The Rifleman

Something for the weekend.  With all the recent furor over the Second Amendment, I thought the theme from one of the my favorite childhood friends, The Rifleman, was appropriate.  Broadcast from 1958 to 1963 The Rifleman featured Chuck Connors as Lucas McCain, the eponymous star of the show, and his son Mark McCain, portrayed by Johnny Crawford.  Unlike almost all westerns of the time, the title character, Lucas McCain, was not a sheriff or gunfighter, but rather a widowed farmer raising his son near the town of Northfork.  Each of the shows was a skillfully done morality play focusing on the human condition.  Many of the episodes had plots drawn from the Bible and placed in a western setting.  McCain’s modified Winchester 73 almost always came into play, but simple gun play and violence was not the focus of the series.

The child of immigrants from Newfoundland, Chuck Connors was a conservative Republican and campaigned with many Republicans including Ronald Reagan.  A Catholic, he had the common sin in Hollywood in going through three failed marriages.  He was reconciled to the Faith prior to his death and is buried in San Fernando Mission Cemetery in Mission Hills, California.