Cowboys Were My Heroes

I grew up wanting to be a cowboy. I'm sure it mostly has to do with the era in which I grew up. I read somewhere that 1959 was the peak year for westerns on television with 26 shows on during prime time that year. I'm not quite sure why cowboys were my heroes other than the bad guys were always the bad guys and the good guys were always good - life works better that way. Add to that the fact that these heroes never backed away from a fight, even when it cost them dearly. And it didn't hurt that they could rope and ride and shoot a gun out of a bad guy's hand at full gallop without hurting him. They also had great horses and always seemed to get the girl. Even in morally ambiguous situations ("No one would ever know...etc.." ) my cowboy heroes always did the right thing.

I list my favorite cowboys below, but my favorite of all time is Marshal Matt Dillon, played by James Arness, who just died in June of this year. Marshal Dillon had everything a good cowboy needed - a wise friend, ("Doc,") a bumbling sidekick who Dillon was always having to bail out of trouble ("Chester," followed by "Festus"), a pretty lady who totally understood him (Miss Kitty) and who even generated a little sexual tension in the show [of course I was totally oblivious to sexual tension at that age], and yes, even a great horse; a beautiful gray named "Buck." The icing on the cake was the fact that James Arness was a "hoss" himself, standing 6 ft. 7 in. and weighing 235 pounds with a 48 inch chest; he was wounded in WWII at Anzio, a real "man's man." I so wanted to be like Matt Dillon. I had a Gunsmoke lunchbox, a Gunsmoke sweatshirt, and a few other items from the show. It was great. I know I've already said this about the music of my era, but honestly, they don't make heroes like Matt Dillon anymore either.

So here's my list of my favorite cowboys:

1. Matt Dillon - of Gunsmoke fame as detailed above

2. Roy Rogers - the nicest good guy of them all; and Trigger the smartest horse ever. Note, Roy Rogers had Trigger stuffed when the horse died and last year the stuffed animal sold at auction for over a quarter million dollars!

3. The Lone Ranger - loved Tonto too kemosabe! Who was that masked man?

4. The Rifleman - Lucas McCain played by tough guy Chuck Connors who could shoot that special rifle of his faster than anyone. I loved the opening credits of the show and the crack of that Rifle! An added bonus of this show was the great relationship McCain with his son Mark (played by Johnny Crawford) which added a lot to the show (kind of like Andy and Opie, with a western flair)

5. Cheyenne Brody - played by another larger than life actor Clint Walker. Cheyenne was a somewhat atypical hero as he always rode off into the sunset alone (never got the girl) and he often ran afoul of the law, but always for a good reason. At the end of each episode the townsfolk begged Cheyenne to stay, but he always rode off alone to save the day in some other cowpoke town on down the dusty road.

Happy Trails To You ! !