"The Rifleman" was the saga of Lucas McCain, a homesteader in the Old West struggling to make a living off his ranch and make a man out of his motherless son Mark McCain. The series was set during the 1870's and 1880's in the fictional town of North Fork, New Mexico Territory. "The Rifleman" was the created brainchild of producer Sam Peckinpah along with the production team of Jules Levy, Arnold Laven, and Arthur Gardner who served as executive producers of the series and was produced through Dick Powell's Four Star Television for ABC-TV that lasted five seasons producing 168 episodes all in black and white and ran 30 minutes in length airing from September 30, 1958 until the final episode of the series on April 8, 1963. The series was on Monday nights for the remainder of it's run at the 8:30 eastern/7:30 central time slot. "The Rifleman" was historical as well becoming the first prime time Western to show a single parent raising a child.
Chuck Connors, a former professional baseball player and coming off two big major theatrical movies "Old Yeller" and William Wyler's "The Big Country" won critical acclaim for his portrayal of Lucas McCain and young Johnny Crawford started his career on this series as Lucas' son Mark McCain. Also along with the cast were Paul Fix as Marshal Micah Torrance. But the real star of the show was Lucas' rapid action Winchester rifle that was customized to allow repeated firing by cycling its lever action that can be fired in three tenths of a second which was helpful in taking down the bad guys each week. Though quite successful during its first two seasons the show began to slip by the third season due to the ratings and by the show's fifth and final season it was out of the top ten of the Nielsens,.
Joesph Lewis directed 51 episodes of The Rifleman television series along with Arnold Laven who directed 22 episodes of the series. Other directors were Gene Nelson, Arthur H. Nadel, Don Medford, Richard Donner, Lawrence Dobkin, Paul Landres, Don Taylor, Ted Post, Jerry Hopper and even Chuck Connors directed an episode. Fantastic writers came from Arthur Browne, Calvin Clements, Robert Culp, Albert Aley, Ed Adamson, Bruce Geller, Lawrence Dobkin, Tom Gries, Sam Peckinpah, Chuck Connors, Christopher Knopf and Margaret Armen to name a few. More than 500 guest stars in over 970 credited roles appeared during The Rifleman's five season run with many veteran character actors cast in recurring roles along with some new Hollywood faces that were just starting out also made guest appearances as well...among them Buddy Hackett and Sammy Davis Junior. But the real tone of the show was the kinship and the relationship between father and son provided the balance against the violent backdrop of the frontier. The result was several Emmy nominations including a Golden Globe nomination for the show resulting in one of the best television Westerns of all time. Happy 60th Anniversary!!!
Chuck Connors, a former professional baseball player and coming off two big major theatrical movies "Old Yeller" and William Wyler's "The Big Country" won critical acclaim for his portrayal of Lucas McCain and young Johnny Crawford started his career on this series as Lucas' son Mark McCain. Also along with the cast were Paul Fix as Marshal Micah Torrance. But the real star of the show was Lucas' rapid action Winchester rifle that was customized to allow repeated firing by cycling its lever action that can be fired in three tenths of a second which was helpful in taking down the bad guys each week. Though quite successful during its first two seasons the show began to slip by the third season due to the ratings and by the show's fifth and final season it was out of the top ten of the Nielsens,.
Joesph Lewis directed 51 episodes of The Rifleman television series along with Arnold Laven who directed 22 episodes of the series. Other directors were Gene Nelson, Arthur H. Nadel, Don Medford, Richard Donner, Lawrence Dobkin, Paul Landres, Don Taylor, Ted Post, Jerry Hopper and even Chuck Connors directed an episode. Fantastic writers came from Arthur Browne, Calvin Clements, Robert Culp, Albert Aley, Ed Adamson, Bruce Geller, Lawrence Dobkin, Tom Gries, Sam Peckinpah, Chuck Connors, Christopher Knopf and Margaret Armen to name a few. More than 500 guest stars in over 970 credited roles appeared during The Rifleman's five season run with many veteran character actors cast in recurring roles along with some new Hollywood faces that were just starting out also made guest appearances as well...among them Buddy Hackett and Sammy Davis Junior. But the real tone of the show was the kinship and the relationship between father and son provided the balance against the violent backdrop of the frontier. The result was several Emmy nominations including a Golden Globe nomination for the show resulting in one of the best television Westerns of all time. Happy 60th Anniversary!!!