93-516: F Troop is a satirical American television Western sitcom about U.S. soldiers and American Indians in the Wild West during the 1860s. The series originally aired for two seasons on ABC . It debuted in the United States on September 14, 1965, and concluded its run on April 6, 1967, with a total of 65 episodes. The first season of 34 episodes was broadcast in black-and-white and the second season
186-549: A "mythic vision of the plains and deserts of the American West". Specific settings include ranches, small frontier towns, saloons, railways, wilderness, and isolated military forts of the Wild West. Many Westerns use a stock plot of depicting a crime, then showing the pursuit of the wrongdoer, ending in revenge and retribution, which is often dispensed through a shootout or quick draw duel. The Western genre sometimes portrays
279-440: A horse, right?' I didn’t argue about that either. I thought to myself, 'If I can just get tested, then I will have some film.' Then when they offered me the role, I thought, 'Well if I can just do the pilot I'll still be ahead of the game.'" Once Patterson secured the part, she finally told the series' producers her real age. Their shock and consternation were ameliorated shortly thereafter by her maturity and professionalism. After
372-672: A lead role in the action film The Cycle Savages , with Bruce Dern , followed by a leading part in the slasher film Blood and Lace (1971). In 1973, she appeared in a small part in The Harrad Experiment (1973). Her final film credit was in The Immortalizer (1990), a direct-to-video sci-fi horror film. While living in Hawaii, Patterson performed in the play Butterflies Are Free , with Barbara Rush and Dirk Benedict . She appeared in other plays such as House of Blue Leaves for
465-576: A long time, though, since they had been on the "warpath," when the series started, Agarn has to teach the Hekawis how to do a war dance, a clip of which was shown in the first-season opening credits. Anytime the tribe wants to contact the fort, they use smoke signals , which only O'Rourke can read. In one episode (and referred to in another), the Hekawis have a "Playbrave Club" (a parody of the Playboy Club) complete with go-go dancing and 1960s-style music. As
558-583: A medal for getting a medal." His superiors reward his action by promoting him to captain, only to give Parmenter command of remote Fort Courage, a dumping ground for the Army's "least useful" soldiers and misfits; the Secretary of War ( William Woodson ) notes, "Why, the Army sent them out there hoping they'd all desert." Indeed, of the three commanding officers at Fort Courage before Captain Parmenter, two did desert, while
651-476: A number of occasions, famous examples being Support Your Local Sheriff! , Cat Ballou , Mel Brooks 's Blazing Saddles , and Rustler's Rhapsody . George Lucas 's Star Wars films use many elements of a Western, and Lucas has said he intended for Star Wars to revitalize cinematic mythology, a part the Western once held. The Jedi , who take their name from Jidaigeki , are modeled after samurai, showing
744-452: A popular art form. Western films commonly feature protagonists such as cowboys, gunslingers, and bounty hunters, who are often depicted as seminomadic wanderers who wear Stetson hats, bandannas , spurs, and buckskins , use revolvers or rifles as everyday tools of survival and as a means to settle disputes using frontier justice. Protagonists ride between dusty towns and cattle ranches on their trusty steeds. The first films that belong to
837-565: A setting, where it tasked players to lead a party of settlers moving westward in a covered wagon from Independence, Missouri to Oregon City, Oregon. The game only grew popular in the 1980s and 1990s as an educational game. The first video game Westerns to engage the mass public arrived in arcade games focused on the gunfighter in Westerns based on depictions in television shows, films and Electro-mechanical games such as Dale Six Shooter (1950), and Sega 's Gun Fight (1970). The first of these games
930-678: A sheriff in fictional Absaroka County, Wyoming . Originally aired on the A&;E network from 2012 to 2014, it was picked up by Netflix in 2015 until the show's conclusion in 2017. AMC and Vince Gilligan's critically acclaimed Breaking Bad is a much more modern take on the Western genre. Set in New Mexico from 2008 through 2013, it follows Walter White ( Bryan Cranston ), a chemistry teacher diagnosed with Stage III Lung Cancer who cooks and sells crystal meth to provide money for his family after he dies, while slowly growing further and further into
1023-663: A sly jest based on the myth that Native Americans are the 13th tribe of Israel , many of the Hekawi Indians were played by veteran Yiddish comedians using classic Yiddish shtick . The regular Indian characters (none of whom were played by Native American actors) include: Although the show's opening credits claim F Troop was created by Richard Bluel, a final arbitration by the Writers Guild of America eventually gave Seaman Jacobs , Ed James, and Jim Barnett credit. Episode writers included Arthur Julian (who, alone, wrote 29 of
SECTION 10
#17328768408311116-553: Is a morality drama , presenting the conflict between wilderness and civilization . Stories commonly center on the life of a male drifter , cowboy , or gunslinger who rides a horse and is armed with a revolver or rifle . The male characters typically wear broad-brimmed and high-crowned Stetson hats, neckerchief bandannas , vests , and cowboy boots with spurs . While many wear conventional shirts and trousers, alternatives include buckskins and dusters . Women are generally cast in secondary roles as love interests for
1209-581: Is a genre of literature set in the American Old West, most commonly between 1860 and 1900. The first critically recognized Western was The Virginian (1902) by Owen Wister . Other well-known writers of Western fiction include Zane Grey , from the early 1900s, Ernest Haycox , Luke Short , and Louis L'Amour , from the mid 20th century. Many writers better known in other genres, such as Leigh Brackett , Elmore Leonard , and Larry McMurtry , have also written Western novels. The genre's popularity peaked in
1302-509: Is a series of seven books that meshes themes of Westerns, high fantasy , science fiction, and horror. The protagonist Roland Deschain is a gunslinger whose image and personality are largely inspired by the Man with No Name from Sergio Leone's films. In addition, the superhero fantasy genre has been described as having been derived from the cowboy hero, only powered up to omnipotence in a primarily urban setting. The Western genre has been parodied on
1395-443: Is a war film, but its action and characters are Western-like. The character played by Humphrey Bogart in noir films such as Casablanca and To Have and Have Not —an individual bound only by his own private code of honor—has a lot in common with the classic Western hero. In turn, the Western has also explored noir elements, as with films such as Colorado Territory and Pursued . In many of Robert A. Heinlein 's books,
1488-413: Is maintained predominantly through relatively impersonal institutions such as courtrooms . The popular perception of the Western is a story that centers on the life of a seminomadic wanderer, usually a cowboy or a gunfighter. A showdown or duel at high noon featuring two or more gunfighters is a stereotypical scene in the popular conception of Westerns. In some ways, such protagonists may be considered
1581-665: Is the gallant although laughably clumsy Captain Wilton Parmenter ( Ken Berry ), who is descended from a long line of distinguished military officers. He is awarded the Medal of Honor after accidentally instigating the final Civil War charge at the Battle of Appomattox Court House . Only a private in the Quartermaster Corps , he is ordered to fetch the commanding officer's laundry (presumably General Grant 's). As Parmenter rides away to get
1674-753: Is the place to go for music (raucous piano playing), women (often prostitutes ), gambling (draw poker or five-card stud), drinking ( beer , whiskey , or tequila if set in Mexico), brawling, and shooting. In some Westerns, where civilization has arrived, the town has a church, a general store, a bank, and a school; in others, where frontier rules still hold sway, it is, as Sergio Leone said, "where life has no value". Author and screenwriter Frank Gruber identified seven basic plots for Westerns: Gruber said that good writers used dialogue and plot development to develop these basic plots into believable stories. The American Film Institute defines Western films as those "set in
1767-412: Is usually punctuated with a Western music score , including American folk music and Spanish / Mexican folk music such as country , Native American music , New Mexico music , and rancheras . Westerns often stress the harshness of the wilderness and frequently set the action in an arid , desolate landscape of deserts and mountains . Often, the vast landscape plays an important role, presenting
1860-1331: The Atari 2600 and Gun Fight (1978) for the Bally Astrocade were derivative of Midway's Gun Fight . These early video games featured limited graphical capabilities , which had developers create Westerns to the most easily recognizable and popular tropes of the gunfighter shootouts. Western radio dramas were very popular from the 1930s to the 1960s. There were five types of Western radio dramas during this period: anthology programs, such as Empire Builders and Frontier Fighters ; juvenile adventure programs such as Red Ryder and Hopalong Cassidy ; legend and lore like Red Goose Indian Tales and Cowboy Tom's Round-Up ; adult Westerns like Fort Laramie and Frontier Gentleman ; and soap operas such as Cactus Kate . Some popular shows include The Lone Ranger (first broadcast in 1933), The Cisco Kid (first broadcast in 1942), Dr. Sixgun (first broadcast in 1954), Have Gun–Will Travel (first broadcast in 1958), and Gunsmoke (first broadcast in 1952). Many shows were done live, while others were transcribed. Westerns have been showcased in short-episodic web series. Examples include League of STEAM , Red Bird , and Arkansas Traveler . Within
1953-523: The Grand Canyon , Yosemite , and the giant redwoods , due in part to exhibitors' inability to switch over to widescreen during the Great Depression . After renewed commercial successes in the late 1930s, the popularity of Westerns continued to rise until its peak in the 1950s, when the number of Western films produced outnumbered all other genres combined. The period from 1940 to 1960 has been called
SECTION 20
#17328768408312046-716: The University of Hawaii , and played the part of Peggy in The Front Page written by Charles MacArthur , and directed by her then-husband James MacArthur (Charles' son). In 1999, she received her bachelor's degree from Sierra Nevada College . Patterson entertained troops in Vietnam with the Johnny Grant and Friends show. Her first tour was in December 1967, with Diane McBain , Sherry Jackson , and Sabrina Scharf . Her second tour
2139-623: The Western United States , particularly the Southwestern United States , as well as Northern Mexico and Western Canada . The frontier is depicted in Western media as a sparsely populated hostile region patrolled by cowboys , outlaws , sheriffs , and numerous other stock gunslinger characters. Western narratives often concern the gradual attempts to tame the crime-ridden American West using wider themes of justice , freedom, rugged individualism, manifest destiny , and
2232-457: The space opera series Firefly used an explicitly Western theme for its portrayal of frontier worlds. Anime shows such as Cowboy Bebop , Trigun and Outlaw Star have been similar mixes of science-fiction and Western elements. The science fiction Western can be seen as a subgenre of either Westerns or science fiction. Elements of Western films can be found also in some films belonging essentially to other genres. For example, Kelly's Heroes
2325-419: The "Golden Age of the Western". It is epitomized by the work of several prominent directors including Robert Aldrich , Budd Boetticher , Delmer Daves , John Ford , and others. Some of the popular films during this era include Apache (1954), Broken Arrow (1950), and My Darling Clementine (1946). The changing popularity of the Western genre has influenced worldwide pop culture over time. During
2418-432: The 1960s and 1970s, Spaghetti Westerns from Italy became popular worldwide; this was due to the success of Sergio Leone 's storytelling method. After having been previously pronounced dead, a resurgence of Westerns occurred during the 1990s with films such as Dances with Wolves (1990), Unforgiven (1992), and Geronimo (1993), as Westerns once again increased in popularity. When television became popular in
2511-416: The 1960s, due in part to the shuttering of many pulp magazines, the popularity of televised Westerns , and the rise of the spy novel. Readership began to drop off in the mid- to late 1970s and reached a new low in the 2000s. Most bookstores, outside of a few Western states, now only carry a small number of Western novels and short-story collections. Literary forms that share similar themes include stories of
2604-547: The 1960s. F Troop is set at Fort Courage—a fictional United States Army outpost in the Old West , from near the end of the American Civil War in 1865 to at least 1867. A town of the same name is adjacent to the fort. Fort Courage was named for the fictitious General Sam Courage (portrayed by Cliff Arquette ). The fort is constructed in the stockade style typically found in most American Westerns. The commanding officer
2697-506: The 1967 cancellation of F Troop , Patterson worked in television, radio, and the theater. She also appeared on Mr. Novak and Shindig! In the 1970s, she appeared in three episodes of Hawaii Five-O , and began modeling and appearing in television commercials. Patterson's first screen appearance was an uncredited walk-on in Bye Bye Birdie (1963). Her first featured role was in the 1968 drama The Angry Breed . She also appeared in
2790-454: The 1970s. These games and drew on the imagery of a mythic West portrayed in stories, films, television shows, and other assorted Western-themed toys. When game developers went to the imaginary West to create new experiences, they often drew consciously or unconsciously from Western stories and films. The 1971 text-based, Mainframe computer game The Oregon Trail was first game to use the West as
2883-543: The 65 episodes; he also appeared as an undertaker in his "Survival of the Fittest" script), Stan Dreben ( Green Acres ), Seaman Jacobs, Howard Merrill ( The Dick Van Dyke Show ), Ed James , Austin and Irma Kalish, and the highly successful comedy writing duo of Tom Adair and James B. Allardice , who collaborated on some of the most successful American TV sitcoms of the 1960s, including The Munsters ; My Three Sons ; Gomer Pyle, USMC , and Hogan's Heroes . The series
F Troop - Misplaced Pages Continue
2976-579: The American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City. Patterson in 1965 reportedly auditioned for F Troop on a lark. To her surprise, she was asked to read some lines from the script of the Doris Day Calamity Jane film, which happened to be Patterson's favorite movie, one that she had seen enough times on television to know "every scene and line from the film". Her reading impressed
3069-573: The American West that [embody] the spirit, the struggle, and the demise of the new frontier ". Originally, these films were called "Wild West dramas", a reference to Wild West shows like Buffalo Bill Cody's . The term "Western", used to describe a narrative film genre, appears to have originated with a July 1912 article in Motion Picture World magazine. Most of the characteristics of Western films were part of 19th-century popular Western fiction , and were firmly in place before film became
3162-557: The American frontier, the gaucho literature of Argentina , and tales of the settlement of the Australian Outback. A number of visual artists focused their work on representations of the American Old West. American West-oriented art is sometimes referred to as "Western Art" by Americans. This relatively new category of art includes paintings, sculptures, and sometimes Native American crafts. Initially, subjects included exploration of
3255-645: The Eastern Bloc, or action films involving the Russian Revolution , the Russian Civil War , and the Basmachi rebellion. Many elements of space-travel series and films borrow extensively from the conventions of the Western genre. This is particularly the case in the space Western subgenre of science fiction. Peter Hyams 's Outland transferred the plot of High Noon to Io, moon of Jupiter. More recently,
3348-513: The Prairie , McCloud , The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams , and the short-lived but highly acclaimed How the West Was Won that originated from a miniseries with the same name. In the 1990s and 2000s, hour-long Westerns and slickly packaged made-for-TV movie Westerns were introduced, such as Lonesome Dove (1989) and Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman . Also, new elements were once again added to
3441-419: The Western formula, such as the space Western , Firefly , created by Joss Whedon in 2002. Deadwood was a critically acclaimed Western series that aired on HBO from 2004 through 2006. Hell on Wheels , a fictionalized story of the construction of the first transcontinental railroad , aired on AMC for five seasons between 2011 and 2016. Longmire is a Western series that centered on Walt Longmire ,
3534-851: The Western genre are a series of short single reel silents made in 1894 by Edison Studios at their Black Maria studio in West Orange, New Jersey . These featured veterans of Buffalo Bill's Wild West show exhibiting skills acquired by living in the Old West – they included Annie Oakley (shooting) and members of the Sioux (dancing). The earliest known Western narrative film is the British short Kidnapping by Indians , made by Mitchell and Kenyon in Blackburn , England, in 1899. The Great Train Robbery (1903, based on
3627-676: The Western states and cowboy themes. Frederic Remington and Charles M. Russell are two artists who captured the "Wild West" in paintings and sculpture. After the death of Remington Richard Lorenz became the preeminent artist painting in the Western genre. Some art museums, such as the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Wyoming and the Autry National Center in Los Angeles, feature American Western Art. With anime and manga ,
3720-472: The Wild West and modern technology like cars and cellphones, while also focusing primarily on being a Crime drama makes the show a unique spin on both genres. Walter's reliance on the desert environment makes the Western-feel a pivotal role in the show, and would continue to be used in the spinoff series Better Call Saul . The neo-Western drama Yellowstone was streamed from 2018-2024. Western fiction
3813-717: The age of four, appearing in Mrs. McThing at the Downey Community Theatre in Downey, California. Patterson wrote and directed a play at the age of five. Before turning 10, she had also been a photographer's model, an actress, and an ice skater. In the ninth grade, she enrolled in the Hollywood Professional School . She continued her education in the Warner Bros. school while she acted on F Troop . She later studied at
F Troop - Misplaced Pages Continue
3906-418: The biggest hits of the year. Released through United Artists, Stagecoach made John Wayne a mainstream screen star in the wake of a decade of headlining B Westerns. Wayne had been introduced to the screen 10 years earlier as the leading man in director Raoul Walsh 's spectacular widescreen The Big Trail , which failed at the box office in spite of being shot on location across the American West, including
3999-613: The classic comics of the late 1940s and early 1950s (namely Kid Colt, Outlaw , Rawhide Kid , and Red Ryder ) or more modern ones as Blueberry ), cartoons, and parodies (such as Cocco Bill and Lucky Luke ). In the 1990s and 2000s, Western comics leaned towards the fantasy , horror and science fiction genres, usually involving supernatural monsters, or Christian iconography as in Preacher . More traditional Western comics are found throughout this period, though (e.g., Jonah Hex and Loveless ). Video game Westerns emerged in
4092-752: The conquest of the wilderness and the subordination of nature in the name of civilization or the confiscation of the territorial rights of the original, Native American, inhabitants of the frontier. The Western depicts a society organized around codes of honor and personal, direct or private justice–"frontier justice"–dispensed by gunfights. These honor codes are often played out through depictions of feuds or individuals seeking personal revenge or retribution against someone who has wronged them (e.g., True Grit has revenge and retribution as its main themes). This Western depiction of personal justice contrasts sharply with justice systems organized around rationalistic, abstract law that exist in cities, in which social order
4185-428: The culture, such as spaghetti Westerns (Italy), meat pie Westerns (Australia), ramen Westerns (Asia), and masala Westerns (India). Being period drama pieces, both the Western and samurai genre influenced each other in style and themes throughout the years. The Magnificent Seven was a remake of Akira Kurosawa 's film Seven Samurai , and A Fistful of Dollars was a remake of Kurosawa's Yojimbo , which itself
4278-407: The earlier British film A Daring Daylight Burglary ), Edwin S. Porter 's film starring Broncho Billy Anderson , is often erroneously cited as the first Western, though George N. Fenin and William K. Everson point out (as mentioned above) that the "Edison company had played with Western material for several years prior to The Great Train Robbery ". Nonetheless, they concur that Porter's film "set
4371-463: The early 1960s, and their replacement by hour-long television shows, increasingly in color. Traditional Westerns died out in the late 1960s as a result of network changes in demographic targeting along with pressure from parental television groups. Future entries in the genre would incorporate elements from other genera, such as crime drama and mystery whodunit elements. Western shows from the 1970s included Hec Ramsey , Kung Fu , Little House on
4464-514: The first season. By the time production of the second season started, Patterson had turned 17 and Parmenter's affections were made stronger and Jane was made more sexually aggressive (Patterson was 10 days short of turning 18 when the last episode was aired). The show's ratings were still healthy after the second year (ranked number 40 out of 113 shows for the 1966–67 season, with a 31.3 share), but according to Tucker, Warner Bros.' new owners, Seven Arts , discontinued production because they thought it
4557-410: The fort at night and leave before dawn). The pay of the fictitious scouts is apparently used to help finance the dealings of O'Rourke Enterprises. Although O'Rourke and Agarn try to take full advantage of Captain Parmenter's innocence and naïveté , they are also very fond of and fiercely protective of him, and woe be to anyone attempting to harm him. Parmenter also struggles to exert his authority outside
4650-440: The fort's powder magazine, causing Agarn to be saved from a vengeful Chief Geronimo . The Hekawi appear to be a very small tribe consisting of only one small village. They live an indeterminate distance from Fort Courage, though the directions to their camp are described as: "Make right turn at big rock that look like bear, then make left turn at big bear that look like rock.” In "Reunion for O'Rourke", Chief Wild Eagle explains how
4743-426: The genre tends towards the science-fiction Western – e.g., Cowboy Bebop (1998 anime), Trigun (1995–2007 manga), and Outlaw Star (1996–1999 manga). Although contemporary Westerns also appear, such as Koya no Shonen Isamu , a 1971 shonen manga about a boy with a Japanese father and a Native American mother, or El Cazador de la Bruja , a 2007 anime television series set in modern-day Mexico. Part 7 of
SECTION 50
#17328768408314836-449: The ground along with the trooper in it (in the opening credits, this coincides with the line in the lyrics, "Before they resume with a bang and a boom.") In one episode, an arrow brings the tower crashing down, and in another, Parmenter yanks down the tower with a lasso. In another episode, musical instruments being played loudly cause the tower to collapse. The fort water tower is also a frequent victim of this sort of gag. In one variation of
4929-408: The harshness and isolation of the wilderness, and frequently set the action in an arid, desolate landscape. Western films generally have specific settings, such as isolated ranches, Native American villages, or small frontier towns with a saloon. Oftentimes, these settings appear deserted and without much structure. Apart from the wilderness, the saloon usually emphasizes that this is the Wild West ; it
5022-466: The heroes of Westerns frequently rescue damsels in distress . Similarly, the wandering protagonists of Westerns share many characteristics with the ronin in modern Japanese culture. The Western typically takes these elements and uses them to tell simple morality tales, although some notable examples (e.g. the later Westerns of John Ford or Clint Eastwood 's Unforgiven , about an old contract killer ) are more morally ambiguous. Westerns often stress
5115-511: The high-definition remaster, the original film elements were rescanned into high-resolution video. Western (genre) The Western is a genre of fiction typically set in the American frontier (commonly referred to as the "Old West" or the "Wild West") between the California Gold Rush of 1849 and the closing of the frontier in 1890, and commonly associated with folk tales of
5208-401: The illicit drug market, eventually turning into a ruthless drug dealer and killer. While the show has scenes in a populated suburban neighborhood and nearby Albuquerque , much of the show takes place in the desert, where Walter often takes his RV car out into the open desert to cook his meth, and most action sequences occur in the desert, similar to old-fashioned Western movies. The clash between
5301-727: The influence of Kurosawa. The character Han Solo dressed like an archetypal gunslinger, and the Mos Eisley cantina is much like an Old West saloon. Meanwhile, films such as The Big Lebowski , which plucked actor Sam Elliott out of the Old West and into a Los Angeles bowling alley, and Midnight Cowboy , about a Southern-boy-turned-gigolo in New York (who disappoints a client when he does not measure up to Gary Cooper), transplanted Western themes into modern settings for both purposes of parody and homage. Melody Patterson Melody Patricia Patterson (April 16, 1949 – August 20, 2015)
5394-406: The larger scope of the Western genre, there are several recognized subgenres. Some subgenres, such as spaghetti Westerns , maintain standard Western settings and plots, while others take the Western theme and archetypes into different supergenres, such as neo-Westerns or space Westerns . For a time, Westerns made in countries other than the United States were often labeled by foods associated with
5487-788: The late 1940s and 1950s, Television Westerns quickly became an audience favorite. Beginning with rebroadcasts of existing films, a number of movie cowboys had their own TV shows. As demand for the Western increased, new stories and stars were introduced. A number of long-running TV Westerns became classics in their own right, such as: The Lone Ranger (1949–1957), Death Valley Days (1952–1970), The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp (1955–1961), Cheyenne (1955–1962), Gunsmoke (1955–1975), Maverick (1957–1962), Have Gun – Will Travel (1957–1963), Wagon Train (1957–1965), The Rifleman (1958–1963), Rawhide (1959–1966), Bonanza (1959–1973), The Virginian (1962–1971), and The Big Valley (1965–1969). The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp
5580-399: The late 1950s, The Phil Silvers Show , which had featured swindling by the wily Sergeant Bilko, also based at a "peacetime" Army base — albeit in the mid-20th century, although with the twist of involving local preindustrial aboriginals with US military men in money-making schemes. It also echoes some of the money-making schemes found in the American television series McHale's Navy , which
5673-469: The laundry, he repeatedly sneezes. A group of Union soldiers mistake his sneezing for an order to charge, turning the tide of the battle and "earning" Parmenter the nickname "The Scourge of Appomattox". He also is awarded the Purple Heart after he is accidentally pricked in the chest by his father and commanding officer while receiving his first medal, making him known as "the only soldier in history to get
SECTION 60
#17328768408315766-480: The literary descendants of the knights-errant , who stood at the center of earlier extensive genres such as the Arthurian romances . Like the cowboy or gunfighter of the Western, the knight-errant of the earlier European tales and poetry was wandering from place to place on his horse, fighting villains of various kinds, and bound to no fixed social structures, but only to his own innate code of honor. Like knights-errant,
5859-461: The major Hollywood studios rapidly abandoned Westerns, leaving the genre to smaller studios and producers. These smaller organizations churned out countless low-budget features and serials in the 1930s. An exception was The Big Trail, a 1930 American pre-Code Western early widescreen film shot on location across the American West starring 23-year-old John Wayne in his first leading role and directed by Raoul Walsh. The epic film noted for its authenticity
5952-563: The male lead; or in supporting roles as saloon girls, prostitutes or as the wives of pioneers and settlers . The wife character often provides a measure of comic relief . Other recurring characters include Native Americans of various tribes described as Indians or Red Indians, African Americans , Chinese Americans , Spaniards , Mexicans , law enforcement officers , bounty hunters , outlaws , bartenders , merchants , gamblers , soldiers (especially mounted cavalry ), and settlers ( farmers , ranchers , and townsfolk). The ambience
6045-663: The manga series JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is based in the American Western setting. The story follows racers in a transcontinental horse race, the "Steel Ball Run". Golden Kamuy (2014–2022) shifts its setting to the fallout of the Russo-Japanese War , specifically focusing on Hokkaido and Sakhalin , and featuring the Ainu people and other local tribes instead of Native Americans, as well other recognizable Western tropes. Western comics have included serious entries, (such as
6138-539: The national history and identity of the United States . Native American populations were often portrayed as averse foes or savages . Originating in vaquero heritage and Western fiction , the genre popularized the Western lifestyle , country - Western music , and Western wear globally. Throughout the history of the genre, it has seen popular revivals and been incorporated into various subgenres. The classic Western
6231-432: The pattern—of crime, pursuit, and retribution—for the Western film as a genre". The film's popularity opened the door for Anderson to become the screen's first Western star; he made several hundred Western film shorts. So popular was the genre that he soon faced competition from Tom Mix and William S. Hart . Western films were enormously popular in the silent film era (1894–1927). With the advent of sound in 1927–1928,
6324-523: The peace pipe," "lovers, not fighters," and "proud descendants of cowards." Profit minded, the Hekawis look to be paid when O'Rourke needs them to do something like orchestrate a fake attack on the fort, and haggle over the price and how many braves would be in the attack (when O'Rourke balks at the price, the Chief reminds him that the Apache will gladly make a real attack on the fort for free). Because it had been such
6417-487: The producers and led to her being cast as Wrangler Jane. She, however, was not quite 16 years old, and she misrepresented her age in order to get the audition. Her comments about her efforts to secure the part were later quoted in an interview: "I did well on the F-Troop audition and I knew it...So when the producers asked me, 'You're eighteen, right?' I didn’t argue with them. I said, 'Right.' Then they said, 'Well, you can ride
6510-426: The ranks. Very bashful, he tries to escape the matrimonial plans of his girlfriend, shopkeeper–postmistress Jane Angelica Thrift, known locally as "Wrangler Jane" (played by Melody Patterson , who was awarded the role at the age 15, although she had told producers she was 18)—though he becomes a bit more affectionate toward her during the second season. The episode "Captain Parmenter, One Man Army" reveals that all of
6603-400: The series (shown in every first season opening except for the pilot episode) involves the fort's lookout tower. Every time the cannon is fired in salute, the lit fuse burns out. Corporal Agarn or Private Dobbs then steps up and kicks the cannon's right wheel, collapsing the cannon and causing it to fire off target. The cannonball strikes a support leg of the lookout tower, bringing it crashing to
6696-554: The series' 65 episodes were digitally remastered and released on 10 VHS tapes by Columbia House . On September 27, 2005, Warner Home Video released the first F Troop DVD compilation as part of its "Television Favorites" series. The six-episode DVD included three black-and-white episodes and three color episodes. Following the successful sales from the "Television Favorites" sampler release, Warner Home Video released F Troop: The Complete First Season, with all 34 black-and-white episodes included. The Complete Second Season of F Troop
6789-629: The settlement of other planets is depicted in ways explicitly modeled on American settlement of the West. For example, in his Tunnel in the Sky , settlers set out to the planet New Canaan, via an interstellar teleporter portal across the galaxy, in Conestoga wagons , their captain sporting mustaches and a little goatee and riding a Palomino horse—with Heinlein explaining that the colonists would need to survive on their own for some years, so horses are more practical than machines. Stephen King 's The Dark Tower
6882-805: The show since 2020. In the United Kingdom, reruns commenced in October 2017 on Sky TV channel Forces TV . Reruns premiered on the ITV network in the United Kingdom on October 29, 1968, and were screened repeatedly until July 16, 1974. The series was also broadcast nationally in Australia on ABC-TV , in Ireland on Telefís Éireann , and in Italy during the '80s as a "filler" show during summers (when ratings usually dropped due to large numbers of people going on holidays). In 1998, 30 of
6975-463: The soldiers (troopers) of "F Troop" have been at Fort Courage for at least 20 months, meaning they spent at least part of the Civil War there. They are so incompetent that when they are formed into a firing squad in the episode titled "The Day They Shot Agarn", all of their shots miss Agarn despite the fact they are standing only a few yards from him. The most common running gag through both seasons of
7068-762: The third suffered a nervous breakdown. Much of the humor of the series derives from the scheming of Captain Parmenter's somewhat crooked but amiable non-commissioned officers , Sergeant Morgan O'Rourke ( Forrest Tucker ) and Corporal Randolph Agarn ( Larry Storch ). They, in league with the local (fictitious) American Indian tribe, the Hekawis—led by Chief Wild Eagle ( Frank de Kova )—are forever seeking to expand and conceal their shady business deals covertly and collectively referred to as "O'Rourke Enterprises". Initially, rations and pay were drawn for 30 men at Fort Courage, though only 17 are actually accounted for (the other 13, according to O'Rourke, are Indian scouts who only come to
7161-410: The tower gag, Vanderbilt, Parmenter, O'Rourke, and Agarn are standing in the water tower platform when a lone Indian, "Bald Eagle" (played by Don Rickles ), tries to capture Fort Courage by scaling the tower and jumping on the platform; the combined weight causes the floor to collapse and "Bald Eagle" to be captured. In another variation of the cannon gag, the cannon collapses as it is fired, and blows up
7254-473: The tribe got its name: "Many moons ago, tribe leave Massachusetts because Pilgrims ruin neighborhood! Tribe travel west, over stream, over river, over mountain, over mountain, over river, over stream! Then come big day... tribe fall over cliff. That when Hekawi get name. Medicine man say to my ancestor, "I think we lost. Where the heck are we?". "Where the heck are we?" became "We're the Hekawi" (the original name for
7347-472: The tribe in the series, 'Fugawi', was changed after the censors discovered the sentence "Where the Fugawi?"). The Hekawis are often 50/50 partners with O'Rourke Enterprises. They make most of the company's products, usually in the form of Indian souvenirs (on a commercial scale) and whiskey for the town saloon. They are a peace-loving tribe (mainly due to cowardice), and are self described as "the tribe that invented
7440-439: Was Midway 's Gun Fight , an adaptation of Taito 's Western Gun (1975) which featured two players against each other in a duel set on a sparse desert landscape with a few cacti and a moving covered wagon to hide behind. Atari 's Outlaw (1976) followed which explicitly framed the shootouts between "good guys" and "outlaws" also borrowing from gunfighter themes and imagery. Early console games such as Outlaw (1978) for
7533-589: Was in June 1968 with Vicki Lawrence and Karen MacQuarrie (Miss Welcome to Long Beach 1968). Patterson was a disc jockey for the Armed Forces Radio Service . She later wrote a column called "Wrapping with Wrangler" for Wildest Westerns magazine. In 1965, the Motion Picture and Television Make-Up Artists and Hair Stylists group selected Patterson as one of 12 young actresses named Deb Stars of 1966. She
7626-630: Was a financial failure due to Depression era theatres not willing to invest in widescreen technology. By the late 1930s, the Western film was widely regarded as a pulp genre in Hollywood, but its popularity was dramatically revived in 1939 by major studio productions such as Dodge City starring Errol Flynn , Jesse James with Tyrone Power , Union Pacific with Joel McCrea , Destry Rides Again featuring James Stewart and Marlene Dietrich , and especially John Ford's landmark Western adventure Stagecoach starring John Wayne , which became one of
7719-610: Was an American actress known for her role as Wrangler Jane in the 1960s television series F Troop and for her role as Ellie in the horror film Blood and Lace (1971). Melody Patterson was born on April 16, 1949, in Inglewood, California. She was the daughter of machinist Pat Patterson and the former Rosemary Wilson, an official in the Miss Universe contest. Her mother had been a dancer with Warner Bros. , who "doubled for Joan Crawford in several films." She started performing at
7812-557: Was directed by Charles Rondeau and Leslie Goodwins , among many others, and produced by William T. Orr and Hy Averback . I. Stanford Jolley , Forrest Tucker's former father-in-law, appeared as Colonel Ferguson in the 1966 episode "Survival of the Fittest". The entire series was shot on the Warner Bros. backlot in Burbank, California . The plot engine of O'Rourke and Agarn's moneymaking schemes echoed that of an American television series of
7905-453: Was in color . The series relied heavily on character-based humor, verbal and visual gags, slapstick , physical comedy , and burlesque comedy. The series played fast and loose with historical events and persons, and often parodied them for comical effect. Some indirect references were made to the culture of the 1960s, such as a "Playbrave Club", a parody of a Playboy Club and two rock and roll bands, one of which performs songs written in
7998-465: Was inspired by Red Harvest , an American detective novel by Dashiell Hammett . Kurosawa was influenced by American Westerns and was a fan of the genre, most especially John Ford . Despite the Cold War , the Western was a strong influence on Eastern Bloc cinema, which had its own take on the genre, the so-called Red Western or Ostern. Generally, these took two forms: either straight Westerns shot in
8091-519: Was nominated by the Warner Bros. studio. Patterson was married three times. She married actor James MacArthur in July 1970. MacArthur was known for playing Danny "Danno" Williams in the TV series Hawaii Five-O . She put her career aside to move to Honolulu , where the show filmed. They divorced in 1975. Her second marriage was to Robert Hill Crump Seaton, Jr., and ended in divorce April 29, 1998. Her last marriage
8184-425: Was published by Ideal Toy Company . Although only two seasons were produced, F Troop enjoyed a healthy second life in syndication. The show was a particular favorite on Nick at Nite in the 1990s, running from 1991 to 1995 despite an archive of only 65 episodes. Reruns began airing on TV Land from 1997 to 2000, GoodLife TV Network in 2004, and on MeTV on September 2, 2013. Circle Country previously carried
8277-580: Was released on DVD on May 29, 2007. Both seasons of this show have been released on DVD by Warner Home Video . The DVD features interviews with original F Troop members, writers, and other production personnel, as well as behind-the-scenes information. However, only one major actor from the series, Ken Berry, was interviewed for the half-hour special. Also, audio segments were included of an interview with actor Joe Brooks (Private Vanderbilt). The complete series has been released on iTunes in both standard-definition and remastered high-definition television. For
8370-515: Was the first Western television series written for adults, premiering four days before Gunsmoke on September 6, 1955. The peak year for television Westerns was 1959, with 26 such shows airing during primetime. At least six of them were connected in some extent to Wyatt Earp : The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp , Bat Masterson , Tombstone Territory , Broken Arrow , Johnny Ringo , and Gunsmoke . Increasing costs of American television production weeded out most action half-hour series in
8463-606: Was to aircraft mechanic Vern Miller on November 28, 1998, and ended with her death. Patterson had no children from those marriages. Patterson died in a nursing home in Hollister, Missouri , on August 20, 2015, at age 66. Multiple organ failure was the reported cause. Her F Troop co-star Larry Storch (Corporal Agarn) announced her death on Facebook as follows: "It's with a heavy heart that we can let you know our beloved Wrangler Jane, Melody Patterson, passed away today. Our hearts are sad today. RIP Sweet Melody. We love you." Patterson
8556-515: Was wasteful for so much of the Warner Ranch to be taken up by a single half-hour TV show. Producer William Orr says the studio was also unhappy with the added costs of producing the show in color during its second season. Dell Comics published a seven-issue tie in series. An illustrated hardcover book The Great Indian Uprising was published by Whitman in 1967. It was authored by William Johnston and illustrated by Larry Pelini. A board game
8649-512: Was written by some of the same writers from the Bilko show. The concept of misfit troops sent out West bears some resemblance to the 1964 Western comedy Advance to the Rear . Melody Patterson lied about her age to get the part of Wrangler Jane. She was 15 at the time of her audition, but turned 16 by the time filming started. As a result, the romance between Jane and Parmenter was kept very low key during
#830169