The best Western series was....

[diebitter]

Kung Fu. Easily.


I've watched some episodes recently, as it's out on DVD, and there's something really, really great about the whole peaceful and tranquil basis of Kane. Carradine was just perfect in it, and it was a completely different kind of show to anything before (and actually anything since, come to think of it).

Plus it's great fun to watch him get taunted and not react because of his nature, and the bad guys keep on, till he beats the living tar out of them.



(Oh, I do remember F Troop fondly, btw)

[Golden_Rhino]

Liked "The Rifleman" when I was a kid. Coulda just been the bad ass intro though.

[Zeno]

To be blunt - Kung Fu was Crap. That's my opinion and I know it will not be shared by some but so be it. A six-foot three-inch Caucasian Chinaman traveling through the west with no visible means of support playing a sissy flute and muttering metaphysical hooey to every ignorant westerner he stumbles into had little appeal to me. Then Carradine also talked in that choppy and parsed silly cadence as if it added weight and wisdom to his pithy prattle and other unending twaddle he spewed out of supposed ancient wisdom example:

The--path---you---tread---will---only---lead---to-----wisdom---if----you----don’t----search----for---it...... Queue the flute.

Trash.

Bonanza was also trashy but at least they had real Chinese play a Chinese, as a cook and washing boy I think.

One of my best friends was a nut about Kung Fu and insisted that it was a great show. Whenever I watched it with him I always cheered for the ignorant redneck scum to blast Mr. Fu into bloody chunks with a shotgun. Somehow that never happened and the show became too formalized after awhile, though I did missed many episodes - thank Heaven.

To be fair, it was a good concept for a show especially for the time. It hit the nerve of many in the nation and I can see the appeal. It was just never my cup of tea. Maverick, Wagon Train, and the Virginian were far better as was F Troop, the cream of the TV Western genera. I would rate the High Chaparral better also. Kung Fu was middling. I would have shot that bastard down with my 45 faster than you could say "Shaolin Monk"

-Zeno

[Runkmud]

I loved Kung Fu and it was the first thing that came to mind when I read the title. Of course, it would have been better had Bruce Lee actually played Kane, but I loved it anyway. All this said, I loved all the Billy Jack movies, so that pretty much nullifies any authority I have on the subject.

[Born 2 Loose]

[BluffTHIS!]

The "and it's not even close" answer is Gunsmoke. But for reality and great acting, the current Deadwood sets the bar very high.

[Myrtle]

[ QUOTE ]
The "and it's not even close" answer is Gunsmoke. But for reality and great acting, the current Deadwood sets the bar very high.

[/ QUOTE ]

Totally agree on the Gunsmoke nomination.

Each episode was a variation on a morality play, where the issue of right, wrong and the difficult choices between the two played out in a western seeting.

The writing was clear & crisp, and the many different issues were clearly delineated, and the object lessons were put squarely in front of the viewer.

Gunsmoke was the finest of the genre of the day, but not the only one.

Rawhide, Have Gun will Travel, The Rifleman and Cimmaron Strip were other worthy contenders.

I enjoyed Kung Fu; it had the same "morality play" basis, but was a bit of a stretch on the 'reality' side.

FWIW, they all sprung from the great John Ford/John Wayne movies of the 40's.

A study in morality best summed up by the character John Bernard Books in John Waynes last movie, The Shootist:

"I won't be wronged. I won't be insulted. I won't be laid a-hand on. I don't do these things to other people, and I require the same from them."

[Mickey Brausch]

[ QUOTE ]
To be blunt - Kung Fu was Crap. That's my opinion and I know it will not be shared by some but so be it. Trash. Bonanza was also trashy.

[/ QUOTE ]

Dear Zeno,

We usually fall in love with trash.

That goes for many, many things, including movies, TV shows, music and girls.

Didn't you know this already?

Best,

Mickey Brausch

[Zeno]

[ QUOTE ]
We usually fall in love with trash.

That goes for many, many things, including movies, TV shows, music and girls.

Didn't you know this already?


[/ QUOTE ]

Dear Mickey,

Yes I did but thank you for the reminder. Under the spell of talking TV, I left reality for a bit. These things happen.

Regards,

Zeno

[ericd]

Wanted Dead or Alive