McCloud 

Sam McCloud is a Marshal from Taos, New Mexico, who takes a temporary assignment in the New York City Police Department. His keen sense of detail and detecting subtle clues, learned from his experience, enable him to nab unsuspecting criminals despite his unbelieving boss.

Creator:

Herman Miller

Stars:

Dennis Weaver, J.D. Cannon, Terry Carter

Nominated for 6 Primetime Emmys. Another 1 win & 4 nominations.

Cast

Complete series cast summary:
Dennis Weaver	...	Sam McCloud 46 episodes, 1970-1977
J.D. Cannon	...	Peter B. Clifford / ... 45 episodes, 1970-1977
Terry Carter	...	Sgt. Joe Broadhurst / ... 41 episodes, 1970-1977

Storyline

Sam McCloud is a town Marshal from Taos, New Mexico. He goes to New York to find an escaped criminal, and there falls for reporter Chris Coughlin, who is the cousin of the deputy police commissioner. After he tracks the criminal down, Chris convinces her cousin to request that Sam be assigned to temporary duty with the NYPD to learn modern police methods. He is assigned to the detective bureau headed by Chief Peter B. Clifford, who is less than thrilled with having McCloud under his command and gives him nothing but menial duties. Sam always winds up deep in homicides, drug busts, and various other major crimes. He is often helped out by Sgt. Joe Broadhurst, and solves them using a combination of good police work and good old country know-how.

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Plot Keywords:

fish out of water | culture clash | taos new mexico | new mexico territory | arizona territory | 

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Taglines:

The toughest cowboy to ever take on the mean streets of New York.

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Certificate:

TV-PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

17 February 1970 (USA)

Also Known As:

McCloud

Filming Locations:

Grand Hotel, Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico

Company Credits

Production Co:

Glen A. Larson Productions, Universal Television

Technical Specs

Runtime:

120 min (20 episodes) 60 min (6 episodes) 90 min (19 episodes)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

4:3

Did You Know?

Trivia

In Naked City: C3H5(NO3)3 (1961), a 1961 episode of the series Naked City (1958), J.D. Cannon and Terry Carter portray New York City police officers who are partners on the bomb squad. Howard Rodman, story editor for the episode and several other episodes of that series, was later one of three screenplay writers for the Clint Eastwood film, Coogan's Bluff, on which McCloud was based.

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Goofs

McCloud's accent is totally wrong for someone supposedly from Taos New Mexico. Taos is located in northern New Mexico, and Anglos there do not speak in that sort of accent, but rather more or less a general American accent.

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Quotes

Peter B. Clifford: He's got an arrest record that goes back to the crib... he's a psychopathic killer.
Sam McCloud: Well, I'll try and stay on his good side.
Peter B. Clifford: He doesn't have a good side!

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Alternate Versions

Only the first season featured hour long episodes (47 minutes plus commercials). The pilot and subsequent seasons were 90 minutes or longer. For repeats, the six episodes of season one were edited together in pairs of two to form three 90 minutes installments. These were given the new titles 'Man from Taos'; 'Manhattan Manhunt'; and 'Murder Arena'. Some additional voice-overs by the main cast was added to imply connections between the story lines where originally there had been none.

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Connections

Referenced in Mystery Science Theater 3000: Gamera vs. Zigra (1991)

User Reviews

When Gunsmoke Meets Kojak

This has to be one of the funnest detective shows in the history of television. Dennis Weaver went from being the country bumpkin deputy Chester on "Gunsmoke" to what became his defining role as Marshall Sam McCloud. I especially loved the fact that it never took itself seriously as most shows of this type did. I'm just sorry that it never was spun off onto its own separate series as this show was definitely a classic.