Wanted: Dead or Alive (1958- 1961)

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    WANTED: DEAD OR ALIVE


    CBS TELEVISION



    Information From IMDb


    Plot Summary
    A young man with a sawed off rifle as a holstered weapon makes a living


    Series Cast
    Steve McQueen ... Josh Randall (94 episodes, 1958-1961)
    Wright King ... Jason Nichols / ... (11 episodes, 1959-1960)
    Olan Soule ... Bartender / ... (6 episodes, 1959-1961)
    Mort Mills ... Clark Daimler / ... (5 episodes, 1958-1960)
    Warren Oates ... Billy Clegg / ... (4 episodes, 1958-1961)


    and many others, including
    James Coburn, Chuck Hayward, DeForest Kelley
    Michael Landon, William Fawcett, Pedro Gonzalez Gonzalez
    Noah Beery Jr.


    Series Directed by
    Thomas Carr (26 episodes, 1958-1960)
    Don McDougall (24 episodes, 1958-1960)
    and many others


    Series Produced by
    John Robinson .... producer (68 episodes, 1958-1960)


    Trivia
    * 'Steve McQueen' was hired after Jack H. Harris, who was producing The Blob (1958) gave him a glowing reference to Dick Powell (the head of Four Star Productions). Powell also asked for, and was granted, the opportunity to view a rough cut of that film.


    * Steve McQueen's characterization of a sympathetic bounty hunter was first tested in an episode of the Western series, "Trackdown," which starred Robert Culp as a Texas Ranger.


    * According to the A&E Biography profile of Steve McQueen (featured in the Season ONE DVD Set), McQueen took the role of Josh Randall because his prospects for acting in movies were drying up. When the series started becoming hit, McQueen began getting more and more noticed by the film industry. So much so that director John Sturges, who'd used McQueen in the war movie Never So Few (1959) cast McQueen in the western hit The Magnificent Seven (1960), the movie that launched McQueen's rise to stardom. After making "Mag-7", McQueen began to get more and more movie offers again and decided to quit the show to pursue his film career, thus canceling the series.


    * After getting offered the chance to star in The Magnificent Seven (1960), McQueen found out that the only way he could do the film, which was being shot simultaneously with "Wanted: Dead or Alive", was to fake an accident or illness and get a medical leave from the series. According to his first wife, Nellie, McQueen accomplished this feat by "faking" a car crash in which he merely crashed his car into a tree, receiving minor cuts, muscle pulls, and bruises, and getting his medical leave. The series' production went on temporary hiatus while McQueen filmed "The Magnificent Seven".


    * According to several episodes, Josh Randall was a war veteran having served in the Confederate Army during the Civil War.


    * Initially, the creators of the series had a hard time selling the show because bounty hunters were thought to be unsavory characters and have been portrayed as such in numerous western shows and movies. The creators overcame this obstacle by having Josh Randall give most, sometimes ALL, of his earnings to help people such as the families of people murdered by the men Randall brings in, thus making Randall a sympathetic and likable character.


    Filming Locations
    Apacheland Movie Ranch, 4369 S. Kings Ranch Road, Gold Canyon, Arizona, USA
    Corriganville, Ray Corrigan Ranch, Simi Valley, California, USA
    Iverson Ranch, Chatsworth, Los Angeles, California, USA
    Jack Ingram Ranch - 22255 Mulholland Drive, Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA
    Vasquez Rocks Natural Area Park -Agua Dulce, California, USA
    Western Street, Republic Studios - 4Los Angeles, California, USA

    Wanted: Dead or Alive is an American Western television series starring Steve McQueen
    as the bounty hunter Josh Randall. It aired on CBS for three seasons from 1958-1961.
    The black-and-white program was a spin-off of a March 1958 episode of Trackdown,
    a 1957-1959 western series starring Robert Culp.
    Both series were produced by Four Star Television in association with CBS Television.



    The series launched McQueen into becoming the first television star
    to cross over into comparable status on the big screen


    Ironically, Steve McQueen took this part,
    because his movie parts were drying up.
    It of course got him noticed, and
    then being cast in The Magnificent Seven.
    The rest as the say, is history!


    Good solid series, and just a little more moody than
    most of the other horse operas of the time.

    I never saw this show but Im a huge Mcqueen fan in fact my wife shot down naming our son Steve Mcqueen Egan because she thinks kids will make fun of him

    "Fill your hand you son of a b--ch"

    Not a bad series but the cut down Winchester has always bothered me. The fact that the magazine may have held maybe 4 rounds and one in the chamber,McQueen always manages to get of 7 to 8 shots in a shoot out.The empties that fly into the air look like about .44-40 size but the rounds on his belt are probably 45-70's,almost twice as long as the 44-40. If he actually chambered the 45-70 rounds in the stubby rifle I doubt it would hold more than 2. In the modern tv series of the Magnificient 7 the one actor also uses a cut down Winchester. The McQueen legacy lives on...

    In 1987, a Wanted: Dead Or Alive movie came out starring Rutger Hauer. In it he played Nick Randall, who I believe was either a great grandson or grand nephew of Josh Randall, McQueens character. He was also a bounty hunter.

    Hi all,

    They are showing "Wanted Dead or Alive"
    on the Irish tv channel TG4 every night,
    I have watched a couple of them, and can
    see why we loved these shows.

    Emmanuel.


    I'll try one of those black beers....THE QUIET MAN.

    Quote from SaddleTramp

    Not a bad series but the cut down Winchester has always bothered me. The fact that the magazine may have held maybe 4 rounds and one in the chamber,McQueen always manages to get of 7 to 8 shots in a shoot out.


    Saddle Tramp, You bring out a very amusing point, as kids, we all enjoyed this TV series not realizing how we were being "Hollywooded". They are masters at it. :wink_smile:


    Chester :newyear:

    I just picked up the complete series, all 3 seasons, at Best Buy for $21.99. I enjoyed the first 3 episodes from season 1. There are also 4 documentaries included: The Art of the Replica, The Mare's Leg, Reckless: The Women of Wanted: Dead or Alive, and Winchester: A Weapon of Legend. For the price I don't thing a person can go wrong for the price.

    On a side note about the gun in the show(The Mare's Leg), The actually call the gun a sawed off shotgun and don't list it as a rifle. I haven't watched the documentary on the gun yet but when I do and if it tells me something more about the wespon I will let you know.

    Life is hard, its even harder when your stupid!!
    -John Wayne

    McQueen practiced with his weapon until his hands bled just to achieve that natural familiarity that you see on the screen. Mel Gibson once commented that McQueen was the master of any prop but didn't imention all the hard work that went into that dexterity.
    As an aside, Magnificent Seven costar Brad Dexter was also in one episode.






    We deal in lead, friend.

    Quote from chester7777

    Did you look up our Fearless Leader, Kevin, while you were there? :teeth_smile:

    Chester :newyear:



    No I haven't. He is probably bailing out his basement with all the rain that has fallen here lately!!!

    I am in the hotel room tonight watching the CMA awards. Well, not really watching, it's more noise as I surf the web.

    Life is hard, its even harder when your stupid!!
    -John Wayne

    I just bought the complete series on Amazon for $12.99. If you order $25. or more in merchandise stocked by Amazon, you get free shipping, plus there's no sales tax. I ordered a couple more Steve McQueen movies I've been wanting to bring my total over $25. so I beat your deal, Lt. B.

    De gustibus non est disputandum