NEW PIONEERS OF TV TONIGHT ON PBS: WESTERNS

[TheBigA]

Maybe the reason was that there have been legal hassles over te rights to that show for a long time.

I really think the problem was that they couldn't get interviews from anyone connected with it. Richard Boone has been dead for almost 30 years. This show was all about getting fresh interviews with people who were still alive in 2008, when the show was produced.

 

[MattParker]

Netflix has Have Gun Will Travel both on DVD and online on demand. HGWT and the black and white half hour Gunsmoke - plus some other 50s Westerns - were shown weekends on TV Land a few years ago. Encore Westerns is showing it now.

 

[Kurt Toy]

Kansas was admitted to the union in 1861. Gunsmoke was set in the 1870s (after the civil war and the coming of the railroad). Dodge City would have a town marshal and a county sheriff (as was shown in "The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp"). US Marshals would not be handling state and local law enforcement. Certainly not doing things like breaking up bar fights. Each state had/has only one US marshal. All other "marshals" were deputy marshals (as shown in Henry Fonda's series "The Deputy").

The radio show implied (although it did not state outright) just was Kitty's "profession" was - and just what the nature of Matt and Kitty's relationship was. But apparently that was too adult for a so-called TV "adult western." CBS made them take the staircase out of the Long Branch saloon and then came up with ridiculous conceit of Kitty becoming part owner (then owner).

C'mon, are we really supposed to believe a law enforcement officer would fight a duel in order to make an arrest, you know just walk into the street an invite a perp to draw on him? This show there was still a lot of kid left in the so-called "adult western."

The first producer and director of Gunsmoke, a hack B-picture director Charles Marquis Warren, completely screwed up the character of Chester by miscasting Dennis Weaver who, as pointed out, was too much of a leading man for the role - so they had to invent the limp to make him a sidekick. On radio, Chester Poudfoot (not Goode), apparently all or partly native-American, was much more like Festus, only dumber. Warren left after the first season and the radio team (Norman MacDonnell and Charles Meston) took over the TV version, with radio show still in production until 1961. At that point they were stuck with Weaver as Chester; a good actor but wrong for the role.

Arness never captured Dillon's darker side ("it's a chancy job and it makes a man watchful - and a little lonely") the way Robert Conrad did. Conrad's Dillon was intimidating, even scary.

Some shows hold up well. Most don't. Gunsmoke is one that doesn't.

____

The narration stated that Disney also produced Daniel Boone. NBC did not produce or own Daniel Boone. As I pointed out, the show came from 20 Century Fox and Parker's production company (Fesspar). And when Daniel Boone was on NBC, so was Walt Disney.

WILLIAM Conrad played Dillon on radio, not Robert.

 

[therealjm12]

Aw come on, Gunsmoke was made in Hollywood, give it a break on realism. I agree on the points about Dillon's role of U. S. Marshall. He was more of a deputy marshall or town marshall. However, when the buffalo hunters, & cowboys came into town, you could almost smell them. Much more realism, than many westerns like Bonanza or Big Valley. The producers of Gunsmoke did not go out of their way to pretty up the characters. The interaction between the Matt, Doc, Kitty, Chester, & Festus was excellent. Lately, I have been watching the episodes with Burt Reynolds (Quint). The interaction between Matt & Quint is just great. You can see that they really liked and respected each other in real life (which they did). There's your realism.

As far as a role of a peace officer in the old west goes, I would nominate Paul Fix, as Micah the town marshall on the The Rifleman, as the most accurate portrayal.