For 8 long seasons Rawhide followed the adventures of a cattle drive. Season 6 was separated into two releases. Here we shall look at what Part Two has to offer. Feel free to browse previous releases covered by Gino on this same site: http://upcomingdiscs.com/?s=rawhide
Clint Eastwood got his first major role playing foreman Rowdy Yates for the entire run of this series. By the sixth season, Eastwood seems to be a far more comfortable and confident actor than what we saw in earlier seasons. A real white hat, Yates is often the voice of reason when his Trail boss (played by Eric Fleming) has his doubts. Although sometimes he needs a boost as well, and that comes in the form of support from their ever-lovin’ cook Wishbone (played by Paul Brineger).
Though Season Six should probably be examined as one entity, the two halves separated onto these DVD releases do have distinct vibes from each other. The stories in the latter half of this season do not venture into as oddball territory as the first half did. Instead there are stories that are much more familiar to a Western involving thieves, damsels, and encounters with Apaches. There is an amusing guest appearance worth noting by Mickey Rooney in one episode.
Video
Fullscreen in its original black and white presentation. While not quite as crisp as other CBS TV releases (whom I have always said have done an outstanding job transferring older shows), this is still a rather solid picture quality. The black levels hold up making for a clean picture for the majority.
Audio
English Mono. This type of track is par for the course when it comes to transfers shows that are this old. All the hoots and hollars by the cowboys are clear as they could be.
Subtitles in English.
Special Feature
Episodic preview for select episodes.
Final Thoughts
The thought of a show about a cattle drive is exhausting to think about, which makes it hard to imagine such a story could be told for as many seasons as Rawhide had. Yet here we are, still tuning in (relatively speaking) and finding some amusement in it, even though it can be a bit more tedious than one wants from an hour-long program.
It should be mentioned that this season did earn the show a Golden Globe nomination for Best Drama in 1964.
