User blog:LB&SCR/All-Star Western Extravaganza: Televised Version!

For 20 years from the 1950s to the middle 70s, Westerns were dominating televisions and the movie theatres, with classics such as Gunsmoke and Sergio Leone's Dollars Trilogy filling the television sets. The entertainment of both Children and Older Audiences enabled the ideas of a wild, untamed landscape filled with black-and-white divisions of good and evil with minimal grey, fuzzy middles kept the western on top for two decades, before the genre disappeared from the top ratings in the mid 1970s, leaving behind a legacy of six-guns, saloons, and shiny badges.

Today, I revive four(and perhaps a few more) relics of these lively years of American Television and pit them in an engagement that'll have even men of their moral fibers questioning what has drawn them together. As such, it is at this time that I unveil our participants in this gambit:

Matt Dillon: Gunsmokes weathered Federal Marshall of Dodge City, Kansas.

Paladin: Have Gun-Will Travels Gentleman gun-for-hire of San Francisco.

Lucas McCain: The Riflemans Famous rifle-slinging rancher.

Josh Randall: Wanted: Dead or Alives soft-hearted bounty hunter.

With an excess of six-guns, stand-offs, and Texas Ten-Gallons, it's time for some folks to dish out a bit of Frontier Justice.

James Arness as Matt Dillon
"If Doc doesn't come out of this all right, I'll quit being a marshal. I'll come after you as a plain man... looking for revenge."

- Matt Dillon upon Doc Adams being stabbed



Matt Dillon was a former member of the Union Army and the Marshall of Dodge City, Kansas and the surrounding areas. Upon getting the job he started as rather prone to violence and often unable to show patience with the people of the town. However, as the series progresses Dillon becomes more tolerant and understanding of the people who live in Dodge. This wisdom brought forth an intuition of being able to spot troublemakers before they began and a more passive approach when it came to violence. Often trying to talk people out of raising a gun against him, Dillon has still shown the speed and reflexes to never hesitate when violence is the only answer. In fact, when pressed with a situation, Dillon tends to allow the opponent to draw first...

Dillon is 6 foot 7 inches, and when in one-on-one hand-to-hand often overpowers the opposition unless they are a group in numbers, as Dillon specialized in bare-knuckle boxing while in the Army. However, the biggest testament to his physical prowess is the fact in over 20 years of being on TV, Dillon having recovering from everything afflicted against him to again don the badge of authority: being shot more or less 56 times, knocked unconscious 29 times, stabbed 3 times, and poisoned 1 time.


 * -| Long Arm =

Winchester 1873 24"



The Standard Winchester Rifle came with a 30" barrel, but Dillon's specific '73 came equiped with the shorter 24" barrel. It holds a weight of approx. 8.5 lbs and carries 15-rounds of .44-40 Winchester in a tube magazine. It is considered the most successful Winchester level-action ever manufactured.


 * -| Sidearm =

Colt Single Action Army "Calvalry"



The Original Colt .45 was issued in the "Cavalry" model, with a shorter 7 1/2 inch barrel and a weight of 2.3 lbs. It is packed with 6-rounds of .45 Colt goodness and is just one variant of the famous Colt Peacemaker/Equalizer.


 * -| Special X-Factor =

Physical Prowess

Matt Dillon (and hence James Arness) was roughly 6'7", giving him a large size and power advantage over the majority of other men who come to tussle with the long arm of the law. His physicality also gives life to his ability to take damage that is dealt to him.

Richard Boone as Paladin
"I didn't come here to bushwhack you, but to challenge you to a duel. You didn't kill me last night when you had the opportunity, so I take it you also consider yourself a gentleman. Shall we settle it like gentlemen?"

- Paladin



The Man in Black, simply known as Paladin, is a West Point graduate and former Union Cavalry Officer. In public, he lives the life of a rich bon vivante; wearing expensive suits and drinking fine wine at his permanent place of residence, the Hotel Carlton while being a master at chess, poker, and at swordfighting. Despite his appearance, Paladin lives a double-life as a gun-for-hire. Clientel are often charged steep fees of $1000 dollars (roughly 1875 money) to obtain his services. However, those who are poor can obtain his services for free, showing that there is more to the man with dark eyes. Paladin often tries to solve situations without violence, however when forced he excells in fisticuffs and back under his real name was a dueling champion.

Paladin often uses his vast intelligence to outwit and outsmart his enemies. He is highly skilled in Chinese martial arts and can quote classic literature, case law, philosophy, and can communicate in multiple languages. His trademark is the usage of a bussiness card that he hands out to prospective clients and even enemies: The Knight Chess piece with the words "Have Gun Will Travel."


 * -| Long Arm =

Marlin Model 1894



Albeit an anachronism for the 1870s period of the show, Paladin carries a Marlin Model 1894 in his saddle holster and on his person, possibly a stand-in for the more authentic Winchester '73. It is a 6.5 lb weapon with a 22 in barrel, and a 10-round magazine full of .44-40 Winchester rounds.


 * -| Sidearm =

Custom-built Colt Single Action Army "Cavalry"



Weighing only 2.3 lbs with 6 .45 Colt rounds in the cylinder, the Colt Single Action Army won the West. However, Paladin had his specially designed. He claims it was designed with a 1 oz trigger pull and a specially rifled barrel to give him the edge over his foes.


 * -| Special X-Factor =

Hidden Remington 1866 Derringer



Weighing just 11 oz, the Derringer is the weapon of choice for young women and old ladies who keep them in their purses. They fire .41 Rimfire cartradges and hold two, one in each barrel. Paladin keeps his hidden inside his belt, for a last ditch weapon he can suddenly whip out and surprise assaulters with.

Chuck Connors as Lucas McCain
"Name callin's a handy thing for some Mark. They smack a label on somebody or something and that's it as far as they're concerned. It's kind of a special way of hating because they don't take the trouble to understand."

- Lucas McCain



Lucas McCain is a ex-Union Army Lieutenant and a widower who bought a ranch upon the death of his wife of Smallpox. McCain gained a reputation in the Indian Territories of Oklahoma, where they were the ones who bestowed the title of "The Rifleman" upon him; which is also where his wife passed away. Using money won in a turkey shoot, McCain bought the ranch as a place for him to raise his son Mark; something he had promised his wife upon her death. His famous rifle is a last resort weapon against those who seek to gun him, the fastest draw in the west.

One of the reacurring themes is Lucas teaching his son that (most) people deserve a second chance, with Micah being a recovering alcoholic and Lucas giving convicts chances to work on his ranch. However, even McCain has foibles. He stubbornly believes that some people never change, and it's often with the point of the guns that he overcomes these beliefs... though in some cases it is too late by then.


 * -| Long Arm =

Modified Winchester Model 1892



The anachronistic Winchester '92 (show takes place in the 1880s) is a lever-action that has a 20 in weapon barrel. It fires .44-40 Winchester rounds and can carry up to 15 of them. However, this '92 has been modified with a saddle ring to allow the weapon to be cocked by spinning it in a circle with one hand. The lever's screws have also been modified so that fully working the lever enables the gun to fire without pulling the trigger.


 * -| Sidearm =

Colt Single Action Army



Not McCain's first weapon of choice, however he knows there are circumstances that don't enable him to use his rifle. It is a 2.3 lb revolver with 6-rounds of .45 Colt ammunition. He's also pretty good with it in the occasions he needs to use.


 * -| Special X-Factor =

Improvisation

McCain's skills at adapting to a situation are top tier; as is his ability to take whatever is around and make good use of it. He turned a T-Bone from a steak into a shank used to kill ex-Confederates, and used a Claw Hammer to disarm a lone gunman who was threatening him, to using his rifle as a club to trip enmies up with. He also came up with the idea to load Micah's shotgun with a very acidic form of salt that caused burns upon contact with the skin to incapacitate a group of bandits.

Steve McQueen as Josh Randall
"Well, I've never had to look for the same man twice."

- Josh Randall



Josh Randall is an ex-Confederate turned Bountry Hunter. However, unlike the Bounty Hunter stereotype, Randall does more than just run after men on wanted posters. He searches for missing family members, army deserters, lost animals; and even on occasion breaks innocent men out of jail. One time, he even was hired to find Santa Claus I KID YOU NOT! It is his pursuit of justice, not money, that attracted Randall's Clientel.

Despite his occupation, Randall isn't a cold hard killer. He actually has a large heart and on more than one occasion has donated his reward money  to those who are needy, or even prisoners he'd just busted out of jail so they could get away. He also has a strong dislike of what he considers needless blooshed, as he broke off his friendship with temporary partner Jason Nichols when the man shot dead three men who could have been taken in alive.


 * -| Long Arm =

Winchester Model 1892 "Mare's Leg"



A shortened rifle with a large cultural legacy, the Mare's Leg got it's first popularity jump from Steve McQueen. The barrel has been sawed off to 9 inches, and a good portion of the stock removed. Not shown in the picture, but Randall's also has the saddle ring lever. It's light enough to be weilded in one-hand if needed, and fires .45-70 Winchester rounds in a 6-round tube magazine.

An actual Mare's Leg fires .44-40 Winchester... but Randall himself constantly says .45-70...


 * -| Sidearm =

Colt Single Action Army



A revolver weighing 2.3 lbs and firing .45 Colt rounds from a six-round cylinder. It has a 7 1/2 inch barrel. Just like the standard Colt Equalizer.


 * -| Special X-Factor =

Pursuit of Justice

As a bounty hunter, Randall plays the straight man. He dislikes deception and his good-natured heart, while granting a slight aspect of naivete, also helps him sniff out snippets of deception; and can turn upon those who end up using his skills for evil.

Basically, should he catch wind of a major plot point, he'll be working to stop the fighting.

Experience
When it comes to experience, all of our fighters are vets of the Bloody American Civil War. All of them took up a job with a surprising amount of violence afterwards, and it's this in itself that sets them apart. Dillon comes out on top with his long period of service not only in the war, but in constant services as a Marshall of Dodge City, which is hinted to be around 20+ years including the television films after the series. Paladin and Randall are neck-and-neck for the 2nd/3rd spot, with both of them having took up jobs that required them to wander the west doing jobs for dollars, giving them traveling experience. McCain rounds out in last due to his becoming a rancher after the war. It doesn't mean he has a low score, just lower than the others.

Wisdom
Marshall Dillon and Lucas McCain both come out on top here, due to both of them being the moral compass for their respective towns, and both still being able to rage when the need comes. Randall comes in the 3rd spot for his ability to use his skills at tracking and following to their fullest extent (Wisdom is how well you use the knowledge you possess). Paladin comes in last, not with a low score, but with how often he uses his full knowledge to it's advantage against other opponents. Had this been based on pure knowledge, he would curbstomp though.

Perception
This is the one factor where everyone is roughly equal. All these fighters can spot advantages that would be missed by the normal eye. Dillon and McCain have purposely trained themselves to spot danger before it can commence when it comes to protecting those they care about. Randall has trained his perception more towards spotting deception than danger; and Paladin has trained his perception more towards spotting the fighting style of his enemies so as to counter them; though by then the combat has already began.

Scenario
I don't want to spoil to much, but the basics of the scenario.

The four book for our entertainment have been brought to a booming railroad town in the Southwest with letters pertaining to their particular skillsets. They've received warnings of Dangerous Characters lurking about, with each character having recieved the name of one other 'entertainer,' and details of their business in the area and their danger, but not why they are dangerous.

When I get the prologue out all will be explained, and terrain familiarity will be nil for all parties.

Factoid
Wanted Dead or Alive: 1958-1961

Gunsmoke: 1955-1975

The Rifleman:      1958-1963

Have Gun - Will Travel: 1958-1963

That is the show runtimes. Gunsmoke itself holds a few records: The Longest running 20th Century live-action primtime show, and the biggest number of scripted TV Episodes for a US Primetime show (will be surpassed by the Simpsons in 2019).

It also comes in 4th in the ranking for globally long-running Tv Shows; with Doctor Who, The Bill, and Taggart being the only shows having more episodes.