7.6 /10 1 Votes
7.2/10 TV No. of episodes 10 First episode date 8 October 1972 Number of episodes 10 | 8.1/10 IMDb Country of origin USA Final episode date 7 April 1974 Number of seasons 2 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Producer(s) Douglas BentonHarold Jack Bloom Cast Similar The NBC Mystery Movie, Cimarron Strip, McMillan & Wife, Slattery's People, He's the Mayor | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hec ramsey pilot
Hec Ramsey is a television Western starring Richard Boone, a creation of Jack Webb's production company, Mark VII Limited in association with Universal Studios, broadcast in the United States by NBC as part of the NBC Mystery Movie wheel show during the 1972-73 and 1973-74 seasons.
Contents
Overview
This series was groundbreaking in that it was the first television Western set in the days when the Old West was fading, the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century. Producer Jack Webb considered the series "Dragnet meets John Wayne," and critics picked up on that. The scripts balanced authentic "modern" investigative methods of the 1900s-era "Old West" with action and adventure.
Hec Ramsey stars Richard Boone as Hector "Hec" Ramsey, a gunfighter and lawman who developed a strong interest in the emerging field of forensics. He still carried a firearm, but had traded his low-slung "gunfighter" rig for a single-action Army-type revolver with a short barrel, carried in a cavalry draw holster. However, his most important "weapons" were now fingerprinting equipment, magnifying lenses, scales, and other equipment which allowed him to determine the real perpetrators of crimes with greater accuracy than had previously been possible.
Ramsey, having recently become expert with his new equipment, accepts the position of deputy police chief in the fictional town of New Prospect, Oklahoma. He learns that the chief of police, Oliver B. Stamp (Rick Lenz), is a very young, very inexperienced lawman who needs help. Stamp is aware of his inexperience, and after some initial friction, the two men develop a strong working relationship. They are frequently accompanied by a colorful local doctor, Amos Coogan (frequent Webb collaborator Harry Morgan).
Despite good ratings, Hec Ramsey was canceled after two seasons following unresolvable disagreements between Boone and Universal Studios. Douglas Benton and Harold Jack Bloom were the producers; Jack Webb was executive producer.
Guest stars in the series' 10 episodes included: Claude Akins, R.G. Armstrong, Rory Calhoun, Jackie Cooper (in "Dead Heat"), Angie Dickinson, Steve Forrest, Pat Hingle, Kim Hunter, Rita Moreno, Sheree North, Ruth Roman, Kurt Russell (in "Scar Tissue"), Stella Stevens, Stuart Whitman (in "A Hard Road to Vengeance"), Chill Wills, Marie Windsor (in "Mystery of the Green Feather"), and Keenan Wynn.