The Wild Wild West
Encyclopedia
The Wild Wild West is an American television series that ran on CBS
for four seasons (104 episodes) from September 17, 1965 to April 4, 1969.
Developed at a time when the television western was losing ground to the spy genre, this show was conceived by its creator, Michael Garrison
, as "James Bond
on horseback.
Two television movies were made with the original cast in 1979 and 1980, and the series was adapted for a motion picture in 1999
with a new cast and story.
and his partner at the time, Gregory Ratoff
, purchased the film rights to Ian Fleming
's first Bond novel, Casino Royale
, in 1955. They pitched the idea to 20th Century Fox
, but the studio turned them down. After Ratoff died in 1960, his widow and Garrison sold the film rights to Charles K. Feldman
, who eventually produced the spoof Casino Royale
in 1967. Garrison, in the meantime, had brought James Bond to television in a unique way.
The pilot episode, "The Night of the Inferno", was produced by Garrison and scripted by Gilbert Ralston
, who had written for numerous episodic TV series in the 1950s and 1960s. In 1997, Ralston sued Warner Bros.
over the upcoming motion picture based on the series. (Wild Wild West was released in 1999.) In a deposition, Ralston explained that he was approached by Michael Garrison, who '"said he had an idea for a series, good commercial idea, and wanted to know if I could glue the idea of a western hero and a James Bond type together in the same show." Ralston said he then created the Civil War
characters, the format, the story outline and nine drafts of the script that was the basis for the television series. It was his idea, for example, to have a secret agent named Jim West who would perform secret missions for President Ulysses S. Grant
.
Ralston's experience brought to light a common Hollywood practice of the 1950s and '60s, when television writers who helped create popular series allowed producers or studios to take credit for a show (thus denying the writers millions of dollars in royalties). Ralston died in 1999, before his suit was settled. Warner Brothers ended up paying his family between $600,000 and $1.5 million.
As indicated by Robert Conrad
on his DVD commentary for the first season, the show went through several changes in producers in its first season. This was apparently due to conflicts between the network and Garrison. At first, Ben Brady was named as producer, but he was then shifted to Rawhide
. The network then hired Collier Young
. In an interview, Young said he saw the series as The Rogues
set in 1870. (The Rogues, which he had produced, was about con men who swindled swindlers, much like the 1970s series Switch
.) Young also claimed to have added the second "Wild" to the series title, which had been simply "The Wild West" in its early stages of production. Young lasted three episodes (2-4). His shows featured a butler named Tennyson who traveled with West and Gordon, but since the episodes were not broadcast in production order, the character popped up at different times during the first season.
Young's replacement, Fred Freiberger
, returned the series to its original concept, and it was on his watch that the arch-villain Dr. Miguelito Quixote Loveless was created. Loveless became an immediate hit, and actor Michael Dunn was contracted to appear in four episodes per season. After ten episodes (5-14), Freiberger was replaced by John Mantley
, reputedly due to a behind-the-scenes power struggle. Mantley, who had been associate producer on Gunsmoke
, produced seven (15-21) episodes before he, too, was replaced. While Mantley returned to his former position on Gunsmoke, Gene L. Coon
took over the production reins of The Wild Wild West. Coon, however, left after six episodes (22-27) to take a screenwriting assignment at Warner Bros.
By then, Garrison's conflict with CBS was resolved, and he returned to produce the last episode of season one and the initial episodes of season two. The producer's return was much to the relief of Ross Martin, who once revealed that he was so disenchanted during the first season that he tried to quit three times. He explained that Garrison "saw the show as a Bond spoof laid in 1870, and we all knew where we stood. Each new producer tried to put his stamp on the show and I had a terrible struggle. I fought them line by line in every script. They knew they couldn't change the James West role very much, but it was open season on Artemus Gordon because they had never seen anything like him before."
On August 17, 1966, however, during production of the new season's ninth episode, The Night of the Ready-Made Corpse, Garrison fell down a flight of stairs in his home and died. CBS brought in Bruce Lansbury, head of programming in New York, to produce the show for the remainder of its run.
The Wild Wild West was filmed at CBS Studio Center
on Radford Avenue in the San Fernando Valley. The lot was formerly the home of Republic Studios, which specialized in low-budget films including Westerns starring Roy Rogers
and Gene Autry
and Saturday morning serials (which The Wild Wild West appropriately echoed). CBS became the primary lessee of the studio lot in 1963, and produced Gunsmoke, The Virginian and Rawhide there, as well as Gilligan's Island. Later, MTM Enterprises (headed by actress Mary Tyler Moore
and her then-husband, Grant Tinker) became the Studio Center's primary tenant, beginning in 1971. Seinfeld was filmed there in the 1990s.
agents: James T. West, the charming gunslinger (played by Robert Conrad
), and Artemus Gordon (played by Ross Martin
), the brilliant gadgeteer and master of disguise. Their unending mission was to protect President Ulysses S. Grant
and the United States from all manner of dangerous threats. The agents traveled in luxury aboard their own train, the Wanderer, equipped with everything from a stable car to a laboratory. James West had served as an intelligence and cavalry officer in the US Civil War; his "cover" during the series is that he is a railroad president. After retiring from the Service by 1880 he lives on a ranch in Mexico. Gordon's past is more obscure; when he retires in 1880 he goes on the road as the head of a Shakespeare traveling players troupe.
The show incorporated classic Western elements with an espionage
thriller, science fiction
/alternate history
ideas (in a similar vein to steampunk
), in one case horror
("The Night of the Man Eating House") and plenty of comedy. In the finest James Bond
tradition, there were always beautiful women, clever gadgets, and delusional arch-enemies with half-insane plots to take over the country or the world
.
The title of each episode begins with "The Night" (except for the first-season episode "Night of the Casual Killer", which omitted the definite article).
A memorable recurring
arch-villain
was Dr. Miguelito Quixote Loveless
, a brilliant but megalomania
c dwarf
portrayed by Michael Dunn. Like Professor Moriarty
for Sherlock Holmes
, Loveless provided West and Gordon with a worthy adversary, whose plans could be foiled but who resisted all attempts to capture him and bring him to justice. Loveless was introduced in the show's sixth produced, but third televised episode, "The Night the Wizard Shook The Earth", and appeared in another nine episodes. Initially he had two constant companions: the huge Voltaire, played by Richard Kiel
; and the beautiful Antoinette, played by Dunn's real-life singing partner, Phoebe Dorin. Voltaire disappeared with no explanation after his third episode (although Richard Kiel returned in a different role in "The Night of the Simian Terror"), and Antoinette after her sixth. According to the TV movie The Wild Wild West Revisited, Loveless eventually dies in 1880 from ulcers
, brought on by anger and frustration at having his plans consistently ruined by West and Gordon. (His son, played by Paul Williams
, subsequently seeks revenge on the agents.)
Though several actors appeared in multiple villainous roles, only one other character had a second encounter with West and Gordon: Count Manzeppi (played flamboyantly by Victor Buono
, who played another, different villain in the pilot), a diabolical genius of "black magic" and crime, who – like Dr. Loveless – had an escape plan at the end. (Buono eventually returned in More Wild Wild West as "Dr. Henry Messenger," a parody of Henry Kissinger
, who ends up both handcuffed and turning invisible with the villainous Paradine.)
While the show's writers created their fair share of villains (Agnes Moorehead
won an Emmy for her role as Emma Valentine in "The Night of The Vicious Valentine"), they frequently started with the nefarious, stylized inventions of these madmen and then wrote the episodes around these devices. Stories were also inspired by Edgar Allan Poe
, H. G. Wells
, and Jules Verne
.
Conrad insisted on performing all of his own stunts, such as leaping off a balcony or running in front of a team of horses, but was occasionally doubled on the more dangerous stunts. During filming of "The Night of the Fugitives," however, Conrad fell 12 feet from a chandelier onto a concrete floor and suffered a concussion.http://www.briansdriveintheater.com/robertconrad.html Production of the series, then near the end of its third season, was shut down two weeks early. (The episode eventually aired during the fourth season, with footage of the fall left in.)
Ross Martin broke his leg in a fourth season episode, "The Night of the Avaricious Actuary," and suffered a heart attack a few weeks later after completing "The Night of Fire and Brimstone." His character was replaced temporarily by other agents played by Charles Aidman
(four episodes), Alan Hale, Jr.
and William Schallert
. Aidman said he had been promised script rewrites, but these simply amounted to changing the name "Artemus Gordon" to "Jeremy Pike" (his character's name). Pat Paulsen
is frequently thought of as a Martin substitute, but he in fact appeared in one of Aidman's episodes, and his character would have been present even if Martin appeared.
Ross Martin once called his role as Artemus Gordon "a show-off's showcase" because it allowed him to portray over 100 different characters during the course of the series, and perform dozens of different dialects. Martin sketched his ideas for his characterizations and worked with the makeup artists to execute the final look. Martin was nominated for an Emmy in 1969
.
locomotive that was, fittingly, an anachronism
: Sierra No. 3 was built in 1891, fifteen to twenty years after the series was set. Footage of this train, with a 5 replacing the 3 on its number plate, was shot in Jamestown, California
. Best known for its role as the Hooterville Cannonball in the CBS series Petticoat Junction
, Sierra No. 3 probably appeared in more films and TV shows than any other locomotive in history. It was built by the Rogers Locomotive and Machine Works
in Paterson, New Jersey
.
When The Wild Wild West went into series production, however, an entirely different train was employed. The locomotive, a 4-4-0
named the Inyo, was built in 1875 by the Baldwin Locomotive Works
in Philadelphia. Originally a wood-burner, the Inyo was converted to oil in 1910. The Inyo, as well as the express car and the passenger car, originally served on the Virginia and Truckee Railroad
in Nevada. They were among V&T cars sold to Paramount Pictures in 1937–38. The Inyo appears in numerous films including High, Wide, and Handsome
(1938
), Union Pacific
(1939
), The Marx Brothers
' Go West (1940
), Meet Me in St. Louis
, (1944
), Red River (1948
), Disney
's The Great Locomotive Chase (1956
) and McLintock!
(1963
). For The Wild Wild West, Inyo's original number plate was temporarily changed from No. 22 to No. 8 so the train footage could be flipped horizontally without the number appearing reversed. Footage of the Inyo was shot around Menifee, Calif., and reused in virtually every episode. (Stock footage of Sierra No. 3 occasionally resurfaced as well.)
These trains were used only for exterior shots. The luxurious interior of the passenger car was constructed on Stage 6 at CBS Studio Center
. (Neither Stage 6 or the western streets still exist.) Designed by art director Albert Heschong, the set reportedly cost $35,000 in 1965. (Between $190,000 and $250,000 2008 dollars. http://www.measuringworth.com/uscompare/)
The interior of West and Gordon's train was used in an episode of Gunsmoke
titled "Death Train" (aired 1/27/67), and in at least one episode of The Big Valley
("Days of Wrath," aired 1/8/68). All three series were filmed at CBS Studio Center and shared other exterior and interior sets.
After her run on The Wild Wild West, the Inyo participated in the Golden Spike
Centennial at Promontory, Utah, in 1969. The following year it appeared as a replica of the Central Pacific's "Jupiter" locomotive at the Golden Spike National Historical Site.. The State of Nevada purchased the Inyo in 1974; it was restored to 1895 vintage, including a wider smoke stack and a new pilot
(cow catcher) without a drop coupler. The Inyo is still operational and displayed at the Nevada State Railroad Museum
in Carson City. The express car (No. 21) and passenger car (No. 4) are also at the museum.
Another veteran V&T locomotive, the Reno (built in 1872 by Baldwin), was used in the two The Wild Wild West TV movies. The Reno, which resembles the Inyo, is located at Old Tucson Studios
.
The 1999 Wild Wild West
motion picture used the Baltimore & Ohio 4-4-0 No. 25, one of the oldest operating steam locomotives in the U.S. Built in 1856 at the Mason Machine Works in Taunton, Massachusetts, it was later renamed The William Mason
in honor of its manufacturer. For its role as "The Wanderer" in the motion picture, the engine was sent to the steam shops at the Strasburg Railroad for restoration and repainting. The locomotive is brought out for the B&O Train Museum in Baltimore's "Steam Days".
The Inyo and The William Mason both appeared in the Disney film The Great Locomotive Chase (1956).
. Markowitz, however, was never credited for his theme in any episode; it is believed that this was due to legal difficulties between CBS and Tiomkin over the rejection of the latter's work. Markowitz did receive "music by" credits for episodes he'd scored (such as "The Night of the Bars of Hell" and "The Night of the Raven") or where he supplied the majority of tracked-in cues (for example in "The Night of the Grand Emir" and "The Night of the Gypsy Peril"). He finally received "theme by" credit on both of the TV movies, which were scored by Jeff Alexander
rather than Markowitz (few personnel from the series were involved with the TV movies).
and the TV series Secret Agent
, Rawhide
, and Death Valley Days
.
The screen was divided into four corner panels surrounding a fifth narrow panel that contained a cartoon "hero." The hero, who looked more like a traditional cowboy than either West or Gordon, interacted with characters in the surrounding panels. In the three seasons shot in color, the overall backdrop was an abstracted wash of the flag of the United States
, with the upper left panel colored blue and the others containing horizontal red stripes.
The original animation sequence is as follows:
This teaser part of the show was incorporated into The History Channel
's Wild West Tech
(2003–5).
Each episode had four acts. At the end of each act, the scene, usually a cliffhanger moment, would freeze, and a sketch or photograph of the scene faded in to replace the cartoon art in one of the four corner panels. The freeze-frame art changed over the course of the series. In all first season episodes other than the pilot, the panels were live-action stills made to evoke 19th century engravings. In season two (the first in color) the scenes dissolved to tinted stills; from "The Night of the Flying Pie Plate" on, however, the panels were home to Warhol-like serigraphs of the freeze-frames. The end credits were displayed over each episode's unique mosaic, but in the final season a standardized design was used. (The freeze-frame graphics were shot at a facility on Ventura Boulevard called Format Animation which no longer exists.) The pilot is the only episode in which the center panel of the Hero is replaced by a sketch of the final scene of an act; in the third act he is replaced by the villainous General Cassinello (Nehemiah Persoff
).
During the first season, the series title "The Wild Wild West" was set in the font P.T. Barnum. In subsequent seasons, the title appeared in a hand-drawn version of the font Dolphin (which resembles other fonts called Zebrawood, Circus, and Rodeo Clown). Robert Conrad's name was also set in this font. Ross Martin's name was set in the font Bracelet (which resembles Tuscan Ornate and Romantiques). All episode titles, writer and director credits, guest cast and crew credits were set in P.T. Barnum. During commercial breaks, the title "The Wild Wild West" also appeared in P.T. Barnum.
hidden in his left and right boot heels. Others only appeared in a single episode.
Most of these gadgets are concealed in West's garments:
Aboard the train:
Other gadgets:
The villains often used equally creative gadgets, including:
Still, some episodes were violent for their time, and that, rather than low ratings, ultimately was the series' downfall. In addition to gun play, there were usually two fight sequences per episode. These were choreographed by Whitey Hughes, and performed by Conrad and a stock company of stunt men, including Red West
; Dick Cangey; and Bob Herron (who doubled for Ross Martin). Hughes recalled, "We had a lot of crashes. We used to say, 'Roll the cameras and call the ambulances.'" Conrad had been doubled before, but after his concussion from the fall from a chandelier, the network insisted that he defer to a double for the more dangerous stunts. He was doubled by Louie Elias, Chuck O’Brien, and Jimmy George.
Despite a CBS mandate for every network program to tone down the mayhem in the 1968-69 season, "The Night of the Egyptian Queen" (aired 11/15/68) contains perhaps the series' most ferocious barroom brawl. In a report eventually issued in November 1969, The National Association for Better Broadcasting rated the series "as one of the most violent on television."
According to Susan Kesler's book, CBS bowed under pressure from watchdog groups and the show received its cancellation notice in late February, 1969. Bruce Lansbury claimed that "It was a sacrificial lamb...It went off with a 32 or 33 share which in those days was virtually break-even, but it always won its time period." The networks played it safe thereafter: of the 22 new television shows that debuted in the fall of 1969, not one was a western or detective drama; 14 were comedy or variety series.
CBS reran several episodes of The Wild Wild West in the summer of 1970 before the program moved into syndication and new life on local stations across the country, including WGN
and WOR-TV. This further antagonized the anti-violence lobby, since the program was now broadcast weekdays and often after school. One group, the Foundation to Improve Television, filed a suit on November 12, 1970, to prevent WTOP in Washington, D.C., from airing The Wild Wild West weekday afternoons. The suit said the series "contains fictionalized violence and horror harmful to the mental health and well-being of minor children," and should not air before 9 p.m. U.S. District Court Judge John J. Sirica, who later presided over the trial of the Watergate burglars and ordered President Richard Nixon
to turn over White House recordings, dismissed the lawsuit in January, 1971.
In 1994, the series was broadcast on TNT
, which preferred the color episodes to the black and white shows. Hallmark Channel
aired the series in 2005 as part of its slate of Saturday afternoon Westerns but dropped it after several weeks.
as Miguelito Loveless Jr., the son of the agents' arch-nemesis. Loveless planned to substitute clones for the crowned heads of Europe and the President of the United States. (This plot was borrowed from the second season episode "The Night of the Brain.")
More was initially conceived as a rematch between the agents and Miguelito Jr., but Williams was unavailable for the film; his character was changed to Albert Paradine II and played by Jonathan Winters
- this explains why the story begins with various clones of Paradine being murdered (the first film ends with Loveless having cloned himself and placed the doubles around the world). Paradine planned world conquest using a formula for invisibility (recalling the first season episode "The Night of the Burning Diamond"). Both TV films were campier than the TV series, although Conrad and Martin played their roles straight. Both films were directed by veteran comedy Western director Burt Kennedy
and written by William Bowers
(in the latter case with Tony Kayden, from a story by Bowers); neither Kennedy nor Bowers worked on the original series.
series by Gold Key Comics
, and a paperback novel, Richard Wormser
's The Wild Wild West, published in 1966 by Signet (ISBN 0-451-02836-8), which adapted the episode "The Night Of the Double-Edged Knife".
In 1988, Arnett Press published The Wild Wild West: The Series by Susan E. Kesler (ISBN 0-929360-00-1), a thorough production history and episode guide.
In 1990, Millennium Publications
produced a four-part comic book series ("The Night Of The Iron Tyrants") scripted by Mark Ellis
with art by Darryl Banks
. A sequel to the TV series, it involved Dr. Loveless in a conspiracy to assassinate President Grant and the President of Brazil and put the Knights of the Golden Circle
into power. The characters of Voltaire and Antoinette were prominent here, despite their respective early departures from Dr. Loveless' side in the original program. A review from the Mile High Comics site states: "This mini-series perfectly captures the fun mixture of western and spy action that marked the ground-breaking 1960s TV series." The storyline of the comics mini-series was optioned for motion picture development.
In 1998, Berkeley Books published three novels by author Robert Vaughan
– The Wild Wild West (ISBN 0-425-16372-5), The Night of the Death Train (ISBN 0-425-16449-7), and The Night of the Assassin (ISBN 0-425-16517-5).
In the 75th volume of the French comic book series Lucky Luke
(L'Homme de Washington), published in 2008, both James West and Artemus Gordon have a minor guest appearance, albeit the names have been changed to "James East" and "Artémius Gin".
In 1982, when Robert Conrad hosted Saturday Night Live
on NBC, he appeared in a parody of The Wild Wild West. President Lincoln says his famous line that, if U.S. Grant is a drunk, he should send whatever he's drinking to his other less successful generals. Lincoln dispatches West and Gordon to find out what Grant drinks. They discover that Grant is held captive by Eddie Murphy's character, Velvet Jones. The series' tendency to create puns and technology ahead of their time is extensively satirized.
). For the first season set, Robert Conrad recorded audio introductions for all 28 episodes (plus commentary for the pilot) and the set included interviews and 1970s era footage of Conrad and Martin being interviewed. The second season was released on March 20, 2007 but the set contained no special features. The third season was released on November 20, 2007. The fourth and final season was released on March 18, 2008.
In France, where the series was a big hit, all four seasons (known locally as Les Mystères de l'Ouest) were released by TF1
Video in a DVD boxed set before their US release; the set includes many of the extras on the US season one set (and also presents "The Night of the Inferno" twice - as a regular episode in English, and as an extra featuring the audio commentary with the French-dubbed version), plus several other extras (including a 1999 interview with Robert Conrad at the Mirande Country Music Festival in France). Both TV movies are included as extras, but unlike the episodes - all of which are in English with French subtitles (allowing non-French fans to see what the French titles are, many of which differ from the original; for example, the French titles of "The Night of the Gypsy Peril," "The Night of the Simian Terror" and "The Night of Jack O'Diamonds" respectively translate as "The Night of the White Elephant," "The Night of the Beast" and "The Night of the Thoroughbred") and many but not all of which also have French dubs - the TV movies are only present dubbed into French.
, written by Shane Black
, and starring Mel Gibson
as James West. (Donner directed three episodes of the original series.) Donner and Gibson instead made a theatrical version of TV's Maverick in 1994. The Wild Wild West motion picture continued in the development stage, with Tom Cruise
rumored for the lead in 1995. Cruise instead revived Mission: Impossible the following year.
Finally, in 1999, a theatrical motion picture loosely based on the series was released. Directed by Barry Sonnenfeld
, the film Wild Wild West
(without the definite article used in the series title) made substantial changes to the characters of the series, reimagining James West as a Black man (played by Will Smith
), and explored - to a small degree - some of the racial issues that certainly would have made it impossible for a Black man to be a United States secret service agent in the 1800s. (However, at the end of "The Night of the Returning Dead," West and Gordon invite a Black character played by guest star Sammy Davis Jr. to join the department, and a later episode opens with West meeting briefly with a Black agent.)
Kevin Kline
plays Gordon, whose character was similar to the version played by Ross Martin, except that he was bitterly competitive with James West, and much more egotistical. Kline also plays President Grant as well as Gordon impersonating President Grant. (Martin's Gordon impersonated Grant in "The Night of the Steel Assassin" and "The Night of the Big Blackmail," but Grant was otherwise played by James Gregory in the pilot and Roy Engel in the series.) Kline's Gordon invents more ridiculous, humor-related, and implausible contraptions than those created by Martin's Gordon in the television series, which made some effort to be reasonably feasible.
The film depicted West and Gordon as competitive rivals almost to the point of a mutual dislike and distrust of one another. In the television series, West and Gordon had a close friendship and trusted each other with their lives.
Significant changes were made to Dr. Loveless (played by Kenneth Branagh
in the film). A dwarf in the TV series, he was made a double amputee in the film and his name was changed to Arliss Loveless. He was written as a bitter, racist Southerner who sought to punish the North after the Civil War.
The film also eschewed quoting Richard Markowitz's theme music in Elmer Bernstein
's score, except for one brief cue (Markowitz was not included in the film's music credits; ironically, this was one area where the film was true to the series).
Robert Conrad reportedly was offered the role of President Grant, but turned it down. He was outspoken in his criticism of the new film, now little more than a comedic Will Smith showcase with virtually no relationship to the action-adventure series. In a New York Post interview (July 3, 1999), Conrad stated that he disliked the movie and that contractually he was owed a share of money on merchandising that he was not paid. He had a long-standing feud with producer Jon Peters
, which may have colored his opinion. He was offended at the racial aspects of the film, as well as the casting of Branagh as a double amputee, rather than a little-person actor, in the role of Loveless.
In 2009, Will Smith apologized publicly to Conrad while doing promotion for Seven Pounds
:
The film is considered to be a notable example of the steampunk
genre, where steam-powered machines in the Victorian age are prominently used.
were developing a remake of The Wild Wild West for television. No further information has been released.
However, a new fan-produced webseries, "Back to the Wild Wild West," began production in November, 2011.
, 1869–77; occasional episodes indicate a more precise date.
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
for four seasons (104 episodes) from September 17, 1965 to April 4, 1969.
Developed at a time when the television western was losing ground to the spy genre, this show was conceived by its creator, Michael Garrison
Michael Garrison (producer)
Michael Garrison was the creator of the television series The Wild Wild West.His mausoleum is in Forest Lawn - Hollywood Hills Cemetery.-External links:...
, as "James Bond
James Bond
James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...
on horseback.
Two television movies were made with the original cast in 1979 and 1980, and the series was adapted for a motion picture in 1999
Wild Wild West
Wild Wild West is a 1999 American steampunk action-comedy film directed by Barry Sonnenfeld, and starring Will Smith, Kevin Kline , Kenneth Branagh and Salma Hayek.Similar to the original TV series it was based on, The Wild Wild West, the film features a large amount of gadgetry...
with a new cast and story.
Creation, writing and production
Michael GarrisonMichael Garrison (producer)
Michael Garrison was the creator of the television series The Wild Wild West.His mausoleum is in Forest Lawn - Hollywood Hills Cemetery.-External links:...
and his partner at the time, Gregory Ratoff
Gregory Ratoff
Gregory Ratoff was a Russian-born American film director, actor and producer. His most famous role as an actor was as producer Max Fabian who feuds with star Margo Channing in All About Eve ....
, purchased the film rights to Ian Fleming
Ian Fleming
Ian Lancaster Fleming was a British author, journalist and Naval Intelligence Officer.Fleming is best known for creating the fictional British spy James Bond and for a series of twelve novels and nine short stories about the character, one of the biggest-selling series of fictional books of...
's first Bond novel, Casino Royale
Casino Royale (novel)
Casino Royale is Ian Fleming's first James Bond novel. It paved the way for a further eleven novels by Fleming himself, in addition to two short story collections, followed by many "continuation" Bond novels by other authors....
, in 1955. They pitched the idea to 20th Century Fox
20th Century Fox
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios...
, but the studio turned them down. After Ratoff died in 1960, his widow and Garrison sold the film rights to Charles K. Feldman
Charles K. Feldman
Charles K. Feldman was a film producer and talent agent born in New York City. In 1934 he married actress Jean Howard, whom he divorced in 1948...
, who eventually produced the spoof Casino Royale
Casino Royale (1967 film)
Casino Royale is a 1967 comedy spy film originally produced by Columbia Pictures starring an ensemble cast of directors and actors. It is set as a satire of the James Bond film series and the spy genre, and is loosely based on Ian Fleming's first James Bond novel.The film stars David Niven as the...
in 1967. Garrison, in the meantime, had brought James Bond to television in a unique way.
The pilot episode, "The Night of the Inferno", was produced by Garrison and scripted by Gilbert Ralston
Gilbert Ralston
Gilbert Alexander Ralston was an American screenwriter, journalist and author. He was a television producer in the 1950s and a screenwriter in the 1960s...
, who had written for numerous episodic TV series in the 1950s and 1960s. In 1997, Ralston sued Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
over the upcoming motion picture based on the series. (Wild Wild West was released in 1999.) In a deposition, Ralston explained that he was approached by Michael Garrison, who '"said he had an idea for a series, good commercial idea, and wanted to know if I could glue the idea of a western hero and a James Bond type together in the same show." Ralston said he then created the Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
characters, the format, the story outline and nine drafts of the script that was the basis for the television series. It was his idea, for example, to have a secret agent named Jim West who would perform secret missions for President Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant was the 18th President of the United States as well as military commander during the Civil War and post-war Reconstruction periods. Under Grant's command, the Union Army defeated the Confederate military and ended the Confederate States of America...
.
Ralston's experience brought to light a common Hollywood practice of the 1950s and '60s, when television writers who helped create popular series allowed producers or studios to take credit for a show (thus denying the writers millions of dollars in royalties). Ralston died in 1999, before his suit was settled. Warner Brothers ended up paying his family between $600,000 and $1.5 million.
As indicated by Robert Conrad
Robert Conrad
Robert Conrad is an American actor. He is best known for his role in the 1965 CBS television series The Wild Wild West, in which he played the sophisticated Secret Service agent James T. West, and his portrayal of World War II ace Pappy Boyington in the television series Baa Baa Black Sheep...
on his DVD commentary for the first season, the show went through several changes in producers in its first season. This was apparently due to conflicts between the network and Garrison. At first, Ben Brady was named as producer, but he was then shifted to Rawhide
Rawhide (TV series)
Rawhide is an American Western series that aired for eight seasons on the CBS network on Friday nights, from January 9, 1959 to September 3, 1965, before moving to Tuesday nights from September 14, 1965 until January 4, 1966, with a total of 217 black-and-white episodes...
. The network then hired Collier Young
Collier Young
Film producer and writer Collier Young worked on many films in the 1950s before becoming a television producer for such shows as NBC's Ironside and CBS's The Wild, Wild West as well as the supernatural series One Step Beyond .Young was married to actress and director Ida Lupino from 1948 to 1951,...
. In an interview, Young said he saw the series as The Rogues
The Rogues (TV series)
The Rogues is an American television series that appeared on NBC from September 13, 1964 to April 18, 1965, starring David Niven, Charles Boyer, and Gig Young as a related trio of former conmen who could, for the right price, be persuaded to trick a very wealthy and very unscrupulous mark...
set in 1870. (The Rogues, which he had produced, was about con men who swindled swindlers, much like the 1970s series Switch
Switch (TV series)
Switch is an American action-adventure, tongue-in-cheek detective series starring Eddie Albert and Robert Wagner, who worked as private eyes, for a deceptive sting operation...
.) Young also claimed to have added the second "Wild" to the series title, which had been simply "The Wild West" in its early stages of production. Young lasted three episodes (2-4). His shows featured a butler named Tennyson who traveled with West and Gordon, but since the episodes were not broadcast in production order, the character popped up at different times during the first season.
Young's replacement, Fred Freiberger
Fred Freiberger
Fred Freiberger was an American film and television screenwriter and television producer, with a career spanning four decades including The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, Star Trek, and Space: 1999...
, returned the series to its original concept, and it was on his watch that the arch-villain Dr. Miguelito Quixote Loveless was created. Loveless became an immediate hit, and actor Michael Dunn was contracted to appear in four episodes per season. After ten episodes (5-14), Freiberger was replaced by John Mantley
John Mantley
John Truman Mantley was a Canadian theatrical actor, writer, director, screenwriter and producer of the long-running television series, Gunsmoke, and was Mary Pickford's cousin.-Family:Mantley had a sister, eleven years older than himself, who taught dancing well into her eighties...
, reputedly due to a behind-the-scenes power struggle. Mantley, who had been associate producer on Gunsmoke
Gunsmoke
Gunsmoke is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman MacDonnell and writer John Meston. The stories take place in and around Dodge City, Kansas, during the settlement of the American West....
, produced seven (15-21) episodes before he, too, was replaced. While Mantley returned to his former position on Gunsmoke, Gene L. Coon
Gene L. Coon
Gene L. Coon was an American screenwriter and television producer. He is best remembered for his work on the original Star Trek series.-Life and career:...
took over the production reins of The Wild Wild West. Coon, however, left after six episodes (22-27) to take a screenwriting assignment at Warner Bros.
By then, Garrison's conflict with CBS was resolved, and he returned to produce the last episode of season one and the initial episodes of season two. The producer's return was much to the relief of Ross Martin, who once revealed that he was so disenchanted during the first season that he tried to quit three times. He explained that Garrison "saw the show as a Bond spoof laid in 1870, and we all knew where we stood. Each new producer tried to put his stamp on the show and I had a terrible struggle. I fought them line by line in every script. They knew they couldn't change the James West role very much, but it was open season on Artemus Gordon because they had never seen anything like him before."
On August 17, 1966, however, during production of the new season's ninth episode, The Night of the Ready-Made Corpse, Garrison fell down a flight of stairs in his home and died. CBS brought in Bruce Lansbury, head of programming in New York, to produce the show for the remainder of its run.
The Wild Wild West was filmed at CBS Studio Center
CBS Studio Center
CBS Studio Center is a television and film studio located in the Studio City district of Los Angeles in the San Fernando Valley. It is located at 4024 Radford Avenue and takes up a triangular piece of land, with the Los Angeles River bisecting the site...
on Radford Avenue in the San Fernando Valley. The lot was formerly the home of Republic Studios, which specialized in low-budget films including Westerns starring Roy Rogers
Roy Rogers
Roy Rogers, born Leonard Franklin Slye , was an American singer and cowboy actor, one of the most heavily marketed and merchandised stars of his era, as well as being the namesake of the Roy Rogers Restaurants franchised chain...
and Gene Autry
Gene Autry
Orvon Grover Autry , better known as Gene Autry, was an American performer who gained fame as The Singing Cowboy on the radio, in movies and on television for more than three decades beginning in the 1930s...
and Saturday morning serials (which The Wild Wild West appropriately echoed). CBS became the primary lessee of the studio lot in 1963, and produced Gunsmoke, The Virginian and Rawhide there, as well as Gilligan's Island. Later, MTM Enterprises (headed by actress Mary Tyler Moore
Mary Tyler Moore
Mary Tyler Moore is an American actress, primarily known for her roles in television sitcoms. Moore is best known for The Mary Tyler Moore Show , in which she starred as Mary Richards, a 30-something single woman who worked as a local news producer in Minneapolis, and for her earlier role as...
and her then-husband, Grant Tinker) became the Studio Center's primary tenant, beginning in 1971. Seinfeld was filmed there in the 1990s.
Concept summary
The Wild Wild West told the story of two Secret ServiceUnited States Secret Service
The United States Secret Service is a United States federal law enforcement agency that is part of the United States Department of Homeland Security. The sworn members are divided among the Special Agents and the Uniformed Division. Until March 1, 2003, the Service was part of the United States...
agents: James T. West, the charming gunslinger (played by Robert Conrad
Robert Conrad
Robert Conrad is an American actor. He is best known for his role in the 1965 CBS television series The Wild Wild West, in which he played the sophisticated Secret Service agent James T. West, and his portrayal of World War II ace Pappy Boyington in the television series Baa Baa Black Sheep...
), and Artemus Gordon (played by Ross Martin
Ross Martin
Ross Martin was a Polish-born American Emmy-nominated actor known for playing Artemus Gordon in the western TV series The Wild Wild West, starring Robert Conrad, and Andamo on Mr...
), the brilliant gadgeteer and master of disguise. Their unending mission was to protect President Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant was the 18th President of the United States as well as military commander during the Civil War and post-war Reconstruction periods. Under Grant's command, the Union Army defeated the Confederate military and ended the Confederate States of America...
and the United States from all manner of dangerous threats. The agents traveled in luxury aboard their own train, the Wanderer, equipped with everything from a stable car to a laboratory. James West had served as an intelligence and cavalry officer in the US Civil War; his "cover" during the series is that he is a railroad president. After retiring from the Service by 1880 he lives on a ranch in Mexico. Gordon's past is more obscure; when he retires in 1880 he goes on the road as the head of a Shakespeare traveling players troupe.
The show incorporated classic Western elements with an espionage
Espionage
Espionage or spying involves an individual obtaining information that is considered secret or confidential without the permission of the holder of the information. Espionage is inherently clandestine, lest the legitimate holder of the information change plans or take other countermeasures once it...
thriller, science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
/alternate history
Alternate history (fiction)
Alternate history or alternative history is a genre of fiction consisting of stories that are set in worlds in which history has diverged from the actual history of the world. It can be variously seen as a sub-genre of literary fiction, science fiction, and historical fiction; different alternate...
ideas (in a similar vein to steampunk
Steampunk
Steampunk is a sub-genre of science fiction, fantasy, alternate history, and speculative fiction that came into prominence during the 1980s and early 1990s. Steampunk involves a setting where steam power is still widely used—usually Victorian era Britain or "Wild West"-era United...
), in one case horror
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
("The Night of the Man Eating House") and plenty of comedy. In the finest James Bond
James Bond
James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...
tradition, there were always beautiful women, clever gadgets, and delusional arch-enemies with half-insane plots to take over the country or the world
Hegemony
Hegemony is an indirect form of imperial dominance in which the hegemon rules sub-ordinate states by the implied means of power rather than direct military force. In Ancient Greece , hegemony denoted the politico–military dominance of a city-state over other city-states...
.
The title of each episode begins with "The Night" (except for the first-season episode "Night of the Casual Killer", which omitted the definite article).
A memorable recurring
Recurring character
A recurring character is a fictional character, usually in a prime time TV series, who appears from time to time during the series' run. Recurring characters often play major roles in an episode, sometimes being the main focus...
arch-villain
Villain
A villain is an "evil" character in a story, whether a historical narrative or, especially, a work of fiction. The villain usually is the antagonist, the character who tends to have a negative effect on other characters...
was Dr. Miguelito Quixote Loveless
Dr. Loveless
Dr. Miguelito Quixote Loveless is a fictional character, a villain on the 1960s television series The Wild Wild West. He is a brilliant dwarf portrayed by Michael Dunn. As a mad scientist, and the arch-enemy of Secret Service agents James West and Artemus Gordon, Dr. Loveless was involved in...
, a brilliant but megalomania
Megalomania
Megalomania is a psycho-pathological condition characterized by delusional fantasies of power, relevance, or omnipotence. 'Megalomania is characterized by an inflated sense of self-esteem and overestimation by persons of their powers and beliefs'...
c dwarf
Dwarfism
Dwarfism is short stature resulting from a medical condition. It is sometimes defined as an adult height of less than 4 feet 10 inches , although this definition is problematic because short stature in itself is not a disorder....
portrayed by Michael Dunn. Like Professor Moriarty
Professor Moriarty
Professor James Moriarty is a fictional character and the archenemy of the detective Sherlock Holmes in the fiction of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Moriarty is a criminal mastermind, described by Holmes as the "Napoleon of Crime". Doyle lifted the phrase from a real Scotland Yard inspector who was...
for Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The fantastic London-based "consulting detective", Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to take almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science skills to solve...
, Loveless provided West and Gordon with a worthy adversary, whose plans could be foiled but who resisted all attempts to capture him and bring him to justice. Loveless was introduced in the show's sixth produced, but third televised episode, "The Night the Wizard Shook The Earth", and appeared in another nine episodes. Initially he had two constant companions: the huge Voltaire, played by Richard Kiel
Richard Kiel
Richard Dawson Kiel is an American actor best known for his role as the steel-toothed Jaws in the James Bond movies The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker as well as the video game Everything or Nothing, and Mr. Larson in Happy Gilmore...
; and the beautiful Antoinette, played by Dunn's real-life singing partner, Phoebe Dorin. Voltaire disappeared with no explanation after his third episode (although Richard Kiel returned in a different role in "The Night of the Simian Terror"), and Antoinette after her sixth. According to the TV movie The Wild Wild West Revisited, Loveless eventually dies in 1880 from ulcers
Peptic ulcer
A peptic ulcer, also known as PUD or peptic ulcer disease, is the most common ulcer of an area of the gastrointestinal tract that is usually acidic and thus extremely painful. It is defined as mucosal erosions equal to or greater than 0.5 cm...
, brought on by anger and frustration at having his plans consistently ruined by West and Gordon. (His son, played by Paul Williams
Paul Williams (songwriter)
Paul Hamilton Williams, Jr. is an Academy Award-winning American composer, musician, songwriter, and actor. He is perhaps best known for popular songs performed by a number of acts in the 1970s including Three Dog Night's "An Old Fashioned Love Song", Helen Reddy's "You and Me Against the World",...
, subsequently seeks revenge on the agents.)
Though several actors appeared in multiple villainous roles, only one other character had a second encounter with West and Gordon: Count Manzeppi (played flamboyantly by Victor Buono
Victor Buono
Charles Victor Buono was an American actor and comic.-Early life and career:Buono was born in San Diego, California, the son of Myrtle Belle and Victor Francis Buono . His maternal grandmother, Myrtle Glied , was a Vaudeville performer on the Orpheum Circuit...
, who played another, different villain in the pilot), a diabolical genius of "black magic" and crime, who – like Dr. Loveless – had an escape plan at the end. (Buono eventually returned in More Wild Wild West as "Dr. Henry Messenger," a parody of Henry Kissinger
Henry Kissinger
Heinz Alfred "Henry" Kissinger is a German-born American academic, political scientist, diplomat, and businessman. He is a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. He served as National Security Advisor and later concurrently as Secretary of State in the administrations of Presidents Richard Nixon and...
, who ends up both handcuffed and turning invisible with the villainous Paradine.)
While the show's writers created their fair share of villains (Agnes Moorehead
Agnes Moorehead
Agnes Robertson Moorehead was an American actress. Although she began with the Mercury Theatre, appeared in more than seventy films beginning with Citizen Kane and on dozens of television shows during a career that spanned more than thirty years, Moorehead is most widely known to modern audiences...
won an Emmy for her role as Emma Valentine in "The Night of The Vicious Valentine"), they frequently started with the nefarious, stylized inventions of these madmen and then wrote the episodes around these devices. Stories were also inspired by Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective...
, H. G. Wells
H. G. Wells
Herbert George Wells was an English author, now best known for his work in the science fiction genre. He was also a prolific writer in many other genres, including contemporary novels, history, politics and social commentary, even writing text books and rules for war games...
, and Jules Verne
Jules Verne
Jules Gabriel Verne was a French author who pioneered the science fiction genre. He is best known for his novels Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea , A Journey to the Center of the Earth , and Around the World in Eighty Days...
.
Conrad insisted on performing all of his own stunts, such as leaping off a balcony or running in front of a team of horses, but was occasionally doubled on the more dangerous stunts. During filming of "The Night of the Fugitives," however, Conrad fell 12 feet from a chandelier onto a concrete floor and suffered a concussion.http://www.briansdriveintheater.com/robertconrad.html Production of the series, then near the end of its third season, was shut down two weeks early. (The episode eventually aired during the fourth season, with footage of the fall left in.)
Ross Martin broke his leg in a fourth season episode, "The Night of the Avaricious Actuary," and suffered a heart attack a few weeks later after completing "The Night of Fire and Brimstone." His character was replaced temporarily by other agents played by Charles Aidman
Charles Aidman
Charles Aidman was an American film scenarist and television actor.-Career:Among his many television credits include appearances on NBC's western series The Road West in the 1966 episode "The Lean Years"...
(four episodes), Alan Hale, Jr.
Alan Hale, Jr.
Alan Hale, Jr. was an American film and television actor, best known for his role as Skipper on the popular sitcom Gilligan's Island. Hale was the lookalike son of popular supporting film actor Alan Hale, Sr....
and William Schallert
William Schallert
William Joseph Schallert is an American actor who has appeared in many films and in such television series as The Smurfs, The Rat Patrol, Gunsmoke, The Patty Duke Show, The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, The Waltons, Bonanza, Leave It to Beaver, The Dick Van Dyke Show, Love, American Style, Get...
. Aidman said he had been promised script rewrites, but these simply amounted to changing the name "Artemus Gordon" to "Jeremy Pike" (his character's name). Pat Paulsen
Pat Paulsen
Patrick Layton "Pat" Paulsen was an American comedian and satirist notable for his roles on several of the Smothers Brothers TV shows, and for his campaigns for President of the United States in 1968, 1972, 1980, 1988, 1992, and 1996, which had primarily comedic rather than political objectives,...
is frequently thought of as a Martin substitute, but he in fact appeared in one of Aidman's episodes, and his character would have been present even if Martin appeared.
Ross Martin once called his role as Artemus Gordon "a show-off's showcase" because it allowed him to portray over 100 different characters during the course of the series, and perform dozens of different dialects. Martin sketched his ideas for his characterizations and worked with the makeup artists to execute the final look. Martin was nominated for an Emmy in 1969
1969 in television
The year 1969 in television involved some significant events. Below is a list of television-related events in 1969.For the American TV schedule, see: 1969-70 American network television schedule.-Events:...
.
The train
For the pilot episode, "The Night of the Inferno," the producers used Sierra Railroad No. 3, a 4-6-04-6-0
Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 4-6-0 represents the wheel arrangement of four leading wheels on two axles in a leading truck, six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles, and no trailing wheels. This wheel arrangement became the second-most popular...
locomotive that was, fittingly, an anachronism
Anachronism
An anachronism—from the Greek ανά and χρόνος — is an inconsistency in some chronological arrangement, especially a chronological misplacing of persons, events, objects, or customs in regard to each other...
: Sierra No. 3 was built in 1891, fifteen to twenty years after the series was set. Footage of this train, with a 5 replacing the 3 on its number plate, was shot in Jamestown, California
Jamestown, California
Jamestown is a census-designated place in Tuolumne County, California, United States. The population was 3,433 at the 2010 census, up from 3,017 at the 2000 census.A scene from the movie Hidalgo was filmed in Jamestown...
. Best known for its role as the Hooterville Cannonball in the CBS series Petticoat Junction
Petticoat Junction
Petticoat Junction is an American situation comedy produced by Filmways which originally aired on CBS from 1963 to 1970. The series is one of three interrelated shows about rural characters created by Paul Henning; the others are The Beverly Hillbillies and Green Acres.The setting for the series...
, Sierra No. 3 probably appeared in more films and TV shows than any other locomotive in history. It was built by the Rogers Locomotive and Machine Works
Rogers Locomotive and Machine Works
Rogers Locomotive and Machine Works was a 19th-century manufacturer of railroad steam locomotives based in Paterson, in Passaic County, New Jersey, in the United States. It built more than six thousand steam locomotives for railroads around the world. Most railroads in 19th-century United States...
in Paterson, New Jersey
Paterson, New Jersey
Paterson is a city serving as the county seat of Passaic County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, its population was 146,199, rendering it New Jersey's third largest city and one of the largest cities in the New York City Metropolitan Area, despite a decrease of 3,023...
.
When The Wild Wild West went into series production, however, an entirely different train was employed. The locomotive, a 4-4-0
4-4-0
Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 4-4-0 represents the wheel arrangement of four leading wheels on two axles , four powered and coupled driving wheels on two axles, and no trailing wheels...
named the Inyo, was built in 1875 by the Baldwin Locomotive Works
Baldwin Locomotive Works
The Baldwin Locomotive Works was an American builder of railroad locomotives. It was located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, originally, and later in nearby Eddystone, Pennsylvania. Although the company was very successful as a producer of steam locomotives, its transition to the production of...
in Philadelphia. Originally a wood-burner, the Inyo was converted to oil in 1910. The Inyo, as well as the express car and the passenger car, originally served on the Virginia and Truckee Railroad
Virginia and Truckee Railroad
The Virginia and Truckee Railroad was built to serve the Comstock Lode mining communities of northwestern Nevada. At its height, the railroad's route ran from Reno south to Carson City, Nevada. In Carson City, the...
in Nevada. They were among V&T cars sold to Paramount Pictures in 1937–38. The Inyo appears in numerous films including High, Wide, and Handsome
High, Wide, and Handsome
High, Wide, and Handsome is a 1937 American musical film starring Irene Dunne, Randolph Scott, Alan Hale, Sr., Charles Bickford, and Dorothy Lamour....
(1938
1938 in film
The year 1938 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*January — MGM announces that Judy Garland would be cast in the role of "Dorothy" in the upcoming Wizard of Oz motion picture. Ray Bolger is cast as the "Tinman" and Buddy Ebsen is cast as the "Scarecrow". At Bolger's insistence,...
), Union Pacific
Union Pacific (film)
Union Pacific is a 1939 American dramatic western film directed by Cecil B. DeMille, and starring Barbara Stanwyck and Joel McCrea. Based on the novel Trouble Shooter by Western fiction author Ernest Haycox, the film is about the building of the railroad across the American West.-Plot:The 1862...
(1939
1939 in film
The year 1939 in motion pictures can be justified as being called the most outstanding one ever, when it comes to the high quality and high attendance at the large set of the best films that premiered in the year .- Events :Motion picture historians and film often rate...
), The Marx Brothers
Marx Brothers
The Marx Brothers were an American family comedy act, originally from New York City, that enjoyed success in Vaudeville, Broadway, and motion pictures from the early 1900s to around 1950...
' Go West (1940
1940 in film
The year 1940 in film involved some significant events, including the premieres of the Walt Disney classics Pinocchio and Fantasia.-Events:*February 7 - Walt Disney's animated film Pinocchio is released....
), Meet Me in St. Louis
Meet Me in St. Louis
Meet Me in St. Louis is a 1944 musical film from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer which tells the story of an American family living in St. Louis at the time of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition World's Fair in 1904...
, (1944
1944 in film
The year 1944 in film involved some significant events, including the wholesome, award-winning Going My Way plus popular murder mysteries such as Double Indemnity, Gaslight and Laura.-Events:*July 20 - Since You Went Away is released....
), Red River (1948
1948 in film
The year 1948 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* Laurence Olivier's Hamlet becomes the first British film to win the American Academy Award for Best Picture.-Top grossing films : After theatrical re-issue- Awards :...
), Disney
Walt Disney
Walter Elias "Walt" Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, and philanthropist, well-known for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. Along with his brother Roy O...
's The Great Locomotive Chase (1956
1956 in film
The year 1956 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* October 5 - The Ten Commandments opens in cinemas and becomes one of the most successful and popular movies of all time, currently ranking 5th on the list of all time moneymakers * February 5 - First showing of documentary films by...
) and McLintock!
McLintock!
McLintock! is a 1963 comedy Western starring John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara, and loosely based on Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew. The film is notable, perhaps even infamous, for its two spanking scenes, in which mother and daughter are each paddled with coal shovels: the daughter by her...
(1963
1963 in film
The year 1963 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* June 12 - Cleopatra starring Elizabeth Taylor, Rex Harrison and Richard Burton premieres at the Rivoli Theatre in New York City....
). For The Wild Wild West, Inyo's original number plate was temporarily changed from No. 22 to No. 8 so the train footage could be flipped horizontally without the number appearing reversed. Footage of the Inyo was shot around Menifee, Calif., and reused in virtually every episode. (Stock footage of Sierra No. 3 occasionally resurfaced as well.)
These trains were used only for exterior shots. The luxurious interior of the passenger car was constructed on Stage 6 at CBS Studio Center
CBS Studio Center
CBS Studio Center is a television and film studio located in the Studio City district of Los Angeles in the San Fernando Valley. It is located at 4024 Radford Avenue and takes up a triangular piece of land, with the Los Angeles River bisecting the site...
. (Neither Stage 6 or the western streets still exist.) Designed by art director Albert Heschong, the set reportedly cost $35,000 in 1965. (Between $190,000 and $250,000 2008 dollars. http://www.measuringworth.com/uscompare/)
The interior of West and Gordon's train was used in an episode of Gunsmoke
Gunsmoke
Gunsmoke is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman MacDonnell and writer John Meston. The stories take place in and around Dodge City, Kansas, during the settlement of the American West....
titled "Death Train" (aired 1/27/67), and in at least one episode of The Big Valley
The Big Valley
The Big Valley is an American television Western which ran on ABC from September 15, 1965, to May 19, 1969, which starred Barbara Stanwyck, as a California widowed mother. It was created by A.I. Bezzerides and Louis F. Edelman...
("Days of Wrath," aired 1/8/68). All three series were filmed at CBS Studio Center and shared other exterior and interior sets.
After her run on The Wild Wild West, the Inyo participated in the Golden Spike
Golden spike
The "Golden Spike" is the ceremonial final spike driven by Leland Stanford to join the rails of the First Transcontinental Railroad across the United States connecting the Central Pacific and Union Pacific railroads on May 10, 1869, at Promontory Summit, Utah Territory...
Centennial at Promontory, Utah, in 1969. The following year it appeared as a replica of the Central Pacific's "Jupiter" locomotive at the Golden Spike National Historical Site.. The State of Nevada purchased the Inyo in 1974; it was restored to 1895 vintage, including a wider smoke stack and a new pilot
Pilot (locomotive)
In railroading, the pilot is the device mounted at the front of a locomotive to deflect obstacles from the track that might otherwise derail the train. In some countries it is also called cowcatcher or cattle catcher....
(cow catcher) without a drop coupler. The Inyo is still operational and displayed at the Nevada State Railroad Museum
Nevada State Railroad Museum
Nevada Southern Railway is a railroad museum in Boulder City, Nevada operated by the Nevada State Railroad Museum which is an agency of the Nevada Department of Cultural Affairs....
in Carson City. The express car (No. 21) and passenger car (No. 4) are also at the museum.
Another veteran V&T locomotive, the Reno (built in 1872 by Baldwin), was used in the two The Wild Wild West TV movies. The Reno, which resembles the Inyo, is located at Old Tucson Studios
Old Tucson Studios
Old Tucson Studios is a movie studio and theme park just west of Tucson, Arizona, adjacent to the Tucson Mountains and close to the western portion of Saguaro National Park. Built in 1939 for the movie Arizona, it has been used for the filming of several movies and television westerns since then,...
.
The 1999 Wild Wild West
Wild Wild West
Wild Wild West is a 1999 American steampunk action-comedy film directed by Barry Sonnenfeld, and starring Will Smith, Kevin Kline , Kenneth Branagh and Salma Hayek.Similar to the original TV series it was based on, The Wild Wild West, the film features a large amount of gadgetry...
motion picture used the Baltimore & Ohio 4-4-0 No. 25, one of the oldest operating steam locomotives in the U.S. Built in 1856 at the Mason Machine Works in Taunton, Massachusetts, it was later renamed The William Mason
William Mason (locomotive)
"William Mason" is a 4-4-0 steam locomotive currently in operation at the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Museum in Baltimore, Maryland, USA. It was built for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, carrying that railroad's number 25...
in honor of its manufacturer. For its role as "The Wanderer" in the motion picture, the engine was sent to the steam shops at the Strasburg Railroad for restoration and repainting. The locomotive is brought out for the B&O Train Museum in Baltimore's "Steam Days".
The Inyo and The William Mason both appeared in the Disney film The Great Locomotive Chase (1956).
Theme music
The main title theme was written by Richard Markowitz, who previously composed the theme for the TV series The Rebel. He was brought in after the producers rejected two attempts by film composer Dimitri TiomkinDimitri Tiomkin
Dimitri Zinovievich Tiomkin was a Russian-born Hollywood film score composer and conductor. He is considered "one of the giants of Hollywood movie music." Musically trained in Russia, he is best known for his westerns, "where his expansive, muscular style had its greatest impact." Tiomkin...
. Markowitz, however, was never credited for his theme in any episode; it is believed that this was due to legal difficulties between CBS and Tiomkin over the rejection of the latter's work. Markowitz did receive "music by" credits for episodes he'd scored (such as "The Night of the Bars of Hell" and "The Night of the Raven") or where he supplied the majority of tracked-in cues (for example in "The Night of the Grand Emir" and "The Night of the Gypsy Peril"). He finally received "theme by" credit on both of the TV movies, which were scored by Jeff Alexander
Jeff Alexander
Jeff Alexander was an American conductor, arranger, and composer of film, radio and television scores.-Career:...
rather than Markowitz (few personnel from the series were involved with the TV movies).
Graphics
The animated title sequence was another unique element of the series. It was created by Ken Mundie, who designed the titles for the film The Great RaceThe Great Race
The Great Race is a 1965 slapstick comedy film starring Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis, and Natalie Wood, directed by Blake Edwards, written by Blake Edwards and Arthur A. Ross, and with music by Henry Mancini and cinematography by Russell Harlan. The supporting cast includes Peter Falk, Keenan Wynn,...
and the TV series Secret Agent
Danger Man
Danger Man is a British television series that was broadcast between 1960 and 1962, and again between 1964 and 1968. The series featured Patrick McGoohan as secret agent John Drake. Ralph Smart created the program and wrote many of the scripts...
, Rawhide
Rawhide (TV series)
Rawhide is an American Western series that aired for eight seasons on the CBS network on Friday nights, from January 9, 1959 to September 3, 1965, before moving to Tuesday nights from September 14, 1965 until January 4, 1966, with a total of 217 black-and-white episodes...
, and Death Valley Days
Death Valley Days
Death Valley Days is an American radio and television anthology series featuring true stories of the old American West, particularly the Death Valley area. Created in 1930 by Ruth Woodman, the program was broadcast on radio until 1945. It continued from 1952 to 1975 as a syndicated television series...
.
The screen was divided into four corner panels surrounding a fifth narrow panel that contained a cartoon "hero." The hero, who looked more like a traditional cowboy than either West or Gordon, interacted with characters in the surrounding panels. In the three seasons shot in color, the overall backdrop was an abstracted wash of the flag of the United States
Flag of the United States
The national flag of the United States of America consists of thirteen equal horizontal stripes of red alternating with white, with a blue rectangle in the canton bearing fifty small, white, five-pointed stars arranged in nine offset horizontal rows of six stars alternating with rows...
, with the upper left panel colored blue and the others containing horizontal red stripes.
The original animation sequence is as follows:
- The Hero strikes a match, lights a cigar, and begins walking in profile to the right
- Behind the Hero, in the lower left panel, a robber backs out of a bank; the Hero subdues him with a karate chop to the back
- In the upper right panel, a cardsharp tries to pull an ace of spades from his boot, but the Hero draws his gun and the cardsharp drops the ace
- In the upper left panel, a gunman points a six-shooter at the Hero, who drops his gun and puts his hands up. The Hero then shoots the gunman with his sleeve derringer; the gunman's hand falls limp
- A woman in the lower right panel taps the Hero on the hat with her parasol. He pulls her close and kisses her. She draws a knife, but mesmerized by his kiss, turns away and slumps against the side of the frame. He tips his hat and walks away with his back to the camera. There were two versions of this vignette; this one appears during the first season. When the show switched to color, the Hero knocked the woman out with a right cross to the jaw. This variant also appears in the original pilot episode (included on the DVD release) when the series was titled The Wild West. Despite this, James West never hit a woman in any episode, although he grappled with many. The closest he came was when he slammed a door against the evil Countess Zorana in "The Night of the Iron Fist." In "The Night of the Running Death" he slugged a woman named Miss Tyler, but "she" was a man in drag (actor T. C. JonesT. C. JonesThomas Craig "T. C." Jones was an American female impersonator. He was known for his impersonations of stars such as Tallulah Bankhead, Judy Garland, Katharine Hepburn and others...
). The original animation, with the Hero winning the woman over with a kiss, was a more accurate representation of West's methods than the right cross. Ironically, it is another example of the emphasis on violence of the show. - The Hero walks off into the distance, and the camera zooms into his panel. The title The Wild Wild West appears. The camera then swish pans to an illustration of the train, with Conrad's and Martin's names on the ends of different cars.
This teaser part of the show was incorporated into The History Channel
The History Channel
History, formerly known as The History Channel, is an American-based international satellite and cable TV channel that broadcasts a variety of reality shows and documentary programs including those of fictional and non-fictional historical content, together with speculation about the future.-...
's Wild West Tech
Wild West Tech
Wild West Tech was a program that aired on The History Channel in the United States. The show was originally hosted by Keith Carradine , but his brother, David Carradine took over hosting duties for season 2 and subsequent seasons...
(2003–5).
Each episode had four acts. At the end of each act, the scene, usually a cliffhanger moment, would freeze, and a sketch or photograph of the scene faded in to replace the cartoon art in one of the four corner panels. The freeze-frame art changed over the course of the series. In all first season episodes other than the pilot, the panels were live-action stills made to evoke 19th century engravings. In season two (the first in color) the scenes dissolved to tinted stills; from "The Night of the Flying Pie Plate" on, however, the panels were home to Warhol-like serigraphs of the freeze-frames. The end credits were displayed over each episode's unique mosaic, but in the final season a standardized design was used. (The freeze-frame graphics were shot at a facility on Ventura Boulevard called Format Animation which no longer exists.) The pilot is the only episode in which the center panel of the Hero is replaced by a sketch of the final scene of an act; in the third act he is replaced by the villainous General Cassinello (Nehemiah Persoff
Nehemiah Persoff
Nehemiah Persoff is an American film and television character actor. He was born in Jerusalem, Palestine Mandate.Born in what is now part of Israel, Persoff emigrated with his family to the United States in 1929...
).
During the first season, the series title "The Wild Wild West" was set in the font P.T. Barnum. In subsequent seasons, the title appeared in a hand-drawn version of the font Dolphin (which resembles other fonts called Zebrawood, Circus, and Rodeo Clown). Robert Conrad's name was also set in this font. Ross Martin's name was set in the font Bracelet (which resembles Tuscan Ornate and Romantiques). All episode titles, writer and director credits, guest cast and crew credits were set in P.T. Barnum. During commercial breaks, the title "The Wild Wild West" also appeared in P.T. Barnum.
Props
The Wild Wild West featured numerous gadgets. Some were recurring devices, such as James' sleeve gun or breakaway derringerDerringer
The term derringer is a genericized misspelling of the last name of Henry Deringer, a famous 19th-century maker of small pocket pistols. Many copies of the original Philadelphia Deringer pistol were made by other gun makers worldwide, and the name was often misspelled; this misspelling soon became...
hidden in his left and right boot heels. Others only appeared in a single episode.
Most of these gadgets are concealed in West's garments:
- Sleeve gunSleeve gunA sleeve gun is a device wrapped around a user's forearm and used to conceal a small firearm under a long-sleeved coat or jacket. A triggering mechanism causes the firearm to extend out of the gadget quickly enough for the user to grab it and fire....
(a Remington derringer, featured in many episodes). In a few episodes the ejecting support-arm of the device had other useful gadgets attached to it instead of the derringer, such as a tiny squirt-can containing acid, iron climbing-claws, and various blades. - Lock-pick in the lapel of the bolero-style jacket.
- Throwing knife in the collar of the jacket.
- Various explosive devices (i.e. smoke bombs, impact-flares, gas grenades, etc.) carried in pockets or hidden inside in his belt buckle, his hat, a secret compartment in his holster, and the hollowed-out heels of one or both of his boots. Various lengths and types of removable fuses were often sewn into the hem of his jacket or the waistband of his pants.
- A flat metal barbed climbing-spike and a thin, but strong attachable rope or cord that could be shot into a wooden beam or wall from either his derringer or revolver. These were usually carried in one of his jacket's many inside pockets.
- A small hand-held rod with a built-in spring-loaded motor-driven winch. When used in conjunction with his climbing-spike and rope, the rod-winch could either hoist him upwards to a building's roof, for instance, or lower him down into a deep pit, the distance depending on the length of rope or cord deployed.
- A thin metallic, telescopic probing rod (similar to a long modern-day car antenna). When extended fully, West could probe approximately ten feet or so all around him. He used this to probe and trigger traps in the Living Room of the episode entitled, "The Night of the Janus."
- A spring-loaded, swing-out knife-blade in his boot, just between the outer sole and toe-box of the boot.
- A glass cutter consisting of a central hand-held knob. Protruding from this knob was a small metallic arm, approximately six inches long that swiveled. At its end was a rolling V-shaped cutting wheel of hardened steel. On one end of the knob was a small suction cup that was attached to the glass, allowing the cutting arm to be swung so that the cutting wheel could score the glass in a complete circle then lifted away using the knob with the cut piece attached to the suction cup. This was used in the episode, "The Night of the Camera."
- A thin but extremely strong wire, flexible enough to be coiled and fitted in the inner lining of the crown of his hat; the wire had multiple uses, and was even capable of sawing through a steel bar, using friction.
- Breakaway derringer (featured in numerous episodes). Usually the handle and trigger mechanism was located in the hollowed-out heel of one boot, while the barrel assembly was located in the other boot's hollowed-out heel; the two pieces snapped together and locked. Often bullets for this breakaway derringer were dispensed from a secret compartment in his belt-buckle, but most of the time it was preloaded.
- A breakaway blow-torch, each piece hidden in each hollowed-out boot heel.
- A battery-powered (or high-tension spring-driven) electric drill, that in one episode, was roughly the size of a large avocado and used to effect West's escape from a metal cage.
Aboard the train:
- Two pistols on a wooden swivel-stand on desk, activated and controlled by a knob on the fireplace.
- The fireplace conceals a secret escape door and an emergency flare signal.
- Several pistols, rifles, shotguns, and other assorted weaponry were mounted on a sliding pull-down panel in a small chamber at one end of the train car. A sliding closet containing his clothes and other useful paraphernalia was located in the same area also.
- A shotgun hidden under a revolving table-top.
- Cages for two carrier pigeonCarrier pigeonA carrier pigeon is a homing pigeon that is used to carry messages. Using pigeons to carry messages is generally called "pigeon post". Most homing or racing type varieties are used to carry messages. There is no specific breed actually called "carrier pigeon"...
s hidden in the walls. In the pilot episode, these pigeons (named Henry and Henrietta) were located in a compartment above the door in the same back room where West usually dressed and equipped himself, but in subsequent episodes the carrier pigeons were located elsewhere. - Decorative molding carved in the shape of lion heads that spew knockout gas when triggered.
Other gadgets:
- Exploding billiard ball (shown in the series' pilot episode as the cue ball, but sometimes other billiard balls served that purpose).
- Cue stick that has a hidden sword inside (featured in pilot episode).
- Cue stick that can shoot a bullet (featured in pilot episode).
- Stage coach with ejector-seat (featured in "The Night the Wizard Shook the Earth").
- A telegraph mechanism in a cane.
- A blow torch disguised as a cigar.
The villains often used equally creative gadgets, including:
- An earthquake making device.
- A brainwashing device using intense sight and sound.
- A cyborgCyborgA cyborg is a being with both biological and artificial parts. The term was coined in 1960 when Manfred Clynes and Nathan S. Kline used it in an article about the advantages of self-regulating human-machine systems in outer space. D. S...
, i.e., a man who replaced much of his flesh and bone with metal, making him strong and nearly invulnerable. - An early flamethrowerFlamethrowerA flamethrower is a mechanical device designed to project a long controllable stream of fire.Some flamethrowers project a stream of ignited flammable liquid; some project a long gas flame. Most military flamethrowers use liquids, but commercial flamethrowers tend to use high-pressure propane and...
. - Man-sized steam-driven puppets.
- Jars that could preserve disembodied human brains and draw upon their knowledge and psychic force.
- The Juggernaut, a steam-powered triangular tankTankA tank is a tracked, armoured fighting vehicle designed for front-line combat which combines operational mobility, tactical offensive, and defensive capabilities...
with a battering ram. - A potion, made from liquefied diamond, which enabled a man to move so fast as to be invisible.
- An LSD-like hallucinogen, capable of driving men into fits of killing madness.
- A cathode-ray-tube (television).
- A torpedo disguised as a dragon and capable of homing on a radio signal.
- An invisible electronic force field that disintegrates anything that came in contact with it.
- A drug capable of shrinking a man down to a height of 6".
- A suit of armor that acted as an exoskeleton.
- A tidal wave-making device that generated giant bubbles.
- A sonic device that allowed the use of paintings as a portal to other dimensions.
- Crystals that, when surgically implanted inside the brain and then shattered by a high-pitched noise, caused the subject to turn into a criminal.
- A giant falcon-shaped cannon, capable of devastating a small town with a single shot.
- A giant tuning forkTuning forkA tuning fork is an acoustic resonator in the form of a two-pronged fork with the prongs formed from a U-shaped bar of elastic metal . It resonates at a specific constant pitch when set vibrating by striking it against a surface or with an object, and emits a pure musical tone after waiting a...
device mounted on wheels. - A locomotive modified with a large battering ram to collide with oncoming trains and derail them.
Bloopers
- Conrad apparently split his pants numerous times during the course of the series. At least three are preserved on film: "Night of the Casual Killer" (originally aired 10/15/65), "The Night of the Underground Terror" (1/19/68) and "The Night of the Pistoleros" (2/21/69).
- In "The Night of the Gruesome Games" (10/25/68), the camera crew can be glimpsed in a bedroom mirror.
- In "The Night of the Turncoat" (12/1/67), a safety frogman appears behind Conrad in one shot during the underwater sequence. West's hair also appears dry in one shot after surfacing.
- In "The Night of the Vipers" (1/12/68), following an extensive fight scene between Conrad and Red West, the former's torn and soaked shirt keeps drying out and dampening again from shot to shot (the tear also repairs and opens itself).
- In "The Night of the Tycoons" (3/28/69), when Lionel punches his opponent onto a wall of his Aunt Amelia's house, a crack appears (giving away that it's made of material much flimsier than brick and cement).
- The same episode includes a rare commercial-break flub, when after the third freeze-frame transitions to a drawing the image is held for a few seconds instead of being automatically followed by a zoom-out. "The Night of the Flaming Ghost" (1/21/66) has two examples of this; in act two the final shot does not cut automatically to its place in the series artwork, and in the closing credits the final freeze-frame zoom-out is replicated (making this the only episode with motion behind the credits).
- In "The Night of the Eccentrics" (9/16/66), a stuntman is punched through the side of a circus tent, and is seen landing on a very visible mattress.
Violence, Cancellation and Syndication
The first season's episodes were filmed in black and white, and were darker in tonality. Cinematographer Ted Voightlander was nominated for an Emmy for his work on these episodes. Subsequent seasons were filmed in color and the show became noticeably campier.Still, some episodes were violent for their time, and that, rather than low ratings, ultimately was the series' downfall. In addition to gun play, there were usually two fight sequences per episode. These were choreographed by Whitey Hughes, and performed by Conrad and a stock company of stunt men, including Red West
Red West
Red West is an American actor, film stuntman and songwriter.West was born Robert Gene West in Memphis, Tennessee, the son of Lois and Newton Thomas West. He was a close high school friend of rock and roll singer Elvis Presley. An excellent athlete and former U.S...
; Dick Cangey; and Bob Herron (who doubled for Ross Martin). Hughes recalled, "We had a lot of crashes. We used to say, 'Roll the cameras and call the ambulances.'" Conrad had been doubled before, but after his concussion from the fall from a chandelier, the network insisted that he defer to a double for the more dangerous stunts. He was doubled by Louie Elias, Chuck O’Brien, and Jimmy George.
Despite a CBS mandate for every network program to tone down the mayhem in the 1968-69 season, "The Night of the Egyptian Queen" (aired 11/15/68) contains perhaps the series' most ferocious barroom brawl. In a report eventually issued in November 1969, The National Association for Better Broadcasting rated the series "as one of the most violent on television."
According to Susan Kesler's book, CBS bowed under pressure from watchdog groups and the show received its cancellation notice in late February, 1969. Bruce Lansbury claimed that "It was a sacrificial lamb...It went off with a 32 or 33 share which in those days was virtually break-even, but it always won its time period." The networks played it safe thereafter: of the 22 new television shows that debuted in the fall of 1969, not one was a western or detective drama; 14 were comedy or variety series.
CBS reran several episodes of The Wild Wild West in the summer of 1970 before the program moved into syndication and new life on local stations across the country, including WGN
WGN-TV
WGN-TV, virtual channel 9 , is the CW-affiliated television station in Chicago, Illinois built, signed on, and owned by the Tribune Company. WGN-TV's studios and offices are located at 2501 W...
and WOR-TV. This further antagonized the anti-violence lobby, since the program was now broadcast weekdays and often after school. One group, the Foundation to Improve Television, filed a suit on November 12, 1970, to prevent WTOP in Washington, D.C., from airing The Wild Wild West weekday afternoons. The suit said the series "contains fictionalized violence and horror harmful to the mental health and well-being of minor children," and should not air before 9 p.m. U.S. District Court Judge John J. Sirica, who later presided over the trial of the Watergate burglars and ordered President Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
to turn over White House recordings, dismissed the lawsuit in January, 1971.
In 1994, the series was broadcast on TNT
Turner Network Television
Turner Network Television is an American cable television channel created by media mogul Ted Turner and currently owned by the Turner Broadcasting System division of Time Warner...
, which preferred the color episodes to the black and white shows. Hallmark Channel
Hallmark Channel
The Hallmark Channel is a cable television network that broadcasts across the United States. Their programming includes a mix of television movies/miniseries, syndicated series, and lifestyle shows that are appropriate for the whole family...
aired the series in 2005 as part of its slate of Saturday afternoon Westerns but dropped it after several weeks.
TV-movies
Conrad and Martin reunited for two television movies, The Wild Wild West Revisited (aired May 9, 1979) and More Wild Wild West (aired October 7–8, 1980). Revisited introduced Paul WilliamsPaul Williams (songwriter)
Paul Hamilton Williams, Jr. is an Academy Award-winning American composer, musician, songwriter, and actor. He is perhaps best known for popular songs performed by a number of acts in the 1970s including Three Dog Night's "An Old Fashioned Love Song", Helen Reddy's "You and Me Against the World",...
as Miguelito Loveless Jr., the son of the agents' arch-nemesis. Loveless planned to substitute clones for the crowned heads of Europe and the President of the United States. (This plot was borrowed from the second season episode "The Night of the Brain.")
More was initially conceived as a rematch between the agents and Miguelito Jr., but Williams was unavailable for the film; his character was changed to Albert Paradine II and played by Jonathan Winters
Jonathan Winters
-Early life:Winters was born in Bellbrook, Ohio, the son of Alice Kilgore , a radio personality, and Jonathan Harshman Winters II, an investment broker. He is a descendant of Valentine Winters, founder of the Winters National Bank in Dayton, Ohio...
- this explains why the story begins with various clones of Paradine being murdered (the first film ends with Loveless having cloned himself and placed the doubles around the world). Paradine planned world conquest using a formula for invisibility (recalling the first season episode "The Night of the Burning Diamond"). Both TV films were campier than the TV series, although Conrad and Martin played their roles straight. Both films were directed by veteran comedy Western director Burt Kennedy
Burt Kennedy
Burt Kennedy was an American screenwriter and director known for mainly directing film Westerns.After World War II service in the 1st Cavalry Division, Muskegon, Michigan-born Kennedy found work writing for radio, then used his training as a cavalry officer to secure a job as a fencing trainer and...
and written by William Bowers
William Bowers
William Bowers was a reporter in Long Beach, California before becoming a screenwriter and specializing in writing comedy westerns and also turned out several thrillers. His first credited screenplay was My Favorite Spy in 1942.During World War II Bowers served in the United States Army Air Forces...
(in the latter case with Tony Kayden, from a story by Bowers); neither Kennedy nor Bowers worked on the original series.
In other media
The series spawned several merchandising spin-offs, including a seven-issue comic bookComic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
series by Gold Key Comics
Gold Key Comics
Gold Key Comics was an imprint of Western Publishing created for comic books distributed to newsstands. Also known as Whitman Comics, Gold Key operated from 1962 to 1984.-History:...
, and a paperback novel, Richard Wormser
Richard Wormser
Richard Edward Wormser was a prolific American writer of pulp fiction, detective fiction, screenplays, and Westerns, some of it written using the pseudonym of Ed Friend...
's The Wild Wild West, published in 1966 by Signet (ISBN 0-451-02836-8), which adapted the episode "The Night Of the Double-Edged Knife".
In 1988, Arnett Press published The Wild Wild West: The Series by Susan E. Kesler (ISBN 0-929360-00-1), a thorough production history and episode guide.
In 1990, Millennium Publications
Millennium Publications
Millennium Productions was an American independent comic book publishing company founded by Mark Ellis, Melissa Martin and Paul Davis. Initially known as a publisher of licensed properties, Millennium adapted works by Arthur Conan Doyle, Lester Dent, Frank Frazetta, Robert E. Howard, Harlan...
produced a four-part comic book series ("The Night Of The Iron Tyrants") scripted by Mark Ellis
Mark Ellis (writer)
Mark Ellis is an American novelist and comic-book writer who under the pen name James Axler has written scores of books for the Outlanders paperback novel series and other books, as well as numerous independent comics series....
with art by Darryl Banks
Darryl Banks
Darryl Banks is a comic book artist. He worked on one of the first painted comic books, Cyberpunk, and teamed with the writer Mark Ellis to revamp the long-running The Justice Machine series for two publishers, Innovation and Millennium....
. A sequel to the TV series, it involved Dr. Loveless in a conspiracy to assassinate President Grant and the President of Brazil and put the Knights of the Golden Circle
Knights of the Golden Circle
The Knights of the Golden Circle was a secret society. Some researchers believe the objective of the KGC was to prepare the way for annexation of a golden circle of territories in Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean for inclusion in the United States as slave states...
into power. The characters of Voltaire and Antoinette were prominent here, despite their respective early departures from Dr. Loveless' side in the original program. A review from the Mile High Comics site states: "This mini-series perfectly captures the fun mixture of western and spy action that marked the ground-breaking 1960s TV series." The storyline of the comics mini-series was optioned for motion picture development.
In 1998, Berkeley Books published three novels by author Robert Vaughan
Robert Vaughan (author)
Robert Vaughan is an American writer. He has authored over 200 books. He won the 1977 Porgie Award for The Power and the Pride. He has also written a series of contemporary and historical romance novels under several pseudonyms including "Paula Moore" and "Paula Fairman"...
– The Wild Wild West (ISBN 0-425-16372-5), The Night of the Death Train (ISBN 0-425-16449-7), and The Night of the Assassin (ISBN 0-425-16517-5).
In the 75th volume of the French comic book series Lucky Luke
Lucky Luke
Lucky Luke is a Belgian comics series created by Belgian cartoonist, Maurice De Bevere better known as Morris, the original artist, and was for one period written by René Goscinny...
(L'Homme de Washington), published in 2008, both James West and Artemus Gordon have a minor guest appearance, albeit the names have been changed to "James East" and "Artémius Gin".
In 1982, when Robert Conrad hosted Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
on NBC, he appeared in a parody of The Wild Wild West. President Lincoln says his famous line that, if U.S. Grant is a drunk, he should send whatever he's drinking to his other less successful generals. Lincoln dispatches West and Gordon to find out what Grant drinks. They discover that Grant is held captive by Eddie Murphy's character, Velvet Jones. The series' tendency to create puns and technology ahead of their time is extensively satirized.
DVD
The first season of The Wild Wild West was released to DVD in North America on June 6, 2006, as a special 40th anniversary edition by CBS Home Entertainment (distributed by ParamountParamount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
). For the first season set, Robert Conrad recorded audio introductions for all 28 episodes (plus commentary for the pilot) and the set included interviews and 1970s era footage of Conrad and Martin being interviewed. The second season was released on March 20, 2007 but the set contained no special features. The third season was released on November 20, 2007. The fourth and final season was released on March 18, 2008.
In France, where the series was a big hit, all four seasons (known locally as Les Mystères de l'Ouest) were released by TF1
TF1
TF1 is a national French TV channel, controlled by TF1 Group, whose major share-holder is Bouygues. TF1's average market share of 24% makes it the most popular domestic network...
Video in a DVD boxed set before their US release; the set includes many of the extras on the US season one set (and also presents "The Night of the Inferno" twice - as a regular episode in English, and as an extra featuring the audio commentary with the French-dubbed version), plus several other extras (including a 1999 interview with Robert Conrad at the Mirande Country Music Festival in France). Both TV movies are included as extras, but unlike the episodes - all of which are in English with French subtitles (allowing non-French fans to see what the French titles are, many of which differ from the original; for example, the French titles of "The Night of the Gypsy Peril," "The Night of the Simian Terror" and "The Night of Jack O'Diamonds" respectively translate as "The Night of the White Elephant," "The Night of the Beast" and "The Night of the Thoroughbred") and many but not all of which also have French dubs - the TV movies are only present dubbed into French.
Motion picture
In January 1992, Variety reported that Warner Bros. was planning a theatrical version of The Wild Wild West directed by Richard DonnerRichard Donner
Richard Donner is an American film director, film producer, and comic book writer.The production company The Donners' Company is owned by Donner and his wife, producer Lauren Shuler Donner. After directing the horror film The Omen, Donner became famous for the hailed creation of the first modern...
, written by Shane Black
Shane Black
Shane Black is an American actor, screenwriter and film director. He contributed to some of the biggest blockbuster action films of the late 1980s and early 1990s, including work on Lethal Weapon and The Last Boy Scout...
, and starring Mel Gibson
Mel Gibson
Mel Colm-Cille Gerard Gibson, AO is an American actor, film director, producer and screenwriter. Born in Peekskill, New York, Gibson moved with his parents to Sydney, Australia when he was 12 years old and later studied acting at the Australian National Institute of Dramatic Art.After appearing in...
as James West. (Donner directed three episodes of the original series.) Donner and Gibson instead made a theatrical version of TV's Maverick in 1994. The Wild Wild West motion picture continued in the development stage, with Tom Cruise
Tom Cruise
Thomas Cruise Mapother IV , better known as Tom Cruise, is an American film actor and producer. He has been nominated for three Academy Awards and he has won three Golden Globe Awards....
rumored for the lead in 1995. Cruise instead revived Mission: Impossible the following year.
Finally, in 1999, a theatrical motion picture loosely based on the series was released. Directed by Barry Sonnenfeld
Barry Sonnenfeld
Barry Sonnenfeld is an American filmmaker and television director. He worked as cinematographer for the Coen brothers, then later he directed and produced big budget films such as Men in Black.-Life and career:...
, the film Wild Wild West
Wild Wild West
Wild Wild West is a 1999 American steampunk action-comedy film directed by Barry Sonnenfeld, and starring Will Smith, Kevin Kline , Kenneth Branagh and Salma Hayek.Similar to the original TV series it was based on, The Wild Wild West, the film features a large amount of gadgetry...
(without the definite article used in the series title) made substantial changes to the characters of the series, reimagining James West as a Black man (played by Will Smith
Will Smith
Willard Christopher "Will" Smith, Jr. , also known by his stage name The Fresh Prince, is an American actor, producer, and rapper. He has enjoyed success in television, film and music. In April 2007, Newsweek called him the most powerful actor in Hollywood...
), and explored - to a small degree - some of the racial issues that certainly would have made it impossible for a Black man to be a United States secret service agent in the 1800s. (However, at the end of "The Night of the Returning Dead," West and Gordon invite a Black character played by guest star Sammy Davis Jr. to join the department, and a later episode opens with West meeting briefly with a Black agent.)
Kevin Kline
Kevin Kline
Kevin Delaney Kline is an American theatre, voice, film actor and comedian. He has won an Academy Award and two Tony Awards, and has been nominated for five Golden Globe Awards, two BAFTA Awards and an Emmy Award.- Early life :...
plays Gordon, whose character was similar to the version played by Ross Martin, except that he was bitterly competitive with James West, and much more egotistical. Kline also plays President Grant as well as Gordon impersonating President Grant. (Martin's Gordon impersonated Grant in "The Night of the Steel Assassin" and "The Night of the Big Blackmail," but Grant was otherwise played by James Gregory in the pilot and Roy Engel in the series.) Kline's Gordon invents more ridiculous, humor-related, and implausible contraptions than those created by Martin's Gordon in the television series, which made some effort to be reasonably feasible.
The film depicted West and Gordon as competitive rivals almost to the point of a mutual dislike and distrust of one another. In the television series, West and Gordon had a close friendship and trusted each other with their lives.
Significant changes were made to Dr. Loveless (played by Kenneth Branagh
Kenneth Branagh
Kenneth Charles Branagh is an actor and film director from Northern Ireland. He is best known for directing and starring in several film adaptations of William Shakespeare's plays including Henry V , Much Ado About Nothing , Hamlet Kenneth Charles Branagh is an actor and film director from...
in the film). A dwarf in the TV series, he was made a double amputee in the film and his name was changed to Arliss Loveless. He was written as a bitter, racist Southerner who sought to punish the North after the Civil War.
The film also eschewed quoting Richard Markowitz's theme music in Elmer Bernstein
Elmer Bernstein
Elmer Bernstein was an American composer and conductor best known for his many film scores. In a career which spanned fifty years, he composed music for hundreds of film and television productions...
's score, except for one brief cue (Markowitz was not included in the film's music credits; ironically, this was one area where the film was true to the series).
Robert Conrad reportedly was offered the role of President Grant, but turned it down. He was outspoken in his criticism of the new film, now little more than a comedic Will Smith showcase with virtually no relationship to the action-adventure series. In a New York Post interview (July 3, 1999), Conrad stated that he disliked the movie and that contractually he was owed a share of money on merchandising that he was not paid. He had a long-standing feud with producer Jon Peters
Jon Peters
Jon Peters is an American movie producer.-Early life:Peters was born John H. Peters in Van Nuys, California, the son of Helen , a receptionist, and Jack Peters, a cook...
, which may have colored his opinion. He was offended at the racial aspects of the film, as well as the casting of Branagh as a double amputee, rather than a little-person actor, in the role of Loveless.
In 2009, Will Smith apologized publicly to Conrad while doing promotion for Seven Pounds
Seven Pounds
Seven Pounds is a 2008 film, directed by Gabriele Muccino. Will Smith stars as a man who sets out to change the lives of seven people. Rosario Dawson, Woody Harrelson, and Barry Pepper star. The film was released in theaters in the United States and Canada on December 19, 2008, by Columbia Pictures...
:
The film is considered to be a notable example of the steampunk
Steampunk
Steampunk is a sub-genre of science fiction, fantasy, alternate history, and speculative fiction that came into prominence during the 1980s and early 1990s. Steampunk involves a setting where steam power is still widely used—usually Victorian era Britain or "Wild West"-era United...
genre, where steam-powered machines in the Victorian age are prominently used.
Revival
On October 5, 2010, Entertainment Weekly's website reported that Ron Moore and Naren ShankarNaren Shankar
Naren Shankar is a writer, producer and director of several television series. As a writer Shankar has contributed with works for Farscape, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Night Visions, The Outer Limits, The Chronicle, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, seaQuest 2032, and Star Trek: Voyager.After...
were developing a remake of The Wild Wild West for television. No further information has been released.
However, a new fan-produced webseries, "Back to the Wild Wild West," began production in November, 2011.
Dates
The series is set during the presidency of Ulysses S. GrantUlysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant was the 18th President of the United States as well as military commander during the Civil War and post-war Reconstruction periods. Under Grant's command, the Union Army defeated the Confederate military and ended the Confederate States of America...
, 1869–77; occasional episodes indicate a more precise date.
- "The Night of the Glowing Corpse" is set during the Franco-Prussian WarFranco-Prussian WarThe Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia. Prussia was aided by the North German Confederation, of which it was a member, and the South German states of Baden, Württemberg and...
of 1870–1. - "The Night of the Eccentrics" takes place four years after the execution in 1867 of Emperor Maximilian I of MexicoMaximilian I of MexicoMaximilian I was the only monarch of the Second Mexican Empire.After a distinguished career in the Austrian Navy, he was proclaimed Emperor of Mexico on April 10, 1864, with the backing of Napoleon III of France and a group of Mexican monarchists who sought to revive the Mexican monarchy...
. - In "The Night of the Brain" Artemus Gordon shows James West a newspaper dated July 12, 1872. West states, "July 12, that's an interesting date, but it happens to be tomorrow." Later they again get tomorrow's newspaper and we see the date: July 14, 1872.
- "The Night of the Lord of Limbo" takes place seven years after the end of the Civil War, making it 1872.
- "The Night of the Whirring Death" opens with the caption San Francisco 1874.
- In "The Night of the Flaming Ghost", West says, "If the real John BrownJohn Brown (abolitionist)John Brown was an American revolutionary abolitionist, who in the 1850s advocated and practiced armed insurrection as a means to abolish slavery in the United States. He led the Pottawatomie Massacre during which five men were killed, in 1856 in Bleeding Kansas, and made his name in the...
had lived he'd be almost 75 years old by now." Brown was born May 9, 1800. - In "The Night of the Arrow", a cavalry officer resigns his commission as of April 6, 1874.
- In "The Night of the Avaricious Actuary," the heading of a letter shown on screen is dated 1875.
- In "The Night of the Underground Terror", the sadistic commandant of a POW camp is said to have escaped justice for ten years, presumably from the end of the war in 1865.
- In "The Night that Terror Stalked the Town", Loveless has a headstoneHeadstoneA headstone, tombstone, or gravestone is a marker, usually stone, that is placed over a grave. In most cases they have the deceased's name, date of birth, and date of death inscribed on them, along with a personal message, or prayer.- Use :...
prepared for West, showing his birthdate as July 2, 1842 – 87 years before the birth of Robert Conrad. If West's age in that episode was equal to that of the actor who played him, the events depicted are 87 years before the episode was shot, i.e. in 1879 or 1878.