I was the pre-pubescent target audience for this when it first ran and loved it. Like other 50s oaters Lucas carried a modified 'piece'. The title scene where Lucas street sweeps with his Winchester at noonday summa six shadows illuminates the careless production of the time. The cast adds gravitas to Conner's ball-field credits with the anchor of Paul Fixx playing the sagacious sheriff. Fixx had made his bones (albeit in a thinner incarnation) as the usual villain with the John Ford troupe. Every script was a convoluted morality play. Typically Lucas would blast some well deserving miscreant then hunker down to tell Mark this is what happens when you don't eat WonderBread or help old ladies cross the street. So far, there's nothing new here for a 50's horse opera save Lucas McCain was the one and only TV rancher with a mortgage. Where the Barkley's, the Cartwrights and the jokers on "High Chapperal" owned their states and governors, Johnny Yuma, Cheyenne, Sugar Foot, et.al. wondered alone blah blah, Chuck had to cough up monthly payments in a sedentary existence.
If you want to see the genre circa '58 watch "Rifleman" today on Encore/Western for great, unintentional humor. Watch 'Maverick' for scripted humor. Watch "Have Gun - Will Travel" for an adult western. See Chuck Connors on the big screen in "The Big Country" but don't spend money on the "Rifleman".
If you want to see the genre circa '58 watch "Rifleman" today on Encore/Western for great, unintentional humor. Watch 'Maverick' for scripted humor. Watch "Have Gun - Will Travel" for an adult western. See Chuck Connors on the big screen in "The Big Country" but don't spend money on the "Rifleman".