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herofan
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« Reply #183 on: November 21, 2014, 07:10:21 PM » |
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The more I watch Rawhide, the more I notice how Gil Favor uses a whiny voice a lot. Sure, on one hand, he's a he-man who seems to be the voice of reason at times, but he also uses a whiny voice a lot, and acts silly quite a bit. I watched a season 7 episode last night called "Damon's Road." At the end, Gil is in jail, and he is is whining and acting like a two-year old. It just struck me different from other main characters in Westerns of the time, like Matt Dillon.
I know people are different, but maybe I notice it more because there are times when he is played as a calm, straight, voice-of reason guy, and other times he's acting like he's two. Maybe it got worse as the series went on. Did anyone else notice, or is it just me?
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Whistledixie
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« Reply #184 on: November 21, 2014, 08:59:43 PM » |
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The more I watch Rawhide, the more I notice how Gil Favor uses a whiny voice a lot. Sure, on one hand, he's a he-man who seems to be the voice of reason at times, but he also uses a whiny voice a lot, and acts silly quite a bit. I watched a season 7 episode last night called "Damon's Road." At the end, Gil is in jail, and he is is whining and acting like a two-year old. It just struck me different from other main characters in Westerns of the time, like Matt Dillon.
I know people are different, but maybe I notice it more because there are times when he is played as a calm, straight, voice-of reason guy, and other times he's acting like he's two. Maybe it got worse as the series went on. Did anyone else notice, or is it just me?
I know what you mean. They say the actor Eric Fleming had his face smashed while in the Navy, I believe, by a iron girder or something that broke free and crushed half his face...which left it partially paralyzed and unable to emote a lot. So he had a certain woodeness to his performance, which I think he compensated for with his voice and whatnot. Apparently it hurt his career, and sadly he eventually drown in a river while filming a movie. Once you look for it you can definitely see it. Sad thing... Incidentally, if you watch the first Columbo movie from around '68 (picked up as a series a couple years) you can really see the scar around Peter Falk's right eye from the accident and/or surgery that took his eye. Also see it in later ones once I knew to look. Likewise Van Johnson. Huge car accident scar across his forehead. And just saw a latter-day Montgomery Clift film a couple months ago, after his car accident. Like an entirely different man. Hard to pull off Montgomery Clift when you're not seamless... |
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herofan
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« Reply #185 on: November 22, 2014, 05:40:40 AM » |
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I know what you mean. They say the actor Eric Fleming had his face smashed while in the Navy, I believe, by a iron girder or something that broke free and crushed half his face...which left it partially paralyzed and unable to emote a lot. So he had a certain woodeness to his performance, which I think he compensated for with his voice and whatnot. Apparently it hurt his career, and sadly he eventually drown in a river while filming a movie. Once you look for it you can definitely see it. Sad thing...
Incidentally, if you watch the first Columbo movie from around '68 (picked up as a series a couple years) you can really see the scar around Peter Falk's right eye from the accident and/or surgery that took his eye. Also see it in later ones once I knew to look. Likewise Van Johnson. Huge car accident scar across his forehead. And just saw a latter-day Montgomery Clift film a couple months ago, after his car accident. Like an entirely different man. Hard to pull off Montgomery Clift when you're not seamless...
I didn't know that about Flemming's face. I'll try to notice next time. I'll have to say, I think the first few season's of Rawhide couldn't be better. On the other hand, the last few season's were a little weird for me. I feel like they messed with the relationships at times. In one episode, Rowdy is fed up with Mr. Favor and being trail boss to his own herd, and in other episodes, he's explaining how loyal he is to favor. There was an episode where Favor lost a herd. It didn't show it, but just started the episode knowing it had happened. I thought that was stretching it. I watched the second half of Damon's Road last night, and it was a little weird for me. The weirdness I mention may not be easy to explain, but as I said, it just seems like they messed with their personalities and relationships at times. I also notice in season 7 how they are getting away from the cattle drive and action on the trail.. It seems like there is always some adventure going on in a town somewhere. Sometimes it is made known that they have a herd, but it's not the focus. |
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Whistledixie
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« Reply #186 on: November 22, 2014, 06:55:54 AM » |
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^
Know what you mean on that one, too. Maybe they had a jumble of directors and writers or something and no one watching consistency. Probably a major dose of Jumping the Shark going on also, like any series playing itself out, having worked through every plausible scenario that can be done with a cattle drive and the people who run it. Especially in that era of television, when what would become the hackneyed formulas of situational television were first being employed and could probably go off the deep end.
I also think Rawhide suffered from being a 1 hour show. In the beginning that was probably great, the story could be broad and expansive like the land they traversed. But later on I think it became like a big house they had to maintain. Gunsmoke was a half-hour its first few years, in the same era and genre, but never suffered from that particular malady. And they had some fairly involved stories at times, just rising and falling on a different arc.
Route 66 was an hour show of that era, also, and lordy could that one ramble off into left field at times…
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herofan
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« Reply #187 on: November 22, 2014, 08:10:20 AM » |
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Know what you mean on that one, too. Maybe they had a jumble of directors and writers or something and no one watching consistency. Probably a major dose of Jumping the Shark going on also, like any series playing itself out, having worked through every plausible scenario that can be done with a cattle drive and the people who run it. Especially in that era of television, when what would become the hackneyed formulas of situational television were first being employed and could probably go off the deep end.
I also think Rawhide suffered from being a 1 hour show. In the beginning that was probably great, the story could be broad and expansive like the land they traversed. But later on I think it became like a big house they had to maintain. Gunsmoke was a half-hour its first few years, in the same era and genre, but never suffered from that particular malady. And they had some fairly involved stories at times, just rising and falling on a different arc.
Route 66 was an hour show of that era, also, and lordy could that one ramble off into left field at times… I know what you mean. Speaking of one hour, "Damon's Road" was a two-hour episode; I couldn't figure out what was so fascinating or life changing that it had to be a two-parter.  I think it did play itself out. The last season or so started to have a feel that reunion shows often have; there really isn't anything interesting going on, but the characters are just going through the motions hoping viewers will remain interested based on the greatness of the past. You probably hit on something with the writers being different and going off the deep end. This may sound silly, but I've sometimes wondered something like this: The medical show ER, for example, was a huge hit. It slipped, and then we have Grey's Anatomy as a hit. I'm wondering, if there was still an audience for a medical show, why couldn't ER just have stayed interesting being that another medical show came along and got big ratings? However, I suppose writers change and lose the feel of the original and start writing poor scripts. I suppose that is what happened with Rawhide. |
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Whistledixie
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« Reply #188 on: November 23, 2014, 06:39:08 AM » |
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^
Clint became a bigger star with the Leone films during that time period, too, which maybe changed up the dynamic some and the sense of where the show was going.
That’s an interesting issue you raise. I guess ultimately none of it’s new. You can go back to earliest television, or by the 60’s, and see the same formats that would be repeated until today. Doctor shows, lawyer shows, cop shows. Especially counting all the ones that have come and gone and been forgotten along the way, along with the better known. The totality of Jack Webb’s work alone as far as cop and related shows is probably close to that of Dick Wolf, adjusted for relative airtime and reach in their eras...a testament to the desire for product in those genres and their longevity, as well as why they create more to fill the demand.
I guess entropy plays a role in everything, too. It’s all passing moments of chemistry and interaction bound to end somehow, but like everyone else, trying to keep it sparking as best they can while still in the game. Unless it dies before the series actually ends and people stop caring, but it just keeps going on inertia. Which is maybe most cases…although by the 80’s or 90’s they got better at ending gracefully.
The genres continue, though. It’s like with clothing/fashion. I’m always amazed that there can forever be “new” fashions. That at some point they don’t just say “Alright, it’s all been done. Would you like to see some of the old stuff again?” I guess it’s always a mixture of old and new, with each new series (TV, fashion line, etc.) folding in some timely aspect that the old one didn’t have, or have in that combination. “Every generation throws a hero up the pop charts,” as Paul Simon says. I guess we all like our own version of things, not what’s been done before. Even if it has been done before.
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