taken from the radio series, and this classic is no exception. The highlight is the speech writer Meston gives Chester in the final scene, pleading with Matt to put his badge back on, because he's the only man who can do the job. The episode actually ends before we see the situation with the outlaws resolved, a very unusual climax for a TV show of the era, or really any era. TV does not like loose ends. Mclaglen's direction has some nice noirish shots in the jail scenes, but it's that closing speech you remember, one of the high points of the series. Chester pleads with Matt to put his badge -- and his guns -- back on
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Post by Richard Kimble on Feb 22, 2018 5:43:47 GMT
Gunsmoke"How To Kill A Friend" s4 e11 Directed by Richard Whorf Written by John Meston Two gamblers try to bribe Matt, but when that fails they bring in a gunslinger -- an old friend of Matt's, with a pathological hatred of lawmen...OK episode, but not one of Meston's best scripts. As pointed out in a couple of IMDb reviews, there is an interesting moment when the plot is altered by a completely random encounter on the street. It does give a certain Kafkaesque vibe to the climax. The biggest problem here is the casting of cold Pat Conway as the gunslinger. I'll never understand why he was considered a leading man. If he could show any kind of warmth the viewer might buy that he and Matt had once been friends. Imagine what a livelier actor like Jack Cassidy (who actually guested on Gunsmoke during this period) could've done with such a role. Philip Abbott and the great James Westerfield come off better as the gamblers. Director Whorf must've been giving a break to the near-ubiquitous Andy Mclaglen. There's some nice noir shadows in the jail shooting scene, and I liked the final shot, where Matt walks back to jail, with Chester eventually coming into the frame and following him. Matt is the reflection of his old friend. I'm sure that's symbolic of something.
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Post by Richard Kimble on Feb 23, 2018 7:04:16 GMT
Gunsmoke"Jealousy" s2 e39 Directed by Andrew Mclaglen Written by Sam Peckinpah, from a story by John Meston When an old friend of Marshall Matt Dillon comes to Dodge City with his new bride, a faro dealer with a grudge against the marshal fills his head with lies about Matt and his wife...Hmmmm... I wonder what Shakespeare play this could be based on? Matt = Cassio Friend = Othello Wife = Desdemona Dealer = Iago Peckinpah wrote the teleplay but John Neston gets story credit, which almost always means it's based on a radio script he wrote. "Jealousy" was first done on the radio series in 1955. Jack Kelly, destined for Maverick in a few months, plays the friend. He was never a match for James Garner in comedy but he does have charm -- which we see in his first scene, though once the jealousy bit starts he's a fairly predictable heavy. No classic but not bad, at least until the rather ridiculous resolution. The Shakespearean triangle in happier times
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Post by Richard Kimble on Feb 25, 2018 10:40:32 GMT
Gunsmokes2 e3 Directed by Ted Post Written by Gil Dowd, from a story by John Meston An army deserter robs and kills an old man, but it seems like he's going to get away with it...I am not posting the episode's title, as it gives away the ending. The deserter is found innocent, and returned to the army, probably not even to be prosecuted -- but he's being returned to the 7th Cavalry at Ft. Lincoln in the Dakota Territory, shortly before their action against the Sioux (the episode's title is "Custer"). The script is meandering and padded -- the long scene with Matt and Chester having coffee is clearly filler. As an IMDb reviewer pointed out, it would work better if opening scene -- removing pretty much any suspense of the villain's guilt -- had been cut. And the ending beats us over the head with the twist -- okay, he's going to Custer's outfit and will be killed at Little Big Horn, we get it. The heavy is played by a young actor named Brian Hutton, who brooded his way through various oaters for a few years before becoming a director (Where Eagles Dare, Kelly's Heroes). Later he became very successful as -- I kid you not -- a Beverly Hills plumbing contractor. Trimble (Brian Hutton) can't talk his way out of it when Matt finds him with stolen horses.Brian Hutton
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Post by RiP, IMDb on Feb 25, 2018 11:52:30 GMT
Lol, these two look MORE LIKE a pop music duo than having anything to do with tv Westerns.
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Post by RiP, IMDb on Feb 25, 2018 11:53:36 GMT
Just looking at them I can feel a song about to begin...
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