Cheyenne

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.

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!

Cheyenne was one of the original three (along with Gunsmoke and The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp) 'adult' westerns to hit TV in the fall of 1955, kicking off a trend that would dominate all three networks for the next five or six years, until the once original concept turned to formula and all the fun went out of the genre owing to overexposure. In truth, there was no one quite like Clint Walker - to say that he was tall in the saddle is to understate the case. Like Fess Parker as Davy Crockett (on the same network, ABC) one year earlier, his huge physical stature but gentle country voice won him instant stardom and, adult western or no, the hero of every kid in America. Actually, Cheyenne wasn't a series in the true sense during its first season, but broadcast one out of every three weeks as part of an anthology called WARNER BROS. PRESENTS. The other two entries were King's Row with Robert Horton and Jack Kelly (soon to reappear on Wagon Train and Maverick) and Casablanca, a take off on the old Bogart movie of that name. Immediately, the ratings for Cheyenne went through the roof while the other two just sat there. By mid-season they were gone and Cheyenne was seen on reruns every week through the summer. Two things about that first season: though the show ran an hour, each episode was not a normal hour length installment (50 mins.) but between five and ten minutes less than that, owing to 'behind the scenes' previews of upcoming WB movies. Also, this was the only season when Cheyenne had a sidekick, played by L.Q. Jones, later a regular in the Sam Peckinpah stock company. One last thing about the opening season - the episodes were far more spectacular than any to follow, as WB actually did mini remakes of big budget western films, using the stock footage from them and simply replacing whoever had starred with Clint. So the feature film Charge at Feather River with Guy Madison became West of the River with Clint. The Indian charge is identical in both. Most of us didn't know anything about stock footage then and were under the impression (for a while) that WB was knocking out a major league western for TV every three weeks. When Cheyenne came back in 1956, it was a full hour, no sidekick, and ran every other week, alternating with CONFLICT, mostly composed of pilots for possible future WB shows. the next year, Conflict was gone and Sugarfoot with Will Hutchins became the rotating item with Cheyenne, this western also quickly becoming a hit. The following year, Cheyenne was on the air but Clint wasn't. He'd left WB in a salary dispute. So the weirdest thing happen - Cheyenne ran with no Cheyenne in sight, rather Ty Hardin as Bronco Lane. When Walker returned the following fall, Cheyenne shifted to Monday (often, it ran weekly now) with Bronco and Sugarfoot rotating on Tuesdays. By this time, the western was playing out, so both Sugarfoot and Bronco were absorbed into Cheyenne, the package now called "The Cheyenne Show," each of the three seen once every three weeks. In one episode, all three were together. Then Sugarfoot was dropped and Cheyenne and Bronco rotated. By this time, the heyday of the western was over. Warner Bros. replaced Cheyenne late in 1963 with another western, Badlands, which lasted less than half a year. And, in truth, during its final two or three seasons, Cheyenne was awfully routine, in terms of scripting, direction, etc. But that first season was a real winner, and the next two or three were strong too. Worth catching again at least those heyday episodes.

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.

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.