Cimarron Strip

When Cimarron Strip first aired I was a young girl of 14. The theme music was wonderful. I would literally sit on the edge of my seat waiting to hear the beginning notes. Stuart Whitman was my first and only TV crush. He epitomized what all western heroes should be, from the way he walked, talked, and wore his black hat. Isn't it funny what stays in you subconscious. I loved him then, and love him still. After all these years I hope he knows what a difference he made in my life. Coincidently my husband grew-up watching Cimarron Strip also. He recalls that he and his brother would pretend to ride the family ottoman as their trusty steed, as Stuart Whitman did in the beginning and the ending of the show.

Marshal Jim Crown (Stuart Whiman of Los Comancheros) must enforce the law in the strip of land lying between Kansas Territory and Indian territory in the late nineteenth century. He is accompanied by the stubborn , grizzled Scottish MacGregor (Percy Herbert of Navarone Guns and The Bridge on the River Kwai) and the likeable writer/photographer , Francis Wilde (the famous singer Randy Boone). Along with charming Easterner Dulcey (Jill Towsend of Poldark) who has inherited an inn , saloon restaurant from her late father .

This western adventure contains noisy action , horse pursuits , suspense and a lot of crossfire . The saga of Western life takes an exciting new dimension with Stuart Whitman as an implacable sheriff who delivers peace and order . It is set in Cimarron Strip : a stretch of land located between the Kansas Territory and land owned and occupied by Indian . Furhtermore , Cimarron Strip is full of its share of murderers , rustlers , gamblers , among others . As the sympathetic protagonists become involved in several threats , such as Indian attacks , stranger visitors with dark purports , bank robbers and range wars was always bubbling just beneath the surface . It was shown by CBS in 1971 , three years after it had been canceled and got success enough . It was a nice TV Western , a genre that on the cinema spectacle's tarnished but in television got splendor during the Sixties thanks to successful series as The Virginian , Bonanza , Wagon Train , Maverick , The High Chaparral . An unusual ninety-minute western series , formed by 23 episodes with a good main and support cast . Stars Stuart Whitman as two-fisted , but fair Marshal Jim Crown , assigned one of the West's toughest territories , he dedicates himself to taming the no-man's land known as Cimarron Strip . The agreeable quartet starring : Stuart Whitman , Percy Herbert , Randy Boone , Jill Towsend are supported by an important secondary cast as guest stars , such as : Telly Savalas , David Carradine , John Saxon , Steve Forrest, Warren Oates , Robert J. Wilke , William Bramley , Richard Farnsworth , LQ Jones , Albert Salmi , Mariette Hartley , Robert Lansing , Mark Lenard , James Stacy , Tuesday Weld , John Anderson , Lyle Bettger , Robert Duvall , Royal Dano and many others.

It displays a catching musical leitmotif by the prestigious Maurice Jarre ,who won three Academy Awards for his notorious soundtracks : Lawrence Arabia , Doctor Zhivago , Passage to India . The enjoyable series created by Christopher Knopf was well directed by good professionals and craftsmen, such as : Robert Butler , Lamont Johnson , Don Medford , Boris Sagal , Richard C. Sarafian , Sam Wanamaker, Herschel Daugherty , Vincent McEveety , Gerald Mayer , Bernard McEveety.

This was a great series featuring the tough but tender Jim Crown. Plenty of action and gunplay kept the stories interesting each week. One year a friend and I kept count of the men Crown killed as compared to Matt Dillon. I don't remember which marshall came out on top, but the difference was only 2 bodies. I didn't miss an episode of this one, not only because Jim Crown was so cool, but I also liked looking at "Biscuit". Of course, MacGregor was always good for a laugh or two. Great show.

The 23 (90 minute) episodes of the CBS television western "Cimarron Strip" were originally broadcast during the 1967-68 television season, running from 7:30PM to 9PM on Thursday nights. In 1967 a 90-minute time slot seemed reasonable as "The Virginian" (1962-1971) had enjoyed considerable success with this expanded running length; 248 episodes in total. And before that "Wagon Train" made a portion of its episodes this long. Unfortunately for "Cimarron Strip", by 1967 the television western was on its way out and viewers never really warmed up to the show.

Unlike "The Virginian" and "Wagon Train", "Cimarron Strip" is not structured in the anthology style, a format better suited to the longer format because it emphasizes guest stars and a large cast of intermittently appearing characters. If anything "Cimarron Strip" went to the other extreme, focusing on only two regular characters and a single theme; the other regular cast members rarely appear in anything more than supporting roles.

While this narrow focus is a poor match to the longer running length, it is also what makes the series so special. If not television's all-time best western, "Cimarron Strip" is certainly the most ambitious. The episodes are set in the 1880's and revolve around the interplay between Marshall Jim Crown (Stuart Whitman) and Dulcey Coopersmith (Jill Townsend). Crown is a somewhat world-weary lawman tasked with maintaining law and order in the vast Cimarron Strip (named after the Cimarron River and comprising parts of Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, and New Mexico). Dulcey is a compassionate and caring young woman from the East who has inherited (from her father) the local inn; a combination saloon, boarding house, and jail.

Dulcey's innocence and goodness inspire the otherwise disillusioned Marshall, who in turn protects her from what he can and tries to put the rest in perspective for her. Dulcey is obviously symbolic of the arrival of civilizing forces to the frontier but in a larger sense she represents the loss of innocence process anywhere and anytime. The series is in many ways her coming of age story. It doesn't hurt that Townsend is hauntingly beautiful, with a refreshing natural look and a hair-style that swept the country during and after the premiere of the series.

Moral ambiguity is the other regular theme, with guest stars often redeeming themselves with a final act of personal responsibility. Typically these characters are portrayed as individuals who have had to subordinate their basic goodness in order to survive in this tough environment.

Almost every episode included several top quality and well-known guest stars, whose performances were always up to the task.

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

One of the finest westerns ever shown on television! Marshall Crown, the hero, was true, gritty, keen-thinking. The villains were believable,often complex, not the "cardboard cutouts" featured in modern TV shows.

The scenery was breath-taking, especially the opening sequence of Crown riding his horse across a broad vista of stark beauty, as the theme song, the BEST EVER for a TV western, soars majestically through the horse's dusty wake.

A wonderful supporting cast -- Dulcey, MacGregor, and Francis --added just the right touch to Crown's character, "softening or hardening" his edge as the situation demanded. Sadly, it lasted only one season. They don't make 'em like this any more!