STARRING CHUCK CONNORS AND JOHNNY CRAWFORD

Zane Grey Theater (western anthology hosted by Dick Powell)
(CBS Primetime, October 5, 1956 - 1962) [aka: "Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater"]

Zane Grey Theatre ran for five years, at once feeding and riding the crest of the phenomenal surge of western programs on television in the late 1950s. Four Star generated its share of the stampede, scoring its biggest hits in the genre with "The Rifleman," "Wanted: Dead or Alive," and "Trackdown," "Johnny Ringo," "Black Saddle," "Law of the Plainsman," "Stagecoach West," and the highly-regarded but extremely short-lived Sam Peckinpah project, "The Westerner."

'The Sharpshooter' originally aired on Zane Grey Theatre March17, 1958—it was episode 21 of the second season.  This episode served as the pilot for the television series "The Rifleman" (September 30, 1958 - April 8,1963) starring Chuck Connors as Lucas McCain and Johnny Crawford as Mark McCain.  Together they had a great combination, a great father/son drama, and a tricked customized rifle and you've got yourself a western, and a hit western at that.  It was a sure shot!  People must have liked the McCain's, by fall they had in deed settled in to a new home on the ABC schedule (Zane Grey aired on CBS). The new series was called "The Rifleman."  

Adding Paul Fix as Marshal Micah Torrance in the fourth episode, 'The Marshal,' a former marshal now with a bad arm and a fondness for whiskey.

Sam Peckinpah originally proposed this storyline as an episode of "Gunsmoke" but the producers of that series said it wouldn't fit that show's format. [For more information please checkout "The Producer's Corner" at "The McCain Ranch"]

"The Rifleman" created a spin off of its own called "Law Of The Plainsman." The show starred Michael Ansara as U.S. Marshal Sam Buckhart.  He first appeared in 'The Rifleman' first season episode called 'The Indian.'  In it Buckhart shows up in North Fork looking for Indians believed guilty of the brutal killings of the McCloud family, only to find himself a victim of racism due to his own Indian heritage. He later returned in 'The Raid' in which Mark McCain is captured by Apaches. With Lucas McCain wounded in the attack where his sons was taken, it was up to Buckhart to play the hero and save Mark with a twist at the end of the episode.

The fact that Buckhart was moved to a central heroic role in this second appearance was probably because they were testing the character out as a leading character. Apparently he was in fact being tried out because just as the previous summer 'The Rifleman' had went from guest star to the star of his own show so now Sam Buckhart went off to star in 'Law Of The Plainsman.' And also like The Rifleman the spin off actually spun off onto a different network. Again, 'The Rifleman' aired on ABC while 'Law Of The Plainsman' aired on NBC.  By 1963 all three shows were off the air as the age of the TV western slowly pulled to a close.

Of all the Four Star products from Powell's tenure, only The Rifleman remains a syndication staple today.

 

 

Site Map around The Rifleman

THE RIFLEMAN Episode Guides List

 "4 Star Ranch"

 

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