Un shérif à New York

McCloud was one of my favorite detective series of the 70's. I guess the best thing about it was the way Sam McCloud not only caught the bad guys, but the way he usually was able to make fools of the uptight holier than thou New York cops who considered him a southern country bumpkin. The police chief, Peter Clifford, always looked like he was on the verge of having a stroke whenever McCloud was around. If only he had let McCloud do his job without making such a fuss, the bad guys would still have been caught, and with a lot less trouble.

Why do we only have McCloud available in seasons 1 & 2?? If those people are only going to release one batch, they should have selected some shows from the whole series.

I remember watching these in the '70's. Forget playing outside, let me know when Sam rides his horse in NYC. I made sure homework was done before he came on. you betcha! What about the guest stars? Jackie Cooper fights Sam on top of a stagecoach in NYC. John Denver is a Deputy Sheriff in Colorado(of course), and I believe he sings his song "I Guess He'd Rather Be In Colorado". Shirley Winters went a round or two with him, also. What about the episode where Sam and Sgt. Broadhurst are handcuffed together out in Oklahoma so Sam's whereabouts are always known? It is amazing how seeing our past shows us how little many things have changed. Let's look and see that less PC time. We were really like that. You Betcha.

This has to be one of the funnest detective shows in the history of television. Dennis Weaver went from being the country bumpkin deputy Chester on "Gunsmoke" to what became his defining role as Marshall Sam McCloud. I especially loved the fact that it never took itself seriously as most shows of this type did. I'm just sorry that it never was spun off onto its own separate series as this show was definitely a classic.

I love this website and all the comments on it! McCloud was my favorite TV series and still is way up there. I would love to trade with anyone who has the 90-minute episodes on home video. I have the 2-hour shows from A&E and some of the 90-minute shows from the CBS Late Movie, but fairly often I have only opening and closing credits for episodes (particularly from the poor second season, and the going-downhill seventh).

One correction: "Return to the Alamo," the best episode of the series, was directed by Walter Doniger. E.W. Swackhamer directed the next "Alamo" episode, "The Day New York Turned Blue," which is still my favorite. The first "This Must Be The Alamo" was directed by Bruce Kessler (who does an excellent job), and Dennis Weaver himself directed the last (and least available) "Alamo" episode, "'Twas The Fight Before Christmas," which among other things features "Dallas" star Linda Gray in her first major role. On re-watching this episode last Christmas, I think it may be the best in the whole series.

In my opinion, the show took a while to find its stride. The 60-minute first-season episodes, which were combined into 90-minute or 2-hour TV movies later on, are fair but a little too countrified for my taste. The second season is generally quite bad, due to writing by Peter Allan Fields (five of the seven episodes). When Glen A. Larson got back from "Alias Smith and Jones" and took over the reins in the third season, the writing got noticeably better (he scripted five of the best episodes -- the first three "Alamos," "The New Mexican Connection" and "Butch Cassidy Rides Again," as well as two of the worst -- "The Barefoot Stewardess Caper" and "Night of the Shark"). Michael Gleason was nearly as good a writer (with the fourth season's "The Colorado Cattle Caper" making the top five). Lou Shaw wasn't in their class, but turned in several good scripts ("The Man With the Golden Hat" was probably his best).

The show had more changes in theme music than any other series I know. David Shire contributed a pretty poor twangy theme song for the first two years. In year three, they had four themes in five episodes! (Two of them are "chase music" from the episodes themselves.") The show hit the mark with the fourth-season theme, which was re-arranged each season to lead off with the hard-driving music as McCloud and the horse pounded the pavement. It's my favorite theme of all time (the arrangement for season six is the best). In the seventh season, among many disappointments, the theme was cut down in the opening and used only three times over the opening credits. The 1989 "Return of Sam McCloud" reunion-film theme was forgettable and had no relation to the others. When will people learn that a good theme song and opening sequence is vital to a show's success????

The series really Jumped The Shark when Michael Sloan came on as producer and head writer during the final season. His debut, "Bonnie and McCloud," was pinned by Variety as "perhaps the sappiest episode in the entire series," and his next episode, "The Great Taxicab Stampede," is just plain idiotic. Surprisingly, his other two scripts ("'Twas The Fight Before Christmas" and "London Bridges") are pretty good; I suspect he had uncredited help and a lot of it.

Great job, fans!

When the Mystery Movies started on NBC, the viewer was treated to a set of rotating series, including the great Columbo, the fresh MacMillan & Wife, the unusual Hec Ramsey, the very 70s Banacek, to name a few. And then there was this fish-out-of-water series about a New Mexican lawman working in the Big Apple, and it was cool, very fun and enjoyable.

Having never seen Coogan's Bluff, I had no comparison points and so took the program on its own merits. The cast was excellent. Lanky, likable Dennis Weaver wore Marshall Sam McCloud like a second skin, and because he'd been in Westerns, was believable as the cowboy cop; his riding and gun-handling skills appeared very natural, and he was also good at fight scenes. Short-fused police Chief Peter B. Clifford was his foil, adeptly portrayed by veteran actor J. D. Cannon. These two formed the main dynamic conflict for the programs. They were supported by a good cast of characters that included long-suffering Sergeant Joe Broadhurst(Terry Carter), a lovely reporter in love with Sam named Chris Coughlin(Diana Muldaur), and a changing roster of cops(including a delightful turn by Teri Garr as Sergeant Phyllis Norton).

The writing was decent, and the episodes where McCloud went even further afield to places like Australia, Paris and Hawaii were great. The chemistry of the cast was never flat, and there did slowly build in the cranky Chief Clifford a grudging respect for McCloud's unconventional approach to police investigation. When stuck in Hawaii on a trumped-up murder charge, Clifford is almost even glad that McCloud is there with him...almost.

Unlike some of the other shows that aired in the NBC Mystery Movies, this one has not grown stale or appears too dated, much like Columbo. Yes, it was at times formulaic, but the formula was appealing and easy to enjoy, and the main character less grating than some from that same time period. It wasn't as dated as Banacek or as silly as the Snoop Sisters, but like Columbo and McMillan & Wife, has aged gracefully and is still a fun ride, you betcha.