Wanted Dead or Alive (TV series)

(48) Classic TV Theme: Wanted Dead or Alive (Steve McQueen) – YouTube

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Wanted Dead or Alive is an American Western television series starring Steve McQueen as the bounty hunter Josh Randall. It aired on CBS for three seasons in 1958–61. The black-and-white program was a spin-off of a March 1958 episode of Trackdown, a 1957–59 western series starring Robert Culp. Both series were produced by Four Star Television in association with CBS Television.^[1]

The series made McQueen, known for the concept of “cool” in entertainment,^[1] a television star; he would later cross over into comparable status on the big screen, making him the first TV star to do so.^[2]

Contents

• 1Synopsis
• 2Episodes
  • 2.1Series overview
  • 2.2Season 1 (1958–59)
  • 2.3Season 2 (1959–60)
  • 2.4Season 3 (1960–61)
• 3Production
  • 3.1Filming
  • 3.2Writing
  • 3.3Music
  • 3.4Guest stars
  • 3.5Colorized version
• 4Reception
  • 4.1Ratings
  • 4.21987 film
  • 4.3Home media
• 5Notes
• 6References
• 7External links

Synopsis[edit]

Mare’s Leg and holster

Josh Randall (McQueen) is a Confederate veteran and bounty hunter with a soft heart. He often donates his earnings to the needy and helps his prisoners if they have been wrongly accused.Randall pleads with a mother (Virginia Gregg) to obtain medical treatment for her son. (1959)

Randall carries a shortened Winchester Model 1892 rifle called the “Mare’s Leg” in a holster patterned after “gunslinger” rigs then popular in movies and television.^{[3][self-published source]} Randall can draw and fire his weapon with blazing speed. Three Mare’s Legs were used in the series, differing in the shape of the lever and the barrel.

Although Randall is a bounty hunter, he doesn’t chase and capture only men on wanted posters. He also settles a family feud, frees unjustly jailed or sentenced men, helps an amnesia victim recover his memory, and finds missing husbands, sons, fathers, a fiancée, a suitor, a daughter who had been captured many years earlier by Indians, an Army deserter, a pet sheep, and even Santa Claus. This variety, as well as his pursuit of justice and not just money, contributed to the show’s attraction and popularity.^[4]

Except for a few episodes at the beginning of the series, Randall rode an energetic horse named Ringo.^[3] Beginning with 1959/ Season I Episode 36- “Amos Carter”, actor (Wright King) would appear in a supporting role to Edgard Buchanan & Arthur Hunnicut.

Several later episodes in 1960 included a sidekick named Jason Nichols (Wright King), an eager young deputy sheriff turned bounty hunter. He and Randall worked well together on-screen, sharing a chemistry that many viewers enjoyed. By the start of the third season, Nichols had been dropped. The episode called “The Partners”, where Nichols killed three men that Randall felt could have been taken alive, is often considered the episode that broke up the partnership, although that was actually only the second episode with Wright King and long before the last episode he appeared in.^[5]

Three hard mother-grabbin’ years, but I learned my trade and it gave me discipline. McQueen, commenting about his experience on the series.^[6]

Episodes[edit]

Series overview[edit]

Season 1 (1958–59)[edit]

Season 2 (1959–60)[edit]