Gunsmoke was one of the most popular television shows ever to hit the air. The network, CBS, knew what it had on its hands after its 1955 premiere and milked it for 20 seasons before suddenly canceling it in 1975. The Western genre later died off, as its wave of popularity never quite returned to form. Here’s a list of five other vintage television shows to dig into if Gunsmoke was your jam.
L-r: Milburn Stone as Doc Adams, James Arness as Matt Dillon, Amanda Blake as Kitty Russell, and Ken Curtis as Festus Haggen | CBS via Getty Images ‘Bonanza’ (1959-1973) L-r: Dan Blocker as Eric ‘Hoss’ Cartwright, Lorne Greene as Ben Cartwright, Pernell Roberts as Adam Cartwright, and Michael Landon as Joseph ‘Little Joe’ Cartwright | Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images
Bonanza first hit the air in 1959, a few years after Gunsmoke first established its legs among Western shows. The story follows...
L-r: Milburn Stone as Doc Adams, James Arness as Matt Dillon, Amanda Blake as Kitty Russell, and Ken Curtis as Festus Haggen | CBS via Getty Images ‘Bonanza’ (1959-1973) L-r: Dan Blocker as Eric ‘Hoss’ Cartwright, Lorne Greene as Ben Cartwright, Pernell Roberts as Adam Cartwright, and Michael Landon as Joseph ‘Little Joe’ Cartwright | Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images
Bonanza first hit the air in 1959, a few years after Gunsmoke first established its legs among Western shows. The story follows...
- 2/28/2023
- by Jeff Nelson
- Showbiz Cheat Sheet
It would be difficult to understate just how enormous "Rawhide" was when it debuted in 1959. Directories of TV ratings at the time revealed that "Rawhide" remained in the top 30 most-watched TV shows from its start through its fifth season, peaking at number 6 in its third. The show ran for eight years, and its theme song — performed by Frankie Laine — has been branded into the brains of anyone who has heard it. "Keep them doggies movin'" will cause many to break into song. Notably, one of the lyrics was "Don't try to understand 'em. Just rope an' throw an' brand 'em. Soon we'll be living high and wide." For those weaned on reruns in the 1980s, "Rawhide" was often discussed in hushed tones by the older generations.
"Rawhide" followed the many adventures of cattle ranchers in the Old West. It was a working-class show about the salt-of-the-earth cowboys that formed the American foundation.
"Rawhide" followed the many adventures of cattle ranchers in the Old West. It was a working-class show about the salt-of-the-earth cowboys that formed the American foundation.
- 2/22/2023
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
Actor Clint Eastwood would have a very different career if it weren’t for A Fistful of Dollars. It was his first leading role in a feature film as the “Man with No Name,” who ultimately became a cultural phenomenon, continuing to influence today’s biggest movies. However, Eastwood could only accept the role because of a strict Rawhide contract condition.
Clint Eastwood played Rowdy Yates on ‘Rawhide’ for 6 years Clint Eastwood as Joe | Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images
Rawhide was a major part of American Western television, which starred Eric Fleming and Eastwood. It aired for eight seasons, running from 1959 until 1965, making it one of the longest-running series in the genre. Over its six years on television, it lasted an impressive 217 episodes.
Eastwood played Rowdy Yates, who assisted Gil Favor (Fleming), the trail boss of a cattle drive. This adventure allowed the characters to run into various characters and wild journeys along the way.
Clint Eastwood played Rowdy Yates on ‘Rawhide’ for 6 years Clint Eastwood as Joe | Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images
Rawhide was a major part of American Western television, which starred Eric Fleming and Eastwood. It aired for eight seasons, running from 1959 until 1965, making it one of the longest-running series in the genre. Over its six years on television, it lasted an impressive 217 episodes.
Eastwood played Rowdy Yates, who assisted Gil Favor (Fleming), the trail boss of a cattle drive. This adventure allowed the characters to run into various characters and wild journeys along the way.
- 2/17/2023
- by Jeff Nelson
- Showbiz Cheat Sheet
Clint Eastwood began his acting career in 1955, a year he would appear (uncredited) in the Universal monster movie "Revenge of the Creature" as well as the TV movie "Allen in Wonderland," wherein he played a hospital orderly. After four years of supporting roles and guest spots in movies and on TV, Eastwood landed his first notable starring role, playing the character of Rowdy Yates on the massively popular Western TV series "Rawhide." The hour-long drama debuted in January of 1959 and ran a then-unprecedented 217 episodes, finally going off the air in 1965.
"Rawhide" followed the many adventures of actual cowboys -- that is, the ones that handle cattle -- as they faced off against rustlers and other criminals. Rowdy Yates was the young hothead of the group and had to learn how to mature over the course of the series. Eastwood was 28 at the time but was already honing the type of...
"Rawhide" followed the many adventures of actual cowboys -- that is, the ones that handle cattle -- as they faced off against rustlers and other criminals. Rowdy Yates was the young hothead of the group and had to learn how to mature over the course of the series. Eastwood was 28 at the time but was already honing the type of...
- 1/3/2023
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
George Pal’s ill-fated ‘future docu’ followup to Destination Moon still stirs the imagination, rendering in vivid Technicolor the visionary images that amazed us in Chesley Bonestell’s paintings about space travel. We still love the movie even if we want to shove the script and whoever approved it out an airlock without a space helmet. It’s fun to pick it apart, but when Van Cleave’s trilling ‘spacey’ music plays we know we’re back in 1950s Sci-fi Nirvana, anticipating a techno-future of space marvels. [Imprint] gives the movie a classy Blu-ray showcase.
Conquest of Space
All-Region Blu-ray
Viavision [Imprint] #112
1955 / Color / 1:78 widescreen / 81 min. / Street Date April 6, 2022 / Available from /
Starring: Walter Brooke, Eric Fleming, Mickey Shaughnessy, Phil Foster, William Redfield, William Hopper, Benson Fong, Ross Martin, Vito Scotti, Joan Shawlee, Michael Fox, Rosemary Clooney.
Cinematography: Lionel Lindon
Art Directors: Hal Pereira, Joseph MacMillan Johnson
Film Editor: Everett Douglas
Original...
Conquest of Space
All-Region Blu-ray
Viavision [Imprint] #112
1955 / Color / 1:78 widescreen / 81 min. / Street Date April 6, 2022 / Available from /
Starring: Walter Brooke, Eric Fleming, Mickey Shaughnessy, Phil Foster, William Redfield, William Hopper, Benson Fong, Ross Martin, Vito Scotti, Joan Shawlee, Michael Fox, Rosemary Clooney.
Cinematography: Lionel Lindon
Art Directors: Hal Pereira, Joseph MacMillan Johnson
Film Editor: Everett Douglas
Original...
- 4/9/2022
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Normal 0 false false false En-us X-none X-none
By John M. Whalen
Kino Lorber, in its relentless effort to make forgotten, hard-to-find films available in superior, like-new condition, has released a Blu-Ray edition of the 1959 Weird Western, “Curse of the Undead,” the first movie ever to mix cowboys and vampires. The Weird Western, in case you’re not aware, is a sub-genre that combines the traditional western with elements of the supernatural, horror, or science fiction. They’ve been around for about 90 years, first appearing in print in the 1930s when Robert E. Howard, a pulp fiction writer from Texas, best known as the creator of Conan the Barbarian, wrote several short stories for Weird Tales and Argosy magazine that combined the traditional western with supernatural horror. Today a number of authors including Joe Lansdale, Heath Lowrance, Jonathan Mayberry, David West and even yours truly, have turned out Weird Western novels and short stories,...
By John M. Whalen
Kino Lorber, in its relentless effort to make forgotten, hard-to-find films available in superior, like-new condition, has released a Blu-Ray edition of the 1959 Weird Western, “Curse of the Undead,” the first movie ever to mix cowboys and vampires. The Weird Western, in case you’re not aware, is a sub-genre that combines the traditional western with elements of the supernatural, horror, or science fiction. They’ve been around for about 90 years, first appearing in print in the 1930s when Robert E. Howard, a pulp fiction writer from Texas, best known as the creator of Conan the Barbarian, wrote several short stories for Weird Tales and Argosy magazine that combined the traditional western with supernatural horror. Today a number of authors including Joe Lansdale, Heath Lowrance, Jonathan Mayberry, David West and even yours truly, have turned out Weird Western novels and short stories,...
- 1/16/2021
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Amazon Women on the Moon
Blu ray
Kino Lorber
1987 / 85 Min. / 1:85
Starring Lots of Actors
Cinematography by Daniel Pearl
Directed by Joe Dante, Carl Gottlieb, Peter Horton, John Landis, Robert K. Weiss
Mark Twain said “If you don’t like the weather in New England now, just wait a few minutes.” That applies just as well to 1987’s Amazon Women on the Moon, John Landis’s unofficial sequel to Kentucky Fried Movie and the bastard child of Joe Dante and Jon Davison’s The Movie Orgy. Like those back-handed tributes to the disreputable entertainments of our youth, Amazon Women is a smorgasbord of comedy skits, some served up just right and others pretty half-baked—but a judicious use of the remote control and patience rewards; overall the result is a good-natured vacation for the mind with three or four laugh-out-loud vaudeville sequences and a couple of bona-fide short-form classics. The...
Blu ray
Kino Lorber
1987 / 85 Min. / 1:85
Starring Lots of Actors
Cinematography by Daniel Pearl
Directed by Joe Dante, Carl Gottlieb, Peter Horton, John Landis, Robert K. Weiss
Mark Twain said “If you don’t like the weather in New England now, just wait a few minutes.” That applies just as well to 1987’s Amazon Women on the Moon, John Landis’s unofficial sequel to Kentucky Fried Movie and the bastard child of Joe Dante and Jon Davison’s The Movie Orgy. Like those back-handed tributes to the disreputable entertainments of our youth, Amazon Women is a smorgasbord of comedy skits, some served up just right and others pretty half-baked—but a judicious use of the remote control and patience rewards; overall the result is a good-natured vacation for the mind with three or four laugh-out-loud vaudeville sequences and a couple of bona-fide short-form classics. The...
- 11/10/2020
- by Charlie Largent
- Trailers from Hell
Now that October is officially underway, we have a brand new batch of Blu-rays and DVDs coming out tomorrow that would be perfect to add to your Halloween season viewing plans in the coming weeks. Rlje Films is keeping busy this Tuesday with The Pale Door and Yummy, and Arrow Video is showing some love to The Deeper You Dig this week as well. Tales from the Hood 3 is also headed to both Blu and DVD tomorrow, and for those of you who missed the fancier version this summer, there’s a new 4K release of Jaws coming our way, too.
Other home media releases for October 6th include Curse of the Undead, They Live Inside Us, The Face at the Window, The World is Full of Secrets, and Snow White: A Tale of Terror.
Curse of the Undead
Vampiric gunfighter Drake Robey goes West and terrorizes a small town.
Other home media releases for October 6th include Curse of the Undead, They Live Inside Us, The Face at the Window, The World is Full of Secrets, and Snow White: A Tale of Terror.
Curse of the Undead
Vampiric gunfighter Drake Robey goes West and terrorizes a small town.
- 10/6/2020
- by Heather Wixson
- DailyDead
Ride ’em, rope ’em, bite ’em? Is this ‘Dracula Goes West,’ or ‘Fangs of the High Chapparal?’ The fading Universal-International house of horrors squeaks out a bizarre horror item that one sits through just out of curiosity… are these people serious? We respect the professionalism of Michael Pate, Kathleen Crowley and Bruce Gordon as they give their all to a dead horse of a concept. A threadbare production stages us vampiric action so tame that it’s toothless, figuratively and literally. Critical snipers suggest that the whole thing might have been some kind of in-house joke — if so, where are the laughs?
Curse of the Undead
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1959 /B&w / 1:85 widescreen / 79 min. / Street Date October 6, 2020 / available through Kino Lorber / 24.95
Starring: Eric Fleming, Michael Pate, Kathleen Crowley, John Hoyt, Bruce Gordon, Edward Binns, Jimmy Murphy, Helen Kleeb, Jay Adler, Eddie Parker, Don Sullivan.
Cinematography: Ellis W. Carter
Film...
Curse of the Undead
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1959 /B&w / 1:85 widescreen / 79 min. / Street Date October 6, 2020 / available through Kino Lorber / 24.95
Starring: Eric Fleming, Michael Pate, Kathleen Crowley, John Hoyt, Bruce Gordon, Edward Binns, Jimmy Murphy, Helen Kleeb, Jay Adler, Eddie Parker, Don Sullivan.
Cinematography: Ellis W. Carter
Film...
- 9/29/2020
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Production in Tampa, Florida, set for January 2020 start.
Los Angeles based Oak Street Pictures is set to commence production on Nothing Like The Son, a drama based on real events stemming from Hurricane Maria that devastated Puerto Rico in late 2017, with Michael Keaton in the cast.
The coming-of-age story centres on Ray Bracero, who survives his senior year of high school alone and homeless, when his single mother is forced to return to Puerto Rico just before the 2017 hurricane, according to the Oak Street Pictures website, which says Keaton will star.
As he struggles with violence, love and the hope...
Los Angeles based Oak Street Pictures is set to commence production on Nothing Like The Son, a drama based on real events stemming from Hurricane Maria that devastated Puerto Rico in late 2017, with Michael Keaton in the cast.
The coming-of-age story centres on Ray Bracero, who survives his senior year of high school alone and homeless, when his single mother is forced to return to Puerto Rico just before the 2017 hurricane, according to the Oak Street Pictures website, which says Keaton will star.
As he struggles with violence, love and the hope...
- 12/18/2019
- by 55¦Chris Evans¦49¦
- ScreenDaily
It’s wacky, daffy and incredibly square, yet Frank Tashlin’s late career Doris Day romp has a certain gotta-watch interest factor: the male cast of clowns performs the sexist comedy well, and Ms. Day’s fantastic screen personality brightens everything. Space-age executive lothario Rod Taylor hires Doris just for romantic purposes, while Arthur Godfrey, John McGiver, Dom DeLuise, Edward Andrews, Paul Lynde and Dick Martin execute dated slapstick amid ‘futuristic’ gadgets from the days of Buck Rogers.
The Glass Bottom Boat
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1966 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 110 min. / Street Date March 26, 2019 / available through the WBshop / 21.99
Starring: Doris Day, Rod Taylor, Arthur Godfrey, John McGiver, Dom DeLuise,
Ellen Corby, Edward Andrews, Eric Fleming, Paul Lynde, Dick Martin.
Cinematography: Leon Shamroy
Film Editor: John McSweeney
Original Music: Frank DeVol
Written by Everett Freeman
Produced by Everett Freeman and Martin Melcher
Directed by Frank Tashlin
The great director Frank Tashlin is...
The Glass Bottom Boat
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1966 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 110 min. / Street Date March 26, 2019 / available through the WBshop / 21.99
Starring: Doris Day, Rod Taylor, Arthur Godfrey, John McGiver, Dom DeLuise,
Ellen Corby, Edward Andrews, Eric Fleming, Paul Lynde, Dick Martin.
Cinematography: Leon Shamroy
Film Editor: John McSweeney
Original Music: Frank DeVol
Written by Everett Freeman
Produced by Everett Freeman and Martin Melcher
Directed by Frank Tashlin
The great director Frank Tashlin is...
- 3/19/2019
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
“I hate her! I hate dat qveen!” Despite being one of the most maladroit sci-fiers of the ’50s, color and ‘scope and Zsa Za Gabor’s hilarious accent make this Allied Artists offering a must-see head scratcher. Bad taste! Tacky art direction! Infantile sexist humor! The word on the street is that the Me Too movement has this embarrassing howler on their kill list.
Queen of Outer Space
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1958 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 80 min. / Street Date September 25, 2018 / available through the WBshop / 21.99
Starring: Zsa Zsa Gabor, Eric Fleming, Laurie Mitchell, Dave Willock, Paul Birch, Lisa Davis, Patrick Waltz, Barbara Darrow, Joi Lansing, Marilyn Buferd, Mary Ford, Marya Stevens, Laura Mason, Lynn Cartwright, Kathy Marlowe, Coleen Drake, Tania Velia, Norma Young, Marjorie Durant, Gerry Gaylor, Brandy Bryan, Ruth Lewis, June McCall.
Cinematography: William P. Whitley
Film Editor: William Austin
Sam Gordon and Ted Mossman: Props
Visual Effects: Jack Cosgrove...
Queen of Outer Space
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1958 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 80 min. / Street Date September 25, 2018 / available through the WBshop / 21.99
Starring: Zsa Zsa Gabor, Eric Fleming, Laurie Mitchell, Dave Willock, Paul Birch, Lisa Davis, Patrick Waltz, Barbara Darrow, Joi Lansing, Marilyn Buferd, Mary Ford, Marya Stevens, Laura Mason, Lynn Cartwright, Kathy Marlowe, Coleen Drake, Tania Velia, Norma Young, Marjorie Durant, Gerry Gaylor, Brandy Bryan, Ruth Lewis, June McCall.
Cinematography: William P. Whitley
Film Editor: William Austin
Sam Gordon and Ted Mossman: Props
Visual Effects: Jack Cosgrove...
- 9/11/2018
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Have you got a hankering for old school Clint Eastwood Western goodness that an afternoon of rewatching the Dirty Harry movies just can't sate? Then you may want to consider investing in the recent slew of DVD releases of the classic series Rawhide which ran for eight seasons with consistently strong stories of conflict and justice in a life spent on the cattle trail. Supporting Eastwood's leading man Rowdy Yates was a cast that included Eric Fleming, James Murdock, Paul Brinegar, and Steve Raines, all of whom added their own flavor of rugged charm to the proceedings. The latest season to be released is the sixth (divided unnecessarily into two volumes) and it sees the series going strong for 31 episodes with a great ratio of strong episodes to forgettable ones including the series' first two-parter.
Read more...
Read more...
- 6/11/2013
- by Lex Walker
- JustPressPlay.net
It might be hard for modern audiences to fully appreciate the significance of the western to American culture; though a cornerstone of the genre in television, watching Rawhide nowadays might not do much to explain it. Airing for eight seasons in the middle of the golden era of the television western (1959 to 1966), Rawhide follows a troop of cowboys as they run herds of cattle up north in the 1860s. Square, clean-cut, and full of noble trumpet cues, the show is a relic of cold war Americana in which square-jawed heroes were all that separated civilization from total chaos. It’s commendable, but perhaps hopelessly dated.
In the fifth season of Rawhide (and nearly every season), the team, which is led by Gil (Eric Fleming), finds trouble en route to the northern stock yards (the fact that every episode begins with the word “Incident” belies the episodic nature of the program...
In the fifth season of Rawhide (and nearly every season), the team, which is led by Gil (Eric Fleming), finds trouble en route to the northern stock yards (the fact that every episode begins with the word “Incident” belies the episodic nature of the program...
- 10/2/2012
- by Anders Nelson
- JustPressPlay.net
Westerns. Horror films. Two great genres that go great together? You would think so. Westerns and horror films are, more than any American film genres I can think of, viscerally grounded in mortality, the vulnerability of human flesh and the primal drive of survival instinct. Whether facing wild animals or bloodthirsty monsters, cold-blooded gunfighters or psychotic madmen, roving bands of raiders or packs of zombies, the heroes of these films fight to live. "It feels like a natural connection. They're two of the most cinematic experiences that you have watching a movie," notes director J.T. Petty. He should know -- his film "The Burrowers," which was released on DVD yesterday, is the most recent and one of the most creative approaches to the horror western hybrid, a unsettling monster movie by way of "The Searchers."
Despite seeming ripe territory, there are relatively few horror westerns to speak of, but a...
Despite seeming ripe territory, there are relatively few horror westerns to speak of, but a...
- 4/22/2009
- by Sean Axmaker
- ifc.com
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