Rawhide (TV series)
| Rawhide | |
|---|---|
Title card
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| Genre | Western |
| Starring |
Eric Fleming Clint Eastwood Paul Brinegar Sheb Wooley John Ireland Raymond St. Jacques |
| Theme music composer |
Dimitri Tiomkin (Music) Ned Washington (Lyrics) |
| Opening theme | "Rawhide" performed by Frankie Laine |
| Composer(s) |
Bernard Herrmann Rudy Schrager Nathan Scott Fred Steiner |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 8 |
| No. of episodes | 217 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Ben Brady |
| Producer(s) | Endre Bohem Vincent M. Fennelly Bruce Geller Bernard L. Kowalski Charles Marquis Warren Robert E. Thompson |
| Location(s) | California |
| Cinematography | Neal Beckner Philip H. Lathrop John M. Nickolaus, Jr. Howard Schwartz Jack Swain |
| Editor(s) | James Baiotto Leon Barsha Gene Fowler, Jr. George A. Gittens Frank Gross Roland Gross Jack Kampschroer George Watters |
| Running time | 50 min. |
| Release | |
| Original network | CBS |
| Picture format | Black-and-white 4:3 |
| Audio format | Monaural |
| Original release | January 9, 1959 – December 7, 1965 |
Rawhide is an American Western TV series starring Eric Fleming and Clint Eastwood. The show aired for eight seasons on the CBS network on Friday nights, from January 9, 1959 to September 3, 1965, before moving to Tuesday nights from September 14, 1965 until January 4, 1966, with a total of 217 black-and-white episodes. The series was produced and sometimes directed by Charles Marquis Warren, who also produced early episodes of Gunsmoke.
Spanning seven and a half years, Rawhide was the sixth-longest-running American television Western, exceeded only by eight years of Wagon Train, nine years of The Virginian, fourteen years of Bonanza, eighteen years of Death Valley Days, and twenty years of Gunsmoke.
Set in the 1860s, Rawhide portrays the challenges faced by the drovers of a cattle drive. Most episodes are introduced with a monologue by Gil Favor (portrayed by Eric Fleming), the trail boss. In a typical Rawhide story, the drovers come upon people on the trail and are drawn into solving whatever problem they present or confront. Sometimes, one or more of the crew venture into a nearby town and encounter some trouble from which they need to be rescued. Rowdy Yates (Clint Eastwood) was young and at times impetuous in the earliest episodes and Favor had to keep a tight rein on him. Favor was a savvy and strong leader who always played "square" with his fellow men - a tough customer who could handle the challenges and get the job done. (Producer Charles Warren called on the diary written in 1866 by trail boss George C. Duffield to shape the character of Favor.) Although Favor had the respect and loyalty of the men who worked for him, a few times, the people, including Yates, were insubordinate under him after working too hard or after receiving a tongue lashing. Favor had to fight at times and usually won. Some of the stories were obviously easier in production terms, but the peak form of the show was convincing and naturalistic, and sometimes brutal. Its situations could range from parched plains to anthrax, ghostly riders to wolves, cattle raiding, bandits, murderers, and so forth. A problem on such drives was the constant need for water, and the scout spent much of his time looking for it, sometimes finding that water holes and even rivers had dried up. In some ways, the show was similar to the TV series Wagon Train, which had debuted on NBC on September 18, 1957.
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