When I started working on 50 Westerns From The 50s, and the blog that goes along with it, I made a decision to stay away from TV Westerns. Nothing against them, I just didn’t want to take on too much (and to be honest, I don’t know all that much about them).
But I’m gonna make an exception with Robert Culp. Mainly because I like him. And because I was inspired by Stephen Bowie’s terrific piece on him at The Classic TV History Blog. Go read it.
Culp never appeared in a Western feature in the 50s (at least none that I know of), but he did a lot of Western TV — including The Rifleman, Bonanza, Zane Grey Theater and two seasons of Trackdown (which he starred in, and is unavailable on DVD). There’s also a particularly good Rawhide episode, “Incident At The Top Of The World,” with Culp excellent as a Civil War veteran addicted to morphine.
He was good. He was cool. And he will certainly be missed.
Culp never appeared in a Western feature (at least none that I know of)
The Great Scout and Cathouse Thursday (1976), with Culp giving a tremendous performance as the bad guy. And it’s online at http://www.hulu.com.
You’re right!
I obviously suffer from 50s Western tunnel vision!
And Burt Kennedy’s HANNIE CAULDER! What a cast, and I’ve never seen it. Thanks for the plug, Toby!
That’s one movie that sounds a lot better that it actually is!
I should revise my post to put “no Western feature in the 50s” since I quit looking once I hit 1960!
Culp really identified with cowboys and westerns in his Television Archive interview, which surprised me — he strikes me as such a modern, urban kind of actor, better suited to sunglasses than stetsons.
I’d love to see a few episodes of Trackdown. I think Sam Peckinpah did some of them.
It’d be cool to see Culp as a regular in a Western show.
I’ve seen a dozen or so TRACKDOWNs. It’s pretty routine except for the formative version of Culp’s persona that’s on display. Peckinpah did a couple of them but the writers & directors were mostly journeymen.
I haven’t seen Trackdown, but I can say that Line Camp, an episode of Peckinpah’s The Westerner series, that also featured Slim Pickens, is just absolutely brilliant. It’s a Culp tour de force. The Western Channel ran the show for a while, but I wish somebody smart would box the thing up.
Apparently Culp did trick riding and rodeo stints during layoff between seasons or shows.
Culp and Peckinpah had a long friendship and working relationship, and there’s an essay by Culp on The Wild Bunch that’s been anthologized in Doing It Right: The Best Criticism on Sam Peckinpah’s The Wild Bunch.
Culp was also best friends with Warren Oates and was largely responsible for bringing Oates to Hollywood and getting him work.
I was watching a bit of Bob Carol Ted And Alice on cable this afternoon and was reminded of how good he was when he was being glib, which was his shtick after all. Very droll, very funny, and incredibly accurate. Razor sharp. He never seemed to struggle; he nailed it every time.
I think a bio of Culp would be a pretty interesting read.
Just found Culp’s piece on The Wild Bunch. Google Books is sure a great thing.
Thanks, as always, for the tip!
Culp was in a western with Brian Keith that I assume was a made-for-theater western but not positive. It is entitled THE RAIDERS but is likely from the 1960s. I saw it on Encore Westerns some time ago and it may be currently running on that channel.