It seems to me that Steve McQueen's Wanted: Dead or Alive is a standout from many of the other Westerns of the great Western era, despite the intense competition of Rifleman, Have Gun Will Travel, Rawhide, and all the rest, because of McQueen himself and many great stories shown throughout its three years, credited to the talents of the superb writers mentioned by other reviewers. I think too much emphasis is put on the technical aspects of the sawed-off Winchester. Most viewers thought--and think--it is a cool gun because of the looks and the noise it makes, and don't care enough to analyze its workings. It's a TV prop, for heaven's sake. McQueen used it effectively enough to impress his viewers. My only criticism is that he tended to blow away everybody he aimed at, when he could have been a little more discriminating.
But again, the reason I watch the show--on the Westerns channel, by the way--is for the stories. There are some really different stories, that make you think, some with twist endings, some really original tales on this show. I especially like the ones with kids in them, that I can share with the little kids in my family--the Christmas story; the one about the little boy (Richard Eyer) who is the outlaw's adopted son; and also the karate story with actor Robert Kino. The importance of story is what we're missing in many of today's TV and movie offerings, and that is why I like many of the older classic TV shows.
I was not expecting such high quality when I first starting watching this show, as I was new to it (I was a year old when it was released, so never saw it firsthand) but am now a fan of the very young Steve McQueen as well as the older McQueen whose movies I remember later in my life. It's wonderful that so many of these shows are being rebroadcast!
