The Rifleman

In one autumn week of 1959, eight of the 10 most-watched shows in the Nielsen ratings were Westerns. Long-running Gunsmoke was often No. 1, and several years later Bonanza took over the top spot—but I preferred The Rifleman, set in New Mexico Territory in the 1880s, starring Chuck Connors as homesteader Lucas McCain and Johnny Crawford as his son, Mark.

Now the programs are available on DVD, in entire-season boxed sets from Levy-Gardner-Laven Productions, and I can try to figure out their appeal. Two elements stand out at first glance. (1) The Rifleman was the first television series ever to have a widowed father raise a child. (How convenient: No nagging mother!) (2) McCain didn’t have to be a crack shooter, because the Winchester rifle he carried had a modified trigger mechanism that anticipated 20th-century submachine guns by allowing for rapid-fire shots!

Lucas McCain was also a compassionate conservative, supporting a recovering alcoholic who became a marshal, giving an ex-con a job on his ranch, and helping a man from China open a laundry. In one episode McCain could not believe that an old enemy had changed and become a doctor, but he admitted his mistake after the former adversary helped him in a gunfight. Another episode portrayed a one-armed former Confederate soldier hoping to kill Union General Phil Sheridan for costing him his arm—until Sheridan arranges for him to get medical care, literally following Lincoln’s directive “to bind up the nation’s wounds.”

Connors in an interview hit on another reason for my fandom: “The warm father-son relationship was the heart of the program.” The shows would typically have a scene at the end where Mark would be proud of his dad for beating the bad guys—he killed two or three of them per show. Then Lucas would explain some nuances about righteous wrath and love. His best line: ”A man doesn’t run from a fight. But that doesn’t mean you go looking to run TO one!”