Overview: The "head 'em up, move 'em out" action-drama chronicles a band of drovers, led by trail boss Gil Favor, herding cattle along the 1870s Sedalia Trail. Favor's men include ramrod Rowdy Yates (Clint Eastwood), trail-hand Pete Nolan (Sheb Wooley), Wishbone the cook (Paul Brinegar), and cook's assistant Mushy (James Murdock).

DVD Verdict: "What do you think this is? A beauty contest?! Now butt those saddles!!!!," growled Trailboss Gil Favor (Eric Fleming) to his band of cattle drovers during an episode of Rawhide. It was lines like these delivered by Fleming with such vim and vigor that really made Rawhide such an outstanding western. Fleming was great as The Boss because he was an imperfect man. Sure he stood by his convictions and always battled the bad guys but he wasn't always right and he didn't always win. He was a believable character who often got down and dirty and came out bloody along with the rest of his crew. He was a man's man and a lady's man all wrapped into one. His co-star was Clint Eastwood as the handsome, yet sometimes goofy Ramrod Rowdy Yates. I really liked Clint in this role because he actually played a good and decent guy who always tried to do the right thing. And in later seasons he evolved into more of the tough guy that would later define his movie career characters. The rest of the ensemble inlcuded Paul Brinegar as the wily old camp cook "Wishbone", Sheb Wooley as dependable trail scout Pete Nolan, and Steve Raines as drover Jim Quince who could sing "Skip to my Loo" with the best of them. Rocky Shahan was the big and loveable drover Joe Scarlett and Robert Cabal was the horse rangler "Hey Soos" (obviously the network did not want to put "JESUS" in the credits!). and finally James Murdoch played the "slow-minded" cook's louse Mushy. In later seasons the cast went through other incarnations. Sheb Wooley would be replaced briefly by Charles Gray as the maverick Clay Forrester. the final season would see Fleming and most of the cast gone and have John Ireland and Raymond St. Jaques join new Trail Boss Rowdy Yates for the series final ride into the sunset. The stories were mostly compelling and the characters were likeable and worked well together. in a lot of ways, Rawhide was exactly like Star Trek. Favor was Captain Kirk, Rowdy was Spock, and Wishbone was Dr. McCoy. instead of a starship you had a cattle drive seeking out new frontiers and new adventures every week. if you watch both series you will notice the similarities and a number of the Star Trek writers (Gene Coon and Fred Freiberger) worked on both series. The bottom line is that if you like classic westerns you will really enjoy Rawhide. it is a fun and gritty and interesting show with great characters and stories. This is a Full Screen Presentation (1.33:1) and does not come with any Special Features.