We are caretaking an older relative. He is still able to move around and he enjoys the cowboy channel. I never did watch Gunsmoke when I was younger so I find myself somewhat enjoying the show. Chester is way better than Festus. What I didn't understand was how violent Gunsmoke was. I wonder what Matt's body count ended up being??ÿ
One I saw last week had Matt confronting the bad guy in a restaurant/bar establishment. The guy tried to pull his gun and like all the others Matt was faster and shot him down leaving him lying alongside a wall. Matt looks at his buddy standing nearby and says; "Well, lets have a beer". They stepped over the corpse and walk out of the picture towards the bar...????.that was as cold a scene as I've ever seen on TV,,,,,,,,loved it
But then one of my favorite shows is The Punisher, SWMBO doesn't understand why I laugh so hard watching it.?ÿ
I've just kind of got into Gunsmoke in the last couple of years. The great thing about it is that there are no white hats or black hats - just shades of gray. The heroes have flaws, the villains are often likable.?ÿ
The earliest appearances of Festus are golden. As the series wore on and he became more and more of a focus, and the writing got more tired, he became predictable. The first 10 years are better than the last.?ÿ ?ÿ ?ÿ
In the early seasons of Gunsmoke in black and white, 30 minutes per episode, and with Chester instead of Festus, all the characters seem to be much "tougher", including Doc and Matt. The young Matt is pretty callous, as you said. I see a lot of similarities between Chester and Festus, in that Doc was always messing with them, they seem to babble about nothing, they were cheap, and made bad coffee for Matt.
My dad loved that show. Only recently have I started watching the early episodes on ME TV, as they far predate my existence.?ÿ
On a side note, Bonanza was created to sell color televisions, thus being filmed at Lake Tahoe, mostly. Ben was a major a-hole in the first season, but I guess the producers figured out they would get better ratings if he softened up and became sort of the mediator of the wild west. My father was good friends with Dan Blocker (Hoss) from when Dan was attending Sul Ross State University in Alpine Texas, where me and my brother were born. When Dan died in 1972 following complications from gall bladder surgery, one of his sons called my dad to tell him. I'll never forget that. My dad grew up in Alpine and dated the girl that "Blocker" eventually married, Dolphia Parker, long before Blocker did.
I love those old westerns.
Two things:?ÿ Dan and Dolphia named all of their children so that their first names all started with "D" like Dan and Dolphia.
Also:?ÿ Chester (Dennis Weaver) was a native of southwest Missouri while Festus (Ken Curtis) was a native of southeast Colorado so working a show set in Kansas wasn't a big stretch for either one.?ÿ Although Weaver appeared first, Curtis was eight years older.
In the same vein.......................Bonanza
Today's episode was from November 1972 and featured Mike Farrell as a new doctor in town with a drug problem.
You know, Mike Farrell.?ÿ He joined MASH in 1975 as a doctor.?ÿ B.J.
Not only was Bonanza Mike Farrell a doctor, he had been an Army doctor.
B.J.'s predecessor, Trapper John, was the subject of a later spin-off, Trapper John, M.D. played by Pernell Roberts who played Adam Cartwright.
At one time or another I believe I've seen most of the crew from the Starship "Enterprise" as characters on Gunsmoke.?ÿ If you watch a lot of old TV you can see a lot of bit characters played by actors that eventually made it to the big-time in Hollywood.
Wayne Rogers, who played Trapper John on the TV Series MASH, was almost hung in a first season episode of Gunsmoke.
Gunsmoke is Perry Mason set in the wild west. Both have a strong male lead champion of justice who is willing to bend the rules if it serves the ultimate goal (Perry and Matt). Both have as their closest ally a strong female personality who they never quite get around to marrying (Della Street and Miss Kitty). Both have a reliable male sidekick to help them out (Paul Drake and Chester/Festus et al).?ÿ ?ÿ?ÿ
The climax of each show comes with Perry extracting extracting a confession, or Matt gunning his antagonist.
They seemed to be friends outside the show, it often came through.
Paraphrasing one scene Doc is giving Matt a hard time about all the bodies he creates, Matt comes back with, me how about you, you take their temperature and they're as good as dead.?ÿ
That line had to be either ad-libbed or an inside troll by the writers.?ÿ
You could almost see them trying not to break.?ÿ
Milburn Stone (Doc) was born about two hours east northeast of Dodge City so he was a natural.
We have a channel called ME TV(memorable entertainment). ?ÿThey have Gunsmoke on to and it??s the early ones right now. ?ÿYes he is a hardass in the early one, they made him a nice guy in the newer ones.
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Another show I??ve been watching is Adam12. ?ÿYou do see a lot of well known actors in those old shows just getting their start.
There is a western series on ME TV on Saturday mornings that I had never seen, nor heard of, called Trackdown. Robert Culp is a Texas Ranger, albeit not a very intimidating one based on appearance. I watch it because it is supposedly based on real Texas Rangers experiences and it also includes episodes where the action is in Alpine (where I was born), or the surrounding area, like Ft. Davis.?ÿ
I also never watched or heard of "Wanted: Dead or Alive" with Steve McQueen. I like that one too.
I agree, you see lots of "stars" in the infancy of their careers in these old westerns.
Wanted Dead or Alive I had heard of but Trackdown I hadn??t. ?ÿBoth are pretty good shows.
On a side note, Bonanza was created to sell color televisions, thus being filmed at Lake Tahoe, mostly.
Yup, my Dad being a former WWII submarine radio operator was a hobbiest and assembled the Heathkit "295" color TV in the 60's(?) and it was astounding to see (primitive) color TV in a rural area (super big antenna) so when Bonanza in color became available my parents would invite neighbors over for a potluck and to view the show, maybe 20 people in the rec room, some lounging on the floor.?ÿ The 295 was a finicky TV with many pot adjustments for color, synch, especially the super tricky final "flesh tone" pot adjustment all which needed attendance as components aged.?ÿ I learned the procedures thanks to the excellent instruction manual and became "Mr. Tuner" concerning the TV.
Sad to think it's in a landfill now, it was so much pleasure for a lot of people, but that's the nature of electronics.?ÿ They're soon to be obsolete the day you buy them.
One amusing thing about these shows are the locations:
I've been to Medicine Bow, I've been there often, Medicine Bow does not look like wherever The Virginian was filmed.?ÿ
I've been a few times to Dodge City and I'm positive Gunsmoke wasn't filmed in Kansas.?ÿ
I did have the pleasure of hopping on the Seasmoke, seems James Arness owned one of the fastest Catamarans built. They were using it for whale watching tours off the Kona coast and I ended up taking a day trip on it. Nice ship!!!
My dad always said that about Gunsmoke; "Kansas doesn't look like that anywhere."
It is so irritating to have the scenery not match the true scenery at all.?ÿ The old movie Kansas Pacific was on a couple of days ago.?ÿ The crew is working to get to the Colorado-Kansas Border and then continue westward.?ÿ To see the kind of mountains that keep appearing in the background would require one to be most of the way to Paden's old home town of Buena Vista, CO.?ÿ There are hours of driving between the Colorado-Kansas border and any mountain, let alone dozens of them.
