Due to recent, extended absence, let’s cover six months of archive TV (and some classic film) viewing at Chez Chrissie! The previous entry is here…
The Rifleman seasons 2-5 (DVD)
Law of the Plainsman season 1 (download)
Naked City seasons 3-4 (DVD)
Johnny Ringo season 1 (download)
Branded seasons 1-2 (DVD)
Mike Hammer (1958) season 1 (download)
Doctor Who serials “The Space Museum” and “The Chase” (DVD)
A teary farewell to The Rifleman, of course, and indeed we tore through Chuck Connors’s follow-up show Branded in short order too. Though a good series, it wasn’t quite on a par with the earlier show, perhaps because it lacked the strong family dynamic of Lucas McCain and son Mark, with Paul Fix (as Micah Torrance) taking a surrogate grandtherly role.
Also very sad to see the end of Naked City, which largely sustained its high quality throughout, even if the final series went a bit off-the-wall in some ways. And lest we forget, the first episode of season 4 (“Hold For Gloria Christmas”), shot in the summer of 1962, shows a newsstand behind Burgess Meredith proudly displaying Amazing Fantasy #15 and Journey into Mystery #83!
In terms of crime shows, we’ve been working through the first season of The Untouchables (1959), as well as the first and only season of 87th Precinct. Most recently, we started watching season 1 of the David Janssen classic The Fugitive—and comedy-wise, we’ve been revisiting season 1 of The Munsters!
As to westerns, though we have no episodic shows currently on schedule, film-wise we’ve watched a slew of the things—too many to list, but I’ll mention a few…
Stagecoach (1939) (DVD)
The Man Who Shot Liberty Vallance (1962) (Blu-ray)
True Grit (1969 and 2010) (DVD/Blu-ray)
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) (Blu-ray)
The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970) (DVD)
Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973) (DVD)
Oh, so which version of True Grit?
Well, I gather the 2010 Coen Brothers movie is closer to the Charles Portis novel. John Wayne and Jeff Bridges both make terrific but quite different Rooster Cogburns. Glenn Campbell and Matt Damon are about the same as LaBoeuf, in my view, even if most people are more critical of Campbell (as if Damon is some great thespian!) (NO). Hailee Steinfeld, to me, gives a more obviously 21st Century performance as Mattie compared to Kim Darby, but she is actually the correct age (14 vs Darby’s 21). The 1969 movie has more sentiment, the 2010 movie has more realism. I’m giving it a close tie right now, but… but… 1969 also has in the cast Robert Duvall, Dennis Hopper, Strother Martin and Jeff Corey, amongst others. Of note in 2010, there’s also Josh Brolin.
The cast alone gives it to 1969. Maybe I’m biased. I think actors were generally more interesting in the ’60s than in the 21st Century.
As well as Butch Cassidy, we revisited the other Newman-Redford classic, 1973’s The Sting, as part of a mini Paul Newman season that also featured 1961’s The Hustler and, earlier in the year, 1967’s Hombre.
In a couple of bursts, starting last year and finishing up in the summer, all five Planet of the Apes movies were revisited! The first one is absolutely the uncontested best (and one of the all-time best movies, period), but while the sequels grew increasingly flaky, they all have worthwhile qualities, and are certainly more fun than Tim Burton’s 2001 abomination…
(The 2010s series of three Apes movies, in case you wondered, rate as OK in my book. I really don’t enjoy rampant CGI, so they lose points for that reason alone.)
Hi Chrissie,
I’m pretty much in agreement with you on your choices. I enjoyed both True Grits but also veer a little more to the original, love the first Planet of the Apes (I have a fond memory of seeing it when it first came out with my brother John and cousin Jack) and find things to enjoy in the sequels (although I wish Charlton Heston would have been the centerpiece of the second film) and greatly enjoy The Rifleman, Naked City, The Untouchables and the Fugitive. So many great performances, strong writing, cinematography, etc. I’ve recently been rewatching another QM production that I hadn’t seen in years – The Invaders. Quite an intriguing show. I only wish it would have had a real conclusion like the Fugitive.
Coincidentally, The Invaders has now joined the roster, although we do not have a copy (as yet) of the two-part sequel / reboot tv movie featuring Scott Bakula, with Roy Thinnes dropping in to tie the continuity together.
Regarding the original show’s cancellation, Thinnes told the LA Times in 1995: “We were prepared to go on for a third season and, during a hiatus, suddenly everything was cancelled. The ratings were fairly respectable at that time.” Thinnes suggested it was a “political decision”: “Just about everything Quinn Martin had on at that time was cancelled.”