Cheyenne

When it comes to vintage American television shows from the glorious 1950s - It's the Westerns, in particular, that appeal to my preference for overall viewing.

And, with that said - It's definitely "Cheyenne" that gets my enthusiastic vote as being right up there in the top 5 of the all-time best.

And, of course, it goes without saying that actor, Clint Walker (1927-2018) was the absolute epitome of the big, burly, no-nonsense cowboy who could always be counted on to bring about fair-minded justice and put all of those mean and ornery sidewinders and saddle-tramps in their proper place.

Running 107 episodes, from 1955 through 1963, "Cheyenne" was one of the first "television" productions from the Warner Brothers film studio. Clint Walker plays the title character, an ex-frontier scout who was raised by Cheyenne Indians after his parents were killed.

Cheyenne Bodie roams the West in the days after the Civil War, having adventures and helping folks out. The tall laconic hero would eventually become television's quintessential loner but actually started out with a sidekick named Smitty (L.Q. Jones) who was a mapmaker. Cheyenne and Smitty do mapping work for the Army and in this occupation stumble across the people who make up each episode's story.

The current DVD set covers the 15 episodes from Season One and includes a recent interview with Clint Walker called "The Lonely Gunfighter: The Legacy of Cheyenne". The reason there are only 15 episodes is because "Cheyenne" was only broadcast every third week, being part of an anthology series called "Warner Brothers Presents" which also included "Casablanca" (with Marcel Dalio) and "King's Row" (with Robert Horton and Jack Kelly). In subsequent seasons the anthology would feature shows like "Conflict", "Sugarfoot", and "Bronco Lane".

Contrary to popular belief, the episodes on the 1st season DVD have not been abbreviated. Although they run less that the normal 50 minutes (60 minutes minus commercials) it is because the original broadcasts took some additional minutes for Warner Brothers to use in promoting their coming attractions; with a behind the scenes look at one of their soon to be released features.

Also unique to the first season was an attempt to add scale to the stories by inserting a lot of stock footage of cattle drives, Indian attacks, and huge wagon trains. In general they did a better job than most "B" westerns of matching this footage to the back lot and sound stage stuff featuring the actual cast of each episode. But this technique and the busy schedule was a nightmare for the editors. The first episode "Mountain Fortress" includes a particularly amusing continuity issue. Watch how the sergeant and the trooper are killed early in an Indian attack, then magically reappear in a subsequent group shot. Most likely the editors noticed the problem but there was not time to re-shoot the scene with the correct cast.

At least two episodes take actual movie plots and retell them in a Western setting. "Fury at Rio Hondo" is a retelling of "To Have and to Have Not" with Peggy Castle outstanding in the Lauren Bacall role. "The Argonaunts" is a retelling of "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre" and features Rod Taylor.

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

Lots of TV westerns had a wanderer as the protagonist hero. You could write a limitless variety of stories that way. Cheyenne with its laconic hero Cheyenne Bodie was the first of many westerns that Warner Brothers produced for television. Clint Walker, all 6'7" inches of him was an ideal cowboy hero. Unlikely he'd ever be cast with John Wayne because the Duke liked looking up to nobody.

Walker was in fact more suggestive of Gary Cooper than Wayne. If he had been born 20 years earlier he would have been a great B picture cowboy hero. In fact it was Warner Brothers who realized that the B western did not die, but moved to television. Cheyenne was the first of a dozen or so westerns that Warner Brothers did for television. The most successful of which was Maverick because it's star James Garner had the biggest career undoubtedly.

When Cheyenne ended its run Walker found that westerns on the big screen were in eclipse. Possibly he should have looked for another television series. His best known big screen movie role was one of The Dirty Dozen.

Too bad Cheyenne was not done in color. It would get a lot of run on the TV nostalgia channels. As for Walker his Cheyenne Bodie was a jack of all western trades and did them all in Cheyenne's run.

Clint Walker was a model cowboy hero and deserves to be remembered as such.

I have had a "crush" on this man ever since I saw the first "Cheyenne" TV show - I am now 62 years old and I still remember the goose bumps I would get just looking at him. And that voice - when I grew older I would pretend that he would whisper "sweet nothings" in my ear. The only reason I watched the show was to look at him - I couldn't tell you what any of the shows were about - but I remember him. I guess you could say that he was my first love. And to think that he used to live not far from me!!! Who knew???? The only other TV star that ever made me feel that way was Gardner McKay of "Adventures in Paradise". Talk about two opposites!

In commerating the Golden 50th Anniversary of this program,the series "Cheyenne" was one of the first television series produced by a major film studio of the era,and one of five western-adventure shows from Warner Brothers,and a couple dozen of other shows they did for the studio,which not only made Warners a household name,but also was the pinnacle status of the success of the American Broadcasting Company(that MADE that network)from the mid 1950's to the early 1960's under the stewardship of Executive Producer William T. Orr and the creative genius of Roy Huggins,who were also later on the driving force behind the Warner Brothers detective shows(in which all were on the same network)during that same period.

"Cheyenne" was the first TV-western produced by the studio,and it is the most fondly remembered of TV's "Golden Age Of Westerns",and it was the driving force behind this show that Warners produced four more Westerns after the success of "Cheyenne". This show was a huge hit for ABC-TV at the time mostly because of its star,Clint Walker as the title character. It also brought out other westerns as well that followed including James Garner as "Maverick" which premiered in 1957,and continued through 1962,producing 124 episodes. Then that same year Will Hutchins star as "Sugarfoot"(1957-1961),which produced 61 episodes,then afterwards in 1958 came Ty Hardin as "Bronco"(1958-1962), which produced 68 episodes,not to mention the action-adventure short-lived series titled "The Alaskans" with Roger Moore,which ran from 1959 through 1960,producing 37 episodes. There were other Westerns as well that Warners produced during the mid-1960's as well especially with the Western satire spoof "F-Troop" which premiered in 1965 producing 37 episodes which ran until 1967,and the last of Warner Brothers Westerns came that same year in 1965 with Christopher Jones in "The Legend of Jesse James",which lasted one season. It is to note here that out of all the Warner Brothers produced Westerns that had the longest-running stanza out of all of them,"Cheyenne" remained on ABC-TV for eight seasons,producing 108 episodes running from its debut in 1955 to the final episode of the series in 1963. Only "Maverick" became the second longest-running Western for the studio,which debut in 1957 and ended in 1962,withstood a five-year run.

What set "Cheyenne" apart from other TV-westerns of their day? First off,there were different sets of elements that were found of other shows but this one was totally the opposite and above the competition in which lay the foundation for the casting of Clint Walker as Cheyenne Brodie. Clint Walker's character was a good-looking fellow with a 48-inch chest(which seems to get bared at least once in every episode)who didn't succeed just on his acting ability,which was passable.The only thing that was successful was the action scenes in which Cheyenne would be fighting ruthless outlaws,savage Indians,and even deadly gunslingers who may have there way with him,but Cheyenne didn't back down from any fight,and because of his massive size,he could tackle any man while still have the aura of a "gentle giant". Even with the "beefcake" scenes had an non-threatening quality about them since television and what was to be shown on television had to go through the censors was about as riveting as they could get,but lets face it,"Cheyenne" delivered the goods and then some with more Westerb action and adventure then it could handle thanks to the starring presence of Clint Walker especially with the unique qualities that he brought to this series.

"Cheyenne" also brought out some of the most special guest stars ever assembled and some of them,like per se James Garner,would go on to make a name for himself years later on his own WB-produced series, "Maverick". And not to mention others like Micheal Landon,Peter Graves, and others that were on the adventure set each week. In all a great series from TV's Golden Age.

Happy Golden 50th Anniversary CHEYENNE