Wichita Town

Wichita Town

1959
Wichita Town
Wichita Town

Wichita Town

7.4 | en | Western

Wichita Town is a half-hour western television series starring Joel McCrea, Jody McCrea, Carlos Romero, and George Neise that aired on NBC from September 30, 1959, until April 6, 1960. Joel McCrea played Marshal Mike Dunbar, in charge of keeping the peace the booming cowtown of Wichita, Kansas. His deputies were Ben Matheson, played by McCrea's real life son, Jody, and Rico Rodriquez, portrayed by Carlos Romero. Making occasional appearances were the town doctor, Nat Wyndham, the blacksmith, Aeneas MacLinahan, and the bartender in the local saloon, Joe Kingston, played in six episodes by Robert Foulk. The model for shows such as these had already been laid out by other western programs such as Gunsmoke, Lawman, and The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp, so Wichita Town may not have been unique in its plotting and structure. The two most unusual features about the series were the presence of Joel McCrea, a favorite of Western movie audiences for his performance in such films as Union Pacific, Buffalo Bill, and Ramrod, and the fact that his real life son was in Wichita Town, but did not play his son. Wichita Town was produced by Mirisch Company and Joel McCrea's Production company for Four Star Television and aired for a single season.

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Seasons & Episodes

1
EP26  Sidekicks (Series Finale)
Apr. 06,1960
Sidekicks (Series Finale)

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EP25  The Legend of Tom Horn
Mar. 30,1960
The Legend of Tom Horn

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EP24  Paid in Full
Mar. 23,1960
Paid in Full

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EP23  Second Chance
Mar. 16,1960
Second Chance

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EP22  The Hanging Judge
Mar. 09,1960
The Hanging Judge

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EP21  The Frontiersman
Mar. 02,1960
The Frontiersman

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EP20  Afternoon in Town
Feb. 17,1960
Afternoon in Town

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EP19  Brothers of the Knife
Feb. 10,1960
Brothers of the Knife

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EP18  The Avengers
Feb. 03,1960
The Avengers

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EP17  Seed of Hate
Jan. 27,1960
Seed of Hate

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EP16  The Long Night
Jan. 20,1960
The Long Night

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EP15  Bought
Jan. 13,1960
Bought

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EP14  Ruby Dawes
Jan. 06,1960
Ruby Dawes

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EP13  Biggest Man in Town
Dec. 30,1959
Biggest Man in Town

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EP12  The Devil's Choice
Dec. 23,1959
The Devil's Choice

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EP11  Death Watch
Dec. 16,1959
Death Watch

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EP10  Out of the Past
Dec. 09,1959
Out of the Past

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EP9  Passage to the Enemy
Dec. 02,1959
Passage to the Enemy

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EP8  Compadre
Nov. 25,1959
Compadre

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EP7  Day of Battle
Nov. 18,1959
Day of Battle

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EP6  Man on the Hill
Nov. 04,1959
Man on the Hill

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EP5  Drifting
Oct. 28,1959
Drifting

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EP4  They Won't Hang Jimmy Relson
Oct. 21,1959
They Won't Hang Jimmy Relson

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EP3  Bullet for a Friend
Oct. 14,1959
Bullet for a Friend

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EP2  Wyndham's Way
Oct. 07,1959
Wyndham's Way

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EP1  The Night the Cowboys Roared (Pilot)
Sep. 30,1959
The Night the Cowboys Roared (Pilot)

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7.4 | en | Western | More Info
Released: 1959-09-30 | Released Producted By: Four Stars Productions , Country: United States of America Budget: 0 Revenue: 0 Official Website:
Synopsis

Wichita Town is a half-hour western television series starring Joel McCrea, Jody McCrea, Carlos Romero, and George Neise that aired on NBC from September 30, 1959, until April 6, 1960. Joel McCrea played Marshal Mike Dunbar, in charge of keeping the peace the booming cowtown of Wichita, Kansas. His deputies were Ben Matheson, played by McCrea's real life son, Jody, and Rico Rodriquez, portrayed by Carlos Romero. Making occasional appearances were the town doctor, Nat Wyndham, the blacksmith, Aeneas MacLinahan, and the bartender in the local saloon, Joe Kingston, played in six episodes by Robert Foulk. The model for shows such as these had already been laid out by other western programs such as Gunsmoke, Lawman, and The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp, so Wichita Town may not have been unique in its plotting and structure. The two most unusual features about the series were the presence of Joel McCrea, a favorite of Western movie audiences for his performance in such films as Union Pacific, Buffalo Bill, and Ramrod, and the fact that his real life son was in Wichita Town, but did not play his son. Wichita Town was produced by Mirisch Company and Joel McCrea's Production company for Four Star Television and aired for a single season.

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Cast

Jody McCrea , Joel McCrea

Director

Producted By

Four Stars Productions ,

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Reviews

bkoganbing I guess the grind of doing those B picture westerns was getting a bit much for Joel McCrea because a lot of what he was doing was winding up on the small screen in any event.So he decided he'd try television and what's more he'd bring his son Jody in on the deal. Jody would soon become a regular in those Beach Party films. Maybe for luck because he had already done a good western movie called Wichita back in 1955 McCrea called his series Wichita Town. He played the town marshal and Jody played his young deputy.Looking at the cast list you can see that Wichita Town was starting to build a cast of semi-regulars like Dodge City on Gunsmoke. Unfortunately the show was a bit too much like Gunsmoke and never broke out of the pack of a glut of westerns that were on TV at that time.Wichita Town only lasted a season, but Joel McCrea's next project would be Ride The High Country, one of the greatest westerns ever made.
dougbrode This short lived western, which appeared at a time when the airwaves were so glutted with cowboy shows that some had to fall through the cracks, has developed something of a cult reputation as being one of the really good ones that somehow got away. In truth, much of it was standard stuff, with the decent minded lawman (Joel McCrea) and his young deputy (Jody McCrea), pretty much the same formula as you could find over at ABC with Lawman (Wichita Town was on NBC). There was a nice feel for the cowtown, however, and several intriguing elements that are worth noting. For one thing, though the father and son team of the McCreas were featured, they didn't play father and son, though they were an older and younger man in a father-son style relationship. Second, though the characters' names were fictional, they were supposed to be Wyatt Earp and Bat Masterson. (Young Jody's character's name was even "Ben Masters," allowing for a hint at the historicity they had to suggest rather than admit owing to the fact that Hugh O'Brian and Alan Dinehart had already done the story of that friendship over at ABC on The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp. Perhaps that helps explain why Wichita Town never caught on - there was a sense of deja vu to it all, which doesn't mean that it wasn't good, only that it arrived a little late in the TV western game. Apparently, McCrea had wanted to play Earp on TV. One of his best B+ westerns of the mid-fifties was Wichita Town, in which he played Earp and Keith Larson (later in such TV westerns as Brave Eagle and Northwest Passage) was young Masterson. That film opened in theatres only months before the ABC Earp/Masterson series premiered. So McCrea backed off and then gave it a noble try with this one-season wonder. If hardly a classic of its type, this was a highly watchable variation on what then was an all too common theme, with McCrea bringing a certain substance to the role that most of the young cowboy stars then on the air couldn't come close to.