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I don't believe in pessimism. If something doesn't come up the way you want, forge ahead. If you think it's going to rain, it will.
~ Clint Eastwood
Clint Eastwood got his role in "Rawhide" (1959) while visiting a friend at the CBS lot when a studio exec spotted him because he "looked like a cowboy."
Rawhide
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January 9, 1959
January 4, 1966
Rawhide is an American Western series that aired for eight seasons on the CBS network on Friday nights, from January 9, 1959 to September 3, 1965, before moving to Tuesday nights from September 14, 1965 until January 4, 1966, with a total of 217 black-and-white episodes. Starring Eric Fleming and Clint Eastwood, the series was produced and sometimes directed by Charles Marquis Warren who also produced early episodes of Gunsmoke.
Rawhide was the fifth-longest-running American television Western, beaten only by eight years of Wagon Train, nine years of The Virginian, fourteen years of Bonanza, and twenty years of Gunsmoke.
Set in the 1860s, Rawhide portrays the challenges faced by the men of a cattle drive. There are 20-25 riders looking after 3,000 head of cattle. Gil (short for Gilbert Favor, ep 181) revealed this is about the maximum manageable size for a herd of cows. The cattle drive begins in San Antonio, Texas, and makes its way along the Sedalia Trail (Sedalia, the final destination, is in Missouri about 50 miles east from Kansas City). The herd is estimated to be worth about $50–60,000 if sold at market and represents a pool of cattle from approximately 200 owners. The Trail Boss carries a considerable sum of cash for all necessities and all possible emergencies. Pay was a dollar a day and "all you can eat" for the drovers. Riding "drag" was often a punishment since it was behind the herd, so you'd pick up all their dust. Drives had a "Remuda", a pool of extra horses. If something happened to a man's horse, he would be no good without an instant replacement.
Usually the episode would be introduced by Gil Favor but sometimes by others. The typical Rawhide story involved drovers, portrayed by Eric Fleming (Trail Boss Gil Favor) and Clint Eastwood (ramrod Rowdy Yates), coming upon people on the trail and getting drawn into solving whatever problem they presented or were confronting. Sometimes one of the members of the cattle drive or some of the others would venture into a nearby town and encounter some trouble from which they needed to be rescued. Rowdy Yates was young and at times impetuous in the earliest episodes and Favor had to keep a tight rein on him. Favor was a savvy and strong leader who always played "square" with his fellow men. He was a tough customer who could handle the challenges and get the job done. (Producer Charles Warren called on the diary written in 1866 by trail boss George C. Duffield to shape the character of Favor).[2] Although Favor had the respect and loyalty of the men who worked for him, there were a few times when people, including Yates, were insubordinate under him after working too hard or after receiving a good tongue lashing. Favor had to fight at times and almost always won. Some of the stories were obviously easier in production terms but the peak form of the show was convincing and naturalistic, and sometimes brutal. Its situations could range from parched plains to anthrax, ghostly riders to wolves, cattle raiding, bandits, murderers, and so forth. A problem on such drives was the constant need for water, and the scout spent much of his time looking for it, sometimes finding water holes, even rivers had dried up. In some ways it was similar to the TV series Wagon Train that debuted in 1957.
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The series was not afraid to face tough issues. Robert Culp played an ex-soldier on the drive who had become dangerously addicted to morphine. Jesus (Hey Soos) being Mexican faced racism at times (from people outside of the crew.) There was still anger left over from the Civil War which had ended only four years earlier. The Poco Tiempo episode reveals that Rowdy's father's name was Dan, that Rowdy came from S.W. Texas and that he went off to war at 16. Trail Boss Favor had been a Confederate Captain in the war. There were still Indians about, though often not that wild, some still wanted cattle as payment for going through their land. There were some rough-tough people in the shows and Gil Favor was tortured by having his face held near a fire in one episode. In another, people had "the plague" and guns were used to enforce quarantine. There were also cattle rustlers in many different forms.
In episode 67 "Incident Near the Promised Land", the cattle drive finally reached Sedalia (for the first time in the series). Unusually, episode 68 continues on from that, where the cattle have been sold and the men celebrate in town and decide on their futures with even Favor thinking of leaving the business. Instead of the usual ending where Gil Favor tells his men to: "Head 'em up! Move 'em out!" and the cattle move off, this episode had the end titles over a view of a Sedalia Street. Episode 69 sees Gil Favor visiting his two daughters, Gillian and Maggie who live with their Aunt Elena in Philadelphia. Episode 70 and a number of the men are back together and heading back to San Antonio about 650 miles away, with a herd of horses (used in the titles instead of cattle). Episode 71 sees a new cattle drive ready to go but the owner of 1600 of the cattle wants to be in charge so Favor reluctantly signs on as a ramrod, but after some problems, Favor is boss again at the end of the show. These five episodes made up one storyline instead of the usual single episode stories which could have been set anywhere in the West.
Favor had many bad moments in the series but none worse than the "Lost Herd" episode where close to finish of the drive, he wants to beat another herd to town, to get the best prices. He takes a narrow short cut; there's thunder and lightning and the herd stampedes over the cliffs leaving him just 9 out of 3,000 cattle when the drive reaches town. He doesn't have the money to pay the drovers off and has to face the owner (Royal Dano) whose cows he has lost, knowing that he might never work in the business again.
Soon after Clint Eastwood made his Italian westerns, Jolly Films (which produced A Fistful of Dollars (1964)) came out with a film called (in English) "The Magnificent Stranger", which was actually two episodes of "Rawhide" (1959) edited together ("The Backshooter" and "Incident of the Running Man"). Clint Eastwood sued and the film was withdrawn.
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