The Rebel

One of the best Western series of all time. Johnny Yuma, The Rebel took no grief from anybody and was quick to help the underdog defeat injustice. I personally like the on going feature of Johnny's writing in his journal of his travels and people he meet along the way. I am proud to have all 76 episodes in my VHS collection.

Character actor Nick Adams was an unlikely choice for the lead on an action TV series, particularly a western, where the genre was dominated by large fellows like Clint Walker and James Arness. The diminutive Adams played Johnny Yuma, a Confederate veteran who after the Civil War wanders the west. But whereas virtually all of the other cowboys who did precisely that on a nearly endless number of shows were simply looking for work, romance, or adventure, Yuma was trying to 'find himself.' He was a writer, and "Johnny Yuma's Journal" always remained a focal point of the series. More interesting still was that the title had three meanings: One one level, Johnny was indeed a rebel in that he was among the defeated Southerners; on another, he was being played by Nick Adams, who had co-starred with James Dean in REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE, and ABC made a great deal of the fact that, in an era of adult westerns, this was the first "teenage western" - though Adams was over thirty when he filmed the show, the idea was to bring a James Dean type character to television, if in the context of a western to avoid any possible controversy. Finally, there was at least a hint of Camus's THE STRANGER, a certain existential quailty to the character and the stark situations in which he found himself, that made this show vaguely philosophical, intentionally or otherwise. Much of the action took place at night, allowing this a certain noir sensibility not in evidence on any other western of the era. One wonderful element was the theme song, performed by the inimicable Johnny Cash: "Johnny Yuma, was a rebel; he roamed through the west." The show was a huge hit, particularly with teenagers, but ended up getting canceled when ABC entered into a hostile relationship with the company that produced The Rebel and cut off their nose to spite their face by canceling one of their top rated shows. Unlike most canceled series, which went immediately into syndication, the Rebel was picked up by NBC as a midseason replacement, though all those episodes were reruns. This move may have been an attempt to keep Nick Adams 'live' in the public consciousness, as they premiered his new series, Saints and Sinners (about a newspaperman) in the fall of 1962, though that series was a flop.

I've stumbled upon this series pretty accidentally, as it is not known at all in my country. But once I've started watching it, I got addicted immediately. Nowadays, these series seems a bit naive, but perhaps this is what's most attractive about it. It is not action-packed and the main protagonist is not a super-hero like most of them are today. But what's more important, The Rebel is about people. Just those common folk of the immediate post-Civil war era, with the country still getting back from being torn apart, their life and death, feelings, emotions, wrongs and rights. And, what I reckon, the main idea of the series is that no matter what, staying a MAN is what keeps us from going down the dark.

I also enjoy the setting of the 1860s - its a wild-wild-west with a touch of progress. Indians, former military men of both armies, criminals, corrupt law enforcement, rednecks and all other inhabitants of the American continent, make watching this series a very enjoyable experience.

It's 2022 and I'm watching the Johnny Yuma series with Nick Adams. The episodes are so well written for those times. Johnny is a very complex character writing a journal about his travels. Every episode has a compelling story and Johnny always says something I want to remember. He's small in stature but is every bit a hero and someone to look up to. There are not enough series today that are as good as this one. Every episode tells us something brand new about the human spirit. It's filled with ingenuity and excitement. Every gal can fall in love with Johnny Yuma, I sure did. Today's TV has become very predictable and each show repeats the same plot. Thanks ROKU for all your excellent vintage shows when screen writers could write.

Nick Adams starred in this post Civil War western The Rebel and unlike many series was the one and only cast member. Johnny Yuma went west to do a bit of soul searching. Fighting on the losing side will have you analyzing yourself a lot. And he kept a journal of his travels.

His life might have been a lot easier had he worn traditional cowboy attire. But every week there was Adams in part f his Confederate uniform. Would have saved him a lot grief but then about half the episodes in the two year run would have disappeared. And Adams was always playing young men with a chip on their shoulder.

he Rebel lasted two seasons and was faithfully watched by my Ukranian grandparents because they liked to see a nice Ukranian kid like Nick Adams make good. That he did but he died way too young.