Shotgun Slade

I've been enjoying a number of Shotgut Slade episodes recently. However this episode is one the better ones. Sue Ann Langdon plays the part of the sheriff's daughter who is representing a town committee. The committee hires Slade to determine the credentials of a man who claims to have a sizeable stake in the town. The man was recently released from prison having been sent there by Slade. The man has a vendetta against Slade and has hired a young man in town, known to have a fast gun, to kill Slade. The story is further complicated by the fact that Sue Ann has a crush on the young man. Sue Ann played her part admirably, as expected.

Scott Brady whose film credits include both westerns and noir got a chance to do both in his two year series Shotgun Slade. Slade was a combination bounty hunter and detective and was strictly a man for hire going throughout the West wherever someone would pay for his services.

It wasn't always bring him in dead or alive with Slade. He was hired on all kinds of work, missing persons, recovery of stolen loot, etc. He was not a fast draw so he had a weapon that was quite the equalizer. He carried a two barrel long gun called an 'over and under'. The top barrel was for rifle bullets, the bottom barrel fired shotgun shells for up close and personal killing in case he had a group of nasty outlaws all bunched together.

Scott Brady played the cynical Slade in the best tradition of Mickey Spillane in boots and chaps. One thing that was unusual for a western never used before or since was instead of western music a jazz score accompanied the action. Different if nothing else.

Shotgun Slade lasted for two years and then went into syndication forever it seemed like. It was certainly as unique a western series as we ever had.

I can't think of any TV show in history besides "Shotgun Slade" that was completely ruined by the music. Maybe Gerald Fried's jazzy score would be fine elsewhere (he composed for the likes of "Mission Impossible" and "The Man from U. N. C. L. E."), but not for a 19th-century western with hard riding, tumbling stagecoaches, plenty of fist-fights and more than enough gunfire. The music is so out of place, so distracting and imposing, that I tried turning the sound off in places--only trouble there is that the episodes contain narration, and you can't be sure when one is coming.

The stories were fair, and star Scott Brady went on to have a long career, but this was his only continuing role in a TV series. Somehow, he just didn't seem to spark. Or was it just the music?

This AIN'T a typical Western!!

It is indeed very strange, especially with the soundtrack. And this is no "Peter Gunn."

But one could do a LOT worse!

From what I saw of the episode I saw on YouTube, which originally aired 11 June 1960, some of the acting seems rather wooden. I can see why the show was not on the major networks.

But using a jazz score, in my opinion, is an inspired choice, especially for a show airing in the late Eisenhower era. I personally think using such a score for, say, "Bat Masterson," would have given that show an added edge!!

As it is, this show is ripe for a parody!

"Shotgun Slade" was a first-run syndicated half-hour western series which ran for a single season during the '59-'60 television season. Character actor Scott Brady starred as Shotgun Slade, a detective who roamed the west taking on cases for stagecoach lines, railroads, banks, and other businesses, usually tracking down bank/train robbers, embezzelers, and the like. As westerns in general were beginning to fade in the ratings during the early '60's more and more of them began relying on "gimmicks" to try to lure viewers back. This series actually employed a couple of gimmicks. One was that Slade did not utilize the normal six-shooter as his weapon of choice. Slade relied instead on an over-and-under combination shotgun (the lower barrel fired a 12-gauge shotgun shell)rifle (the top barrel fired a.32 caliber rifle bullet) giving Slade both heavy stopping power at close range and distance when needed. The second gimmick was that a modern jazz score was used instead of normal western themed music. This was undoubtedly a result of the popularity of such current-day detective series of this period such as "Peter Gunn". Indeed, "Shotgun Slade" seemed in many ways to be patterned after "Peter Gunn" with the exception of the fact that "Shotgun Slade" was very pedestrian in virtually all respects. A fair time-killer at best.