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BoomerGer
Reviews
Branded (1965)
Rifleman had "points". Did Branded?
I always watched The Rifleman because I was as old as Johnny Crawford was and I put myself in his shoes. MY dad was always trying to point out that somewhere in each show there was a "point" to be made. That point being made to impress me and help me go thru life without screwing up, which I have so far and I'm now 70! Lucas and Mark made a great team of what you would expect a western series to make during the time of transition to color. I was sorry to see The Rifleman end, but equally excited to see what Branded was all about. Chuck now playing a loner/drifter with all of his hair cut to a butch certainly was different. I often wondered why the sword "broke" when it should have "bent". I often wondered why he just didn't settle down in some quiet, out-of-the-way town and remain anonymous. I wondered why I never saw a lot of the second season episodes. Were they going to cancel the show that quick? I wondered a lot of other things, but there were also many other westerns to wonder about, too. Have Gun, Will Travel was one such with mysterious Paladin and the almost hidden icons and double meanings in the story line. Maverick and The Rebel, and oh so many more. Reading these comments and the description of Rifleman/Branded and reading the comments has made me want to find the Branded series on DVD so I can watch it over again. Heck, I can watch The Rifleman everyday on METV that is available thru DirecTV, but to be able to satisfy my curiosity about watching Branded over again to see what I missed has peaked my curiosity. SEE YA!
The Rifleman (1958)
Old sod buster Lucas McCain and his son.
Who would believe the Rifleman? Who would believe that he had a rifle that would do what it did, and where would one go to have a rifle made to look funny like that? Well, I would for one. Seems like a handgun was not good enough for him, or he just was not comfortable with it. Johnny Crawford in his early teens and post-teens? Well, I was in my early and post-teens when all this was going on, and I truly loved the show. Surely at a time when TV was bombarded with various westerns of that era, Rifleman seemed to stand out a little more than usual. My dad watched it also and he was always saying, when Lucas was admonishing his son about something, and it would always turn out good, "See that? Now that's a point!" Obviously for me to remember later in life. What I do seem to remember was that no matter how Lucas tried to avoid shooting (and killing) someone, he still did. Then he would explain to wide-eyed Mark just how this was okay to do. Three-quarters of the show was shooting people, and the last quarter was explaining how it was okay to do it. I remember one episode when Lucas put on the star to help the ailing Sheriff. He put it on his right side and the Sheriff say, "That's supposed to be over your heart." Lucas casually says, "I got a big heart."