Riding
the TV Ranges
By
Dan Gagliasso
A
stalwart U.S. marshal tames the streets of Dodge
City with little more support than the
faithful
backing of a small clan—chiefly a gimpy deputy,
the local doctor, and a female saloon owner (was
she that or maybe a little more?). Two aging and
irascible Texas Rangers take a trail herd to Montana
through a whirlwind of heroics, tragedy, and the
upholding of unspoken loyalties. Two dapper gambler
brothers bluff and bargain their way across the
West having more fun and adventures than a dozen
colts in high spring pasture. If you haven’t
figured it out by now, I’m talking TV
Westerns. From Gunsmoke to Lonesome
Dove, for
the last 50-odd
years more folks have arm-chair experienced
the West watching small screen Westerns than
ever paid
to watch most of their big screen counterparts.
Produced
for a fraction of their big-budget counterparts,
the best of the TV Westerns counted
on good writing,
charismatic lead actors and sometimes a little
good natured irreverence to absolutely dominate
the airwaves during the late 1950s and early
1960s. If you count syndicated Western series
like Death
Valley Days, in 1959 alone over 40 TV Westerns
rode the electronic range—ten of those
oaters being top ratings winners including
Gunsmoke, Wagon
Train, and Have Gun Will Travel.
If
the Western is on hard times, HBO’s profane
and cynical Deadwood being the exception,
you never know when a surprise oater might ride
out of the
setting sun with ratings six-guns blazing.
I
don’t think there has ever been a greater
Western on the small screen than 1988’s
Lonesome Dove. Larry McMurtry’s
incredible novel was a great starting
point, but
it took the screenwriting
and producing talents of Bill Witliff
to make sure that the book translated
so well to the small screen.
Witliff insisted that his actors and
crew were making a film, not television.
The writer/producer
loves Texas and Western history and knew
the details as well as the big story.
Thankfully he kept his
hand in everything from casting to costuming
and it shows, as he employed the talents
of such Westerners
as top Western historical artist Dave
Powell and horse-oriented Australian
director Simon Wincer.
Tommy Lee Jones and Robert Duvall give
Academy Award-worthy performances as
Woodrow Call and Gus
McCrea...
Find
the rest of this exciting article and more by
subscribing to American
Cowboy magazine...
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The
supporting cast of Rawhide poses around one
of the series’ leads, Clint Eastwood,
in the role of Rowdy Yates.
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We’ll
all be gathering yearlings on Jupiter before we see
another crop of Westerns like those of a half-century
ago.
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