Customer Reviews

Wanted Dead or Alive - The Complete Series

5 star:		(89)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I was surprised to find all three seasons at such a rock bottom price. Since the price was so good, I thought it might have some cheap quality. I check-out reviews others made for single seasons. The clarity and quality on these is 9 to 9.5 out of 10. I have had no freeze or pix problems as of yet (haven't viewed ALL 9, one-sided discs). The storylines are of the quality that Gunsmoke had during the Chester and Quint years. This is a great deal for any western fan. The protagonist, played by Steve McQueen, is a bounty hunter who balances ethics with (of course) the bounty $$$ he's after. 4 to 5 *s!!!.

If you like classic westerns and you like Steve McQueen, this is great find.

I was exposed to this series while living out of the US over 20 years ago. My wife and I loved the series. So when I saw it was available at a reasonable price I pre-purchased the series.

With 94, 1/2 hour episodes, I expect to watch this series for years to come.

I found the picture and sound quality are very good for a TV series shot between 1958 and 1961.

Sad to see this won't include the pilot episode "The Bounty Hunter" from 'Trackdown' with Robert Culp, but here are the contents:

Season 1
The Martin Poster
Fatal Memory
The Bounty
Dead End
Passing of Shawnee Bill
The Giveaway Gun
Ransom for a Nun
Miracle at Pot Hole
The Fourth Headstone
Til Death Do Us Part
The Favor
Ricochet
Sheriff of Red Rock
Die by the Gun
Rawhide Breed
Eight Cent Reward
Drop to Drink
Rope Law
Six-Up to Bannach
The Spurs
Reunion for a Revenge
Competition
Call Your Shot
Secret Ballot
The Corner
Eager Man
The Legend
Railroaded
Double Fee
The Kovack Affair
Bounty for a Bride
Crossroads
Angels of Vengeance
Littlest Client
The Conquerors
Amos Carter

Season 2
Montana Kid
The Healing Woman
The Matchmaker
Breakout
Estralita
The Hostage
The Empty Cell
Bad Gun
The Tyrant
Reckless
Desert Seed
Twelve Hours to Crazy Horse
No Trail Back
Man on Horseback
Chain Gang
Vanishing Act
Mental Lapse
Angela
The Monster
Most Beautiful Woman
Jason
The Partners
Tolliver Bender
A House Divided
Triple Vise
Black Belt
The Pariah
Vendetta
Death Divided by Three
The Inheritance
Prison Trail
Pay-off at Pinto

Season 3
The Trial
The Cure
Journey for Josh
The Looters
The Twain Shall Meet
The Showdown
Surprise Witness
To the Victor
Criss Cross
The Medicine Man
One Mother Too Many
The Choice
Three for One
Witch Woman
Baa-Baa
The Last Retreat
Bounty on Josh
Hero in the Dust
Epitaph
The Voice of Silence
El Gato
Detour
Monday Morning
The Long Search
Dead Reckoning
Barney's Bounty

Bonus Features:
Five Featurettes: The Art of the Replica, The Mare's Leg, Reckless, The Women of Wanted: Dead or Alive, Winchester: A Weapon of Legend

I recently purchased the complete series of the classic western show, Wanted; Dead or Alive. I can vividly recall watching the series on television in the late 1950's in Australia which was only one of three westerns worthwhile watching. I still rate Have Gun Will Travel as the doyen of westerns, closely followed by Wanted: Dead or Alive and The Restless Gun.

This attractively packaged set covers all three seasons spanning 94 episodes from 1958 to 1961. Steve McQueen plays the role of Josh Randall, a bounty hunter in the days where there was no law and murders were an everyday occurrence. Like Paladin in Have Gun Will Travel, and Vint Bonner in The Restless Gun; Josh Randall had both morals and ethics. They never killed for the sake of killing and only defended themselves to avoid being killed.

In this series, Josh Randall never used a six-gun, but a sawn-off Winchester 1892 model carbine rifle. With the bigger gauge bullet, his victims never stood a chance. He stood for law and order, and if he believed his prey was innocent, he would defend them with his life; seeking out the guilty at the same time. Widows and others inconvenienced by misfortune, often received the bounty collected from Randall.

Until this western series began, Steve McQueen was relatively unknown. At the same time of the release of this series. McQueen also starred in a forgettable sci-fi movie called The Blob. It was in Wanted: Dead or alive that McQueen as Josh Randall really excelled and he soon rocketed to fame in great movies. Two of these movies, The Magnificent Seven (1960) and Nevada Smith (1966) saw him play a similar cowboy role.

I am not sure if these DVD released have been remastered at all, but the quality of the episodes is excellent. Back in the 1950's, television antennae and reception was of very poor quality, so it was a pleasure to see these episodes replayed in cinema quality reproduction.

The other aspect I loved watching this old series was the support cast used. Many of these support actors went on to be stars themselves, as well as having their own shows. Picking out these old actors is easy, as faces do not change much, they just weather and get more wrinkles.

Such support actors in the show include: James Coburn, Michael Landon, Alan Hale, Warren Oates, Jay North, DeForest Kelley, Michael Pate, Clu Gulager, Lee Van Cleef, Lon Chaney Jr, Dyan Cannon, Wayne Rogers, Martin Landau, John Carradine, Claude Akins, Harold J Stone, Mary Tyler Moore, Cloris Leachman, Richard Anderson, Noah Beery Jr, and many others.

This is a series I would definitely recommend for enjoyment, and reliving the past with a touch of Nostalgia. Steve McQueen was a star back then, and today, some 30 years after his death, his legend will go on.

Steve McQueen is the ultimate cool of cool bounty hunter, Josh Randall. This eleven disc box set contains all 94 episodes in a short three season run, seems most of the western tv series of the era only ran for a limited time, with the exception of Gunsmoke, McQueen probably needed a change to motion pictures, starring in the "Magnificent Seven". Randall is the drifter who takes on just about any job or task for cash, including searching for a "pet sheep". You've gotta love the sawed off winchester hanging off the belt with three inch cartridges in each slot or the four chambered deringer Randall keeps concealed in his saddle bag. The show features guest stars throughout the three seasons, featured stars include, Lee Van Cleef, Warren Oates, Mary Tyler Moore, Michael Landon, Cloris Leachman, James Coburn, and other reconizable faces. WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE is classic western entertainment of the good ol' days. This is mill creek dvd co. and I won't lie to you, I've watched all eleven disc and there is some occasional freezing and skipping throughout, if there's a better quality set out there I would probably go for that, this is just a cheaper way to see all three seasons, the video is black and white with "surprisingly" excellent transfers with clarity, gotta give this four stars despite the quality, for Steve McQueen, Wanted Dead Or Alive, love it, each episode is twenty five minutes, special features include the women who starred with Steve McQueen, the history of the Winchester rifle, the making of the "mare's leg". (each disc in this set is one sided, and with separate protective sleeves)

This was a great bargain. One of my favorite shows from my childhood. I cannot get enough of the opening sequence...watching the sawed-off Winchester ride on Steve's thigh as he walks across the screen does it for me. The plots are well developed and still interesting. The writers of this genre were fantastic. So far no problems with the DVD quality. When I have problems, I rinse the disc under cold water and polish the marks off. Only had to do this once so far but I am not through all 94 episodes.

As a kid, I grew up on weekly westerns. I never had to wait to long to catch a weekly western on tv as there were so many of them. In getting older, there's a lot of nostalgia for many things. TV westerns is one of them. So I can't say how happy I am to see many of them coming out on DVDs. A couple that I don't even recall. But that's ok. I love surprises! In watching Wanted: Dead or Alive, we get to see Steve McQueen at a young age doing some of his best work, in my opinion. You will not be dissapointed in catching all three seasons of this finely put together western series. I highly recommend it to any one, young ot old, who loves a good western if for nothing else, a change of pace.

Where else can you find 94 episodes of a western series, especially one of the quality of W:DOA? Steve McQueen is a delight. I watched all 94 episodes and wanted more! The ONLY negative I have about the series, content-wise, is the 11 or so episodes in which Wright King starred as Jason, Josh Randall's partner in bounty hunting. I have a hunch Steve McQueen was not too thrilled to share the spotlight with King! To sum it all up ... buy buy buy this collection. Oh, and technologically the transfer to DVD is about as good as it can get given the age of the originals. Don't read too much negatively into that last sentence. The quality is great. ENJOY ENJOY ENJOY.

I'm impressed; the quality of these disks is amazing. MillCreek may've started out with questionable quality with some of their public domain titles (the first season of Robin Hood comes to mind), but for classic black and white Western fans, this Steve McQueen vehicle is wonderful. I'm only on the third disk, however, I've notice almost no blemishes, speckles, streaks, hissing, etc that you expect to get from a low priced product. In fact, this collection rivals bigger name companies like Universal and MGM. I bought this without having ever seen the series, but I love Westerns, and I was willing to take a chance on such a low-low price. Amazing. Great Job MillCreek.

I received this collection somewhat worried that the transfers would be poor from some secondary source. I was however pleasantly surprised that the print quality was as good as the show itself. I highly recommend this fine collection from 50(ugh) years ago!