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TV westerns

Salty

20,000 Posts Club
Administrator
Back in the late '50's there were some 40 Western TV shows.

Do you miss those good ole westerns.

Would you like to see a remake of some of those shows?
Or would it be impossible to remake Gunsmoke with anyone other than James Arness

Open for discussion
 

Rippon

Well-Known Member
Site Supporter
Because of PC madness many wonderful TV shows and movies of the past would never pass muster in today's world.
 

Salty

20,000 Posts Club
Administrator
Because of PC madness many wonderful TV shows and movies of the past would never pass muster in today's world.
Very true - ie - Tonto always refers to himself as "me" --- Me go to town"
 

Yeshua1

Well-Known Member
Site Supporter
Back in the late '50's there were some 40 Western TV shows.

Do you miss those good ole westerns.

Would you like to see a remake of some of those shows?
Or would it be impossible to remake Gunsmoke with anyone other than James Arness

Open for discussion
I could see another Gunsmoke, as that was my favorite western.
Setting modern days, on border of california, as he fights back the illegal aliens/drugdealers etc!
 

Rippon

Well-Known Member
Site Supporter
I could see another Gunsmoke, as that was my favorite western.
Setting modern days, on border of california, as he fights back the illegal aliens/drugdealers etc!
The bad guys have to be white -- no people of color please.
 

Rippon

Well-Known Member
Site Supporter
Back in the late '50's there were some 40 Western TV shows.

Do you miss those good ole westerns.

Would you like to see a remake of some of those shows?
Or would it be impossible to remake Gunsmoke with anyone other than James Arness

Open for discussion
You know, about two or three years ago I was going to start a thread on the same theme. After jotting down all the Western TV programs (all that I could manage) --I figured the total number of hours that these shows ran collectively would be more than all the years of the real old West. Maybe not -- some exaggeration there.
 

Alcott

Well-Known Member
Site Supporter
I sometimes think I must have been born about 20-25 years too late. It would have been great to have a job with much potential in the emerging technical fields in the late 50's, but then come home to unwind and let technology go and be entertained by TV westerns every night. That is to sit in the middle of how we got to where we are, and where we're going. It doesn't matter that the westerns often don't ring true and emphasize the wrong things, because the projections for the time in technology also didn't wring true. Everything isn't automated as Disney and other 'forward-looking' productions projected, we're not traveling by space shuttle (if that's what it was called then) to the other side of the world in less than an hour, let alone having passenger lines to the moon, et al.
 

JohnDeereFan

Well-Known Member
Site Supporter
Because of PC madness many wonderful TV shows and movies of the past would never pass muster in today's world.

Exactly. Just look at the "reboot" of the Lone Ranger.

I loved Roy Rogers as a kid and still watch the reruns on TV. But if they made it today, Roy would be an extreme mountain biker with tattoos, Dale would be a wise cracking lesbian, and Pat Brady would be a sniveling Gen X snowflake with living with his girlfriend, Nellybelle, and rather than fighting bad guys, they'd be environmentalists fighting against capitalism.

While not a western, they did try to revive Adam 12 a couple of years ago, and it was terrible.
 

JohnDeereFan

Well-Known Member
Site Supporter
I could see another Gunsmoke, as that was my favorite western.
Setting modern days, on border of california, as he fights back the illegal aliens/drugdealers etc!

Gerald McRaney was the last guy shot by Matt Dillon. A little Gunsmoke trivia for you.

The show was also notorious for recycling actors in different roles. Eric Braeden (aka Victor Newman from The Young and the Restless) and Victor French (aka Roy Mobey of "Carter Country") played more characters than anybody else.
 

Yeshua1

Well-Known Member
Site Supporter
Exactly. Just look at the "reboot" of the Lone Ranger.

I loved Roy Rogers as a kid and still watch the reruns on TV. But if they made it today, Roy would be an extreme mountain biker with tattoos, Dale would be a wise cracking lesbian, and Pat Brady would be a sniveling Gen X snowflake with living with his girlfriend, Nellybelle, and rather than fighting bad guys, they'd be environmentalists fighting against capitalism.

While not a western, they did try to revive Adam 12 a couple of years ago, and it was terrible.
Gerald McRaney was the last guy shot by Matt Dillon. A little Gunsmoke trivia for you.

The show was also notorious for recycling actors in different roles. Eric Braeden (aka Victor Newman from The Young and the Restless) and Victor French (aka Roy Mobey of "Carter Country") played more characters than anybody else.
Also has a really young Burt Reynolds, as both him and clint eastwood started out in westerns, think Clint was on Rawhide!
 

Yeshua1

Well-Known Member
Site Supporter
Gerald McRaney was the last guy shot by Matt Dillon. A little Gunsmoke trivia for you.

The show was also notorious for recycling actors in different roles. Eric Braeden (aka Victor Newman from The Young and the Restless) and Victor French (aka Roy Mobey of "Carter Country") played more characters than anybody else.
Only 2 gunslingers ever shown faster than he was on the draw, Mannon and window maker, and both times same actor in the roles!
 

Sapper Woody

Well-Known Member
Only 2 gunslingers ever shown faster than he was on the draw, Mannon and window maker, and both times same actor in the roles!
Ironically, while the character Matt Dillon was a pretty quick draw, the actor James Arness was actually one of the slowest draws in the business.

One of the fastest was Jerry Lewis (who didn't do too many westerns, and the ones he did do were comedies).

Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk
 

Rippon

Well-Known Member
Site Supporter
Chuck Connors of The Rifleman fame had to be rather fast.

I loved that show. The tense background music added to the drama. And the program was in black and white I think.
 

Squire Robertsson

Administrator
Administrator
Add to the list of little known fast draws;
  • Sammy Davis, Jr.
  • Mel Torme
IIRC, they both got to show their skills as guest stars on Gunsmoke.
Ironically, while the character Matt Dillon was a pretty quick draw, the actor James Arness was actually one of the slowest draws in the business.

One of the fastest was Jerry Lewis (who didn't do too many westerns, and the ones he did do were comedies).

Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk
 

Yeshua1

Well-Known Member
Site Supporter
Ironically, while the character Matt Dillon was a pretty quick draw, the actor James Arness was actually one of the slowest draws in the business.

One of the fastest was Jerry Lewis (who didn't do too many westerns, and the ones he did do were comedies).

Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk
On the opening of the b/w series, the man gunning for matt in the street was one of the fastest drawers alive, and he taught many in tv/movies how to shoot!
 
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