Wow! Warner Bros.’ “adult Westerns”–what a splash they made when they came out in the 1950s. Do you remember any of them? (They all had cool theme songs.)
The one I remember best was Cheyenne, starring Clint Walker, maybe because it had such a long run (1955-62, with over 100 episodes). Cheyenne Bodie wandered around the Old West, looking for adventures. He found one every week. And he was always on the side of truth and justice. That’s how old this is.
Ah! Maverick. Sugarfoot. Rawhide. Lawman. Bronco. Laramie. And of course Wagon Train. Those were shows that you could sink your teeth into. If you didn’t like Westerns, I’m afraid you were rather stuck. But it wasn’t all shoot-outs and cattle-rustling. The best scripts transcended the genre.
As for TV in the 2020s–well, I don’t know, I haven’t watched any.
I’m trying to remember … Was it Rawhide or Wagon Train that ended with “Head ’em up, moooooove ’em out”?
Rawhide–theme song sung by Frankie Laine.
Funny, I always heard that as “Heat ’em up.” Like maybe the cattle got cold overnight… like cars.
Pretty sure that was Rawhide
One of my father’s favorite shows.
My mother and I used to use that tag line any time we’d been dithering around and had to get going (to go somewhere or do something).
Still a huge fan of “Have Gun, Will Travel” and that man called ‘Paladin’
I do love that show’s theme song.
And of course there was “Bonanza,” also with great intro music.
That theme will go on forever.
Westerns were all my dad watched on TV. He always wondered why they couldn’t keep from the wagon wheels from looking like they were going clockwise. Then their were the variety shows, Jackie Gleason his favorite. In all those shows they never had to bleep out bad language.
That’s right, no bad language, no singles sleeping together, and even married folks would sleep in single beds. Yeah, Jackie Gleason, I really liked the show.
No words for “Bonanza’s” theme song, but I can still mum the melody.
I loved Frankie Laine signing the last note of Rawhide–he would drag that note out for about five minutes and still have breath left.
I need to watch these old Westerns probably more wholesome than new movies today