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When "Cheyenne" debuted on 9/20/1955, "The Lone Ranger" had already been running for six seasons and had two more to go. Warner Brothers, specifically Jack Warner, tapped Clint Walker to be it's first TV Western hero, and raised the bar a considerable notch over the series made famous by Clayton Moore (and John Hart for one season). Walker was a no nonsense but laid back hero, almost droll by comparison with 'B' movie Western stars that preceded him, and that almost certainly added to his fame and popularity as Cheyenne.
The Season I DVD compilation includes all fifteen episodes of the series' first season 1955/56. Series guest star James Garner appeared in three of them, as many as L.Q. Jones, who portrayed Cheyenne's map making sidekick Smitty in three of the first four shows. Garner's character was different each time out. Other notable guests in the first season included Myron Healey, Dennis Hopper, Barton MacLane, and even a young Michael Landon in an uncredited appearance.
One of the interesting things about that first season is that two of the episodes were direct lifts of movies starring Humphrey Bogart. 'The Argonauts' (#1.3) swipes scenes and dialog from "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre" in a similar story of greedy gold prospectors, but at least credits B. Traven as the author of the novel on which both were based. However 'Fury at Rio Hondo' (#1.12) credits James Gunn with writing that story, but nowhere mentions Ernest Hemingway as the author of "To Have And Have Not". Once again, the story's plot and characters parallel the Bogart film; the Lauren Bacall role is handled by Peggie Castle, but she doesn't quite cut it as the sexy nineteen year old Bacall did in the original movie. For his part, Bodie was no Bogey.
On that score, Clint Walker was competent as the laconic drifter Cheyenne Bodie, but like George Reeves in "The Adventures of Superman" TV series, he didn't have a lot to work with, and didn't rise much above the material, unless you consider his six and a half foot stature. Don't get me wrong, I like both Walker and "Cheyenne" and enjoy the shows, but if you consider the acting, the best you can say is that it was uneven. And the episodes, some were almost comical trying to be serious. Consider Episode #1.11, 'Quicksand', in which Cheyenne challenges a Comanche Chief in a battle to the death in a bed of muck. They start out standing upright, and slowly start to sink inch by inch until each proves the point that they would rather die than be proved a coward. Then, when the Comanche chief mounts his horse to ride away, he's no longer covered by mud!
As big as Walker was, it's interesting to see him cast opposite actors who came close to him in size; Don Megowan comes to mind from Episode #1.13 - 'Star in the Dust', as a sheriff who hires Cheyenne on as a deputy. That's one example, but it happened with some regularity. Kind of makes you wonder where all those big bad guys came from in the Old West.
The Season I DVD set contains a nice 'Legacy of Cheyenne' feature in which the seventy nine year old Walker talks about his early life and 'discovery' by Van Johnson, who put him in touch with an agent. That contact eventually led to a role as a Sardinian Captain of the Guard in "The Ten Commandments". Warner Brothers took an interest based on that role, and bought his contract from producer Hal Wallis with the Cheyenne role in mind. Originally, the show aired as part of an anthology series on the ABC network; other posters on this board have done a nice job of outlining that history.
My favorite show of the series - Episode #7.1, debuting the 1962 season, titled "The Durango Brothers". Mama Hortense Durango (Ellen Corby) enlists her three renegade sons (Jack Elam, Charlie Briggs, and Mickey Simpson) to kidnap Cheyenne in order to marry him off to sister Lottie (Sally Kellerman!!!) - it's hilarious! Needless to say, Cheyenne finishes the show, the season and the series still single.
"Cheyenne" began a great Western tradition at ABC, to be followed not only by that network, but CBS and NBC as well. Not many though, could ride as tall in the saddle as the original, and Clint Walker can rest easy knowing that there aren't many TV heroes that are admired as much as Cheyenne Bodie.
*Addendum - posted 12/13/09 - From Episode #64, Season 4 - "Gold, Glory and Custer, Requiem" - Cheyenne Bodie's Indian name from the Southern Cheyenne is revealed to be 'Touch the Sky'. Seems more than appropriate.
score 8/10
classicsoncall 24 February 2007
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw1606319/ |
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25-10-2020 12:37:04