As a Boomer, McQueen's always been on my radar just from Bullit alone. Then I read Greg Laurie's 2017 biography of the man, further piquing my interest. Laurie mentioned this series which, being born in '54, was on when I was too young to remember it. Do remember seeing it in the listings on late at night cable, but never caught it, and never knew it was even a western, let alone starring McQueen. The guy has the "It" factor, as we all know. Like Charles Bronson, Mel Gibson, Clint Eastwood, he's the good-hearted loner we're always rooting for. But what I've really come to enjoy, some nine episodes into the 94 episode DVD set is the co-stars that boomers will recognize. Alan Hale Jr (The Skipper!), Michael Landon, and Clair Griswald so far, many more to come. This was Clair's first appearance on TV and even dressed as a nun, you could see she had the chops to become quite an actress. Her chemistry with McQueen is there too. Just a great series, corny sure, but just watching McQueen ride a horse, move, shoot, and flash that smile of his just makes for great 'stretch out on the couch and relax ax' back-in-the-day video; black and white film, no CGI, raw sex, psycho violence, and when good or bad was just as plain black or white. We miss Steve McQueen.

"Wanted Dead or Alive" was the show that introduced Steve McQueen. This is a show with episodes that lasted 25 minutes each. The plots are streamlined, due to the running time. There isn't much location shooting but that's OK as the stories are very solid usually. The writing is pretty good. There are many respected character actors to be seen. Steve McQueen is a bounty hunter and each episode shows him on the trail of dangerous bandits and outlaws. He carries a sawn off shotgun as his main weapon. Plenty to enjoy here.

"Wanted-Dead or Alive" was a half hour western series appearing on CBS television for three seasons from 1958-1961. The series actually got its start as an episode of another popular TV series of the time, "Trackdown", during the second half of the '57-'58 TV season. "Wanted-Dead or Alive" starred Steve McQueen as bounty hunter Josh Randall in what was a very good start to an outstanding acting career in feature films. As played by McQueen, Josh Randall was the most laconic of a broad television landscape of would-be laconic western series heroes.Josh Randall carried a sawed-off 44/40 Winchester carbine (his "Mare's Leg", as he called it) on his hip instead of the traditional Colt 45 pistol. This of course played into the TV "cool factor" as his weapon made a much louder, more devastating sound when fired and of course had much more "stopping power" upon impact with the intended victim. Cool! Although "Wanted-Dead or Alive" was truly nothing out of the ordinary in terms of content or quality compared to other like fare of the period but Steve McQueen as Josh Randall and his unique weapon made this a "must watch" series. Only Paladin was better and "cooler" than Josh.

Wanted: Dead or Alive has always been my favourite TV western. I first watched it as a seven year old in the mid '60s, even then it was in reruns.Right from the start the show had the coolest lead-in ever with the camera focused squarely on Josh Randall's 'hogleg' as he slowly walks up to a wanted poster and rips it away from the board. There was something 'mighty' intriguing about the lone bounty hunter who brought in many more bad guys alive than dead. And then there was that sawed-off Winchester '86 and those large 45-70 caliber cartridges. I never did figure out how Josh could load so fast. It couldn't have taken more than three rounds in its magazine, but Josh could easily get off four or five rounds in rapid succession. What about Josh's horse? He/she seemed to prefer to walk sideways but could back up as well as Trigger. Great memories, no doubt. I've viewed countless westerns over the years and I am firmly convinced that absolutely no one but Steve McQueen could have played TV's purest bounty hunter. Todays version is colourized and I think that's fantastic. Even my kids will sit and watch from time to time.