Sunday, May 10, 2009

The Code of the West

Stacy McCain salutes a great TV western series - The Rifleman - while getting in another well-deserved dig at David Brooks, whose latest column, once again, gets just about everything wrong. And in true Brooks fashion, even when he makes a valid point, he still manages to splash wrong all over it.

BTW, speaking of good western TV series, I'd also recommend Cheyenne, featuring Clint Walker (currently running on the Encore Western channel). The same ideals - courage, hard work, self-sacrifice, standing up for the right - that characterized The Rifleman can be seen in abundance in the Cheyenne episodes, too.
Posted by at

11 comments:

  1. kcMay 10, 2009 at 4:57 PM

    Two of my childhood heroes...along with Paladin.

    Have only watched Maverick on that channel, thanks for the reminder!

    ReplyDelete
  2. PacoMay 10, 2009 at 5:07 PM

    One of the great things about Cheyenne is that his life as a drifter enables him to play many roles: miner, army scout, cowpuncher, occasional lawman. It's also interesting to see some of the young folks who were just getting their start in Hollywood pop up on the show from time to time (for example, Ellen Burstyn and Sally Kellerman).

    ReplyDelete
  3. mojoMay 10, 2009 at 5:52 PM

    Paladin for me. The whole thing is beautifully un-PC, from the very title - "Have Gun, Will Travel" - to the characters and stories. Just try getting a Chinese bellman in a posh SF hotel these days by yelling "Hey Boy!"...

    And don't forget Steve McQueen in "Wanted, Dead or Alive".

    ReplyDelete
  4. RebeccaHMay 10, 2009 at 6:13 PM

    Ah, the Golden Age of Westerns. My father loved The Rifleman, best of all, not least because Chuck Connors was a baseball player before he was an actor. Dad loved the show so much, when we got a new Dachshund puppy, he named him Lucas. Other memories in no particular order:

    Wagon Train
    The Rebel
    Laramie
    Gunsmoke
    Bat Masterson
    A bunch of others i'll think of later, besides the ones you've all mentioned.

    ReplyDelete
  5. AnonymousMay 10, 2009 at 7:25 PM

    Gunsmoke and bonanza are on TV Land currently. It surprises me how un-PC some of the story lines are. All the more reason to watch.

    Retread

    ReplyDelete
  6. richard mcenroeMay 11, 2009 at 1:56 AM

    Guns of the Old West, the official magazine of the Single Action Shooting Society, has a feature every month on the great, not so great and who the hell was he? of the classic movie and TV Westerns. I believe Chuck Connors is in the current issue.

    ReplyDelete
  7. YojimboMay 11, 2009 at 2:54 PM

    Richard: Thank you for the information on that magazine, didn't know it existed.

    I guess Johnny Yuma didn't make the grade:)

    Paladin was also one of my favorites.
    Have gun will travel reads the card of a man
    A knight without armor in a savage land
    His fast gun for hire meets the calling wind
    A soldier of fortune is a man called..Paladin

    Chuck Connors played first for the Hollywood Stars(the Yojimbo saw him play). The field was opposite the Pan Pacific Auditorium. It is currently the site of the CBS complex in LA, La Cienega and Melrose(I think).

    ReplyDelete
  8. richard mcenroeMay 11, 2009 at 9:40 PM

    Yo, Jimbo -- Fairfax and Melrose, but you're right, he did.

    ReplyDelete
  9. richard mcenroeMay 11, 2009 at 11:43 PM

    Any other "Branded" fans out there?

    ReplyDelete
  10. YojimboMay 12, 2009 at 12:10 PM

    Fairfax!

    54 years in that cursed town and I can't remember Fairfax!

    Eastbound on Olympic then hang a left at the old May Co with the gold sign. Large magazine stand and the Farmers Market dead ahead.

    ReplyDelete
  11. mojoMay 13, 2009 at 1:08 AM

    Any other "Branded" fans out there?Oh hell yeah.

    BRANDED!
    Marked with a coward's shame....

    Much edgier than The Rifleman, but he didn't have that cool ring-lever gun.

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)