Customer Reviews

Rawhide: The Fourth Season, Vol. 1

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Having screened all 217 episodes for my book ("Rawhide: A History of Television's Longest Cattle Drive" available on Amazon), I can assure fans that the series was still going strong by Season 4. All characters were being given more to do, and there were numerous landmark episodes: Rio Salado, The Long Shakedown, The Inside Man, Reunion...and more! Just wish CBS would release entire seasons in one package.RAWHIDE A HISTORY OF TELEVISION'S LONGEST CATTLE DRIVE

Today (Mar 21) it was announced that after a wait of 30 months (Dec 2008), Rawhide ... Season 4 Vol 1 will be finally released and Season 4 Vol 2 will likely be out at the end of 2011. (tvshowsonDVD.com says "We hear that the rest of the thirty-episode season should make it out onto DVD near the end of this year, although CBS/Paramount hasn't formally announced it yet. Still, it's good to know that it's already on their radar!")
Wow, this is good news, but wish they would speed up the releases so we can have all 8 seasons. Better late than never I guess.
June 10 update. Paramount has done a splendid job on this....keep the releases coming!

I want to thank Paramount for reviving the remaining seasons of Rawhide. I like the added extras regarding episode previews that began with this packaging. It would be nice to see this for as many episodes as possible in future releases. Too bad we can't get Clint to have introductions to each episode. This was done well with The Wild Wild West Season 1 package. Paramount, please release the remaining 4 seasons in a timely fashion; Rawhide fans will be very grateful to have the entire series released. I also feel full season releases for the remaining 4 seasons would be a good strategy. I know Rawhide fans would agree!

There was a time when westerns were a staple of the small screen. Each week a different tale of the old west unfolded before a number of viewers that has seemed to dwindle of late. Be it a secret service agent for President Grant or a riverboat gambler, the variety of westerns on TV was great and helped jump start the careers of many famous movie stars. Perhaps the most notable example of this was Clint Eastwood who began his career on RAWHIDE.

Previous seasons have come out on DVD in the past and they've just added the first volume of season 4. Having not seen the earlier ones, I can only tell you that this one comes off as the perfect example of the early TV western. The stories are simple yet deep at the same time. The acting isn't nearly as bad as some comedies seen on TV right now and the ideas presented are well thought out and valuable for a younger viewing audience while remaining entertaining for adults as well.

The idea behind the series was the cowpoke, the drover who rounded up cattle and delivered them to market. Along the way they ran into problems on the trail, made problems of their own at saloons along the way and became an American icon of what a real man was all about.

Eric Fleming starred as Gil Favor, the trail boss that brought together this rag tag group of cowpokes to run the herd. A fair man and a fair boss, he kept them out of trouble while keeping the cows rounded up. His right hand man, his trail boss, was Rowdy Yates (Clint Eastwood), a young man who enjoys the life he leads and helps keep the men in line. At the same time he isn't averse to joining in on the fun when they hit town though. Rounding out the three main characters of the series was Paul Brinegar as Wishbone, the cook of the outfit. Making sure the men had hot meals and hot coffee, Wishbone was also the conscious of the outfit too, often letting folks know what was really going on beneath the actions of one man or another.

This time around the series begins with the men gathering to take on a herd of beef to market. But by the first episode they've lost the contract and are on their own. With enough money to start out with and a plan to gather lose steers along the way, Gil recruits the men to work for him, rounding up cattle and joining with another group on the trail. This time it's their own cattle going to market.

As things would have it while on the trail stories start making their way into a simple cattle drive. In one episode one of the drover's is almost hanged by his own brother, a judge. In another a wagon train master who deserted his group and was the sole survivor of an Indian attack must face the mother of one of the victims as well as a mean partner of the same deceased man. Civil War spies, a circus, a Christmas episode and more work their way into the stories on the trail and make this a series that showed the Wild West for the hard work it was but also offered a ride that wasn't boring either.

In black and white (come on don't be prejudiced against this format...shows and movies were once made that way so get over it), the series is well shot and well acted by all. Some notable guest stars make their way here as well, some stars before and some later, including Ralph Bellamy and Darren McGavin just to name two.

There are no shows like this on today. As I said at the start, the idea was simple, but stories wound up covering more than you would bargain for in a western. And yet they told a story that wasn't preaching about anything or condemning anyone while at the same time entertaining. Yes, we could use a show like this today.

The western is all but gone these days not just from TV but in films as well. Even when movies like TOMBSTONE, SILVERADO and 3:10 TO YUMA do big business, it's as if no one notices. Perhaps one day Hollywood will realize that westerns can offer the escape today that they did way back when. After all, who would have thought that a movie about pirates would span three sequels? Until that day arrives we will have to be content sitting back and watching the classics like this one. And with RAWHIDE you can't get much better.

This is great news that season four is finally becoming available. Certainly hope this means all eight seasons will be released! Very strange delay between seasons three and four but if they are finally releasing this one, we might take that as a vote of confidence that all episodes need to be marketed. May they all follow in a more timely fashion :-) Keep 'em rollin' guys.

Not only was 90% of the episodes as boring as hell...the quality of the dvd was just as bad as what cbs paramount did to hawaii 5-0 season 10. The previous seasons were beautiful to watch as was the strong stories. Fist half of fourth season has just a few strong stories with the bulk limp-wristed or poor attempts at mild comedy.Only Bonanza pulled off comedy real well while maintaining strong stories. If the second half of season four is as poor my collection will end with that season. gunsmoke however is quality dvds season after season and powerful stories. ...by the way where is Bat masterson and Lawman?Bloodspiller: Book One: Warriors of Palahia Series

The quality of this set is slightly out of focus. I don' think its my dvd player or Blu-Ray player. I tried the set on both of them. No excuse for this; Its taken a long time to get it out to us. CBS is starting to worry me with this and Hawaii Five-0 (season 10).
Has anyone else had this problem with Season 4, Volume 1?

finally! i love this show. cant wait to get the rest of the series eventually. hey cbs! thanks for finally starting up again, head em up! move em out! we are waiting. lol

I purchased the first season of Rawhide from Amazon.com and the visual quality was crystal clear and great, but I've been watching the first two episodes of this version that they sent me and the quality of the DVD is like a pirated DVD in terms of the picture contrast. Items in the background are fuzzy, and the action scenes and western scenery are obscured by the poor visual quality. Of course, the stories are still great, but I am very disappointed in the visual experience so far.

This DVD won't play on my Blu-ray player. I have had this problem on a number of CBS manufactured DVD's. Do not order this if you don't have a DVD player.