Wanted: Dead or Alive

It seems to me that Steve McQueen's Wanted: Dead or Alive is a standout from many of the other Westerns of the great Western era, despite the intense competition of Rifleman, Have Gun Will Travel, Rawhide, and all the rest, because of McQueen himself and many great stories shown throughout its three years, credited to the talents of the superb writers mentioned by other reviewers. I think too much emphasis is put on the technical aspects of the sawed-off Winchester. Most viewers thought--and think--it is a cool gun because of the looks and the noise it makes, and don't care enough to analyze its workings. It's a TV prop, for heaven's sake. McQueen used it effectively enough to impress his viewers. My only criticism is that he tended to blow away everybody he aimed at, when he could have been a little more discriminating.

But again, the reason I watch the show--on the Westerns channel, by the way--is for the stories. There are some really different stories, that make you think, some with twist endings, some really original tales on this show. I especially like the ones with kids in them, that I can share with the little kids in my family--the Christmas story; the one about the little boy (Richard Eyer) who is the outlaw's adopted son; and also the karate story with actor Robert Kino. The importance of story is what we're missing in many of today's TV and movie offerings, and that is why I like many of the older classic TV shows.

I was not expecting such high quality when I first starting watching this show, as I was new to it (I was a year old when it was released, so never saw it firsthand) but am now a fan of the very young Steve McQueen as well as the older McQueen whose movies I remember later in my life. It's wonderful that so many of these shows are being rebroadcast!

Wanted, Dead or Alive was a star vehicle in the truest sense of the term. It was a western calculated to exhibit the talent and charisma of its star, Steve McQueen. It lasted for three seasons before McQueen decided to devote full time to the big screen.

McQueen was after some of the most dangerous fellows in the old west, plenty who could shoot a lot better than he. His character Josh Randall needed an equalizer.

In John Wayne's classic western El Dorado, you remember that Duke discovers that James Caan can't hit the broad side of a mountain with a regular six shooter. Before going to El Dorado to aid Robert Mitchum, they stop off and see a gunsmith who fixes Caan up with a Josh Randall special. After that Caan's of considerable help to Wayne and Mitchum.

Of course the sawed off shotgun was also an evil weapon in the wrong hands. Take note of the Dan Duryea western, The Bounty Killer, a very Freudian piece where Duryea becomes hated and feared as a bounty hunter until an innocent bystander gets shot with it.

But with McQueen you knew the weapon was on the side of law and order. As for his Josh Randall character, you can see a bit of him in all the people Steve McQueen brought to the screen like Virgil Hilts, Nevada Smith, all the way to his last two films, Tom Horn and Pappa Thorsen.

Wanted, Dead or Alive was most folks first exposure to a screen legend. I wish that westerns like that were made today.

I usually write long reviews, but having just read the other 23 reviews that are here, I am going to keep this very brief. I am in my 70s and am giving the classic TV Westerns one more go-round, before hanging it up. What impressed me about this series, and I mean really impressed me, is the quality of the writing. It is sometimes spare, but it matters. I also think that, for a 22-minute show, the direction was unusually good. There were times that I had to remind myself that John Ford wasn't directing. Look carefully, and you'll see what I mean. The series brought the best out of a lot of pedestrian actors. Lastly, I agree with everyone that McQueen was a very cool guy, but what he was doing required attention to the director and a performance that is reminiscent of the best method actors (Brando, Steiger, others). I am glad I gave this series another look. It is more enjoyable now than it was when I was a kid.

Many viewers have panned this series. It was hockey and implausible at times. However, I recently watched the series again on the Westerns Channel and offer these observations:

When "Wanted" first came out in 1958, network TV was flooded with formulaic Warner Brothers westerns. With few exceptions they were all mostly repetitive and forgettable. My picks for exceptions are, obviously, Gunsmoke, which stood above the others, Have Gun Will Travel, Maverick and Josh Randall's Wanted Dead or Alive.

For the mid 1950s McQueen's character was ground breaking. He was the first anti-hero in a horse opera. Even when grouped with the line up of special gimmicks westerns (the rapid fire Winchester of The Rifleman; the weird Colt of The Rebel; Wyatt Earp's Buntline Special), Randall and his hog leg stood out. Never mind that he didn't reload and the mechanics of the weapon were implausible, the series worked. It was unique. McQueen was unique.

I was 11 years old when the series started and it hooked me. Sure, it is difficult to watch it today without a laugh or question about its relation to reality. But back then it was cool and so was McQueen. And as someone else commented, only McQueen could have played the character of Josh Randall. For that matter, look at all his motion pictures. I don't believe any other actor could have made those films what they were.

Even 25 years after his death, McQueen is as popular as he ever was. As far as I can see, only John Wayne still has that kind of appeal.

Long before he became a "superstar",Steve McQueen broke ground in this rarely seen TV western from the 1950's. Here,he plays the cool as nails and reliable Josh Randall,a bounty hunter who goes after the bad guys and gets his reward for bringing them in. Coolest western I've ever seen!!! Catch McQueen at his best! Its worth seeing!