Rating: - The Way Men Used to Be
Are you tired of watching men on TV who act more like children than men? Are you tired of watching effeminate male figures portrayed as buffoons whose only purpose in life is to be ridiculed by their wives and mocked by their children? Are you fed up with seeing fathers who lack logic, intelligence, and courage? If you said yes to any of these questions than the Rifleman is a show you will be interested in. Chuck Connors plays Lucas McCain, a single parent who is raising his young son in the rugged Southwest during the later part of the nineteenth century. McCain embodies many of the characteristics that we used to admire in American men: courage, leadership, sacrifice, loyalty, chivalry, fairness, and the ability to remain calm amidst tragedy and difficult circumstances. The McCain character reminds me of the World War II vets I knew growing up. These men reflected the old-fashioned male persona that made America the greatest country in the world. Every episode of the Rifleman contains a very complex situation which necessitates the need for Lucas McCain to demonstrate incredible courage and clear-thinking in order to bring about the best resolution. McCain's main goal in life is to "bring up his boy right" and to model for his son Mark the most desirable traits needed to make good moral decisions and to understand the difference between right and wrong. On an entertaining note, you have to love his Winchester rifle. This gun could fire something like 8 rounds in 2 and half seconds. McCain is more precise and deadly with his rifle than any other man is with a pistol. The show was on 5 seasons from 1958 through 1963. During its first year, the Rifleman finished fourth in the TV ratings, which is pretty good for a first season. By the second season it dropped to fourteenth place. The remaining three seasons did not finish in the top 25. I'm not sure why this is because all the episodes seem pretty good to me. I have two complaints about the product. First of all, I think it is ridiculous the way the distributor packaged the episodes. Each volume set is a mixture of all five seasons. Rather than release a complete set of all the seasons separately, they selected a handful of episodes from each season and packaged them into a volume set. My next problem is with the availability of the product. These DVDs are near impossible to obtain. Volumes 1 and 2 are no longer available. You might be able to get Volumes 3 and 4 if you are lucky and Volumes 5 and 6 can be obtained if you look hard enough. I'm not sure if this is due to the shows popularity or if the distributor did not anticipate active sales and only burned a limited number of copies. That being said, I highly recommend The Rifleman and I encourage you to try to purchase any of the volume sets. Let's face it, The Rifleman would never be on TV today because it stands for everything the contemporary cultures despises.