Ah, Steve McQueen. Tip your hat this way handsome. That’s right show me those baby blues that I can only see digitally added on the cover or in your later work because Wanted: Dead or Alive was made before the invention of Technicolor. Damn. At least I have a good imagination so I can see you in color in my head. Plus your butt in those pants doesn’t hurt either. You’re forgiven good looking.
Josh Randall, bounty hunter with a conscience and an aversion to violence. Odd that he picked this career and chooses to live in the “wild” west. I think he was in it for the fashion. What man doesn’t want a belt made of bullets and a sawed-off shotgun strapped to his thigh?
Ignore my sarcasm I had fun watching every episode of the first season of Wanted: Dead or Alive. The first couple of episodes I watched with my parents and that was a hoot. For them it was a stroll down memory lane. They were like two kids in a candy store, to use that cliché. Remember this? Remember that? Look, look. Isn’t that the guy from so and so? Every so often adding in little side facts to make sure I got the full experience of the show. And with each role of the credits – What do you think A? Are you enjoying it Lex? (nicknames in case you were wondering) This show was huge. It’s how McQueen got his start.
The next day I hopped the next train back to Manhattan and watched the rest of the episodes in the quiet of my own apartment. And despite the opening credits which are so cheesy that their over the top funny now, Wanted: Dead or Alive was pretty enjoyable. McQueen was perfect as tough yet not Randall who never caved or made it personal. He was an honorable man of his word who was despised across the west where bounty hunters were considered lower than low. He managed to make a few friends, get run out a lot of towns, and drink a lot of whiskey. Apparently aside from water, which was only drunk in transit, whiskey was the only option for a beverage. “I assume you’re a drinking man?” That’s a stupid question. Everyone was then or at least in this show. But really, what else was there to do in the “old” west?
There were thirty six episodes in this first season debuting in 1958 and a lot of great extras on this DVD set. Now we’re lucky to get twenty four episodes, and that’s only because of the title, and a deleted scene or two. The extras on Wanted: Dead or Alive include some colorized episodes, making of featurettes, ...
