Gunsmoke Question

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aarondhgraham

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An interesting piece of Trivia about that opening scene gunfight.

Back in the early nineties I met a gentleman who was a "wrangler" on the gunsmoke set,,,
He was also a wrangler n a few other westerns such as Have Gun - Will Travel,,,
He participated in SASS shoots in So-Cal where I lived at the time.

He told me that James Arness carried the long barrel revolver because he was so danged tall,,,
They tried having him carry a short barrel gun but it looked ridiculous on camera.

The opponent in the gunfight was Arvo Ojala (click here please),,,
Arvo was the expert quick draw guy in Hollywood at the time.

They used him as he was the only guy who could draw slow enough to let Marshal Dillon beat him,,,
And still make it look like he was drawing fast.

Apparently James Arness had ongoing back problems from his WW-II injury,,,
He couldn't draw a gun quickly no matter how hard he tried.

Gunsmoke came on at 8:00 PM (I think) when I was a little kid,,,
Mom and Dad would let me stay up just long enough for that opening shoot-out.

I would stand in front of the TV with my trusty cap-gun six shooter,,,
When the bad guy made his move I would try to outdraw him.

Most of the time it was, "Oh no Buster, he got ya.",,,
Sometimes it was, "You got him Buster, but you drew first.",,,
Every little boy in America knew that the good guy never drew first.

But every now and then it was,,,
"Way to go Buster! Ya got him fair and square."

The 50's & 60's were a great time to be a little boy in the U S A.

Aarond

.
 

ratski

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An interesting piece of Trivia about that opening scene gunfight.

They used him as he was the only guy who could draw slow enough to let Marshal Dillon beat him,,,
And still make it look like he was drawing fast.

Apparently James Arness had ongoing back problems from his WW-II injury,,,
He couldn't draw a gun quickly no matter how hard he tried.

Gunsmoke came on at 8:00 PM (I think) when I was a little kid,,,
Mom and Dad would let me stay up just long enough for that opening shoot-out.

I would stand in front of the TV with my trusty cap-gun six shooter,,,
When the bad guy made his move I would try to outdraw him.

.

Cool Trivia to know.

Standing in front of the TV for gunsmoke was like riding your stick horse around when The Lone Ranger theme came on!!

Dave
 

John6185

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Hollywood is missing the boat by not having new westerns today in my opinion. But...what really pains me is to see some the old western stars of yesteryear today. Johnny Crawford of the Rifleman is old and has some sort of dementia I believe. The Virginian star James Drury and Roberta Shore are old and wrinkled and my favorite High Chaparral are mostly dead and gone. Sad but we're all getting there sooner or later. Good looks are temporary.
 

TerryMiller

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Hollywood is missing the boat by not having new westerns today in my opinion. But...what really pains me is to see some the old western stars of yesteryear today. Johnny Crawford of the Rifleman is old and has some sort of dementia I believe. The Virginian star James Drury and Roberta Shore are old and wrinkled and my favorite High Chaparral are mostly dead and gone. Sad but we're all getting there sooner or later. Good looks are temporary.

I hate to tell you this, but James Drury passed away back on the 6th of April.
 

skyhawk1

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An interesting piece of Trivia about that opening scene gunfight.

Back in the early nineties I met a gentleman who was a "wrangler" on the gunsmoke set,,,
He was also a wrangler n a few other westerns such as Have Gun - Will Travel,,,
He participated in SASS shoots in So-Cal where I lived at the time.

He told me that James Arness carried the long barrel revolver because he was so danged tall,,,
They tried having him carry a short barrel gun but it looked ridiculous on camera.

The opponent in the gunfight was Arvo Ojala (click here please),,,
Arvo was the expert quick draw guy in Hollywood at the time.

They used him as he was the only guy who could draw slow enough to let Marshal Dillon beat him,,,
And still make it look like he was drawing fast.

Apparently James Arness had ongoing back problems from his WW-II injury,,,
He couldn't draw a gun quickly no matter how hard he tried.

Gunsmoke came on at 8:00 PM (I think) when I was a little kid,,,
Mom and Dad would let me stay up just long enough for that opening shoot-out.

I would stand in front of the TV with my trusty cap-gun six shooter,,,
When the bad guy made his move I would try to outdraw him.

Most of the time it was, "Oh no Buster, he got ya.",,,
Sometimes it was, "You got him Buster, but you drew first.",,,
Every little boy in America knew that the good guy never drew first.

But every now and then it was,,,
"Way to go Buster! Ya got him fair and square."

The 50's & 60's were a great time to be a little boy in the U S A.

Aarond

.
They also cut back on the gunfight a couple times and it got to where you only saw James Arness drawing, not the other guy. People had complained about the violence! I think last change was mid '60's
 

jstaylor62

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I had a duty holster back in the day for my Colt Python that just had a loop of leather shoelace that ran around the hammer. It had a knot on the outside of the hammer that let you hold your hand at your side and flip the loop off the hammer without being noticed. Your ready action was undetectable, so your perceived threat level never changed. We were not big on retention holsters back then ...
 

KurtM

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Well "unloaded guns" are real loud when they go off, but THE loudest sound you will ever hear is CLICK when it should have gone bang!! If I knew I was going into a situation I would for sure perform a pre ops check and I ain't even been on T.V.
 

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