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"GunSmoke," the television program, began airing on CBS in 1955 and had a more than successful run all the way up to 1975. That's right, "Friends" fans--twenty consecutive seasons. The main gunslinger, James Arness (playing Marshal Matt Dillon), who beat out John Wayne for the part, stayed on the show for each and every episode. Now that is what I call dedication.
The original radio show was full of cheap promotion plugs by Chesterfield Cigarettes. Their slogan: "They satisfy... the most." (1:33) (Listen to the cig plug and program intro with the original Marshal Matt Dillon, William Conrad.) The origins "Gunsmoke" actually begin a few years earlier in 1952 as an afternoon radio program. Pre-dating James Arness' role of Marshal Matt Dillon was William Conrad. The radio version of the show aired until the '60's when the TV "Gunsmoke" was in full swing. Listen to Gunsmoke TV sound clips: Ten years after Gunsmoke's cancellation in '75, Capcom gave distribution rights to its newest arcade cabinet called, oddly enough Gun.Smoke, to ROMStar in the US--with that important "period" separating the two words to avoid copyright infringement. The game featured overhead perspective, operating on a vertical monitor similar to that of 1942, and combined scrolling SHUMP gameplay with some RPG and traditional action elements. The original cabinet's controls placed the joystick in the middle of 6-buttons, 3 on the left and 3 on the right, to hone the craft of the on-screen gunslinging.
Badges? We don't need no steenkin' badges! 'Cept for Nintendo's Seal of Quality, I reckon. In Jan. of 1988, Capcom brought the old west to home console on the NES. Fusing beautiful western towns and desert environments with simply NES-trademark components (the ninjas) into a fast and furious depiction of one "good guy" versus everyone else, the game proved to be a total blast. The result created one of the best western titles ever. Gun.Smoke is, without a doubt, one of the best that NES has to offer. Companies are still trying to achieve the "best" spaghetti western in a video game format, but none have matched that "perfect recreation" of the famous American genre. Gun.Smoke comes pretty damn close, though, partner.
WANT TO GET IN A "GUN.SMOKE MOOD"? WATCH SOME OF THESE CLASSIC WESTERNS.
[Warner Brothers is releasing a 30th anniversary SE DVD version this summer. Now is the best time to experience one of the greatest comedies on film.]
OTHER FILM RECOMMENDATIONS (based on popularity and acclaim)
Top: From left to right: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (Clint Eastwood); Once Upon A Time in the West (Henry Fonda); Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (Paul Newman, Robert Redford); The Big Country (Henry Peck) Bottom: From left to right: High Noon (Gary Cooper, Grace Kelly); My Darling Clementine (Henry Fonda); Stagecoach (John Wayne); The Searchers (John Wayne)
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Mel Brooks' Blazing Saddles (co-written by Richard Pryor) -- Hedley
Lamarr, The Waco Kid, Lili Von Shtupp, Bart, William J. Le Petomane,
Mango... Howard Johnson... oh my, this is the all-time, most legendary
Mel Brooks films ever made (which is saying quite a bit), and it's nothing
short of a classic comedy. It's also, in my opinion, the most quotable
film ever created. Although it has been criticized recently for some of
its "questionable" racial slurs in our current PC environment,
this is a must-see. If you're not a big "spaghetti western" buff
(or if you are one), you need to check this one out. Now.
