Sunday, January 17, 2010

This Week's Poll: What's Your Favorite Family Western Series from the 1960s?

Western TV series that focused on big families and big ranches were a mainstay of television in the 1960s. The list below includes of five of the best, ranging from the long-running Bonanza to the short-lived Lancer. Which one was your favorite?

Bonanza - For 14 seasons, viewers invited the Cartwright family into their living rooms on Sunday nights. Patriarch Ben Cartwright (Lorne Greene) was a widower with three sons, each of whom had a different mother. They lived on the sprawling Ponderosa ranch in Nevada. The oldest son, Adam (Pernell Robert) was an architect; gentle giant Hoss (Dan Blocker) was the middle son; and impetutous Little Joe (Michael Landon) was the youngest. Hop Sing (Victor Sen Yung) was the Cartwrights' cook. Roberts left the show in 1965. There were various attempts at adding a replacement character. The only one that "stuck" was teenage orphan Jamie Hunter (Mitch Vogel), whom Ben eventually adopted.

The Big Valley - In 1965, ABC launched its own version of Bonanza, starring the inimitable Barbara Stanwyck as Victoria Barkley, a widow who runs another sprawling ranch (this one in California). Her oldest son, Jarrod (Richard Long) was a lawyer; tough-minded Nick (Peter Breck) ran the ranch; daughter Audra (Linda Evans) was as strong-willed as her mother; and Heath (Lee Majors)...well, he was the illegimate son of Victoria's deceased husband. During the first season, the youngest Barkley child, medical student Eugene (Charles Briles), appeared occasionally...but he was written out of the show!

The Virginian - Owen Wister's novel provided the loose inspiration for this 90-minutes series about the Shiloh Ranch that ran on NBC from 1962 to 1971. Cast members came and went so frequently that the only actors to remain for the show's complete run were Doug McClure as easygoing ranch hand Trampas and James Drury as the quietly strong foreman, known only as The Virginian. The actors who played the Shiloh owners at various times were an impressive lot. Lee J. Cobb was original owner Judge Henry Garth for four seasons. Charles Bickford was second owner John Grainger for two seasons. When Bickford died in real life, John McIntire took over as Clay Grainger, John's brother. The final Shiloh owner was Colonel Alan MacKenzie, played by Stewart Granger. By that time, the series had been retitled The Men from Shiloh and underwent an unsuccessful facelift for its final year.

Lancer - Considered a poor man's Bonzanza, 1968's Lancer series had a star-in-the-making with charismatic James Stacey. He played Johnny Madrid Lancer, a gunslinger who opts for a more stable life when he agrees to help his Boston-bred half-brother Scott (Wayne Maunder) run their father's (Andrew Duggan) ranch. Despite likable performers, Lancer faded after two seasons. In 1973, a drunken driver hit Stacey and his girlfriend while they were on a motorcycle. She died and Stacey lost an arm and a leg. He returned to acting and gave a fine performance as a newspaperman in Kirk Douglas' 1973 cult Western Posse. In the 1960s, Stacey was briefly married to Connie Stevens and then Kim Darby.

The High Chaparral - David Dortort, who created Bonanza, produced this 1967-71 series for NBC. Leif Erickson portrayed Big John Cannon, an ambitious man who moves his family to the Arizona Terrority in the 1870s to build a new life. In the show's first episode, Big John's wife, Annalee, is killed by an Indian arrow--but not before she dubs the future ranch "High Chaparral" (named after a bush). When Big John enters into a treaty of sorts with his wealthy Mexican neighbor, Don Sebastian Montoya, the deal is sealed with John's marriage to the much younger Victoria Montoya (Linda Cristal). The mutual respect and frictions between the two families differentiated High Chaparral from competing family Westerns. The series also provided fine supporting roles for Cameron Mitchell (John's brother Buck) and Henry Darrow (Victoria's brother Manolito) as bickering brothers-in-law.

So, those are your five nominations! Cast your vote in the green sidebar on the right.

16 comments:

  1. Da. Da. Dada Da Bonanza. Rick do you know that in a early version (I don't think it was ever broadcast) that the actors "sang" a vocal version of the theme?

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  2. Paul, I didn't know that--sounds like fun! Several of these shows had memorable music. As you probably know, Percy Faith--whose version of "A Summer Place" is still the #1 instrumental of the Rock era--composed THE VIRIGINIAN theme.

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  3. And Rick, David Rose who was the music director on The Red Skelton show wrote the Bonanza theme, .He's best know for the 60's hit The Stripper. BTW A Summer Place was composed by the great Max Steiner.

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  4. Rick, They are all great shows.. I will cast my vote for Bonanza, because I met Michael Landon in person.:)

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  5. what about "Laramie" and "Wagon Train"?i'm sure we didn't even get "Lancer" in Britain.Bonanza was good but these two should be in the running,restricting votes to five shows doesn't work

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  6. geocote22, LARAMIE would have been a good addition! I forgot about it...even though Spring Byington was one of our Underrated Performers of the Week. I considered WAGON TRAIN, but the characters aren't a traditional family.

    Dawn, you obviously need to provide more info about meeting Michael Landon in person!

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  7. Rick, It was several years ago. I saw Michael Landon playing tennis at one of the resorts here in Tucson. He was very handsome, tan, and what a head of hair. He was a lot shorter that I thought. My guess is 5' 2". Our paths crossed and we spoke for about 20 minutes (about his pets and that he went to the U of A ). I thought he was a very nice guy and very personable. About a year later, I heard on the news that he had cancer. Now.. every time we see him on TV, my husband calls him my boyfriend. ;) It is a nice memory.

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  8. For geecote22

    oh yes we did get Lancer in Britain and some of us still adore it. It gets my vote

    Starry Diadem

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  9. Poor man's Bonanza? No way! Lancer was nothing like Bonanza, in my opinion. It may not have gone on for years and years but it was a unique situation. And James Stacy is one of the best actors I've ever seen on the screen.

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  10. Rick, I was never a big fan of the Western on TV. Over the years I have grown quite fond of some of the films helmed by Anthony Mann ("The Far Country" and "Winchester 73"). There are three choices posted that I did see occasionally and I will have to think on them. I don't even remember "Lancer" I am sorry to say. It is fun to have a TV poll choice. Well done!

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  11. By "poor man's Bonanza", I meant that LANCER was smaller in scope (hey, there were fewer sons!). But I liked the show; hence, that's why it made the list of five. James Stacey was a very likable performer. I even enjoyed his teen rock'n'roll movie THAT SWINGIN' SUMMER (which features Raquel Welch as a mousey girl who takes off her glasses and lets down her hair...and suddenly looks like Raquel Welch!). Glad to see that LANCER has some fans. But are there no HIGH CHAPARRAL fans out there? (And Toto, we'll have to review some Anthony Mann Westerns here at the Cafe...his five with James Stewart are excellent.)

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  12. I liked High Chaparral. Hated Blue but liked the rest of the cast. But, I have to vote for my favorite. James was good in everything I saw him in and I think I've seen all his work. LOL

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  13. For the Lady Eve

    Your loss, love.


    Starry

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  14. I'm rather surprised that Lancer won the poll; I always thought I was the only one watching it, but just the episodes that featured James Stacy.
    I believe Cleveland Amory in a TV Guide review said that Stacy was believable good and believable bad, or something to that effect. Did anywone see his emmy-nominated performance on Cagney and Lacey? Really a talented actor (and gorgeous too). My BFF always said that Lancer was a show about a doctor who roamed the west lancing boils!

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  15. Sazball , No way I can respond to that comment LOL. One of my favorite James Stacy roles is his post accident role in "Something Wicked This Way Comes".

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