Rawhide is a television western series which aired on the American network CBS from 1959 to 1966. The show starred Eric Fleming and launched the career of Clint Eastwood.
The series
The series ran for eight seasons on the CBS network on Friday nights, from January 9, 1959 to January 4, 1966, with a total of 217 episodes, all filmed and broadcast in black and white. It was produced and sometimes directed by Charles Marquis Warren who also produced early episodes of Gunsmoke. Warren based Rawhide on the movie Cattle Empire that he directed in 1958 and for which Endre Bohem was a screenwriter and Paul Brinegar, Steve Raines and Rocky Shahan were actors; all also worked in Rawhide. Its premiere episode reached the top 20 in the Nielsen Ratings. It rose steadily in popularity until, towards the end of the series run, it was one of America's top ten showscitation needed. Rawhide was the fourth longest-running American TV western, beaten only by nine years of The Virginian and Wagon Train, fourteen years of Bonanza, and twenty years of Gunsmoke.
The plot
In an early show, the date is given as 1869. It is given that there are twenty riders looking after 3,000 head of cattle. Gil Favor reveals this is about the maximum manageable size for a herd of cows. This cattle drive begins in San Antonio, Texas, and makes its way along the Sedalia Trail (Sedalia, the final destination, is in Missouri about 50 miles east from Kansas City). The herd is estimated to be worth about $50-60,000 if sold at market and represents a pool of animals from 200 owners. The Trail Boss carries a considerable sum of cash for all necessities and all possible emergencies.
The episode would be introduced, usually by some words from Gil Favor but sometimes by others. The typical Rawhide story involved drovers, portrayed by Eric Fleming (Trail Boss Gil Favor) and Clint Eastwood (ramrod Rowdy Yates), coming upon people on the trail and getting drawn into solving whatever problem they presented or were confronting. Sometimes one of the members of the cattle drive or some of the others would venture into a nearby town and encounter some trouble or other from which they needed to be rescued. Rowdy Yates was a young hothead in the earliest episodes and Favour had to keep a tight rein on him. Some of the stories were obviously easier in production terms but the peak form of the show was convincing and naturalistic, and sometimes brutal. Its situations could range from parched plains to anthrax, ghostly riders to wolves, cattle raiding, bandits, murderers, and so forth. In some ways it was similar to the TV series Wagon Train that debuted in 1957.
The series was not afraid to face tough issues. Robert Culp played an ex-soldier on the drive who had become dangerously addicted to morphine. Jesus (Hey Soos) being Mexican faced racism a number of times. There was still anger left over from the Civil War which had ended only four years earlier (the Poco Tiempo episode reveals that Rowdy's father's name was Dan, that Rowdy came from S.W. Texas and that he went off to war at 16. Trail Boss Favor had been a Lieutenant in the war). There were still Indians about, though often not that wild, some still wanted cattle as payment for going through their land. There were some rough-tough people in the shows and Gil Favor was tortured by having his face held near a fire in one episode. In another, people had "the plague" and guns were used to enforce quarantine. Though towns liked the drover's money, they did not like them coming into town in numbers and getting drunk. There was also cattle rustlers in many different forms.
In episode 67 Incident Near the Promised Land, the cattle drive finally reached Sedalia (for the first time in the series). Unusually, episode 68 continues on from that, where the cattle have been sold and the men celebrate in town and decide on their futures with even Favor thinking of leaving the business. Instead of the usual ending where Gil Favor tells his men to: "Head 'em up! Move 'em out!" and the cattle move off, this episode had the end titles over a view of a Sedalia Street. Episode 69 sees Gil Favor visiting his two daughters, Gillian and Maggie who live with their Aunt Elena in Philadelphia. Episode 70 and a number of the men are back together and heading back to San Antonio about 650 miles away, with a herd of horses (used in the titles instead of cattle). Episode 71 sees a new cattle drive ready to go but the owner of 1600 of the cattle wants to be in charge so Favor reluctantly signs on as a ramrod, but after some problems, Favor is boss against the end of the show. These five episodes made up one storyline instead of the usual single episode stories which could have been set anywhere in the West.
Cameos and regular cast members
Regular cast members included:
- Paul Brinegar as the cantankerous cook, George Washington Wishbone
- Robert Cabal as the wrangler, Jesús "Hey Soos" Patines
- James Murdock as the cook's unfortunate assistant, Harkness "Mushy" Mushgrove III
- Steve Raines as rider Jim Quince
- Rocky Shahan as rider Joe Scarlet
- Sheb Wooley as scout Pete Nolan
- John Ireland as Jed Colby
- Raymond St. Jacques as rider Simon Blake.
Guest stars included: Claude Akins, Eddie Albert, Michael Ansara, Mary Astor, Frankie Avalon, John Drew Barrymore, James Best, Charles Bronson, McDonald Carey, Lon Chaney, Jr., Elisha Cook, Jr., Broderick Crawford, Linda Cristal, Robert Culp, Royal Dano, Troy Donahue, Brian Donlevy, Dan Duryea, Buddy Ebsen, Barbara Eden, Leif Erickson, Beverly Garland, Charles Herbert, Earl Holliman, Alan Hale, Jr., Dwayne Hickman, Rick Jason, Brian Keith, Frankie Laine, Martin Landau, Ruta Lee, Jack Lord, Jock Mahoney, Mercedes McCambridge, Burgess Meredith, Robert Middleton, Vera Miles, Martin Milner, Leslie Nielsen, Warren Oates, Susan Oliver, J. Pat O'Malley, Cesar Romero, Marion Ross, Harry Dean Stanton, Barbara Stanwyck, Bob Steele, Woody Strode, Lee Van Cleef, Chill Wills, Ed Wynn, & Dick York.
Theme song
-
Main article: Rawhide (song)
The theme song's lyrics were written by Ned Washington in 1958. It was composed by Dimitri Tiomkin and sung by pop singer Frankie Laine. The theme song became very popular. It was covered several times and parts of the song also appear in more recent movies like The Blues Brothers and Shrek. Also a cover version for Volvo 700 Series promotional video.
Clint Eastwood's career
As stated earlier, Rawhide launched the career of Clint Eastwood, who went on to star in many feature films and also become an Oscar-winning director and producer. Eastwood began the "Dollars Trilogy" western movie series (A Fistful of Dollars, For A Few Dollars More, and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly) in 1964 while on summer hiatus from Rawhide, bringing the same boots, shirt and gun grips with him that he wore on the series. He got the role of Rowdy Yates after practically every other cowboy actor in Hollywood had turned it down.citation needed
Fleming's career
Eric Fleming (real name Edward Heddy, July 4, 1925 - September 28, 1966) died in a drowning accident while filming the adventure series High Jungle for MGM-TV in Peru [1].
Popularity after the fact
Rawhide gained some unusual popularity following the release of the John Belushi/Dan Aykroyd movie The Blues Brothers. The show's theme song was performed by the blues band at a country bar instead of a blues club.
DVD Releases
Paramount Home Entertainment is releasing Rawhide on DVD in Region 1 for the very first time. Thus far they have released the first 2 seasons, Season 3, Volume 1 was released on May 27, 2008.
External links
|
