Time to reveal 2 more great TV Westerns

Continuing the quest to pick the top television Westerns from the 1950s and 1960s, an esteemed panel of critics chose “The Wild Wild West” to round out the “top five” – following those previously mentioned: “Have Gun – Will Travel,” “Wagon Train,” “Rawhide” and “Bonanza.”

 “‘The Wild Wild West’ (1965-69) got wonderfully weird with the Western genre,” commented freelance journalist Meagan Drillinger.

 

“The show has federal government agents James West (Robert Conrad) and Artemus Gordon (Ross Martin) tasked by U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant to protect the Southwest” during his years in the White House (1869-77).

 

“West and Gordon travel around the region in a specially designed, private train car loaded with ‘steampunk-esque’ gadgets to help them on their assignments,” Drillinger said. “The duo takes on numerous ‘proto-supervillains,’ with West usually bringing the bare-knuckled action and Gordon as a master of disguise.”

“The most striking thing about ‘The Wild Wild West’ is how much unabashed fun the whole thing is,” often blending elements of science fiction into a Western thriller, Drillinger said.

John Witiw of Movieweb.com said: “Before the Secret Service, there was James West and Artemus Gordon, a gunslinger and inventor, to keep the peace and thwart evil in the rough-and-tumble American West. The series was pitched as ‘James Bond on horseback.’”

Robert Conrad, who was born in Chicago, dropped out of high school at age 15 to work full-time. He loaded trucks for major freight companies and also drove a milk delivery truck. Conrad studied theater arts at Northwestern University, intent on pursuing an acting career.

Conrad’s first role, as such, was to pose outside a Chicago theater where the film “Giant” (1956) was showing, because he bore a resemblance to its lead actor James Dean.

Ross Martin was born in a section of Poland that is now within Ukraine. His European family immigrated to New York City when he was an infant and settled in The Bronx. Martin spoke Polish, Yiddish and some Russian before learning English…and later added French, Spanish and Italian.

Martin graduated from City College of New York and also earned a law degree. He chose a career in acting, however, and broke into the entertainment business as a comedian.

Selected for the sixth slot among “top Westerns” that began airing in the 1950s and 1960s is “Gunsmoke” (1955-75), which was set in the frontier town of Dodge City, Kan., right after the Civil War.

 

“‘Gunsmoke was the longest-running Western in the history of American television (20 seasons and 635 episodes) and one of the longest-running TV dramas of any sort,” wrote Joe Leydon of Cowboys & Indians magazine.

 

“Gunsmoke immediately transformed James Arness into a home-screen superstar for his portrayal of Matt Dillon, the straight-shooting U.S. marshal, but Arness wasn’t the only attraction,” Leydon noted.

 

“He was backed by a colorful array of supporting players – most notably Milburn Stone as the crusty Galen ‘Doc’ Adams, Amanda Blake as saloon owner Miss Kitty Russell, Dennis Weaver and Ken Curtis as deputies Chester B. Goode and Festus Haggen, respectively.” 

“And, for three seasons, Burt Reynolds was the town blacksmith Quint Asper.”

 

Most episodes involve disruptions caused by those arriving from outside Dodge City. Since Dillon’s authority extends beyond the town limits, some episodes focus on his travels, while other plots revolve around mishaps occurring while Dillon is gone. (Both deputies are shown to be loyal, but often inept or indecisive at handling problems when Dillon is not around.)

James Arness was born in Minneapolis and was attending Beloit (Wis.) College when he was drafted into the U.S. Army during World War II. He was severely wounded in his right leg during the Battle of Anzio in 1944, about 35 miles south of Rome, Italy.

Arness was medically evacuated back to the United States. His injuries required several surgeries. He was awarded the Purple Heart and several other military honors and medals.

Following his honorable discharge in 1945, Arness was hired as a radio announcer at WLOL in Minneapolis. He later hitchhiked to Hollywood and made his movie debut in 1947 as Loretta Young’s brother in “The Farmer’s Daughter.”

Milburn Stone of Burrton, Kan., declined a congressional appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy in 1922 to pursue an acting career. He ventured into vaudeville, performing song-and-dance routines. He appeared in several Broadway productions before being cast in Hollywood films in the 1930s.

Amanda Blake, a native of Buffalo, N.Y., was a telephone operator before attending Pomona College in Claremont, Calif., and Brenau Academy in Gainesville, Ga. These experiences were steppingstones to an acting career in Hollywood. 

In the late 1940s, Blake was signed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer as the studio saw her as “its next Greer Garson.”