TV Westerns Tournament (1 Viewer)

[Silverking]

Having watched quite a lot of the Mavericks over the last couple of years I don't really think there is much between Garner & Jack Kelly who actually made more episodes than Garner. Bret was probably better in the more lighthearted segments and Bart in the more serious.In my view several of the best episodes feature Kelly.

 

[Randy Korstick]

I would have to agree with that 100%. Growing up watching Garner in the Rockford files in the 70's I always heard about Maverick and always wanted to see it but it was never on reruns in the 70's and 80's at least not in Southern California. So when I finally got to see it on VHS through Columbia House in the 90's I initially felt the same way if no Garner then I am not interested. However after watching the complete seasons on DVD and giving Kelly a fair shake I have found him to be almost as enjoyable and highly underrated. He did tend to get more of the serious episodes. I have found Roger Moore to be enjoyable in this series as well and would really like to see him in The Alaskans. Which will hopefully be released by WA.

Having watched quite a lot of the Mavericks over the last couple of years I don't really think there is much between Garner & Jack Kelly who actually made more episodes than Garner. Bret was probably better in the more lighthearted segments and Bart in the more serious.In my view several of the best episodes feature Kelly.

 

[Ron1973]

I would have to agree with that 100%. Growing up watching Garner in the Rockford files in the 70's I always heard about Maverick and always wanted to see it but it was never on reruns in the 70's and 80's at least not in Southern California. So when I finally got to see it on VHS through Columbia House in the 90's I initially felt the same way if no Garner then I am not interested. However after watching the complete seasons on DVD and giving Kelly a fair shake I have found him to be almost as enjoyable and highly underrated. He did tend to get more of the serious episodes. I have found Roger Moore to be enjoyable in this series as well and would really like to see him in The Alaskans. Which will hopefully be released by WA.

I always felt the same way until last year when I started catching the series again on Encore. I still have a preference for Garner, but the Jack Kelly episodes are very watchable and enjoyable.

 

[Hollywoodaholic]

The fast-moving stories in Maverick were the real stars of the show and were solid throughout most of the series no matter who was featured, but James Garner added a twist on the western hero that really hadn't been played before, feigning a bit of cowardliness, and able to charm and con his way out of most tight situations without resorting to a gun. No one pulled that off better.


And he pulled it off again brilliantly for legendary screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky in The Americanization of Emily.

 

[jperez]

Garner, of course, also kept the Maverick personna alive with two westerns he did before returning to TV with The Rockford Files: Support Your Local Gunfighter and Support Your Local Sheriff.

 

[LouA]

1. The Wild, Wild West

2. Maverick

3. The Lone Ranger

4. Zorro

5. The Rifleman

6. Deadwood

7. Have Gun Will Travel

8. Wanted: Dead or Alive

9. Daniel Boone

10. Rawhide

1) Have Gun Will Travel

2) Restless Gun

3) The Texan

4) Zorro

5) Lone Ranger

6) Casey Jones

7)Wagon Train

8) Yancy Derringer

9)Frontier Circus

10)Gunsmoke .

And many others!!

 

[Bob_S.]

I absolutely love Gunsmoke (at least the b/w episodes anyway). So that is far and away #1. Lucas McCain couldn't lick Matt Dillion's stirrups! Just kidding! I love The Rifleman too but doesn't come close to Gunsmoke.


1. Gunsmoke

2. The Rifleman

3. Bonanza

4. Little House

5. Big Valley

6. The Lone Ranger

 

[jdee28]

Quite hard! For me, right now, at this very instant,


Gunsmoke

Maverick

Have Gun -- Will Travel

Rawhide

Virginian

Sugarfoot

Wanted: Dead or Alive

Cheyenne

The Rifleman

Wild, Wild West

 

[jdee28]

I'm doing a Rawhide re-watch. It's interesting how in Season 3 and 4, they actually did some continuing stories. I really enjoyed how they had a whole arc where the drive came to an end and they started a new one; definitely a series high point! And in Season 4, with the continuing story of everyone owning the cattle now and driving them through Texas. Also, in the intro of new character Clay Forrester in Season 4 to take over for Pete Nolan, I see shades of how Gunsmoke would phase in Festus for Chester a few years later; quite interesting!

 

[ponset]

My 5 Favorite TV Westerns:


GUNSMOKE (1/2 hour B&W are the better episodes but there are many very good episodes in the 1 hour era.)

MAVERICK. (Garner episodes. Although I really like it when the Bret and Bart are both in the action)

RAWHIDE. (Eric Flemming gets too little credit for his role as Gil Favor.)

HAVE GUN, WILL TRAVEL. (Good from start to finish)

WAGON TRAIN. (Good through season 7. Too bad they didn't continue the 90 minute format in Season 8).


Also enjoy watching:

Bonanza (I get a kick out of watching the comedy episodes)

Lawman.

Sugarfoot (I enjoy all the little cameoes and crossovers between the WB Westerns)

The Virginian (Seasons 1-3. Too many cast changes after Season3.)

Restless Gun ( Which was based on the excellent radio series, THE SIX SHOOTER starring Jimmy Stewart.)

 

[RMajidi]

Love many of the shows already named.

A couple of favourites growing up that have not been mentioned so far:

High Chaparral

(Murdoch) Lancer

 

[Silverking]

All a matter of opinion of course. Here's my take on the main ones -


I would say 'Gunsmoke,' particularly the B/W episodes ,are in a class of their own. They did show the West as the harsh, unforgiving land which it probably was, & many of the supplementary characters as broken by hardship & toil.. Matt Dillon was sometimes falliable & often episodes ended tragically rather than 'happy ever after'.


'Bonanza' could be very good at times though for me, Ben Cartwright's 'righteous & just' atttitude in all situations could be irritating.There were also way too many segments where one of the Cartwrights (particularly Little Joe ) was embroiled in a serious romance with some girl who would be killed off before the end .Might be interested to count them all. Seriously girls, don't fall for a Cartwright !.


'Cheyenne, Sugarfoot, Bronco' - all cut from the same mould. The lack of production value such as paper maiche rocks & back screen projection may not have seemed so obvious then, but stands out a bit now. There were also a number of 'desperate hour' stories , clearly done to save money. On the whole they are all watchable but undemanding.


' Maverick' was at least different. Probably faltered a bit when they decided to write comedy episodes rather than allow the humour to find its own level arising from the plot. Nevertheless a very good & entertaining show.


'Lawman' was actually the longest running WB western in terms of episodes. Sometimes seemed a bit cramped for a 25 min. slot so not a lot of plot development. but reasonable. Dan Troop could have lightened up a bit, he was definitely the most dour hero on at the time.


'Wagon Train' - I thought Ward Bond & Robert Horton were very good but the show was built around the guest stars, which I assume is what the producers wanted.There did seem to be a lot of sentimental stories, 'little blind girl reforms crusty old drunk' or 'man with a past finds redemption & romance on the wagon train'.This tended to make them a little talky at times, with the odd indian attack interjected to remind viewers they were watching a western.


'The Virginian' - good production values but sometimes ,for me , a little padded to flesh out the 70 odd minutes.Some of the plots didn't merit this time length.


'Laramie' - pretty straightforward 'shoot em up' but I've always really liked it.


'Big Valley' - Bonanza in skirts ? - not really, certainly a series I have inproved my view of in recent years. Barbara Stanwyck is a very strong lead & ably supported by the other cast members. It is pretty consistently good for the whole four seasons with decent plots & production. But did they really live in that great big mansion !


'Have Gun ,Will Travel' -another classic. Richard Boone's craggy face, his black outfit & his poetic quotes before gunning the villain, strong plots , what's not to like.


'Tales of Wells Fargo' - unremarkable but always watchable- Dale Robertson , with his mouth full of tin tacks delivery carried it.Shame there is not more of it released.


'High Chaparral' - Well my favourite actually since it was first shown here in the UK & one of the first colour series we ever got. Very popular in this country, more so than Bonanza which only got the first couple of seasons in prime time before being bounced into a Sunday afternoon slot & dropped.after a few seasons. Chaparral continued being repeated by the BBC for years.Liked the cast & dusty look it had. Good mix of drama & action.


'Rifleman' - Lucas tended to moralise a bit but it was a good show with hardly any weak episodes.


'Rawhide' One of the best , not every episode was a gem but the good ones were more frequent than the weak ones, particularly in the first 3 seasons.


Of course there were many, many more. 'Johnny Ringo' looks to be a good series.Rory Calhoun as 'The Texan' with his steely gaze overcomes some confused writing at times, whilst John Payne as the world weary gunfighter in the' Restless Gun' has a lot of appeal.Steve McQuuen in 'Wanted Dead or Alive ' should also get an honourable mention.


There were a few very short lived westerns which sadly didn't catch on. From what I've seen they were very good. 'Gunslinger' was excellent or at least didn't have the time to become overly familiar. Would also recommend 'Tate' with David McLean as a one armed bounty hunter. Released by Timeless - good series.

 

[Richard V]

A couple of more come to mind, but didn't make the cut:


Trackdown: With Robert Culp as a witty Texas Ranger looking for bad guys. Some great dialogue.

Black Saddle. A very unique premise, where a gunslinger gives up his guns to become a lawyer and bring those to justice. Starring Peter Breck (The Big Valley) and Russell (the Professor) Johnson.

 

[Professor Echo]

All a matter of opinion of course. Here's my take on the main ones -

I would say 'Gunsmoke,' particularly the B/W episodes ,are in a class of their own. They did show the West as the harsh, unforgiving land which it probably was, & many of the supplementary characters as broken by hardship & toil.. Matt Dillon was sometimes falliable & often episodes ended tragically rather than 'happy ever after'.

'Bonanza' could be very good at times though for me, Ben Cartwright's 'righteous & just' atttitude in all situations could be irritating.There were also way too many segments where one of the Cartwrights (particularly Little Joe ) was embroiled in a serious romance with some girl who would be killed off before the end .Might be interested to count them all. Seriously girls, don't fall for a Cartwright !.

'Cheyenne, Sugarfoot, Bronco' - all cut from the same mould. The lack of production value such as paper maiche rocks & back screen projection may not have seemed so obvious then, but stands out a bit now. There were also a number of 'desperate hour' stories , clearly done to save money. On the whole they are all watchable but undemanding.

' Maverick' was at least different. Probably faltered a bit when they decided to write comedy episodes rather than allow the humour to find its own level arising from the plot. Nevertheless a very good & entertaining show.

'Lawman' was actually the longest running WB western in terms of episodes. Sometimes seemed a bit cramped for a 25 min. slot so not a lot of plot development. but reasonable. Dan Troop could have lightened up a bit, he was definitely the most dour hero on at the time.

'Wagon Train' - I thought Ward Bond & Robert Horton were very good but the show was built around the guest stars, which I assume is what the producers wanted.There did seem to be a lot of sentimental stories, 'little blind girl reforms crusty old drunk' or 'man with a past finds redemption & romance on the wagon train'.This tended to make them a little talky at times, with the odd indian attack interjected to remind viewers they were watching a western.

'The Virginian' - good production values but sometimes ,for me , a little padded to flesh out the 70 odd minutes.Some of the plots didn't merit this time length.

'Laramie' - pretty straightforward 'shoot em up' but I've always really liked it.

'Big Valley' - Bonanza in skirts ? - not really, certainly a series I have inproved my view of in recent years. Barbara Stanwyck is a very strong lead & ably supported by the other cast members. It is pretty consistently good for the whole four seasons with decent plots & production. But did they really live in that great big mansion !

'Have Gun ,Will Travel' -another classic. Richard Boone's craggy face, his black outfit & his poetic quotes before gunning the villain, strong plots , what's not to like.

'Tales of Wells Fargo' - unremarkable but always watchable- Dale Robertson , with his mouth full of tin tacks delivery carried it.Shame there is not more of it released.

'High Chaparral' - Well my favourite actually since it was first shown here in the UK & one of the first colour series we ever got. Very popular in this country, more so than Bonanza which only got the first couple of seasons in prime time before being bounced into a Sunday afternoon slot & dropped.after a few seasons. Chaparral continued being repeated by the BBC for years.Liked the cast & dusty look it had. Good mix of drama & action.

'Rifleman' - Lucas tended to moralise a bit but it was a good show with hardly any weak episodes.

'Rawhide' One of the best , not every episode was a gem but the good ones were more frequent than the weak ones, particularly in the first 3 seasons.

Of course there were many, many more. 'Johnny Ringo' looks to be a good series.Rory Calhoun as 'The Texan' with his steely gaze overcomes some confused writing at times, whilst John Payne as the world weary gunfighter in the' Restless Gun' has a lot of appeal.Steve McQuuen in 'Wanted Dead or Alive ' should also get an honourable mention.

There were a few very short lived westerns which sadly didn't catch on. From what I've seen they were very good. 'Gunslinger' was excellent or at least didn't have the time to become overly familiar. Would also recommend 'Tate' with David McLean as a one armed bounty hunter. Released by Timeless - good series.

It's rare when I agree wholeheartedly with such a subjective post, but you really nailed it for me on everything here. Thanks for saving me the time and effort of having to write the exact same post!

 

[smithbrad]

Two that I think deserve honorable mention that have not made it on anyone's list yet are:


- Tombstone Territory, and

- Laredo

 

[David_B_K]

Gunsmoke was on so long, I can remember watching reruns in the afternoon as a kid (where is was called Marshall Dillon), and I was a young adult by the time it ended. I grew to dislike the show, as it lasted from the really violent TV days of the 50s to the 'let's tone down the violence' era of the 70‘s. In the later episodes, Matt just seemed to be the kindly old sherrif.

After decades of not seeing the show, I started watching some of the half hour episodes that were being shown on various cable channels, probably starting in the 90s, and was really surprised at how different the show seemed to me. Matt in fhe early days was a total badass who simply was not to be messed with. I thought they did a great job of doing rather deep story plots in half an hour. So, I am a fan of early Gunsmoke when Matt was a studly hero and Miss Kitty was smokin' hot.

I wish we had not gotten away from half hour dramas, whether westerns or crime dramS, or whatever. I guess the addition of more commercials probably made it inevitable.