So what 1950s/1960s westerns did you NOT care for?

[Okie Sawbones, SASS #77381]

Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp -- hated that singing.

[Blackwater 53393]

Didn’t care much for Bronco Lane.

[South-Eye Ned]

I was pretty young, but I recall not really liking Johnny Yuma.  Sugarfoot got me interested when the main character met A young Teddy Roosevelt, but being a kid, I didn’t stick with it.

[Yellowhouse Sam # 25171]

Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson, Sugar Foot, Wild Bill Hickock, and Lawman .  Pernell Roberts ruined Bonanza and Stanwick Big Valley.  Add Johnny Yuma and Bounty Hunter.
 

Any that had whiny kids: Shane, The Rifleman .....comon Lucas buy the boy a .22 rifle so he’ll be quiet!

[Rye Miles #13621]

Branded really sucked and that ridiculous rifle that they had in Wanted Dead or alive ruined the show. 
Sugarfoot was terrible and so was Bronco Lane but Cheyenne was great!!

[Cold Lake Kid, SASS # 51474]

I was of the age I could have enjoyed them, but I never saw any.

I lived in northern Alberta in the '50's and early '60's

No TV reception, just CBC radio, Northern Service.

Today, the availability of satellite TV means every house, village or town has access to anything broadcast.

[Sawhorse Kid]

Any and All Singing Cowboys. 

[Raylan]

Didn't like Roy Rogers - though later gained appreciation for Dale and Roy as individuals in how they evidently lived their lives. Didn't like Maverick if Brett (James Garner) wasn't in it. Didn't like The Big Valley, something about Barbra Stanwyck bugged me. Liked Bonnanza though it sometimes was kinda boring. Liked Have Gun Will Travel, The Rifleman, Gunsmoke, The Cimarron Strip, The High Chaparral (liked Manolito and Buck - kept hoping Blue would get killed), F-Troop, Daniel Boone, Laredo, The Wild Wild West, The Virginian, Wagon Train, Rawhide, Death Valley Days, Alias Smith and Jones the seasons and shows with the original two actors, and Kung Fu. Didn't really see the Cisco Kid or Hopalong Cassidy or Wyatt Earp.

 

Oops, think Alias Smith and Jones were in the Seventies like Heck Ramsey as was Kung Fu.

[Pat Riot]

21 minutes ago, Sawhorse Kid said:

Any and All Singing Cowboys. 

Big Time Ditto!

 

 

[J-BAR #18287]

Maverick with Garner, Wagon Train, Gunsmoke, Have Gun Will Travel.  Lawman  sometimes.  The rest paled by comparison.

[Abilene Slim SASS 81783]

Rin Tin Tin always bugged me. Like Lassie, that dog was way smarter than any human. 

[Abilene Slim SASS 81783]

And Daniel Boone. Every week Israel would get himself into a scrape necessitating his rescue by dad. Usually because he disobeyed his parents. 
 

Don’t know about you guys, but after the second or third time, my dad would have said, “screw it. He got himself into this mess, he can get himself out. That’s how the boy’s gonna learn.”

[Red Gauntlet , SASS 60619]

1 hour ago, J-BAR #18287 said:

Maverick with Garner, Wagon Train, Gunsmoke, Have Gun Will Travel.  Lawman  sometimes.  The rest paled by comparison.

 

In my case, other than Lawman, those were favorites!

 

Brandon Dewild was irritating in Shane, but then the character was necessary-- the whole book was told from the point of view of the kid.

 

Of all the 'classics' of the era, to me the most overrated is The Searchers. A properly done remake would be great. Eliminate the half-wit sidekick, and, above all, the cornball suitor. Get the costuming right. No clean shirts and rolled-cuff jeans. Several other things, besides.

 

The book was great. The flic has all of the shortcomings of 1950s A western star vehicles.

[Pat Riot]

7 hours ago, J-BAR #18287 said:

Maverick with Garner, Wagon Train, Gunsmoke, Have Gun Will Travel.  Lawman  sometimes.  The rest paled by comparison.

So those were bad, but the rest were really bad? 

[Cholla]

My parents didn't allow me to watch much TV until I was almost out of the house and into the military. When I was able to watch TV as a teen with raging hormones it was Wonder Woman and Charlie's Angels.

 

Many of what has been listed in unknown to me. I have seen a few series in the past few years. Lawman is kinda bad but the chick is hot. Bonanza has no redeeming qualities and I just have a hard time watching a few minutes. I started watch Branded but gave up. I like the Rifleman, Bat Masterson, and The Virginian. I dislike The Big Valley. Some of them are just so cornball I stop watching. But, as goofy as Hopalong was I enjoy every one.

 

My big problem is I have too much other stuff going on to sit down and watch anything for long. I got writing to do and rattlesnakes to hunt, not to mention all of Arizona to explore.

[Cat Brules]

My LEAST favorite Western series were:

Lawman (John Russel)......Russel’s characterization is off-putting.

Wyatt Earp (Hugh O’Brian).......I think it was O’Brian’s characterization, and that goofy theme song always maddeningly wafting around in one form or another.  It was very unpleasant and and still is when the reruns come up on the Western Channel.

 

i also did not like Pernell Roberts on Bonanza, either.  Good thing they shipped him off to San Francisco to be a sea captain, or something like that.  Sure was a relief.

 

i do like Barbara Stanwyk on The Big Valley.  I enjoyed seeing her early movies, and still do.

 

OH!  I just saw Cholla’s reply, above.     I used to watch the Charlie’s Angels series being filmed at Fox Studios in Beverly Hills all the time.  Those girls were even more beautiful in person!  I’d see them in the commissary when I had lunch there and often, one or more of them would come over and eat with me.

 

Cat Brules

[Chickamauga Slim]

I thought Waterhole #3 was the worst cowboy movie ever. 

[sassnetguy50]

Death Valley Days was hard to watch as a youngster.  I do watch a rerun now and then as an adult.

[Cat Brules]

11 hours ago, Red Gauntlet , SASS 60619 said:

 

In my case, other than Lawman, those were favorites!

 

Brandon Dewild was irritating in Shane, but then the character was necessary-- the whole book was told from the point of view of the kid.

 

Of all the 'classics' of the era, to me the most overrated is The Searchers. A properly done remake would be great. Eliminate the half-wit sidekick, and, above all, the cornball suitor. Get the costuming right. No clean shirts and rolled-cuff jeans. Several other things, besides.

 

The book was great. The flic has all of the shortcomings of 1950s A western star vehicles.

The “half-wit, cornball suitor“ was KEN CURTIS, better known as “Festus Haggen” on “Gunsmoke” for ten or more years.  He also starred in the John Wayne movies, “The Horse Soldiers,” and “Rio Grande” and many others.  Ken Curtis was the singer for Tommy Dorsey’s orchastra after Frank Sinatra left.  He was also a film producer, and was married to the daughter of film director John Ford.  He played other roles, as well, during his career.

 

 

 

 

 

Cat Brules

[Joke 'um]

6 minutes ago, Cat Brules said:

He was also a film producer, and was married to film directorHe John Ford.

Now, don't ruin John Ford for me too!

[Patagonia Pete]

No ... no no no ... Those were all good stuff!!

 

One of the bad ones was "Shotgun Slade" ... the private eye cowboy hero ... capped off with a super duper over-under rifle shotgun ... oooohhhh ...

Killer 32 caliber rifle on top barrel and 12 gauge on the bottom. 

 

The next runner up would have to be "The Men of Shiloh"  ... the ultimate 70's treatment and murder of the Virginian series ... 

Along with bad music ... everybody got mod-squad hairdoos and super large hats (to accomodate the hair) .. AND ... Lee Majors and Stuart Granger  (of "ol surehand" fame ... sigh ..).   

[Cat Brules]

      
 

John Ford’s daughter, Barbara. 

 

i fixed it, above, and added some video.   

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

I never watched Gunsmoke. Started to a few times but always shut it off and went to do something else.

[Blackwater 53393]

Ken Curtis was also a featured member of the Sons Of The Pioneers!! He was as big a cowboy star as John Wayne in Europe!!

[Okie Sawbones, SASS #77381]

I forgot about Barbara Stanwyk -- she ruined The Big Valley for me. Oh, and Brian Keith in the Westerner -- he sucked as a cowboy.

[Perro Del Diablo]

Paint your wagon

[flat iron mike]

Hey Cisco........, Hey Poncho.......... No gusta.

[The Original Lumpy Gritz]

10 seconds into the first vid Cat posted, is another Gunsmoke cast member, Glenn  Strange. He was also the first Frankenstein.  

OLG 

[Rex M Rugers #6621]

Lumpy , did they make a Frankenstein movie earlier than the one with Boris Karloff in 1931 ??

I always thought he was the first.

Rex 

[South-Eye Ned]

I never could get into The Virginian.  I didn’t like Trampas.

[Loophole LaRue, SASS #51438]

1 hour ago, Rex M Rugers #6621 said:

Lumpy , did they make a Frankenstein movie earlier than the one with Boris Karloff in 1931 ??

I always thought he was the first.

Rex 

 

Karloff was first; Strange took over when  Karloff walked away from the role.  It did not click with me that Strange was Sam, the bartender in Gunsmoke, until I read this bio.

 

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0833363/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm

 

LL

 

[Blackwater 53393]

Upon further reflection, I never really cared much for the Rifleman series and I just can’t bring myself to watch ANYTHING with Barbara Stanwick!!

[Abilene Slim SASS 81783]

A bit off topic, but a really dreadful western is “The Gunslinger” (1956) starring Beverly Garland and John Ireland. 
 

However it’s hysterical when watched as the feature film on an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000. Those robots have the best snarky remarks!

[South-Eye Ned]

James Garner was on the Tonight Show and Carson asked him what was the worst movie he was ever in.  Garner said, “A Man Called Sledge”.  I saw that it was on TV a few years later and tried to watch it.  I couldn’t get beyond the first 15 minutes.  It was dreadful.

[Utah Bob #35998]

11 hours ago, Cholla said:

My parents didn't allow me to watch much TV until I was almost out of the house and into the military. When I was able to watch TV as a teen with raging hormones it was Wonder Woman and Charlie's Angels.

 

I have no idea what I would have done if those shows were on when I was a teen! Probably gone out my mind!!