Classic TV Westerns

What is it that attracts many of us to the Old West and the westerns that were popular on TV a few decades back? Why do we still like to see a Western movie or read a western novel? Well for me, I'd say they are usually the classic story of good vs evil. Most of the plots had a good cowboy or lawman as the hero and then of course you had the outlaws who represented evil.

The plot of the Classic TV Westerns that I watched as a kid would give us lessons in life about what is right and wrong and about justice. Oh, now don't get me wrong I'm not really a vigilante that thinks we should all take the law into our own hands. The message I got as a kid with these old western plots was the importance of standing up for what is right in the world. I also saw how hard life was for the pioneers and that made an impression on me, too. Anything worth getting in life is worth working hard for. That might not have been the intent of the writers of these old shows but it is something I picked up on as an impressionable kid.

Most of my favorites in the Western TV series that aired back then showed respect for the Native American characters in the story. That was very important to me, even back then. I liked the shows that gave the Native point of view and even if some of the Indians were on the warpath the show gave us the reason why they were upset. We even saw glimpses of the error that the White Settlers made in forcing the Native Peoples off of their homeland. That might not have been the intent of the writers either, but I was a bit of a weird little kid and picked up on nuances.

Image Credit: Trail of the Burned Man (Black Horse Western) product page

Staring in 1958, Chuck Connors played the role of Lucas McCain a homesteader in the 1880s in the New Mexico territory. His son Mark was played by Johnny Crawford. The final episode ran on April 8, 1963.

The general themes of this old western TV show was to promote fair play, neighborliness, equal rights, and the need to use violence in a highly controlled manner "A man doesn't run from a fight, Mark," McCain tells his son, "But that doesn't mean you go looking to run TO one!".

Connors had a weapon of choice in the long running show, a modified Winchester Model 1892 rifle with a trigger mechanism allowing for rapid-fire shots. All the boys in my neighborhood wanted to be able to shoot that gun like Chuck Connors did.

What I liked about the series was how McCain handled his son, teaching him right from wrong and how to be a real man who did the right thing even when it was hard.

Image Credit: The Rifleman, Volume 1 product page

Two brothers, Slim, played by John Smith and young Andy, played by Robert Crawford Jr, were determined to hold onto their ranch after the death of their father. They could use some serious help and in wanders Jess Harper, played by Robert Fuller. They ran a Stagecoach stop in the Wyoming Territory from 1959 to 1963.

The first season also had a fellow Hoosier in the cast, Hoagy Carmichael. His contract was not renewed to play Jonesy after the first season, though.

Image Credit: Laramie: The Complete First Season product page

Clint Eastwood was Rowdy Yates in the classic TV western, Rawhide. From 1959 to 1965 we saw the challenges of the men on a cattle drive. The drovers were led by Gil Favor, played by Eric Fleming. Typically a story involved the men encountering people along the Sedalia Trail who would draw them in to solve their problems for them.

We all know Clint Eastwood went on to do even bigger and better things. In my heart though, he will always be the epitome of the American Cowboy in the old classic TV westerns I watched as a kid.

Image Credit: Rawhide - The Complete First Season product page

A classic TV western that aired from 1955 to 1963 was Cheyenne. Clint Walker played the main character of Cheyenne Bodie - a heroic loner in the post Civil War west. Bodie was raised by the Cheyenne after his entire family was massacred as a child and he became a Frontier Scout for a while. In the TV western Cheyenne roams the country taking odd jobs on ranches, wagon trains, and cattle drives helping people solve their problems. Sometimes he would be working for the government, sometimes deputized as a Marshall; it all depended on the story line for the week's episode.

A notable trivia fact about the television show is that it was the first hour long western on television back in its day. Actually it was the first dramatic series on TV with an hour time slot.

Clint Walker loomed on the television screen each week with his massive physique. He was 6 feet 6 inches tall and had a 48 inch chest. That is one big cowboy!

I mentioned interviewing Tom McNulty who is trying to prove that the Western is not dead by any stretch of the imagination. I wrote a lens about one of his western novels, The Trail Of The Burned Man. The plot to this wonderful novel would have made a really great episode on a TV Western.

I will just bet that many of you remember these classic TV westerns better than you think. I created a fun little quiz, TV Western Trivia that you might find fun to participate in.