No collection of classic TV Westerns is complete
without Cheyenne, the trailblazing 1955 series that premiered
within weeks of Gunsmoke. The strapping Clint Walker stars as
Cheyenne Bodie, the iconic role that earned him his place in the
Hall of Great Western Performers at the National Cowboy & Western
Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City. Cheyenne is a classic Western hero
in the drifter tradition, accepting jobs ranging from frontier scout
to trail boss. In this first season, he is accompanied at times by
sidekick Smitty (L.Q. Jones). "It takes about a minute to know a
man," one character remarks during the course of Cheyenne's
first season. But we size up Cheyenne in an instant. He is a man of
honor, straight shooting and plainspoken. In one episode, he
declines an offered position of ranch foreman. "I don't like the
job," he states, "and when I don't like a job, I turn it down." When
a woman refers to Indians as "savages" in the first episode,
Cheyenne enlightens her, "The Indians think we're the savages."
Several episodes, including "Quicksand" and "The Last Train West,"
echo the John Ford masterpiece, Stagecoach, as Cheyenne finds
himself amongst a diverse and disparate group of people who are
thrown together by circumstance.
Cheyenne was part of a new breed of "adult Western." The
episode "Johnny Bravo" (was this the inspiration for Greg's rock
star nom de plume on The Brady Bunch?) deals with a rancher
who disapproves of his daughter's affair with a Mexican. Keep a
sharp lookout for actors who would later become Hollywood's most
wanted. A pre-Maverick James Garner appears as different
characters in three episodes. Dennis Hopper is hot-triggered
gunfighter the Utah Kid, in "Quicksand." And that's the future Miss
Hathaway, Nancy Kulp, as a sassy waitress in "Johnny Bravo."
Cheyenne was originally broadcast as one of three rotating
series under the banner, Warner Brothers Presents, but it
quickly established itself as the runaway hit. Like the best
Westerns, it is anything but quaint nostalgia. With its timeless
setting, compelling stories, charismatic hero, and positive values,
the sun will never set on Cheyenne. --Donald Liebenson
The First season consisted of 15 episodes and they are as follows:
01- Mountain Fortress - Aired 9/20/55
02- Julesburg - Aired 10/11/55
03- The Argonauts - Aired 11/1/55
04- Border Showdown - Aired 11/22/55
05- The Outlander - Aired 12/13/55
06- The Travelers - Aired 1/3/56
07- Decision - Aired 1/24/56
08- The Storm Riders - Aired 2/7/56
09- Rendezvous at Red Rock - Aired 2/21/56
10- West of the River - Aired 3/20/56
11- Quicksand - Aired 4/3/56
12- Fury at Rio Hondo - 4/17/56
13- Star in the Dust - 5/1/56
14- Johnny Bravo - Aired 5/15/56
15- The Last Train West - Aired 5/29/56
