"The Wild Wild West" (1965) TV series 1965-1969

User Rating:

8.3/10   

Creator:

Michael Garrison

Seasons:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4

Release Date:

17 September 1965 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Drama | Sci-Fi | Thriller | Western

Plot:

Two Secret Services agents, equipped with a wide array of gizmos, work for the government in the Old West.

Plot Keywords:

Gadget | Agent | Secret | Train | Epilogue Scene

Awards:

Won Primetime Emmy. Another 5 nominations

Cast

Robert Conrad	...	James T. West / ... (104 episodes, 1965-1969)
Ross Martin	...	Artemus Gordon (96 episodes, 1965-1969)
Dick Cangey	...	Henchman / ... (44 episodes, 1966-1969)

Also Known As:

"The Wild West" (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

51 min (104 episodes)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White (1965-1966) | Color (1966-1969)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Argentina:13

Filming Locations:

Bronson Canyon, Griffith Park - 4730 Crystal Springs Drive, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Bruce Lansbury Productions

Trivia:

Miguelito means "little Michael".

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Just Shoot Me!: Jack Gets Tough (#4.10)" (1999)

The One & Only Wild Wild West

This is it, & it will never happen again. This is a wild west with great acting chemistry, & the best stunt work in the history of television. This series had it all.

Gordon always has different roles. West usually got caught in at least 1 cliff-hanger in every episode. Lots of super villains and wild women kept things moving. Special effects were most often good & gadgets that would make sense or sometimes non-sense.

Michael Dunn as Dr. Loveless is often pointed out as a great villain & he was, with Richard Kiel early on as his aide Voltaire, & always with a good looking woman on his side though sometimes West would make them change their side. Loveless would always do the impossible to boot. Wish Michael Dunn could have found more roles in his life.

The rest of the guest villains were a veritable who's who of talent. Harvey Korman, Agnes Moorhead, Orsen Welles, Harold Gould, Burgess Meredith, and others. When the talent did not match the villain, the plot would still wrinkle it for the viewer to enjoy plenty of action.

Fred Friedberger, Gene L Coon, both who worked with Gene Roddenbury on the original Star Trek series worked behind the cameras on this show too. Trekies take note, there are several common themes used on Star Trek & on this series including Michael Dunn who did a guest shot on Star Trek. James T Kirk's fight stunts were NBC's answer to James Wests. John Mantley who did a lot of GunSmoke work did some episodes of Wild Wild West too.

Wish they could still make a show like this. Doubt there are enough talented stunt men around today, & without Conrad, Martin, & Dunn, the talent pool has gotten too shallow. Enjoy this series, there is only one and it will never be better.