BS: Favourite TV cowboy

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite TV cowboy
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 02 Dec 17 - 12:09 PM

Finished watching Godless last night. I cannot recommend it too much. Some 'Buffalo Soldiers' in that and it was a mini TV series but I don't know if that counts. Back in the heyday of TV westerns I suppose the TV industry was not well know for its equal opportunities policy :-(

Out of interest though I did Google black actors in TV westerns and there do seem to be some. The most interesting being 'The Outcasts' which ran for one series 1968-69. It co-stared Otis Young as a former slave turned bounty hunter who teams up with actor Don Murray, a former Confederate officer and former slave owner who had lost everything during the Civil War. Never saw it but it looks interesting.

DtG

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite TV cowboy
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 02 Dec 17 - 12:25 PM

My bad, making the switch. But I saw those films on TV, if that makes any difference.

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite TV cowboy
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 02 Dec 17 - 12:34 PM

In recent times the best TV series has been "Hell on Wheels"..

But I've not watched the final series yet, so no spoilers please....

Notable for a solid charismatic anti-hero, proper dastardly villains, plus a prominent black ex slave character...

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite TV cowboy
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 02 Dec 17 - 01:22 PM

2 recent mini series definitely worth a watch...

"Hatfields & McCoys"

"Texas Rising"

I still haven't got round to catching up on all the "Lonesome Dove" mini series [what's the plural for series...???]

..And there's enough of 'em..

Return to Lonesome Dove
Streets of Laredo
Dead Man's Walk
Comanche Moon

again.. no spoilers please...

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite TV cowboy
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 03 Dec 17 - 02:05 AM

Lots of great films.

I love Kevin Costners Wyatt Earp.

The sheer ordinariness of the moral decisions and yet some of the shots are composed like Remington painting. Its like the characters have no choice other than to in an epic tale. Plus the music from James Newton Howard - brilliant. Sounds like Aron Copeland in places.

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite TV cowboy
From: gillymor
Date: 03 Dec 17 - 06:03 AM

Forgot about Lonesome Dove, Robert Duvall as Gus McCray (sp?) might be my favorite TVC. That's one instance where I found the TV adaption as entertaining as the book.

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite TV cowboy
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 05 Dec 17 - 03:13 PM

Am I right in thinking that every poster so far is male? So, from the female perspective....
I didn't really like Westerns per se, but would watch every episode of Bronco, just to see the delectable Ty Hardin! And Rowdy Yates (Clint Eastwoo) in Wagon Train was a close second, oh and pretty well all of them in Bonanza!

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite TV cowboy
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 05 Dec 17 - 03:21 PM

My wife likes westerns, but it depends on her mood , and who the lead actors are,
if she'll sit still and watch one.

Westerns have always been my favourite movie & TV genre.

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite TV cowboy
From: ChanteyLass
Date: 05 Dec 17 - 07:19 PM

Tattie, I was the 4th poster on this thread, and I'm definitely a lass. I've met ranger1, the 6th poster, and she, too, is a woman. I'm not sure about everyone else. My choice was tv's Annie Oakley, played by Gail Davis. Some of those episodes are on YouTube, and there's some info on Wikipedia and here. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0046578/

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite TV cowboy
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 06 Dec 17 - 06:36 AM

of course there animal cowboys like Rin Tin Tin and Champion the Wonder Horse.

When I was a child, it was important after having a shit, to run down the stairs singing Champion the Wonder Horse very loudly before the lavatory stopped flushing ....otherwise the ghost in the lavatory would get me , and the consequences might well have been quite serious.

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite TV cowboy
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 06 Dec 17 - 01:31 PM

Sorry I missed you and Ranger1, ChanteyLass!

Ha ha to Big Al - "like a streak of lightning flashing down the stairs"?

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite TV cowboy
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 06 Dec 17 - 01:38 PM

...and I will have you know that us Gnomes are free of the gender issues that plague you humans.

:D tG

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite TV cowboy
From: Vashta Nerada
Date: 07 Dec 17 - 12:33 PM

Also Acme, Tattie.

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite TV cowboy
From: Bugsy
Date: 09 Dec 17 - 09:56 AM

Ian Mcshane in "Deadwood"

Cheers

Bugsy

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite TV cowboy
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 09 Dec 17 - 10:15 AM

I haven't seen Deadwood, but again, just because a program is set in the Old West, doesn't mean all of the characters are "cowboys." (I like Ian McShane in just about any role he approaches, though, so I agree with that part of the sentiment.)

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite TV cowboy
From: Vashta Nerada
Date: 11 Dec 17 - 04:35 PM

Did anyone mention the children's shows? My Friend Flicka had cowboys of the best sort, though I can't remember a single plot it has been so many years since I saw that program.

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite TV cowboy
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 11 Dec 17 - 08:48 PM

Grrr. Again:

"Patel and Co., painters and decorators - You've tried the cowboys, now try the Indians."

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite TV cowboy
From: clueless don
Date: 12 Dec 17 - 08:06 AM

As a young boy, I think my favorite was Roy Rogers, though Hopalong Cassidy was definitely a favorite as well. I always preferred Roy Rogers to Gene Autry - de gustibus ...

I can't really pick a favorite from when I was older, but I'll mention two - I don't remember the name of the character, but he was the marshal on Lawman (wikipedia says it was Marshal Dan Troop.) The other one was Marshal Jack Craddock, from the short-lived series Bordertown.

Don

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite TV cowboy
From: gillymor
Date: 12 Dec 17 - 08:30 AM

I don't remember the main hero's name but I was keen on the Australian series "The Man From Snowy River" which was based on the Banjo Patterson poem. It even had a proto-feminist female newspaper publisher if I remember correctly.

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite TV cowboy
From: Donuel
Date: 12 Dec 17 - 07:34 PM

Gene Autry - 1st to sing Frosty the Snowman

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite TV cowboy
From: Vashta Nerada
Date: 13 Dec 17 - 11:10 AM

Digging out a few under-represented in this list:

Annie Oakley totally fictional, but a woman.

The High Chaparral had a more representative vaquero cast for the region where it was set.

I'm seeing some argument for Little House on the Prairie as a western - but it was actually upper midwest and they were homesteading farmers. Animal husbandry went with that territory. Cow folks? Someone over at IMDb curated a list of "the greatest TV westerns of all-time" and it's fairly near the top. (I will note that if that list maker can get away with putting Firefly on the list, then the original Star Trek also belongs there - it was often was plotted as if they wore black hats or white hats.)

Oh, and one I actually watched fairly often and could even stand Ronald Reagan in: Death Valley Days. They were supposedly actual true stories - massaged by Hollywood.

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite TV cowboy
From: clueless don
Date: 14 Dec 17 - 08:25 AM

Vashta Nerada, following up on your comment about Star Trek: When Gene Roddenberry was pitching Star Trek to the networks, he described it as "Wagon Train to the stars".