Popular TV Westerns from the ‘50s & ‘60s just keep on rollin’

Next in line within the listing of favorite television Westerns originating during the 1950s and 1960s are “Maverick” and “Wanted Dead or Alive.” These two shows tied for the final spot in our “top 10” listing.

“Maverick” (1957-62) featured brothers Bret and Bart Maverick, who had “eyes for style and hearts for gambling,” remarked freelance journalist Meagan Drillinger. “The series followed the Mavericks migrating from town to town and frequenting riverboats in the Old West during the 1870s and early 1880s.

 

“Unlike other Westerns, the Maverick brothers didn’t adhere to strict macho stereotypes or possess the ‘quickdraw’ personalities typical of Western heroes,” she said.

Joe Leydon of Cowboys & Indians magazine said the “rambling gamblers Bret (James Garner) and Bart Maverick (Jack Kelly) preferred dealing cards to shooting straight. They relied on smooth talk more than fast draws, resorting to gunplay only when they couldn’t charm or bluff their way out of trouble.”

 

“Maverick stood out from the multitude of other prime-time westerns during the 1950s and ‘60s by taking a tongue-in-cheek approach to cowboy conventions.” Leydon added. “The overall tone wasn’t entirely satirical – serious shootouts sporadically figured into the mix.”

When Garner quit over a contract dispute with the studio after the series’ third year, he was replaced by Roger Moore as cousin Beau Maverick. Actor Sean Connery was originally offered the role but turned it down. (Famously, the following decade, Moore would replace Connery as James Bond in the 007-film series.) 

During the fourth season, for a brief period...Garner lookalike Robert Colbert was cast as Brent Maverick, a brother to Bart and Bret. 

James Garner, who was born in Norman, Okla., had a difficult childhood and dropped out of high school to join the U.S. Merchant Marine at age 16 near the end of World War II. After the war, he tried living with his father in Los Angeles and re-enrolling in high school. Neither worked out.

Garner enlisted in the California Army National Guard and was deployed to Korea during the Korean War as a rifleman in an infantry division. He was wounded on two occasions and received two Purple Hearts as well as several other military awards. Following his discharge, he found work making TV commercials and eventually transitioned into acting roles for both TV and movies.

After “Maverick,” Garner had great success playing Jim Rockford in the TV series “The Rockford Files.”

 

Jack Kelly of Queens, N.Y., grew up in Hollywood where his father was a real estate broker. Kelly began acting in films at age 12 and tended to gravitate toward Westerns. Once his acting days were over, Kelly entered local politics in 1980 in Huntington Beach, Calif., serving on the city council and then as mayor.

 

“Wanted Dead or Alive” (1958-61) starred Steve McQueen as Josh Randall, a Confederate Civil War veteran who became a bounty hunter. He roamed the dusty roads of the Old West in the 1870s and ‘80s looking for outlaws to turn in.

Joe Leydon said: “As Josh Randall, McQueen ignited his superstardom, allowing him to showcase the charismatic qualities that would eventually earn him the nickname ‘The King of Cool.’”

“He was formidably armed with his trademark weapon of choice, a customized, sawed-off Winchester carbine rifle, affectionately referenced as his ‘Mare’s Leg.’”

 

“Randall usually worked alone and often preferred to capture rather than kill his quarry. But when shooting was necessary, he didn’t aim to please,” Leydon quipped.

Steve McQueen, who was born in Beech Grove, Ind., was basically raised by his grandparents and an aunt and uncle on a farm near Slater, Mo. He spent much of his early teenage years in an all-boys reform school for troubled adolescents in Chino Hills, Calif., near his mother’s home.

After leaving school and several run-ins with the law, McQueen joined the U.S. Marine Corps. He credited the service for turning his life around.

In 1952, with financial assistance from the GI Bill, McQueen began studying acting in New York City. He began to land minor roles in stage productions, leading to his Broadway debut in 1955. He soon moved to Hollywood and began to make his mark as a film actor.

Critics generally agree that McQueen’s most popular movies were: “The Great Escape” (1963), “The Magnificent Seven” (1960), “Bullitt” (1968), “The Sand Pebbles” (1966) and “Love with the Proper Stranger” (1963).