Recent from talks
The Rifleman
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
The Rifleman
The Rifleman is an American Western television series starring Chuck Connors as rancher Lucas McCain and Johnny Crawford as his son Mark McCain. It was set in the 1880s in the fictional town of North Fork, New Mexico Territory. The show was filmed in black and white, in half-hour episodes. The Rifleman aired on ABC from September 30, 1958, to April 8, 1963, as a production of Four Star Television. It was one of the first primetime series on American television to show a single parent raising a child.
The program was titled to reflect McCain's use of a Winchester Model 1892 rifle (an anachronism, as the show was set in the 1880s) which had been customized to allow repeated firing by cycling its lever action. He demonstrated this technique in the opening credits, as well as a second modification that allowed him to cycle the action with one hand using a technique known as "spin-cocking".
The series centers on Lucas McCain, a Union veteran of the American Civil War and widower. McCain had been a lieutenant in the 11th Indiana Infantry Regiment, and he had received a battlefield commission at the Battle of Five Forks just before the end of the war. (This conflicts with episode 3/25, "The Prisoner", in which a former Confederate cavalry major states that he was Lieutenant McCain's prisoner after the Battle of Fort Donelson.) Having previously been a homesteader, McCain buys a ranch "about three miles" outside the fictitious town of North Fork, New Mexico Territory, in the pilot episode. He and his son Mark had come from Enid, Oklahoma, following the death of his wife, Margaret (née Gibbs), when his son was six years old.
The series was set during the 1880s; a wooden plaque next to the McCain home states that the home was rebuilt by Lucas McCain and his son Mark in August 1881. This conflicts with dates given during the first season episode “The Bank Guard” where Lucas speaks of losing his savings “about 10 years ago” during “the slump of ‘78”.
A common thread in the series is that people deserve a second chance; Marshal Micah Torrance is a recovering alcoholic, and McCain gives Torrance a job on his ranch in "The Marshal". Royal Dano appeared in "The Sheridan Story" as a former Confederate soldier who is given a job on the McCain ranch and encounters General William Sheridan, the man who cost him his arm in battle. Learning why the man wants him dead, Sheridan arranges for medical care for his wounded former foe, quoting Abraham Lincoln's last orders to "... bind up the nation's wounds".
Despite his status as the series' protagonist, Lucas McCain is not without fault; he has a tendency to be stubborn and bossy, he has a bit of an inflated ego, and he is at times over-protective of his son Mark. In "Death Trap", an episode with Philip Carey as former gunman (and old adversary) Simon Battles, he is unwilling to believe the man has changed and become a doctor. It takes a gunfight (with Battles fighting alongside him) to make him admit he is wrong. In "Two Ounces of Tin", with Sammy Davis Jr. as Tip Corey (a former circus trick-shot artist turned gunman), McCain angrily orders him off the ranch when he finds him demonstrating his skills to Mark. Corey suggests he is a hypocrite, because McCain has an equally deadly reputation in the Indian Territory of Oklahoma, where he first acquired the nickname "the Rifleman".
Eight actors played the town doctor during the series (usually known as "Doc Burrage"): Paul Fix (first episode only; he returned to the cast as Micah), Edgar Buchanan, Fay Roope, Rhys Williams, Jack Kruschen, Robert Burton, Ralph Moody and Bert Stevens. In addition to Joe Higgins, several actors also played blacksmith Nels (sometimes credited as Nils) Swenson, including Richard Alexander, John Dierkes, Henry Rowland and Karl Swenson.
More than 500 actors made guest appearances in more than 970 credited roles during the five-year run of the series. Guest stars included veteran actors: John Anderson, Richard Anderson, Lyle Bettger, Whit Bissell, Harry Carey Jr., John Carradine, Lon Chaney Jr., Ellen Corby, Royal Dano, John Dehner, Jack Elam, Med Flory, Dabbs Greer, Rodolfo Hoyos Jr., John Milford, Agnes Moorehead, Denver Pyle, Lee Van Cleef, and Adam West, most appearing multiple times in different roles. Several then-newcomers appeared in the series, including Claude Akins, Dan Blocker, James Coburn, Mark Goddard, James Drury, Dennis Hopper, L. Q. Jones, Michael Landon, Warren Oates, Marian Seldes, Harry Dean Stanton, and Robert Vaughn. Other notable guest stars and character actors who made cameo appearances were Sammy Davis Jr., future baseball Hall of Famers Duke Snider and Don Drysdale, comedian Buddy Hackett, Pernell Roberts (who was on Bonanza at the time), Bobby Crawford Jr. (elder brother of series star Johnny Crawford; himself a star on Laramie from 1959 to 1960), and writer/director/producer Paul Mazursky.
Hub AI
The Rifleman AI simulator
(@The Rifleman_simulator)
The Rifleman
The Rifleman is an American Western television series starring Chuck Connors as rancher Lucas McCain and Johnny Crawford as his son Mark McCain. It was set in the 1880s in the fictional town of North Fork, New Mexico Territory. The show was filmed in black and white, in half-hour episodes. The Rifleman aired on ABC from September 30, 1958, to April 8, 1963, as a production of Four Star Television. It was one of the first primetime series on American television to show a single parent raising a child.
The program was titled to reflect McCain's use of a Winchester Model 1892 rifle (an anachronism, as the show was set in the 1880s) which had been customized to allow repeated firing by cycling its lever action. He demonstrated this technique in the opening credits, as well as a second modification that allowed him to cycle the action with one hand using a technique known as "spin-cocking".
The series centers on Lucas McCain, a Union veteran of the American Civil War and widower. McCain had been a lieutenant in the 11th Indiana Infantry Regiment, and he had received a battlefield commission at the Battle of Five Forks just before the end of the war. (This conflicts with episode 3/25, "The Prisoner", in which a former Confederate cavalry major states that he was Lieutenant McCain's prisoner after the Battle of Fort Donelson.) Having previously been a homesteader, McCain buys a ranch "about three miles" outside the fictitious town of North Fork, New Mexico Territory, in the pilot episode. He and his son Mark had come from Enid, Oklahoma, following the death of his wife, Margaret (née Gibbs), when his son was six years old.
The series was set during the 1880s; a wooden plaque next to the McCain home states that the home was rebuilt by Lucas McCain and his son Mark in August 1881. This conflicts with dates given during the first season episode “The Bank Guard” where Lucas speaks of losing his savings “about 10 years ago” during “the slump of ‘78”.
A common thread in the series is that people deserve a second chance; Marshal Micah Torrance is a recovering alcoholic, and McCain gives Torrance a job on his ranch in "The Marshal". Royal Dano appeared in "The Sheridan Story" as a former Confederate soldier who is given a job on the McCain ranch and encounters General William Sheridan, the man who cost him his arm in battle. Learning why the man wants him dead, Sheridan arranges for medical care for his wounded former foe, quoting Abraham Lincoln's last orders to "... bind up the nation's wounds".
Despite his status as the series' protagonist, Lucas McCain is not without fault; he has a tendency to be stubborn and bossy, he has a bit of an inflated ego, and he is at times over-protective of his son Mark. In "Death Trap", an episode with Philip Carey as former gunman (and old adversary) Simon Battles, he is unwilling to believe the man has changed and become a doctor. It takes a gunfight (with Battles fighting alongside him) to make him admit he is wrong. In "Two Ounces of Tin", with Sammy Davis Jr. as Tip Corey (a former circus trick-shot artist turned gunman), McCain angrily orders him off the ranch when he finds him demonstrating his skills to Mark. Corey suggests he is a hypocrite, because McCain has an equally deadly reputation in the Indian Territory of Oklahoma, where he first acquired the nickname "the Rifleman".
Eight actors played the town doctor during the series (usually known as "Doc Burrage"): Paul Fix (first episode only; he returned to the cast as Micah), Edgar Buchanan, Fay Roope, Rhys Williams, Jack Kruschen, Robert Burton, Ralph Moody and Bert Stevens. In addition to Joe Higgins, several actors also played blacksmith Nels (sometimes credited as Nils) Swenson, including Richard Alexander, John Dierkes, Henry Rowland and Karl Swenson.
More than 500 actors made guest appearances in more than 970 credited roles during the five-year run of the series. Guest stars included veteran actors: John Anderson, Richard Anderson, Lyle Bettger, Whit Bissell, Harry Carey Jr., John Carradine, Lon Chaney Jr., Ellen Corby, Royal Dano, John Dehner, Jack Elam, Med Flory, Dabbs Greer, Rodolfo Hoyos Jr., John Milford, Agnes Moorehead, Denver Pyle, Lee Van Cleef, and Adam West, most appearing multiple times in different roles. Several then-newcomers appeared in the series, including Claude Akins, Dan Blocker, James Coburn, Mark Goddard, James Drury, Dennis Hopper, L. Q. Jones, Michael Landon, Warren Oates, Marian Seldes, Harry Dean Stanton, and Robert Vaughn. Other notable guest stars and character actors who made cameo appearances were Sammy Davis Jr., future baseball Hall of Famers Duke Snider and Don Drysdale, comedian Buddy Hackett, Pernell Roberts (who was on Bonanza at the time), Bobby Crawford Jr. (elder brother of series star Johnny Crawford; himself a star on Laramie from 1959 to 1960), and writer/director/producer Paul Mazursky.