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Rating:  -
I've made a bold statement.
Why is this the best series ever?
Well, mostly the writing. The stories are much more intriguing and surprising than any other Western series available on dvd. Sure, I like Gunsmoke, I like Daniel Boone... but these have stories that are much more simple, or "Little House"-ish; that is, 1/3 the way through, you know what's going to happen. Personally I get bored with this type of story.
With Rawhide, you never quite know where they're going with a story, and that makes for good tv viewing!
Also, there's the acting: Clint Eastwood in one of his early roles, is great. But also Eric Fleming as Mr. Favor is great, and Sheb Wooley as Pete, and then there is one of my personal favorites, Paul Brinegar as Wishbone, who always brings a laugh or two to the series with his "old goat" personality and his almost-inedible food.
But to my mind, the acting - while indeed very good - is secondary to the writing, which is exceptional, making each story different and compelling.
I can't wait for the rest of the seasons to come out! I wonder if it continues its brilliance all the way through?
Rating: -
What a joy to have one of TV's great westerns beautifully restored and available on DVD! Package "Rawhide" with other recent releases of "Gunsmoke," "Have Gun, Will Travel," "Wanted: Dead or Alive," and "Rifleman," and you can have one truly memorable evening of frontier enjoyment. Clint Eastwood as the youthful "Rowdy Yates" gets most of the press on this release (including a large picture on the cover art), but Eric Fleming as trail boss "Gil Favor" was the glue that held this show together -- the moral compass, as it were. As a kid in the 60's, I always wanted to be "Favor" when all the neighborhood youngsters played cowboy. Veteran character actors Sheb Wooley and Paul Brinegar add more grit (and humor) to an unbeatable crew. Now if the major studios would release "Wagon Train" (w/ crusty Ward Bond), "Bonanza," "Maverick," "Lawman," and "Cheyenne" on DVD, I would have thought that I'd died and gone to cowboy heaven!
Rating: -
Rawhide was a big hit here in the U.K. in the early 1960s and I'm old enough to just about remember it! Some old TV series can be a disappointment when you view them many years later - they somehow don't look so good as your memory suggested! But "Rawhide" is an exception. Channel 4 (a major British TV channel) to their credit, re-ran many of the episodes a while back - and watching it impressed me enough to buy the DVDs.
"Rawhide" stands apart from so many 1960s Westerns, in which the heroes look so impeccably turned out, with never a speck of dust and dirt on them. Instead "Rawhide" portrays grubby, smelly, tatty drovers, who bleed when they get thumped or shot, and bicker amongst themselves; the series features historically-credible and authentic detail with consistently credible storylines. For instance, our heroes aren't referred to as "cowboys", but "drovers" - a minor point but hey, that's authenticity for you. The black-and-white photography seems to enhance the atmosphere and the acting's pretty top-notch from the ensemble cast too.
Incidentally. I've seen some of the episodes from Seasons 4,5 and 6 on home-recorded VHS recently and it seems to me the very high standards of production, writing and acting were kept up throughout the series' run (I think the very last season was never broadcast in the UK so I can't comment on that one). All I'm saying is that Rawhide seems to have never "jumped the shark".
This is classic quality TV. Roll on the rest of the series please.
Rating:  -
Bought this as a gift for my Dad's 60th b-day! He really enjoyed it, and I am glad I found it! Would love to see Bonanza on DVD as well!
Rating: -
I swear when I heard the theme song my blood began to race and I knew we were in for a good hour of entertainment just like I knew it when I was much younger. This series proves that a show does not have to be in color to be good and I love seeing all the actors when they were "younger" It is bad that the second season is going to be in two sets, but hey they are releasing it and maybe we will have the full set in a couple of years. Some of us are just hoping to be around to get all of them and escape to a happier time when the good guy wins, the bad guy gets what he deserves and we don't have to look at or listen to "drama" that our mother's would have thrown the TV in the yard if it had come over the air in the 60s. Also it sure was nice to see the show without all the "snow" we had to look at in those bygone days when the signal came down the rabbit ears on top of the box.
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