Talk:The Rifleman

"did not lend themselves to violent solutions"? Huh?

I feel that this may be inaccurate. I distinctly recall McCain shooting Mark's cruel teacher 9 times in the face. I think there needs to be some fact checking if we are ever going to see this page reach "Bestest Article Ever" status.Drunkboxer 19:40, 4 May 2007 (UTC)

Memory can prove inaccurate. As a lifelong student of The Rifleman, I have to say that this incident never took place. For the most part, Mark had sweet ladies for his teachers. One man, Mr. Grizzwald in "The Schoolmaster" displayed a cruel streak, but Lucas handled the conflict in his usual wise and measured way. He did not shoot any of Mark's school teachers, and he didn't shoot anyone, not the lowest outlaw, in such a manner. "The Schoolmaster" from Season 3 is available on the second volume of "The Rifleman" from MPI videos. Other episodes with significant roles for the school teacher, Miss Adams, include, "The Woman" (MPI Video, "The Rifleman" vol. 4) and "Three-legged Terror" (MPI Video,"The Rifleman" vol. 2). While adept with a Winchester, Lucas McCain's main aim in life was to make a good home for his son and a brighter future for the town of North Fork. He repeatedly expressed a hope for a time when guns would not be used to solve problems, and educated Mark to such an end. 209.211.3.185 (talk) 18:27, 29 November 2007 (UTC)Mercy Rose McCain

McCain NEVER shot anyone 9 times, let alone in the face. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.189.9.40 (talk) 16:30, 20 July 2011 (UTC)

The Rifleman

How many episodes did the 'Rifleman' play each year?Kmacintyre 18:26, 12 April 2007 (UTC)

They aired as follows: Season One: 40 episodes Season Two: 36 episodes Season Three: 34 episodes Season Four: 32 episodes Season Five: 26 episodes

There were 168 episodes in all, with two of them, "The Wyoming Story" in Season Two, and "Waste" in Season Five being two-part espisodes.

(see "Television Chronicles, April, 1995)

209.211.3.185 (talk) 18:54, 29 November 2007 (UTC)Mercy Rose McCain

1871?

1871 seems to be a significant year for this show. Everytime a year is mentioned, it's 1871. One episode shows it as the current year, one as a year that is 7 years prior, and another this is 10 years prior.

Could it be that it's the year that the Nation Rifle Association was granted its charter? :)

I don't know about the NRA charter, but actually, the most significant year for events in North Fork was 1881. This is the year that Lucas and Mark arrived and rebuilt the ranch house after it was burned to the ground by Oat Jackford's cowhands. The cornerstone on the house reads, "This home rebuilt by Lucas McCain and his son Mark. Aug, 1881. God bless our home." (see the two-part episode, "The Wyoming Story" MPI Video of "The Rifleman" vol. 2). That Mark was ten years old at that time ("Home Ranch" MPI, vol. 1) we may presume that 1871 was the year of his birth and thus of significance to McCains. The math in North Fork often doesn't quite add up as to when one event happened in relation to another. But we still love to travel there in time and imagination!

209.211.3.185 (talk) 18:45, 29 November 2007 (UTC) Mercy Rose McCain

Actually, most of the time the show is set in the 1880s. OddibeKerfeld (talk) 20:16, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

Re-runs

How many years was it on TV for re-runs in USA and Canada if different?Befuddler (talk) 19:42, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

It's rerun to this day on the Encore Westerns channel. OddibeKerfeld (talk) 20:17, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

Filmed

I know North Fork was in the New Mexico Territory (ficticious) But where was the Rifleman actually filmed? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.116.8.63 (talk) 00:07, 9 May 2008 (UTC)

imdb says:

• 20th Century Fox Ranch, Malibu Creek State Park - 1925 Las Virgenes Road, Calabasas, California, USA
• CBS Studio Center - 4024 Radford Avenue, Studio City, Los Angeles, California, USA
• Iverson Ranch, Chatsworth, Los Angeles, California, USA
• Janss Conejo Ranch, Thousand Oaks, California, USA
• Paramount Ranch - 2813 Cornell Road, Agoura, California, USA

Who then was a gentleman? (talk) 18:14, 16 March 2009 (UTC)

current distributor

The Rifleman is currently distributed by PRO- The Peter Rodgerrs Organization, Hollywood Ca. and has sold the series to HUILU and RTN- Retro Television Network. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.10.40.54 (talk) 19:35, 15 July 2010 (UTC)

The lead needs to be rewritten

The lead as it currently stands is awful to put it bluntly. Single parent, sensitive son, kill the bad guys on the ranch?! Please.--Jeanne Boleyn (talk) 17:07, 24 February 2010 (UTC)

putting values in context

Remarks/observations such as

"Although the rifle may have appeared in every episode, it was not always fired, as some plots did not lend themselves to violent solutions"

and

"There were several episodes where McCain dispatched the bad guys without the use of the rifle at all[,] and he once threw the rifle to knock his opponent off his horse instead of killing him because he was a friend."

make me squirm, for reasons that should be obvious, regardless of how one feels about the need to defend oneself and the right to own and carry weapons. But I'll explain them anyhow. If violence is bad, why didn't most of the episodes have resolutions that didn't require violence? (Tough to write, and not historically plausible, though.) And why is Lucas McCain willing to spare the life of "a friend", but not of someone he doesn't know? That's hardly "Christian".

I'm old enough to remember "The Rifleman" in its first run, but I wasn't a big fan of Westerns, nor did I find this one particularly interesting (other than the way Chuck Connors' hips and buttocks filled his trousers so well). I was prompted to visit this article because I just saw the end of a "Rifleman" episode (on RTV) in which McCain and three townsfolk kill four "baddies" in a "fair" gunfight (the baddies having fired first, from a distance at which they couldn't possibly have missed). What, exactly, was this show teaching the kiddies? Violence is bad, except when it's used to kill bad people? That there is no alternative to violence, if the writer can't think of one?

Your analysis of "The Rifleman" reminds of what has been said about DeMille's Biblical epics -- sin is ultimately punished, but we see an awful lot of it before punishment is inflicted. I'm not a student of "The Rifleman", but I get the feeling that the stories want to have it both ways -- "Kiddies, we're going to lecture you that violence is a bad thing -- but we're first going to titillate you with as much of it as the TV Code lets us get away with."

This article needs a deeper discussion of the show's "intent", and the way it handles violence. The history of the human race is, unfortunately, too much a history of violence, so it would be both stupid and pointless to retroactively condemn "The Rifleman" for not agreeing with current PC points of view. But it would be useful to see a broader and more-critical analysis of its moral Weltanschauung.

WilliamSommerwerck (talk) 16:01, 29 March 2010 (UTC)

Lighten up, Francis. The show was created by Sam Peckinpah, who was know for his portrayal of violence in almost all of his films. Violence does exist, then and now, and sometimes must be met with violence. If you are worried about the kiddies just remember that the kids today are far more violent than the kids that grew up watching shows like The Rifleman.

So... if your life is in danger, just let the bad guys do what they do, because protecting yourself and others is just too violent - without someone willing to protect the non-violent people of the world, do you think all the bad folks would really just leave you be? The Rifleman is a portrayal of necessary action to insure a civil society - I can not imagine the evil corruption of a world that would not have people like the Rifleman willing to serve and protect. Some people just don't get it! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.176.147.119 (talk) 15:24, 30 July 2011 (UTC)

Bias?

I have put POV-statement citations in one paragraph, because it sounds more like a review of the series than an objective report on its history. AlbertSM (talk) 15:47, 6 May 2011 (UTC)

Not a review. More of an analysis of the social aspect of the writing of the show, similar to citing examples of the way Star Trek wove social issues into their scripts. Noting the way a show handles social issues is not an example of bias unless the text is written in such a way as to indicate approval or disapproval of the way those issues were handled. I don't see that happening here with the exception of the "color-blind" comment. Blackfyr (talk) 07:54, 9 February 2012 (UTC)

The paragraph in question was deleted. However, the social aspects of The Rifleman series are a significant part of what makes it notable. We need to reinstate an appropriately phrased paragraph on the treatment of social issues in the series. Here is what was deleted:

The various episodes of The Rifleman promote fair play, neighborliness, equal rights, and the need to use violence in a highly controlled manner ("A man doesn't run from a fight, Mark," McCain tells his son, "But that doesn't mean you go looking to run TO one!"). Thus the program's villains tend to cheat, to refuse help to those down on their luck, to be bigots, and to see violence as a first resort rather than the last option.When the people of North Fork meet blacks, they react without visible prejudice. In "The Most Amazing Man", a black man (played by Sammy Davis, Jr.) checks into the only hotel in town; for the entire show, no one reacts to his race. Not only is this atypical for the 1880s setting, it was radical for Hollywood of the early 1960s. While the message was clear, it was neither heavy-handed nor universal. Yet a certain amount of xenophobia drifts around North Fork, once forcing McCain to defend the right of a Chinese immigrant to open a laundry ("The Queue") and later, the right of an Argentine family to buy a ranch ("The Gaucho").

Ronald Joe Record (talk) 18:58, 23 March 2012 (UTC)

I love that Sammy Davis on the cover of this website! I can't agree that prejudice was rampant after watching that episode. Times were different then. Sammy was a pioneer. --96.244.244.244 (talk) 01:46, 26 July 2012 (UTC)

Cast section: too loose (POV) and unsourced

The Cast section has a lot of info that is POV. (It also lacks inline sourcing). For example, Mark's section (Johnny Crawford) talks about Child Protective Services and whatnot...Mica's (Fix) section describes him as "laughable" at times....there is other loose info that seems to reflect the POV of the author of that section. Some of the author's statements are true I believe, but we need to stick to facts (ex: Mica did use a shotgun) or sourced material about the show...Engr105th (talk) 05:52, 17 April 2012 (UTC)

Made an attempt at cleaning this section (by deleting POV, and changing some verbiage. I did NOT add anything materially new. Anyone who does, or reverts, please source your info)...By the way, is the Synopsis section necessary? That info is very similar in type to the History sect...I believe what this article needs is Introduction, Plot, The Rifle (admittedly significant to the show), Cast (but collapse the guest star list into a separate article; it is far too long and possibly trivial), Production History, Ratings, and Releases. The intent is to keep info separated and non-repetitious. Engr105th (talk) 12:01, 21 April 2012 (UTC)

If you're talking about the section titled "Cast", it shouldn't be so detailed. It should only say, for example:

• Chuck Connors portrayed Lucas McCain, a rancher, an American Civil War veteran (Union Army), and widowed father.
• Johnny Crawford as Mark McCain, the son of Lucas McCain.
• Paul Fix as Micah Torrance, marshal of the North Fork area and town.

Details belong in another section. "Recurring cast" is really the only other listing that should matter. You don't see "Guest stars" listed in other shows, so they shouldn't be here or of that length.

How many shots?

The article says "McCain fires twelve shots from this 11-round rifle during the opening credits. [...] The soundtrack contained a dubbed-in thirteenth shot to allow the firing to time out with a section of the theme music."

However, the source referenced for this information ("The Legendary Rifle: A Closer Look") says: "The program would open with Chuck rapid-firing eleven shots as he walked down the street of North Fork. Actually, he only fired ten shots; the eleventh had to be dubbed in to time out with the music."

So... which is it? Twelve or ten? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.92.174.105 (talk) 00:23, 26 April 2012 (UTC)

Connors, the Athlete section

Nothing in this section pertains to the TV show "The Rifleman"...This info belongs under Chuck Connors' bio...this should be moved to his bio or deleted...Engr105th (talk) 01:26, 26 June 2012 (UTC)