"The Deputy" (1959) TV series 1959-1961

User Rating:

6.4/10   

Creators:

Roland Kibbee
Norman Lear

Seasons:

1 | 2

Release Date:

12 September 1959 (USA)

Genre:

Western

Plot:

"That was the Arizona territory in 1880, and I was its chief marshal." So began this western series starring Henry Fonda as Simon Fry...

Plot Keywords:

Arizona | 1880s | Marshal | Sergeant | Lawman

Cast

Henry Fonda	...	Marshal Simon Fry (76 episodes, 1959-1961)
Allen Case	...	Clay McCord / ... (76 episodes, 1959-1961)

Runtime:

30 min (76 episodes)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Filming Locations:

Backlot, Universal Studios - 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, California, USA

Company:

Top Gun Productions

Trivia:

Henry Fonda's first television series was this western, set in the Arizona territory in 1880 (as Fonda's character often said during an opening narration on many episodes.) Fonda's sequences were shot all at once each season so that he would be free the rest of the year to pursue film and theater work.

Not much Fonda, but slightly interesting

"The Deputy" is another of those assembly-line half-hour Revue Studio westerns that were pretty popular during the late fifties and early sixties. This one stood out from the rest for several reasons: It was co-created by, of all people, the future Mr. Relevant Sitcom King himself, Norman Lear.

The sprightly jazz theme by Jack Marshall, of "The Munsters" fame.

And of course, the main drawing attraction of Academy Award winner Henry Fonda, who incidentally, despite being top billed, basically just makes a few cameos during some of the episodes, and not even showing up at all in a few of them. The "Deputy" of the show, the reluctant Clay McCord, is portrayed by the late stage actor Allen Case, with Read Morgan joining in later in the run as the eye-patch wearing Sarge Tasker.

Basically, the premise of the show is that Clay McCord, a storekeeper who's quiet by nature, is suckered into becoming the deputy of Fonda's Marshal Simon Fry, based on McCord's ability to handle a weapon. That's basically the show in a nutshell, since the plots are the cookie-cutter type you'd come to expect from Revue. After viewing a couple episodes (which last aired a few years ago on TV Land), you can understand why Norman Lear made the jump to revolutionizing the sitcom. Can you imagine Archie Bunker or George Jefferson in the Old West? My rating: ***** stars out of 10

"The Deputy" is a Top Gun Production from Revue Studios, Hollywood. 76 episodes were filmed between 1959 and 1961.