Trackdown (TV series)

Trackdown is an American Western television series starring Robert Culp that aired on CBS between 1957 and 1959. The series was produced by Dick Powell's Four Star Television and filmed at the Desilu-Culver Studio. Trackdown was a spin-off of Powell's anthology series, Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater.

This article is about the American TV series starring Robert Culp. For the 1976 film, see Trackdown (film). For the 2000 film, see Track Down.
Trackdown
Robert Culp as Hoby Gilman (1957)
GenreWestern
Written byD.D. Beauchamp
Frank Burt
Fred Freiberger
Norman Jacobs
Christopher Knopf
Sidney Marshall
John McGreevey
John Robinson
Sam Peckinpah
Directed byThomas Carr
Lawrence Dobkin
Richard Donner
Don McDougall
R.G. Springsteen
StarringRobert Culp
Ellen Corby
Peter Leeds
Norman Leavitt
James Griffith
Gail Kobe
Addison Richards
Narrated byEd Prentiss
Theme music composerWilliam Loose
and John Seely
Composer(s)Harry King
Country of originUnited States
Original language(s)English
No. of seasons2
No. of episodes71 plus pilot
Production
Producer(s)Vincent M. Fennelly
CinematographyGuy Roe
Running time25 minutes
Production company(s)Four Star Productions
Release
Original networkCBS
Picture formatBlack-and-white
Audio formatMonaural
Original releaseOctober 4, 1957 –
September 23, 1959
Chronology
Related showsDick Powell's Zane Grey Theater
Wanted: Dead or Alive

Synopsis

Trackdown stars Robert Culp as Texas Ranger Hoby Gilman. It is set in the 1870s after the American Civil War. In early episodes, stories focused on Gilman going to different Texas towns in pursuit of wanted fugitives. At midseason, the series became set in the town of Porter, Texas.

Gilman is the de facto sheriff in Porter. His friends in the town include Henrietta Porter, portrayed by Ellen Corby (who later played Esther Walton on CBS's The Waltons). She is the widow of the town's founder and owns The Porter Enterprise newspaper. Occasionally, his duties as a Texas Ranger took him out of town, where he used his fast gun to "track down" and apprehend wanted criminals throughout the Lone Star State.

The pilot episode, "Badge of Honor", directed by Arthur Hiller, aired on Zane Grey Theater on May 3, 1957. Gilman, then an ex-Confederate cavalry officer, returns to his Central Texas hometown called "Crawford" after the war. He finds the town under the ruthless control of a gang led by an ex-Confederate colonel, Boyd Nelson, played by Gary Merrill. The town sheriff, portrayed by The Lineup star Tom Tully, is a drunken shell of the man whom Gilman had once known, who is afraid to face the outlaws. When a Texas Ranger came to arrest Colonel Nelson, he is fatally shot in the back. His Ranger badge falls on the dusty road. Gilman, who previously served with the Texas Rangers, was weary of the Civil War and did not want to continue as a lawman, but after learning of the Ranger's death, he picked up the badge and finished the job of bringing Nelson and his gang to justice.

Trackdown carried the endorsement of both the State of Texas and the Texas Rangers, an accolade no other Western television series has received. Some episodes were inspired by the files of the Rangers.[1]

Episode list

Season 1: 1957–58
Nº Ep Title Air date
11"The Marple Brothers"October 4, 1957 (1957-10-04)
22"Law in Lampasas"October 11, 1957 (1957-10-11)
33"The San Saba Incident"October 18, 1957 (1957-10-18)
44"Easton, Texas"October 25, 1957 (1957-10-25)
55"Like Father"November 1, 1957 (1957-11-01)
66"Sweetwater, Texas"November 8, 1957 (1957-11-08)
77"Alpine, Texas"November 15, 1957 (1957-11-15)
88"Self-Defense"November 22, 1957 (1957-11-22)
99"End of an Outlaw"November 29, 1957 (1957-11-29)
1010"Look for the Woman"December 6, 1957 (1957-12-06)
1111"The Town"December 13, 1957 (1957-12-13)
1212"Man and Money"December 27, 1957 (1957-12-27)
1313"The Reward"January 3, 1958 (1958-01-03)
1414"The Farrand Story"January 10, 1958 (1958-01-10)
1515"Right of Way"January 17, 1958 (1958-01-17)
1616"The Witness"January 24, 1958 (1958-01-24)
1717"The Toll Road"January 31, 1958 (1958-01-31)
1818"The Young Gun"February 7, 1958 (1958-02-07)
1919"The Wedding"February 14, 1958 (1958-02-14)
2020"The Trail"February 28, 1958 (1958-02-28)
2121"The Bounty Hunter"March 7, 1958 (1958-03-07)
2222"The Judge"March 14, 1958 (1958-03-14)
2323"The House"March 21, 1958 (1958-03-21)
2424"The Boy"March 28, 1958 (1958-03-28)
2525"The Pueblo Kid"April 4, 1958 (1958-04-04)
2626"The Winter Boys"April 11, 1958 (1958-04-11)
2727"The Mistake"April 18, 1958 (1958-04-18)
2828"The Deal"April 25, 1958 (1958-04-25)
2929"The Jailbreak"May 2, 1958 (1958-05-02)
3030"The End of the World"May 9, 1958 (1958-05-09)
3131"The Brothers"May 16, 1958 (1958-05-16)
3232"The Governor"May 23, 1958 (1958-05-23)

Season 2: 1958–59
Nº Ep Title Air date
331"Killer Take All"September 5, 1958 (1958-09-05)
342"Outlaw's Wife"September 12, 1958 (1958-09-12)
353"Chinese Cowboy"September 19, 1958 (1958-09-19)
364"The Set Up"September 26, 1958 (1958-09-26)
375"A Stone for Benny French"October 3, 1958 (1958-10-03)
386"Trapped"October 10, 1958 (1958-10-10)
397"Matter of Justice"October 17, 1958 (1958-10-17)
408"Tenner Smith"October 24, 1958 (1958-10-24)
419"The Avenger"October 31, 1958 (1958-10-31)
4210"The Schoolteacher"November 7, 1958 (1958-11-07)
4311"Deadly Decoy"November 14, 1958 (1958-11-14)
4412"Sunday's Child"November 21, 1958 (1958-11-21)
4513"Day of Vengeance"November 28, 1958 (1958-11-28)
4614"Three-Legged Fox"December 5, 1958 (1958-12-05)
4715"The Kid"December 12, 1958 (1958-12-12)
4816"Guilt"December 19, 1958 (1958-12-19)
4917"Every Man a Witness"December 26, 1958 (1958-12-26)
5018"McCallin's Daughter"January 2, 1959 (1959-01-02)
5119"Bad Judgment"January 28, 1959 (1959-01-28)
5220"Terror"February 4, 1959 (1959-02-04)
5321"The Feud"February 11, 1959 (1959-02-11)
5422"The Samaritan"February 18, 1959 (1959-02-18)
5523"The Gang"February 25, 1959 (1959-02-25)
5624"The Threat"March 4, 1959 (1959-03-04)
5725"Hard Lines"March 11, 1959 (1959-03-11)
5826"Fear"March 18, 1959 (1959-03-18)
5927"Stranger in Town"March 25, 1959 (1959-03-25)
6028"The Protector"April 1, 1959 (1959-04-01)
6129"False Witness"April 8, 1959 (1959-04-08)
6230"The Trick"April 15, 1959 (1959-04-15)
6331"The Eyes of Jerry Kelso"April 22, 1959 (1959-04-22)
6432"Gift Horse"April 29, 1959 (1959-04-29)
6533"The Vote"May 6, 1959 (1959-05-06)
6634"The Unwanted"May 13, 1959 (1959-05-13)
6735"Toss Up"May 20, 1959 (1959-05-20)
6836"Inquest"September 2, 1959 (1959-09-02)
6937"Back to Crawford"September 9, 1959 (1959-09-09)
7038"Blind Alley"September 16, 1959 (1959-09-16)
7139"Quiet Night in Porter"September 23, 1959 (1959-09-23)

Selected episodes

Trackdown episodes touched on multiple Western themes and topics, so it was known as "the thinking man's Western."[2][3]

The End of the World

In "The End of the World", a rabble-rousing doomsayer named Walter Trump (played by Lawrence Dobkin) comes to town. He scares the townsfolk with talk of an impending disaster and claims to be the only person who can save them – by building a wall. He also threatens to sue Hoby when accused of dishonesty. By the end of the episode, he is arrested as a conman and fraud. The coincidental similarity to Donald Trump's name and proposed border wall was noted after his 2016 election.[4] Vanity Fair wrote that "of all the books and movies that presaged the rise of our reality-TV president... none are so eerily on the nose as this once-obscure, 1958 episode of Trackdown in which a demagogue named Trump attempts to convince a town that only he can save its citizens... by building a wall."[5] The Wrap asked, "Want to talk about a weird coincidence?.... Some may call this episode titled 'The End of the World' the ultimate illustration of life imitating art, considering the episode aired May 9, 1958... it is pretty amusing, especially when the TV character threatens, 'Be careful, son. I can sue you.'"[6] The San Francisco Chronicle stated that "the character's speech is so similar to the president-elect's, it almost seems as if Donald Trump borrowed some catchphrases from Walter Trump."[7]

Appearances

In addition to Steve McQueen, who starred in the successful Trackdown spinoff, Wanted: Dead Or Alive, four other future co-stars of television series also produced by Four Star Television played in Trackdown episodes:

Russell Thorson, who later co-starred in the ABC/Four Star hit series The Detectives played in the Trackdown episodes "The Protector" as a crooked sheriff, and "McCallin's Daughter" as Dr. Aaron Hosper.[8][9]

Johnny Crawford, one of the original Mouseketeers from The Mickey Mouse Club and future co-star of the successful ABC/Four Star series The Rifleman as Mark McCain, also played Eric Payne in two Trackdown episodes, "The Boy" and "The Deal".[10][11]

Don Durant, who went on to star in the popular (but cancelled after one season) CBS/Four Star series, Johnny Ringo, played in the Trackdown episodes "Killer Take All" and "A Quiet Night in Porter".[12][13]

Karen Sharpe, who also co-starred in Johnny Ringo as Johnny's love interest Laura Thomas, was featured in the Trackdown episode "The Young Gun".[14]

Guest stars

Spin-off

Steve McQueen first appeared as the bounty hunter Josh Randall in a March 1958 episode ("The Bounty Hunter") which served as the pilot of his own subsequent CBS series, Wanted: Dead or Alive, a spin-off of Trackdown, launched the following broadcast season. Both series were presented in half-hour episodes and filmed in black and white. McQueen also appeared in a May 1958 episode of Trackdown titled "The Brothers", in which he played a dual role.

Production notes

All Trackdown episodes were produced by Vincent Fennelly.[15] John Robinson wrote 14 segments, including the pilot. Richard Donner was one of the directors. Sam Peckinpah wrote one episode, "The Town", about a cowardly community afraid to resist the clutches of an outlaw gang, but he did not direct any Trackdown episodes. Robert Culp wrote one episode titled "Back To Crawford", which featured his then-wife, Nancy Asch-Culp. This episode was directly related to the first regular series episode, "The Marple Brothers", as Nancy portrayed a former childhood friend of Hoby's, Merrilee Quintana, with whom Hoby was once in love, who was out to kill his sister Norah as revenge for his killing her young husband in the line of duty, who was one of the evil Marple Brothers that he encountered in episode one.[16][17] His sister was played by actress Peggy Webber, reprising her role from the series pilot.[18][19] She went on to guest-star in "Child Out of Time", an episode of Culp's series I Spy a few years later.[20]

In an interview, Robert Culp stated that Trackdown was conceived by its creators as "the Western Dragnet".[2][21][22] The pilot of the series was written by John Robinson, who according to Culp in that same interview, was partly responsible for the creation of Dragnet[22] along with that series' star, Jack Webb.

It was this series, Trackdown, that first brought Culp to national public attention, eight years before he starred with Bill Cosby in I Spy.

The series narrator was character actor Ed Prentiss .[23]

Hoby Gilman's use of the Smith & Wesson .44 Schofield revolver instead of the more-popular Colt Peacemaker is also notable.

Syndicated reruns of this series have been broadcast in the early 2000s on TV Land and other cable networks. CBS Television Distribution now has the TV distribution rights to Trackdown due to CBS's ownership of the show via its co-production with Four Star.

Unlike the series that spawned it, Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater, and the series which it spawned, Wanted: Dead or Alive, Robert Culp's Trackdown, as of 2018, has not had an official DVD release.

In late 2016, episodes of Trackdown began airing Saturday mornings on MeTV.[24]

References
  1. "Trackdown Television Series Archives, 1957-1959". Dolph Briscoe Center for American History. University of Texas at Austin. Retrieved 30 April 2020.
  2. "Do You Remember... "Trackdown"". westernclippings.com. Retrieved 5 March 2015.
  3. "Culp interview". tripod.com. Retrieved 5 March 2015.
  4. Evon, Dan (13 January 2017). "Did a 1950s TV Episode Feature a Character Named Trump Who Offered to Build a Protective Wall?". Snopes.com. Retrieved 15 May 2017.
  5. Nguyen, Tina (9 Feb 2017). "This Television Show Predicted Donald Trump... in 1958". Vanity Fair. Retrieved 9 January 2019.
  6. Rossi, Rosemary (9 January 2017). "1950s TV Show Had Villain Named Trump Who Promised to Save World by Building a Wall". The Wrap. Retrieved 9 January 2019.
  7. Moffitt, Mike (10 January 2017). "Did '50s TV show feature a con artist named Trump promising to build a wall?". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 9 January 2019.
  8. "The Protector". 1 April 1959 – via IMDb.
  9. "McCallin's Daughter". 2 January 1959 – via IMDb.
  10. "The Deal". 1 January 2000 – via IMDb.
  11. "The Boy". 1 January 2000 – via IMDb.
  12. "Killer Take All". 5 September 1958 – via IMDb.
  13. "Quiet Night in Porter". 1 January 2000 – via IMDb.
  14. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0732769/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_30
  15. "Vincent M. Fennelly".
  16. Michelle Palmer (27 June 2011). ""Trackdown" The Marple Brothers (TV Episode 1957)". IMDb. Retrieved 5 March 2015.
  17. Michelle Palmer (11 November 2011). ""Trackdown" Back to Crawford (TV Episode 1959)". IMDb. Retrieved 5 March 2015.
  18. "Peggy Webber". IMDb. Retrieved 5 March 2015.
  19. "Peggy Webber".
  20. "Child Out of Time". 11 January 1967 – via IMDb.
  21. "Robert Culp". Archive of American Television. Retrieved 5 March 2015.
  22. "Trackdown". Archive of American Television. Retrieved 5 March 2015.
  23. http://ctva.biz/US/Western/Trackdown_RobertCulp.htm
  24. "Schedule".
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