As a boy growing up in England in
the 1960s, TV Westerns were a staple of my viewing. I only caught the tail end
of shows like ‘Maverick’ ‘Cheyenne’ and ‘Rawhide,’ and, oddly enough, can’t ever remember watching the longest-running
of all TV Westerns, ‘Gunsmoke’
although I’m sure it was shown in the UK. The ones I remember are ‘Bonanza’ and ‘The Virginian’ and some short-lived series like ‘The Loner.’
I would catch these quite often
and usually found them entertaining, but not essential viewing. I always
thought the TV Western the ‘poor relation’ of western movies. My taste in
westerns has always run to the outdoor and the primitive. The production values
of TV westerns, many of them being filmed on familiar Hollywood backlots or
sound stages, meant they made little of what is a key western element in my
opinion – the landscape, and its physical magnificence.
That all changed in 1967 with the
appearance of ‘The High Chaparral’
which became a ‘must watch’ show for me.
Whilst other shows had occasionally
ventured to Old Tucson, Arizona, the HC location shooting was mainly there, and
in other sites around Southern Arizona. For us Brits, living on an island which
is, alas, sometimes rainy and grey, the Arizona we viewed each week was literally
dazzling; I knew people who watched the show who didn’t even like westerns but
fell in love with the landscapes. All of which gave the HC not only physical
beauty but authenticity – the sweat and dust were real!
The premise of the HC is this:
‘Big’ John Cannon brings his family – wife, son Blue, brother Buck – to the Arizona
Territory of the early 1870s, to set up a ranch, the High Chaparral. But the
country he enters is lawless and riven with conflict, another key element in
the show. Bandits – American and Mexican – abound, and hostile Apaches raid,
particularly the Chiricahuas under their chief Cochise.
Almost immediately Cannon’s wife
is killed by an Apache arrow. Unwilling to fight both the Apaches and a rival
Mexican landowner, Don Sebastian Montoya, Cannon comes to terms with Montoya.
But to seal the deal, Don Sebastian insists Cannon marries his daughter,
Victoria, much younger than him. Cannon reluctantly agrees, and Victoria
returns with him to the ranch, along with her brother Manolito.
Whereas ‘Bonanza’ featured a rather idealised family, the HC clan are often more
like a family at war, grafted together over a marriage of convenience! That’s
because high quality HC scripts gave us leading characters we could like and
admire but were also flawed, edgy and vulnerable, cast to perfection.
Ok, a caveat here. It would be
nice to say that the HC maintained its high standards over its 4 seasons. Sadly,
season 3 fell foul of the trend to ‘tone down’ violence in westerns at the end
of the 60s which meant this season was disappointing, with only a scattering of
good - mostly light-hearted - episodes. As for season 4… let’s not go there! Whoever
was producing this season seemed determined to change everything that made the
original show great, from cutting back on location photography to speeding up
(and ruining) the wonderful theme tune. Add to that one main character – Blue –
left without explanation and was air-brushed out of the series. This was
compounded by tragedy when Frank Silvera died in a household accident.
Most of my favourite episodes are
from seasons 1 and 2, when the HC was, in my opinion, as good as the TV Western
ever got.
The dominant figure, JOHN CANNON is
portrayed by LEIF ERICKSON.
I believe Erickson deserves credit for being unafraid
to present Cannon as a sometimes unsympathetic figure. On the plus side he’s a
man with a vision for transforming Arizona from a wilderness and living at
peace with the Apaches. But at times he’s a ranting bully, initially cold and
awkward towards his new wife, and deliberately harsh in his treatment of his 20-year-old
son BLUE (MARK SLADE.)
Blue in turn can be petulant and
thoughtless, and takes a long time to accept his new mother-in-law. He does a
lot of growing up in the course of the show!
BUCK CANNON (CAMERON MITCHELL) is
another multi-faceted character.
He’s often looked down on by his brother for
his drinking and irresponsibility. He’s an under-achiever; whilst his brother
is clearly intent on making his mark on the land, Buck describes himself simply
as ‘a drifter.’ That doesn’t mean he can’t find steely courage when he has to,
e.g. when he has to stand up to his old confederate army captain who comes to
seize Don Sebastian’s land (‘The
Filibusteros’.)
VICTORIA (LINDA CRISTAL) remains
one of the strongest female characters in the TV western,
particularly in
episodes like ‘Ghost of Chaparral’
where she not only stands up to a domineering husband but asserts her
independence from her father. She often exemplifies poise and grace but ‘North to Tucson’ shows she can hack it
outdoors too!
My favourite HC character is MANOLITO
(HENRY DARROW) a fascinating study in contradictions.
Although raised in a
wealthy, cultured family he’s a friend of bandits and a pursuer of saloon
girls; somewhere in a past we never find too much about, he’s become a dangerous
gunfighter; most intriguingly he’s also knowledgeable, and sympathetic to,
Apaches and their ways. He’s a ‘Zorro’ like character (and Henry Darrow later
played Zorro) in that he can be an irresponsible drunkard, a source of endless
disappointment to his father; but he’s also quietly heroic – he braves torture
to rescue a girl captive of the Apaches, (‘Ride
the Savage Land’) and saves future-president of Mexico Benito Juarez from
assassination (‘The Terrorist’) even
though it means killing a good friend.
The casting was rounded off by
first-rate supporting players, such as FRANK SILVERA as Don Sebastian,
and RODOLFO
ACOSTA as the cook Vaquero.
And then
there were the bunkhouse boys, led by Sam (DON COLLIER)
Sam (DON COLLIER) has Apache trouble
and his brother Joe
(BOB HOY.)
And occasional characters re-occurred, such as El Lobo, a bandit who
could be villainous and also strangely likable (ANTHONY CARUSO)
and Perlita
(MARIE GOMEZ) a saloon girl Manolito pursued in a number of comic adventures.
The HC was a ground-breaking show
in that 2 of the 5 main characters were Hispanics – played by Hispanics. This
was part of the thrust for authenticity that also had Indians played by
Indians, most notably Cochise, who was played by NIÑO COCHISE – who may, or may
not, have been his 93-year old grandson! And the HC also dealt with the black
man’s place in the American West in the episodes Ride the Savage Land, The
Buffalo Soldiers and Sea of Enemies,
featuring a memorable performance by PAUL WINFIELD.
PAUL WINFIELD and MARK SLADE
There are too many other outstanding
HC episodes to list, but they include ‘Mark
of the Turtle’ and ‘The Covey’
where the HC crew do battle with El Lobo, and comic episodes like ‘Champion of the Western World’ and ‘For What We Are About to Receive’ –
there was plenty of humour in the HC to leaven the grittiness. I have to
mention ‘The Peacemaker’ as my
Sundown Press novel is partly based on that, (although you won’t find any HC
characters in it) but there’s also ‘Gold
is Where You Leave it,’ ‘Bad Day for
a Thirst,’ etc., many more. A particular favourite is ‘Shadow of the Wind,’ a strange and brilliant episode bringing in
historical figures like Johnny Ringo (a tremendous performance by LUKE ASKEW.)
Finally I’d single out two for
special mention: ‘Best Man for the Job’
may have the best 5 minute sequence in any TV western, when Apaches attack
a cavalry detail riding out of the ranch.
Action in 'Best Man for the Job'
And ‘Ride the Savage Land’ as, arguably, the very best HC episode and
the best TV western episode ever made. In an episode that scores highly on
every level, Henry Darrow is particularly impressive.
‘Ride the Savage Land’
Last word on the High Chaparral
is not from me, but a comment I found on the internet: ‘It was the greatest
western television series ever made. Its gritty realism, high production
values, location shooting and superb cast made it the very best the genre had
to offer.’
