![]() ![]() Much like the plethora of private detectives that would follow on the networks when the cowboy genre ran out of steam in the late 60s, Josh's sense of moral and ethical duty far exceeds simple monetary concerns, with that dedication to doing the right thing without remuneration often putting him in harm's way. And apparently, the producers of the series figured the best way for the audience to believe Josh wasn't just in bounty hunting for the money.was for him to often give away his fee (or not even accept one in the first place, doing jobs out of his own sense of fair play). In Wanted: Dead of Alive, bounty hunters are still viewed suspiciously by the public (an outsider who rides into town, taking away relatives or neighbors and thereby casting aspirations on their town) and by the law (Josh gets paid ten times over to do the same duties a lowly town sheriff performs), so each episode already has a current of distrust running through it before the story begins: Josh has to prove himself as a "good guy" against a public that is prejudiced against his profession. In Fatal Memory, Josh seems to know the Rebel colonel he's protecting, back from the Civil War days - was Josh a "true" Rebel in the Confederate Army of the South? And that's about all the background we're given for the character this first season any other nods to Josh's past are confined to good or bad reports of his behavior from various sheriffs or outlaws (at various times this season, it seems the filmmakers weren't sure if they wanted Josh to have a nasty past or not, such as the episode, Rawhide Breed, where Josh apparently knows how to get information from an Indian - torture - but he won't commit to doing such an act now). In The Favor, Josh tells a client how he was once a bank clerk, and how he realized one day that his job was nothing more than a prison (a nod to the nascent anti-establishment thread weaving through the popular culture at this time). Josh's backstory is left deliberately vague Wanted: Dead of Alive is concerned with the here and now adventures of this two-fisted bounty hunter. In this first season, the producers and screenwriters weren't always consistent in their references to Josh's past and his reputation.but the outcome of each episode made it clear this bounty hunter had a heart of gold - a bounty hunter who was willing to forgo money if it would aid a client who was wrongly accused of a crime. ![]() Often seen as a venal character with no scruples - basically not much different than a hired killer - the bounty hunter received a deliberate hero make-over with Wanted: Dead of Alive. Certainly by the 50s, the notion of a loner going his own way, often against the interests of the law as well as society in general, was anathema to a strain in the popular culture that demanded conformity and sublimation of the individual in support of perceived civic duties (no wonder so many characters at the end of these episodes try to get Josh to settle down in their little towns.to no avail). Prior to Wanted: Dead of Alive, the bounty hunter had largely been portrayed as a negative character in Western films and TV. Centered on the adventures of Josh Randall (Steve McQueen), a tough, wily, but fair bounty hunter who roamed the Old West, Wanted: Dead of Alive avoided the common late 50s TV template of surrounding a lead character with a "family" of sorts - whether it be a sitcom, with its obvious family setting, or even a Western, like Gunsmoke, with Matt Dillon's regular supporting players like Miss Kitty and Doc - to focus exclusively on the itinerant wanderings of rootless Randall. Itself a "spin-off" from an episode of Trackdown, the less-successful 1957-1959 CBS Western series starring intense Robert Culp as Texas Ranger Hoby Gilman, Trackdown in turn was launched from an episode of the popular Four Star Productions Western drama anthology, Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater. Premiering in the fall of 1958, during the absolute heyday of the adult Western cycle on the Big Three networks, Wanted: Dead of Alive had an interesting gestation. Let's look briefly at the series' three seasons. ![]() Essential viewing for anyone interested in the progression of the Western genre on television, and of course, for fans of McQueen. Then again, you're not paying as much here as you would for say a Paramount full-series release set, so. With all 94 episodes crammed onto just 11 discs, though, don't expect the compression issues-free viewing you'll find on a major studio's more upscale vintage TV release. Apparently, Mill Creek Entertainment now owns the DVD rights to Steve McQueen's iconic Western TV series, Wanted: Dead or Alive, so they've released their own complete series set titled, appropriately enough, Wanted: Dead or Alive - The Complete Series. ![]()
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