Trackdown

This, along with Wanted Dead or Alive, was one of the better written and scripted of the routine weekly western TV dramas that glutted late 1950s TV.

Robert Culp was unique in his character of Hobie Gilman. Gilman looked for the moral justice behind each situation he found himself in. It was not just 30 minutes of chase 'em and shoot 'em.

Interestingly, Steve McQueen got his first shot at a TV series by playing Josh Randall on an episode of Track Down. His spin off series Wanted Dead or Alive was also a unique series, and launched another great actor's career.

By today's standards, yes, most of the 1950s westerns were formulaic. But if you have the time to catch a group of them for comparison, Track Down stands out. Culp is a great actor, as subsequently shown in every piece of work he did later on.

This show while not as well known as bonanza, gunsmoke, rawhide, or the rifleman may be the best of the classic TV westerns. In fact, as much as I like Richard Boone as a show I believe Trackdown is superior to have gun will travel. In thirty minutes you generally have a complex story, well acted, with some moral ambiguity to it. Of course Robert Culp makes the show work in a way few others could, but all in all one of the few fifties shows that still holds up sixty years later.

An obvious vehicle for Culp, "Trackdown" was on the cutting edge of the 'adult' western. Culp's character, Hoby Gilman comes off as a hip Texas Ranger-kind of a cross between Sunset Strips Kooky, and Dragnet's Joe Friday! By today's standards, routine, at the time it was must viewing.

This show's character was a major departure for standard western characterizations of the late 1950's. And the individual solely responsible for that swing in characterization was the series star, Robert Culp.

Culp played the show's lead character, Texas Ranger Hobey Gillman, as a hip, cool dude; somewhat reminiscent of the then running top rated detective series, Peter Gunn.

Culp gave the character a cool walk 'hip-diddy' walk, and spoke his lines as though he'd taken his responses off the top of his head and, basically, without any thought whatsoever before doing so. He was even cool when someone had the drop on him, or when he outdrew the bad guy. He was just plain 'cool'.

Robert Culp sharpened this image during his tenure in his first television starring role and vehicle. He then deftly transferred it, intact, to the character Kelly Robinson in the 1965 TV espionage hit, "I Spy."

In that top rated series in which he starred with acting newcomer Bill Cosby, to this day, many fans of the show felt that it was Culp's acting demeanor that gave the show it's real appeal.

Unfortunately, Cosby's being the first Black in a television series in a lead role, stole the show from him. Cosby became the viewer draw.

Culp was initially hired to be the 'lead' star in the series, but in the last three years of its run, Cosby was the everyone talked about even though, clearly, he was not the veteran or polished actor Cosby was.

In the final two years, Cosby was even paid more for his participation than Culp was, which did not come out until some ten or more years after the series ended.

Regardless, the series was a good one for its time, even though now quite dated to a younger generation who know little of and care less about the 'Cold War' period of history.

Durring the years when so much of US programming was taken up by Western shows there were many good 'oaters' and this was one of my faves. I was thrilled, then when one year when it was running my Dad took me to the Texas State Prison Rodeo in Huntsville, Texas and the featured entertainment that weekend was Robert Culp appearing as his 'Trackdown' personna. There is not much available on DVD of this show all these years later but I did find one disc with 10 episodes. Video tranfer is so-so but not unwatchable, from ATI Inc Audio Tape Inc).