Product Details

• Actors: Eric Fleming, Clint Eastwood
• Format: Box set, Black & White, Dolby, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 1.0)
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 7
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Paramount
• DVD Release Date: July 25, 2006
• Run Time: 1180 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (64 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000F9T70K
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #11,224 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Rawhide - The Complete First Season" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Follows the adventures of Texas ranchers taking three thousand cattle to market.
Genre: Television
Rating: NR
Release Date: 25-JUL-2006
Media Type: DVD

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

194 of 197 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Rawhide is one of the best Westerns, May 20, 2006

By 

Metch - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Rawhide - The Complete First Season (DVD)

First telecasted on January 9, 1959 until its last telecast on January 4, 1966, for a total of 8 seasons and 217 episodes.

The Show was about a group of Cattleman from Texas traveling North and taking their 3000 head herd to market. The show tell the stories of people met along the way and those who joined the regulars in transit.

The cast for this show is as described below:
*Rowdy Yates .....Clint Eastwood (Gil Favor's right hand man and second in command)
*Gil Favor (1959-1965).....Eric Fleming (The trail boss, the supervisor of the entire cattle drive operation)
*Pete Nolan (1959-1963).....Sheb Wooley
*Wishbone.....Paul Brinegar
*Jim Quince.....Steve Raines
*Joe Scarlett (1959-1964).....Rocky Shahan
*Harkness "Mushy" Mushgrove (1959-1965).....James Murdock
*Hey Soos Patines (1961-1964).....Robert Cabal
*Clay Forrester (1962-1963).....Charles Gray
*Ian Cabot (1965-1966).....David Watson
*Jed Colby (1965-1966).....John Ireland
*Solomon King (1965-1966).....Raymond St. Jacques

The First season of Rawhide was rated 28 out of the best 30 TV shows according to the Nielsen Rating (The Nielsen Rating is the percent of all TV-equipped homes tuned to the program on an average night, as measured by Nielsen Media Research). The show continued to climb even higher and reached its peak on the 1960-1961 season ranking 6th among the best 30 TV shows getting 27.5% of viewers.

The First season consisted of 23 episodes and they are as follows:
01- Incident of the Tumbleweed Wagon - Aired 1/9/1959
02- Incident at Alabaster Plain - Aired 1/16/1959
03- Incident with an Excutioner - Aired 1/23/1959
04- Incident of the Widowed Dove - Aired 1/30/1959
05- Incident on the Edge of Madness - Aired 2/6/1959
06- Incident of the Power and the Plow - Aired 2/13/1959
07- Incident at Barker Springs - Aired 2/20/1959
08- Incident West of Lano - Aired 2/27/1959
09- Incident of the Town in Terror - Aired 3/4/1959
10- Incident of the Golden Calf - Aired 3/13/1959
11- Incident of the Coyote Weed - Aired 3/20/1959
12- Incident of the Cubasco - Aired 4/3/1959
13- Incident of the Curious Street - Aired 4/10/1959
14- Incident of the Dog Days - Aired 4/17/1959
15- Incident of the Calico Gun - Aired 4/24/1959
16- Incident of the Misplaced Indians - Aired 5/1/1959
17- Incident of Fear in the Streets - Aired 5/8/1959
18- Incident Below the Brazos - Aired 5/15/1959
19- Incident of the Dry Drive - Aired 5/22/1959
20- Incident of the Judas Trap - Aired 6/5/1959
21- Incident in No Man's Land - Aired 6/12/1959
22- Incident of a Burst of Evil - Aired 6/26/1959
23- Incident of the Roman Candles - Aired 7/10/1959

I hope all 8 seasons will be released shortly after this season.
Thank you for reading my review and have a nice day :)

164 of 169 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars the gold standard in western excellence, April 11, 2006

By 

a reviewer - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rawhide - The Complete First Season (DVD)

Thoughts from various sources
from the VHS sleeve from CBS 'The Pitchwagon'
-At a time when TV westerns were either adapted from radio programs or based upon completely ficticious characters, Rawhide was a rare exception. Week after week, for seven years, Rawhide invited us on a historically accurate 1860's cattle drive from San Antonio, Texas to Sedalia, Kansas. Absolutely everything about Rawhide was first class. The rich, sprawling, hour-long episodes allowed characters to develop and powerful stories to unfold. The music, which included a hit theme performed by Frankie Laine, was written by Hollywood legend Dimitri Tiomkin. And best of all, the brilliant ensemble cast introduced Clint Eastwood in the role that made him famous-the young ramrod, Rowdy Yates.
-Rawhide, considered to be the best written and best directed Western on television. For seven seasons, Fleming portrayed an honest, independent, strong, intelligent, and heroic cowboy in the tradition of the American West. He embodied the mythic hero whose sense of justice and morality overrode all other considerations. Fleming's presence as Favor was so dominant that it centered the entire show and provided the base around which all the other characters revolved. Additionally, the character was provided with a personal history that enhanced his leadership. In four episodes featuring Favor's interactions with children (Incident of the Fish Out of Water, The Boss's Daughters, Incident of the Hostages, and El Hombre Bravo), his warmth, sensitivity, and overt compassion are particularly evident, adding depth, realism, and a gentleness to the character. The series was mostly shot in Nogales, Arizona and the authenticity of the trail drive was staggering - enough to win The Western Heritage Award from the National Cowboy Hall of Fame four years in a row. The award named Rawhide the outstanding program of its genre for excellence in depicting the West.
-Television and the home entertainment revolution of the 80's and 90's have made permanently accessible to us small-screen recreations of America's frontier history - the Wild West. Viewers over a certain age have not forgotten and could never abandon the feelings stirred by Rawhide.
-This was not only one of the finest of the TV Westerns, it was perhaps the grittiest.
-I dearly love Eric Fleming and I never hear Clint Eastwood talk about Eric Fleming or say anything nice about him-Eric had a sad childhood and he was a sculptor and a painter. Even though Eric Fleming is dead I wish in some way they could create a tribute to him. He was a very gifted actor.
-[The series was very popular in Europe and reached nearly fanatical levels in Japan]
--The series is in black and white so the cover artwork should not be in colo, but it's great they have started with this season 1 set. Season 2-8 Please! Fans of Rawhide have had to wait 47 years-almost half a century for this series measured from the start date of 1959(as of 2006), they have waited so long to start making the series available that much of the original fan base will never see these remastered episodes. There have also been several attempts to bring the series out so hopefully they'll release all 8 seasons. This is a gritty series so don't get the wrong idea from the artwork which makes it almost look like they're getting ready for a picnic. The details in this series are incredible and Gil is absolutely amazing. It is something special to hear the way Gil talks and to hear his voice. Eric was the reason for Rawhide's success and we will never forget him. Eric Fleming was a remarkable man. There will never be another man like Eric Fleming.
Many thanks for bringing out this first Season. Seasons 2-8 on DVD Please!

53 of 55 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stampede!!!!, May 6, 2006

By 

P. Pattison (United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Rawhide - The Complete First Season (DVD)

"What do you think this is? A beauty contest?! Now butt those saddles!!!!," growled Trailboss Gil Favor (Eric Fleming) to his band of cattle drovers during an episode of Rawhide.

it was lines like these delivered by Fleming with such vim and vigor that really made Rawhide such an outstanding western. Fleming was great as The Boss because he was an imperfect man. Sure he stood by his convictions and always battled the bad guys but he wasn't always right and he didn't always win. He was a believable character who often got down and dirty and came out bloody along with the rest of his crew. He was a man's man and a lady's man all wrapped into one.

His co-star was Clint Eastwood as the handsome, yet sometimes goofy Ramrod Rowdy Yates. I really liked Clint in this role because he actually played a good and decent guy who always tried to do the right thing. And in later seasons he evolved into more of the tough guy that would later define his movie career characters.

The rest of the ensemble inlcuded Paul Brinegar as the wily old camp cook "Wishbone", Sheb Wooley as dependable trail scout Pete Nolan, and Steve Raines as drover Jim Quince who could sing "Skip to my Loo" with the best of them. Rocky Shahan was the big and loveable drover Joe Scarlett and Robert Cabal was the horse rangler "Hey Soos" (obviously the network did not want to put "JESUS" in the credits!). and finally James Murdoch played the "slow-minded" cook's louse Mushy.

In later seasons the cast went through other incarnations. Sheb Wooley would be replaced briefly by Charles Gray as the maverick Clay Forrester. the final season would see Fleming and most of the cast gone and have John Ireland and Raymond St. Jaques join new Trail Boss Rowdy Yates for the series final ride into the sunset.

The stories were mostly compelling and the characters were likeable and worked well together. in a lot of ways, Rawhide was exactly like Star Trek. Favor was Captain Kirk, Rowdy was Spock, and Wishbone was Dr. McCoy. instead of a starship you had a cattle drive seeking out new frontiers and new adventures every week. if you watch both series you will notice the similarities and a number of the Star Trek writers (Gene Coon and Fred Freiberger) worked on both series.

the bottom line is that if you like classic westerns you will really enjoy Rawhide. it is a fun and gritty and interesting show with great characters and stories.