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RAWHIDE!
"Rollin' rollin' rollin' keep those wagons moving! Rawhide! Don't try to understand 'em, just rope, throw and brand 'em!"
What a theme song "Rawhide" had! It is probably one of the most catchy theme tunes of all time. In fact so catchy that the Blues Brothers did a cover of it in the 1980's. A lot of those early Western Drama's had catchy theme tunes. Bonanza was also great, and even the theme music of "Gunsmoke" still goes through my head some days.
Rawhide was one of the many iconic, brilliant American Western series of the 1950's/ 60's and 70's and launched the career of Clint "Oscar" Eastwood staying popular for years after it was first made. Indeed, even though it was in black and white, I remember it from the 1980's!
I remember Rawhide most for it playing on Sunday afternoons (just after "Little House on the Prairie"). On rainy days, we used to settle down and watch it after the traditional roast dinner. Though it always reminded me that school was just a short evening away. When I recently watched an episode I was immediately transported back to those afternoons - in fact it took me back so strongly I even had the flashback "Oh, no, double Maths first thing tomorrow!"
The series aired for 8 seasons from January 9, 1959 to January 4, 1966, and made a massive 217 black-and-white episodes.
It was the fifth-longest-running American television Western, though it doesn't come close to the fourteen years of Bonanza, and twenty years of Gunsmoke. Imagine watching them back to back! Your eyes would be rollin' rollin' rollin' indeed.
For the first time the complete series one is available to buy in the UK. It's a great time capsule back to the days when good quality TV was in black and white, and simply about the guys on a ranch! If nothing else look it up just to see what Clint Eastwood looked like when he was young!
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