raysond
The short lived television series "Cimarron Strip" lasted one season on the air and it was originally broadcast in prime time on Thursday nights for the 1967-1968 season running 90 minutes in length(including commercials) and had some strong competition. "Cimarron Strip" went up against ABC's "Batman", "The Flying Nun", and "Bewitched" and it went up against NBC's "Daniel Boone", and "Ironside". The series was created by Christopher Knopf who was the executive producer of the show under Philip Leacock, Douglas Benton, and John Manley and produced by Bernard McEveety and Leonard Freeman for Whitman Productions in association with the CBS Television Network. The series produced 23 episodes in color that aired from September 7, 1967 until March 7, 1968. Reruns of all 23 episodes were aired during the summer of 1971 three years after it was canceled by CBS."Cimarron Strip" is one of only three 90-minute weekly Western series that aired during the 1960's(the others are NBC's The Virginian, and for one season Wagon Train) and the only 90 minute series of its kind during the 1960's to be centered primarily around one lead character in every episode. The series theme music was written and composed by Maurice Jarre who also scored the Oscar winning themes to Lawrence of Arabia and Doctor Zhivago. The series was set in the late 1880's in the Cimarron Territory where Marshal Jim Crown(Stuart Whitman) maintains law and order in the new territory with his two deputies as assistants one was the Scotsman MacGregor(Percy Herbert),and the young lad Francis Wilde(Randy Boone) and the caring young woman Dulcey Coopersmith (Jill Townsend).Several great writers ranging from Austin and Irma Kalish, Christopher Knopf, Jack Curtis, Dan Ullman, Stephen Kandel, Herman Miller, Mel Goldberg, David Jones, Hal Sitowitz, and Harlan Ellison. Veteran directors from Boris Segal, Vincent McEveety, Alvin Ganzer, Gerald Mayer, Richard C. Sarafian, Don Medford and Herschel Daugherty contribute to the great episodes that this series produced. Big name guest stars included Warren Oates, Andrew Duggan, Jack Braddock, Robert J. Wilke, Morgan Woodward, Steve Forrest, Royal Dano, Richard Boone, Joesph Cotton, Suzanne Pleshette and L.Q. Jones to name a few that appeared on this action packed Western series.The best episodes "Journey To A Hanging", "The Beast That Walks Like A Man", "Till The End Of The Night", "The Search", "The Battle of Bloody Stones", "The Roarer", "The Deputy", "The Judgment", "Nobody", "Heller", to name a few. Even 50 years later this was without a doubt not only ambitious but exciting to watch too. Cimarron Strip lived up to its title and then some.
kruse-2
I still remember the almost mystical episode where a mysterious something was killing folk just outside the perimeter of the town, leaving their bodies so mutilated that no-one could identify whether death was caused by man or beast. Cimarron Strip was like a western version of the Twilight Zone, instead of being the cartoon town which every other show had the Strip was its own place, far removed physically from the rest of the west and far removed in philosophy and execution from the rest of western TV shows. You never knew what complex psychological problem would come riding into town each week. Marshall Jim Crown stalked the Strip like a six-gunned God and town maiden Dulcie was the fairest of the fair. In TV Heaven, they show this every day. They should - there's never been another western like it.BB
xartist82
When Cimarron Strip first aired I was a young girl of 14. The theme music was wonderful. I would literally sit on the edge of my seat waiting to hear the beginning notes. Stuart Whitman was my first and only TV crush. He epitomized what all western heroes should be, from the way he walked, talked, and wore his black hat. Isn't it funny what stays in you subconscious. I loved him then, and love him still. After all these years I hope he knows what a difference he made in my life. Coincidently my husband grew-up watching Cimarron Strip also. He recalls that he and his brother would pretend to ride the family ottoman as their trusty steed, as Stuart Whitman did in the beginning and the ending of the show.
helpless_dancer
This was a great series featuring the tough but tender Jim Crown. Plenty of action and gunplay kept the stories interesting each week. One year a friend and I kept count of the men Crown killed as compared to Matt Dillon. I don't remember which marshall came out on top, but the difference was only 2 bodies. I didn't miss an episode of this one, not only because Jim Crown was so cool, but I also liked looking at "Biscuit". Of course, MacGregor was always good for a laugh or two. Great show.
