Tuesday, June 16, 2009

CHEYENNE EPISODE IS A LOOSE REMAKE OF A MOVIE

The episode of CHEYENNE called "The Travelers" that aired on Encore Westerns on 6-12 was a loose remake of the Kirk Douglas movie ALONG THE GREAT DIVIDE which was also known as "THE TRAVELERS."  Pretty darn good little tv western...great production values and location sites for the most part....but at time when they were in the "desert" I could see, on the right side of the screen, a seam on the background cyclorama.  Gregory Walcott was featured in a supporting role as was Robert Armstrong (Carl Denhan in the original KING KONG) as the Marshal.  Len Merrick was the Marshal's name (Kirk Doulgas) in the movie and in the Cheyenne episode.  Was great seeing the area around Vasquez Rocks while it was still pristine and not so cluttered and "civilized" as it is today.....and is always great seeing some of the old time movie greats pop up here and there in these tv shows.

3 comments:

Tom B. said...

John's caught several of these Warner Bros. TV series using plots from films and remakes of other TV series.

John Crummett said...

Another loose remake was "THE ARGONAUTS" episode of CHEYENNE with Rod Taylor and Edward Andrews dealing with gold. Was a "retelling" of TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE...with even some of the footage from the original movie. Several scenes of "Andrews" going through the desert fighting the dusty winds and pulling two mules (when there should have been three) was lifted directly from "Treasure." Again, even with lifting a lot of footage directly from 'movies" it is amazing how much better the production values were in the first season compared to the later years and other series, WB or not.

John Crummett said...

AND......the 6-18 CHEYENNE episode (which originally aired on 3-10-56) called "West of the River" was another loose remake of the 1953 Warner Bros-Guy Madison movie THE CHARGE AT FEATHER RIVER with lottsa shots from the latter included in the former. In "CHARGE" the women abductees are Anne and Jennie McKeever and in the Cheyenne episode they are Ruth and Jenny McKeever. Lane Bradford is Sgt Baker in the tv show and Frank Lovejoy is Sgt Baker in the movie. The rest of the "tv troop" share the movie names.