Trackdown (TV series)

*Trackdown*
Trackdown
	Robert Culp as Hoby Gilman (1957)
Genre	Western
Written by	D.D. Beauchamp; Frank Burt; Fred Freiberger; Norman Jacobs; Christopher Knopf; Sidney Marshall; John McGreevey; John Robinson; Sam Peckinpah;
Directed by	Thomas Carr; Lawrence Dobkin; Richard Donner; Don McDougall; R.G. Springsteen;
Starring	Robert Culp; Ellen Corby; Peter Leeds; Norman Leavitt; James Griffith; Gail Kobe; Addison Richards;
Narrated by	Ed Prentiss
Theme music composer	William Loose; and John Seely;
Composer	Harry King
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	71 plus pilot
Production
Producer	Vincent M. Fennelly
Cinematography	Guy Roe
Running time	25 minutes
Production company	Four Star Productions
Original release
Network	CBS
Release	October 4, 1957 –; September 23, 1959
Related
	Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater; Wanted: Dead or Alive;

Trackdown is an American Western television series starring Robert Culp that aired on CBS between 1957 and 1959. The series was produced by Dick Powell's Four Star Television and filmed at the Desilu-Culver Studio. Trackdown was a spin-off of Powell's anthology series, Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre.

Overview

Trackdown stars Robert Culp as Texas Ranger Hoby Gilman. It is set in the 1870s after the American Civil War. In early episodes, stories focused on Gilman going to different Texas towns in pursuit of wanted fugitives. At midseason, the series became set in the town of Porter, Texas. Episodes touched on multiple Western themes and topics, so it was known as "the thinking man's Western".^[1]^[2]

Gilman is the de facto sheriff in Porter. His friends in the town include Henrietta Porter (portrayed by Ellen Corby). She is the widow of the town's founder and owns The Porter Enterprise newspaper. Occasionally, Gilman's duties as a Texas Ranger took him out of town, where he used his fast gun to "track down" and apprehend wanted criminals throughout the Lone Star State.

The pilot episode, "Badge of Honor", directed by Arthur Hiller, aired on Zane Grey Theatre on May 3, 1957. Gilman, then an ex-Confederate cavalry officer, returns to his Central Texas hometown, called "Crawford", after the war. He finds the town under the control of a ruthless gang led by an ex-Confederate colonel, Boyd Nelson (played by Gary Merrill). The town sheriff (portrayed by Tom Tully) is a drunken shell of a man Gilman had once known, who is afraid to face the outlaws. When a Texas Ranger came to arrest Colonel Nelson, he is fatally shot in the back. His Ranger badge falls on the dusty road. Gilman, who previously had served with the Texas Rangers, was weary of the Civil War and did not want to continue as a lawman, but after learning of the Ranger's death, he picks up the badge and finishes the job of bringing Nelson and his gang to justice.

Trackdown carried the endorsement of both the State of Texas and the Texas Rangers, an accolade no other Western television series has received. Some episodes were inspired by the files of the Rangers.^[3]

Episodes

Season 1: 1957–58

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date
1	1	"The Marple Brothers"	Thomas Carr	John McGreevey	October 4, 1957 (1957-10-04)
2	2	"Law in Lampasas"	Thomas Carr	Norman Jacobs	October 11, 1957 (1957-10-11)
3	3	"The San Saba Incident"	Don McDougall	D.D. Beauchamp	October 18, 1957 (1957-10-18)
4	4	"Easton, Texas"	Thomas Carr	John Robinson	October 25, 1957 (1957-10-25)
5	5	"Like Father"	John English	John Robinson	November 1, 1957 (1957-11-01)
6	6	"Sweetwater, Texas"	Don McDougall	Norman Jacobs	November 8, 1957 (1957-11-08)
7	7	"Alpine, Texas"	Thomas Carr	Fred Freiberger	November 15, 1957 (1957-11-15)
8	8	"Self-Defense"	Thomas Carr	John Robinson	November 22, 1957 (1957-11-22)
9	9	"End of an Outlaw"	Thomas Carr	Curtis Kenyon	November 29, 1957 (1957-11-29)
10	10	"Look for the Woman"	Don McDougall	Daniel B. Ullman	December 6, 1957 (1957-12-06)
11	11	"The Town"	Don McDougall	Sam Peckinpah	December 13, 1957 (1957-12-13)
12	12	"Man and Money"	Don McDougall	Daniel B. Ullman	December 27, 1957 (1957-12-27)
13	13	"The Reward"	Don McDougall	Fred Freiberger	January 3, 1958 (1958-01-03)
14	14	"The Farrand Story"	Don McDougall	John Robinson	January 10, 1958 (1958-01-10)
15	15	"Right of Way"	Don McDougall	Don Clark	January 17, 1958 (1958-01-17)
16	16	"The Witness"	Thomas Carr	Christopher Knopf	January 24, 1958 (1958-01-24)
17	17	"The Toll Road"	Don McDougall	Fred Freiberger	January 31, 1958 (1958-01-31)
18	18	"The Young Gun"	Thomas Carr	Daniel B. Ullman	February 7, 1958 (1958-02-07)
19	19	"The Wedding"	Don McDougall	Sidney Marshall	February 14, 1958 (1958-02-14)
20	20	"The Trail"	Don McDougall	John Robinson	February 28, 1958 (1958-02-28)
21	21	"The Bounty Hunter"	Don McDougall	John Robinson	March 7, 1958 (1958-03-07)
22	22	"The Judge"	Don McDougall	John Robinson	March 14, 1958 (1958-03-14)
23	23	"The House"	Thomas Carr	John Robinson	March 21, 1958 (1958-03-21)
24	24	"The Boy"	Thomas Carr	John Robinson	March 28, 1958 (1958-03-28)
25	25	"The Pueblo Kid"	Don McDougall	Frank Bert	April 4, 1958 (1958-04-04)
26	26	"The Winter Boys"	Don McDougall	Frank Bert	April 11, 1958 (1958-04-11)
27	27	"The Mistake"	Don McDougall	John Robinson	April 18, 1958 (1958-04-18)
28	28	"The Deal"	Don McDougall	John Robinson	April 25, 1958 (1958-04-25)
29	29	"The Jailbreak"	Don McDougall	John McGreevey	May 2, 1958 (1958-05-02)
30	30	"The End of the World"	Don McDougall	John Robinson	May 9, 1958 (1958-05-09)
31	31	"The Brothers"	Don McDougall	D.D. Beauchamp	May 16, 1958 (1958-05-16)
32	32	"The Governor"	Don McDougall	Fred Freiberger	May 23, 1958 (1958-05-23)

Season 2: 1958–59

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date
33	1	"Killer Take All"	Donald McDougall	Norman Jacob	September 5, 1958 (1958-09-05)
34	2	"Outlaw's Wife"	Donald McDougall	Frank Burt	September 12, 1958 (1958-09-12)
35	3	"Chinese Cowboy"	Donald McDougall	Bob Barbash	September 19, 1958 (1958-09-19)
36	4	"The Set Up"	Thomas Carr	John Robinson	September 26, 1958 (1958-09-26)
37	5	"A Stone for Benny French"	Donald McDougall	Christopher Knopf	October 3, 1958 (1958-10-03)
38	6	"Trapped"	Donald McDougall	D. D. Beauchamp & Mary M. Beauchamp	October 10, 1958 (1958-10-10)
39	7	"Matter of Justice"	Thomas Carr	David Lang	October 17, 1958 (1958-10-17)
40	8	"Tenner Smith"	Donald McDougall	John Robinson	October 24, 1958 (1958-10-24)
41	9	"The Avenger"	Thomas Carr	Fred Freiberger	October 31, 1958 (1958-10-31)
42	10	"The Schoolteacher"	Thomas Carr	Fred Freiberger	November 7, 1958 (1958-11-07)
43	11	"Deadly Decoy"	Donald McDougall	George F. Slavin	November 14, 1958 (1958-11-14)
44	12	"Sunday's Child"	R.G. Springsteen	Maurice Tombragel	November 21, 1958 (1958-11-21)
45	13	"Day of Vengeance"	R.G. Springsteen	Dan Ullman	November 28, 1958 (1958-11-28)
46	14	"Three-Legged Fox"	Donald McDougall	Christopher Knopf	December 5, 1958 (1958-12-05)
47	15	"The Kid"	Thomas Carr	John Robinson	December 12, 1958 (1958-12-12)
48	16	"Guilt"	Donald McDougall	Christopher Knopf	December 19, 1958 (1958-12-19)
49	17	"Every Man a Witness"	Lawrence Dobkin	George F. Slavin	December 26, 1958 (1958-12-26)
50	18	"McCallin's Daughter"	Arthur D. Hilton	Sidney Marshall	January 2, 1959 (1959-01-02)
51	19	"Bad Judgment"	Donald McDougall	D. D. Beauchamp & Mary M. Beauchamp	January 28, 1959 (1959-01-28)
52	20	"Terror"	Donald McDougall	D. D. Beauchamp & Mary M. Beauchamp	February 4, 1959 (1959-02-04)
53	21	"The Feud"	R. G. Springsteen	John McGreevey	February 11, 1959 (1959-02-11)
54	22	"The Samaritan"	R.G. Springsteen	D.D. Beauchamp and Mary M. Beauchamp	February 18, 1959 (1959-02-18)
55	23	"The Gang"	Unknown	Unknown	February 25, 1959 (1959-02-25)
56	24	"The Threat"	Thomas Carr	John Robinson	March 4, 1959 (1959-03-04)
57	25	"Hard Lines"	Donald McDougall	Don Brinkley	March 11, 1959 (1959-03-11)
58	26	"Fear"	Thomas Carr	Christopher Knopf	March 18, 1959 (1959-03-18)
59	27	"Stranger in Town"	Donald McDougall	Dan Ullman	March 25, 1959 (1959-03-25)
60	28	"The Protector"	R. G. Springsteen	Fred Freiberger	April 1, 1959 (1959-04-01)
61	29	"False Witness"	Arthur D. Hilton	Don Brinkley	April 8, 1959 (1959-04-08)
62	30	"The Trick"	R. G. Springsteen	David Lang	April 15, 1959 (1959-04-15)
63	31	"The Eyes of Jerry Kelso"	R. G. Springsteen	John Robinson	April 22, 1959 (1959-04-22)
64	32	"Gift Horse"	Thomas Carr	Christopher Knopf	April 29, 1959 (1959-04-29)
65	33	"The Vote"	Donald McDougall	Fred Freiberger	May 6, 1959 (1959-05-06)
66	34	"The Unwanted"	Donald McDougall	Fred Freiberger	May 13, 1959 (1959-05-13)
67	35	"Toss Up"	Donald McDougall	Fred Freiberger	May 20, 1959 (1959-05-20)
68	36	"Inquest"	Unknown	Unknown	September 2, 1959 (1959-09-02)
69	37	"Back to Crawford"	R. G. Springsteen	Robert Culp	September 9, 1959 (1959-09-09)
70	38	"Blind Alley"	Donald McDougall	S. L. Maita	September 16, 1959 (1959-09-16)
71	39	"Quiet Night in Porter"	Donald McDougall	Donn Mullally	September 23, 1959 (1959-09-23)

Background and production

Development

All Trackdown episodes were produced by Vincent Fennelly. John Robinson wrote 14 segments, including the pilot. Richard Donner was one of the directors. Sam Peckinpah wrote one episode, "The Town", about a cowardly community afraid to resist the clutches of an outlaw gang, but he did not direct any Trackdown episodes.

Robert Culp wrote one episode, titled "Back to Crawford", which features his then-wife, Nancy Asch-Culp. This episode was directly related to the first regular series episode, "The Marple Brothers", as Nancy portrayed a former childhood friend of Hoby's, Merrilee Quintana, with whom Hoby was once in love, who was out to kill his sister Norah as revenge for his killing her young husband in the line of duty, and who was one of the evil Marple Brothers he encountered in Episode 1. Gilman's sister was played by actress Peggy Webber, reprising her role from the series pilot.

In an interview, Robert Culp stated that Trackdown was conceived by its creators as "the Western Dragnet".^[1]^[4]^[5] The pilot of the series was written by John Robinson, who, according to Culp in that same interview, was partly responsible for the creation of Dragnet.^[5]

The series narrator was character actor Ed Prentiss.

Guest stars

Release

Syndication

From 2016 to 2020, episodes of Trackdown aired Saturday mornings on MeTV.^[6]

Cultural references

The episode "The End of the World" received considerable media attention after Donald Trump was elected president of the United States in 2016, nearly 60 years after the episode first aired.^[7]^[8]^[9]^[10] In the episode, a rabble-rousing doomsayer named Walter Trump (played by Lawrence Dobkin) comes to town. He scares the townsfolk with talk of an impending disaster and claims to be the only person who can save them – by building a wall. He also threatens to sue Hoby when accused of dishonesty. By the end of the episode, he is arrested as a conman and fraud. The coincidental similarity to Donald Trump's name and proposed border wall was noted.^[7]

A Vanity Fair author wrote, "Of all the books and movies that presaged the rise of our reality-TV President... none are so eerily on the nose as this once-obscure, 1958 episode of Trackdown in which a demagogue named Trump attempts to convince a town that only he can save its citizens... by building a wall."^[8] The Wrap asked, "Want to talk about a weird coincidence?.... Some may call this episode titled 'The End of the World' the ultimate illustration of life imitating art, considering the episode aired May 9, 1958... it is pretty amusing, especially when the TV character threatens, 'Be careful, son. I can sue you.'"^[9] The San Francisco Chronicle stated, "The character's speech is so similar to the President-elect's, it almost seems as if Donald Trump borrowed some catchphrases from Walter Trump."^[10]

Critical response

A review in the trade publication Variety described Trackdown as "a moderately good western half-hour telefilm with a moderately good star performer".^[11] The review complimented characterizations but said the plot "was as loaded with holes as the villains were".^[11]

References

^ ^a ^b "Do You Remember... "Trackdown"". westernclippings.com. Retrieved 5 March 2015.
^ "Culp interview". tripod.com. Retrieved 5 March 2015.
^ "Trackdown Television Series Archives, 1957-1959". Dolph Briscoe Center for American History. University of Texas at Austin. Retrieved 30 April 2020.
^ "Robert Culp". Archive of American Television. Retrieved 5 March 2015.
^ ^a ^b "Trackdown". Archive of American Television. Retrieved 5 March 2015.
^ "Schedule".
^ ^a ^b Evon, Dan (13 January 2017). "Did a 1950s TV Episode Feature a Character Named Trump Who Offered to Build a Protective Wall?". Snopes.com. Retrieved 15 May 2017.
^ ^a ^b Nguyen, Tina (9 Feb 2017). "This Television Show Predicted Donald Trump... in 1958". Vanity Fair. Retrieved 9 January 2019.
^ ^a ^b Rossi, Rosemary (9 January 2017). "1950s TV Show Had Villain Named Trump Who Promised to Save World by Building a Wall". The Wrap. Retrieved 9 January 2019.
^ ^a ^b Moffitt, Mike (10 January 2017). "Did '50s TV show feature a con artist named Trump promising to build a wall?". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 9 January 2019.
^ ^a ^b "Trackdown". Variety. October 9, 1957. p. 29. Retrieved February 17, 2024.

External links

Trackdown at IMDb

[westernclippings.com-1] "Do You Remember... "Trackdown"". westernclippings.com. Retrieved 5 March 2015.

[2] "Culp interview". tripod.com. Retrieved 5 March 2015.

[3] "Trackdown Television Series Archives, 1957-1959". Dolph Briscoe Center for American History. University of Texas at Austin. Retrieved 30 April 2020.

[4] "Robert Culp". Archive of American Television. Retrieved 5 March 2015.

[emmytvlegends.org-5] "Trackdown". Archive of American Television. Retrieved 5 March 2015.

[6] "Schedule".

[snopesend-7] Evon, Dan (13 January 2017). "Did a 1950s TV Episode Feature a Character Named Trump Who Offered to Build a Protective Wall?". Snopes.com. Retrieved 15 May 2017.

[nguyen17-8] Nguyen, Tina (9 Feb 2017). "This Television Show Predicted Donald Trump... in 1958". Vanity Fair. Retrieved 9 January 2019.

[rossi17-9] Rossi, Rosemary (9 January 2017). "1950s TV Show Had Villain Named Trump Who Promised to Save World by Building a Wall". The Wrap. Retrieved 9 January 2019.

[moffit17-10] Moffitt, Mike (10 January 2017). "Did '50s TV show feature a con artist named Trump promising to build a wall?". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 9 January 2019.

[vrev-11] "Trackdown". Variety. October 9, 1957. p. 29. Retrieved February 17, 2024.

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