Top Four Greatest Television Westerns of All Time

If you like gun fights, bar room brawls, poker games, and western saloons you’ll love these four long running classic T.V. Westerns.

Gunsmoke (CBS 1955) was created by Norman MacDonnell and John Meston. The show aired from September 10, 1955 through March 31, 1975. CBS Television, Filmaster Productions, and The Arness Production Company produced the original show. Rex Koury, Glenn Spencer created the music for the series. The show stars James Arnet, as Matt Dillon the Marshall of Dodge City, Kansas and Festus (Ken Curtis) his goofy deputy sidekick that adds some comic relief to the show. Marshall Matt Dillon’s job is to keep his local town free of trouble.

The show is set in Dodge an authentic western town with its array of outlaws, Indians, miners, cowboys, and mountain men coming through town. This show is set in variety of locations throughout the West. These include saloons, lavish ranches, old fashioned general stores and dusty western towns. The show deals with the West changing from an unchartered frontier to becoming a more and more modernized place via the railroad. This series has some terrific traditional western music. The show is currently aired on the TV Land Network. The show ran for 6 seasons with over 635 episodes.

Have Gun-Will Travel (CBS 1957) was created by Sam Rolfe and Herb Meadow. The show aired from September 14, 1957 through April 20, 1963. The show was produced by Julian Claman, and Sam Rolfe. CBS Television and Filmaster Productions produced the original show. The opening theme was composed by Bernard Herrmann. The ending theme “Ballad of Paladin” was composed by Johnny Western. The show is currently distributed by CBS Television.

The show stars Richard Boone as Paladin. Paladin is a lone gun man for hire. He takes on jobs like a mercenary gunfighter for one thousand dollars. He advertises via his own personal business card with a chess knight as an emblem, which is embossed with the name of the show, Have Gun-Will Travel.

Whether he’s providing safe passage for people as a bodyguard or taking care of some outlaws; he gets the job done. Paladin packs a custom-made .45 caliber Colt Single Action Army revolver. This gun is perfectly balanced and of superb craftsmanship. It has a one-ounce trigger pull and has a rifled barrel. The accuracy of this gun is “one inch to the right at fifty feet.” At times he doesn’t even need to fire a shot to get the problem solved; this speaks to his high intellect.

Paladin lives in San Francisco where he lives a lavish life with gorgeous hotel rooms at the Hotel Carlton, opera shows nightly, and a Chinese butler (Kam Tong). He’s got it made. He’s no barbarian at home he loves classical music, fine dining, and the loveliest women of the land. The show ran for 6 seasons with over 225 episodes shot. All six seasons can be streamed on Netflix.

Bonanza (NBC 1959) was created by David Dortort. The show aired from September 12, 1959 through January 16, 1973. The show was produced by David Dortot and Mark Roberts. NBC owned the original show. Ray Evans created the theme music for the series. The show is currently distributed by CBS Television Distribution. The show stars Lorne Greene as Ben Cartwright, the patriarch of the Ponderosa, Michael Landon as “Little Joe” the youngest, Pernell Roberts as Adam Cartwright the eldest brother, and Dan Blocker as “Hoss” the middle child.

The show is about Ben Cartwright (head of the Ponderosa) who runs a large ranch estate, with his three sons all by a different wife. They live on their ranch with a Chinese immigrant named Hop Sing played by Victor Sen Yung. The show is about how Ben’s sons interact with one another and the rest of the outside world. Their ranch was the largest timber and livestock producer in the area. The Cartwrights lived on a thousand-square-mile ranch named the Ponderosa on the shore of Lake Tahoe, Nevada.

The show is currently aired on the TV Land Network. Hoss provides the comic relief with his oversized head and body; Adam the architect is the ladies man, and Little Joe is the hot headed passionate young man. The show ran for a whopping fourteen seasons, with over four hundred and thirty episodes. Bonanza is a classic golden era western for sure.

The Rifleman (ABC 1958) was created by Sam Peckinpah. The show aired fromSeptember 30, 1958 through April 8, 1963. The show was produced by Arthur H. Nadel and Levy-Gardner-Laven. Four Star-Sussex was the production company. Herschel Burke Gilbert created the music for the series. The show stars Chuck Connors as The Rifleman (Lucas McCain) and as his son Mark McCain (Johnny Crawford).

Lucas is a widower (wife died of smallpox), who was a Union veteran of the American Civil War (lieutenant in the 19th Indiana Volunteer Infantry Regiment), and a homesteader. Lucas and Mark live on a ranch outside a fictitious town of North Fork, New Mexico Territory. Lucas helps the town Marshall Micah Torrance (Paul Fix) when conflicts arise. The Marshall also looks after Lucas to keep gunfighters away from him. Mark sees The Marshall as a granddad. Although, The Marshall frequently counts on the aid of Lucas, when he is called to duty he packs a mean slug-loaded shotgun that he is adept at using.

During this era Westerns were really popular on the television. So this show needed a special gimmick to distinguish it from other Westerns of the time. For this show the rifle was a modified Winchester Model 1892 rifle with a trigger mechanism that allowed for rapid-fire shots. Lucas’s gun is awesome; he just continuously unloads a payload of rifle shots at his adversaries and he is an excellent shot. The show exhibits great humanitarian values as McCain is supportive to people of other races, he believes in the controlled use of force, and he believes in alcoholics being given a second chance. The show ran for 5 seasons with over 169 episodes aired.

References

Anonymous. Wikipedia. “The Rifleman.” Accessed: January 15, 2010. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rifleman

Anonymous. Wikipedia. “Have Gun – Will Travel.” Accessed: January 15, 2010. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Have_Gun_-_Will_Travel

Anonymous. Wikipedia. “Bonanza (TV series).” Accessed: January 14, 2010. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonanza_(TV_series)

Anonymous. Wikipedia. “Gunsmoke.” Accessed: January 15, 2010. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunsmoke


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