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The Wanted: Dead or Alive finale is the last time Steve McQueen acted on TV
A famous director and a beautiful locational made for a fond farewell.
By 1961, Steve McQueen was already a movie star. The Magnificent Seven saw to that. The thrilling 1960 Western, a remake of the Japanese classic Seven Samurai, turned McQueen into a true action hero. But McQueen was still performing on TV, as bounty hunter Josh Randall on Wanted: Dead or Alive. (For younger generations, this was akin to how Bruce Willis did another season of Moonlighting after Die Hard.)
One could argue that McQueen was a movie star when Wanted kicked off in 1958 — he was on theater marquees as the star of The Blob the same week that Wanted premiered. So, by the time the Western reached its finale, "Barney's Bounty," in the spring of 1961, McQueen was undeniably too big for the small screen. Remember, this was a time when television was seen as a significant step down in fame from movies. This is why "Barney's Bounty" turned out to be McQueen's final TV role. He continued acting for another two decades, until his death in 1980.
But if "Barney's Bounty" was to be McQueen's farewell to television, at least he went out with cinematic flair. In fact, one of the great directors of Hollywood helmed the episode. Richard Donner was the visionary behind the camera in this fantastic finale, showing off his chops years before he directed The Omen, Superman, The Goonies and Lethal Weapon.
The setting, in particular, helped this Western tale stand out. In fact, it as "West" as you can get — the showdown takes place on the beaches of California. One rarely sees the ocean in TV Westerns, and Donner makes great use of the location, a gorgeous, rocky stretch of sand in Malibu. Actually, it's probably not far from where Jim Rockford lived on The Rockford Files, or where Charleton Heston discovered the Statue of Liberty in Planet of the Apes.
Donner makes effective use of high, overhead angles, as the sun flickers off the rippling waves. Like any good cowboy finale, there is a "sunset," only John Randall does not ride into it — it's a sunset over the Pacific waters. The "Barney" of the story is neither Fife nor Flintstone, but rather Barney Durant, played by Noah Beery Jr., who, coincidentally, went on to be a regular in The Rockford Files.
There's even more for Western fans to be found here. Richard Alexander turns up in the episode as a blacksmith named "Nels Svenson" — which is funny, because he played the blacksmith Nils Swenson on The Rifleman! So, does this mean that Josh Randall and Lucas McCain exist in the same universe?
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"Younger generation" referring to Bruce Willis? LOL😂 Would have been better to say Johnny Depp still starring in 21 Jump Street long after he was already a movie star.😉
You mean it's as FAR west as you can get.
And that's CHARLTON (no "e") Heston.
"Donner makes effective use of high, overhead angles, as the sun flickers off the rippling waves. Like any good cowboy finale, there is a 'sunset,' only John Randall does not ride into it — it's a sunset over the Pacific waters."
Lastly, it's JOSH Randall.
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Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) 2 hr 45 min
Director: Sergio Leone
Cast-
Henry Fonda
Charles Bronson
Jason Robards
Claudia Cardinale
Woody Strode
Jack Elam
Keenan Wynn
https://archive.org/details/onceinthewest
Once at address it will take around 15 sec before it starts after entering. Wonderful film and in my opinion its as good as Good Bad and The Ugly. Drama all the way through.
Well, obviously your stuff is WAYYY out of my league.
But, who knows - maybe once in a million times, I might luck out
If your looking for a movie to watch this be the one. Seen it or not it's easily in most folks top 100. Probably top 10-20 for me. This was not easy to find being the dearly departed relatives are keeping their clutches a hold of copyright greed 50 plus years later. Don't you just hate that.
Let's start off touting not only the movie but actors in this movie. One of the best of the times. One playing just about every type of part. Another mostly a tough guy wanting to get revenge. A woman who played pretty much these type of movies because of her origin. Also other stars backing up the big ones with clout. These were tough times in the past. People got what they needed by varying means. Some worked, some worked the working and took whatever they could by every means possible. Don't turn your back. This has so many different awesome parts to it. Just when you figure the coast is clear up pops the bad guy and cohorts. Not only that but the movie sound track works wonders to the settings. The most important thing to guessing this is please for the sake of cinema watch this and save it. The copy is great (3.2G). Run Time long.
One actor is near the top of the totem pole in fame. Not many TV shows but some. Over 100 credits and putting out a lot of blockbusters during eras (decades). Another one mostly a supporting actor with awards and also with a few TV spots. Our co-star actor who is usually in lead spots and many TV shows early in career then turns in to a mega monster star. Always seems to be near by when needed. He is one of the two main stars here. Well there's a woman too and she is also the main focus in this movie. She's the go to gal in many foreign movies also. Then comes the back up, back up guys. You see them all the time during this period of cinema. They usually don't last long but fill into some though spots.
For those that do not have time to guess no problem. Come on back. See the winner and grab the movie. Maybe even a thanks to the Movie King or Queen Quiz winner. No two ways about it. We are here to have fun.
"His antihero persona, emphasized during the height of the counterculture of the 1960s, made him a top box-office draw during the 1960s and 1970s. McQueen received an Academy Award nomination for his role in The Sand Pebbles. His other popular films include The Cincinnati Kid, Love With the Proper Stranger, The Thomas Crown Affair, Le Mans, Bullitt, The Getaway, and Papillon, as well as the all-star ensemble films The Magnificent Seven, The Great Escape, and The Towering Inferno."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_McQueen
Whatever he was in was memorable, in spite of his paranoid sense of insecurity and inferiority complex (as measured against his contemporaries). Probably giving him his drive and sense of intense focus. Nobody wanted to be a Star more deeply.
Sadly he died at only 50 yrs, and yet his likeness will always be frozen in time, not suffering the ravages of aging as do so many other beloved icons.
You know I posted a quiz for you as well. It's hiding over somewhere, but I replied to one of your posts with the link in it to announce it. Hope you can find it, then you can let me know where I put it. LOL!! Actually I'll run through you comments to catch up.
https://www.metv.com/quiz/is-this-kent-mccord-in-adam-12-or-something-else
