8.2 /10 1 Votes
8.3/10 TV Country of origin United States First episode date 6 September 1958 | 8.2/10 IMDb Original language(s) English Final episode date 29 March 1961 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Theme music composer William Loose (first season), Herschel Burke Gilbert (second and third seasons) Similar Trackdown, The Rifleman, Rawhide, Johnny Ringo, Bonanza | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Wanted dead or alive episode 1 opening
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.
Contents
- Wanted dead or alive episode 1 opening
- Wanted dead or alive trailer
- Synopsis
- Guest stars
- Ratings
- Colorized version
- 1987 film
- DVD releases
- References
The series launched McQueen, known for the concept of "cool" in entertainment, as the first television star to cross over into comparable status on the big screen.
Wanted dead or alive trailer
Synopsis
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 carries a shortened Winchester Model 1892 carbine called the "Mare's Leg" in a holster patterned after "gunslinger" rigs then popular in movies and television. 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.
Except for a few episodes at the beginning of the series, Randall rode a horse named Ringo.
Several episodes in 1960 included a sidekick named Jason Nichols (Wright King), a deputy sheriff turned bounty hunter. He and Randall worked well together on-screen, sharing a chemistry audiences 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.
Guest stars
Dyan Cannon billed as Diane Cannon daughter of magician Season 2- Episode 52.
Wright King appeared as Jason Nichols in eleven episodes in 1960.
Guest stars included Noah Beery, Jr., James Best, Lon Chaney, Jr., James Coburn, Charles Bronson, Brad Dexter, Lawrence Dobkin, John Dehner, Betsy Drake, Alan Hale, Jr., DeForest Kelley, Martin Landau, Michael Landon, Nan Leslie, Ralph Meeker, Jay North, Warren Oates, Susan Oliver, Luana Patten, Steve Brodie, William Schallert, Beverly Garland, King Donovan, Jay Silverheels, Suzanne Storrs, Mary Tyler Moore, and Lee Van Cleef.
Ratings
Colorized version
In December 1987, Four Star International colorized Wanted: Dead or Alive making it the first vintage TV series to be completely colorized; the colorized version aired on at least 50 independent television stations.
1987 film
In 1987, New World Pictures adapted the series into a low-budget film of the same name; Rutger Hauer played modern-day bounty hunter Nick Randall, Josh's grandson.
DVD releases
On June 7, 2005, New Line Home Video released season 1 of Wanted: Dead or Alive on DVD in Region 1. In 2007, BCI Eclipse acquired the distribution rights to the series and released the final two seasons on DVD. Season 2 was released on July 17, 2007, and season 3 on October 16, 2007. These releases are now out of print as BCI Eclipse ceased operations in December 2008.
In June 2009, Mill Creek Entertainment acquired the rights to the series and have subsequently re-released the first two seasons. On August 25, 2009, they released an 11-disc box set featuring all 94 episodes of the series on DVD for the first time.