Shark Bytes

I'd say during the 7th season, Eric Fleming's last, when new producers like Bruce Geller tried to inject more "humor" into the series, as well as dropping any pretense of realism and grittiness. For example, the two part episode "Damon's Road" -- to anyone who's seen the earlier shows, watching these two is like watching an entirely different series. Everything is dumbed down, especially the character of Gil Favor, who is now a mindless, skirt-chasing, buffoonish clown. They should have just cancelled the series before soiling the memory of its glory days with junk like this.

I would say not to base comments about Rawhide on the acting of Clint Eastwood. He may have been a main character but he was never the star of the show. It was a good show for dozens of other reasons.

The stories had drama, believable plots and believable characters. I liked the overall look of the way it was shot. Back in the day I never missed it. To me Eric Fleming was the one who was really the focal point, best actor and the one with the real charisma.

And of course it had what may be the greatest theme song of any TV show.

Fleming was the straw that stired the drink on Rawhide!

I think comments that are not about the actual show should be deleted. They do not belong here. ex. Clint's movies, who should have won an oscar etc.

Growing up in the 50's and 60's I watched every TV western at least once. I was a big fan of several of them. RAWHIDE,imo, was a poor man's WAGON TRAIN. It was a decent show the first season but steadily declined every year until the final season when Gil Favor disappeared. That last season was pure crap. Having watched Clint Eastwood in that show at that time I would have never dreamed that he would go on to be a major player in Hollywood. ERIC FLEMING WAS A MUCH BETTER ACTOR THAN CLINT. I agree with the above poster that MILLION DOLLAR BABIES is a stinkfest. THE AVIATOR should have won that Oscar.

I never saw the show, only heard the theme in The Blues Brothers. Clint Eastwood was never too great of an actor, but could play to certain types very well. I just wanted to write and say he has officially lost it. I finally saw that crap Million Dollar Baby he made. An insult to spinal cord victims and Catholics everywhere. Plus, people with traechs can't talk. My mother-in-law had one and could barely talk, and not at all when she was on a respirator. What a load of crap that movie was. Time to ride off into the sunset, pardner.

THAT WAS A WONDERFUL TRIBUTE TO RAWHIDE AND ABOUT ERIC FLEMING I COULDN’T HAVE EXPRESSED THAT BETTER MYSELF. WHO EVER WROTE THAT HAD VERY GOOD TASTE. I DEARLY LOVE ERIC FLEMING AND ITS TRUE RAWHIDE WAS NEVER THE SAME WHEN HE GOT FIRED IF THEY HADN'T FIRED HIM HE MIGHT STILL BE ALIVE I NEVER HERE CLINT EASTWOOD SAT OR TALK ABOUT ERIC FLEMING OR SAY ANYTHING NICE ABOUT HIM HE HAD A SAD CHILDHOOD AS HE WAS A SCULPTOR AND A PAINTER EVEN THOUGH ERIC FLEMING IS DEAD I WISH IN SOMEWAY THEY COULD DO A TRIBUTE TO HIM. HE WAS A VERY GIFTED ACTOR.

I think that Rawhide "jumped the Shark" after the 1960-61 season when first producer Charles Marquis Warren left, and then the next season when Sheb Wooley who played scout Pete Nolan left. Warren really created the authentic gritty feel of Rawhide. I loved it when in the first season the show opened with Eric Fleming reading from "Gil Favor's" diary. The music background was well integrated and the story lines were very good. Also I liked the opening sequences when the theme song was playing during the cattle drive. Sheb Wooley was a perfect compliment to Eric Fleming, Clint Eastwood and Paul Brinegar (Wishbone). He added a solidity to the cast. Rawhide continued to be a good show for a few more seasons but never quite as good as when CMW was producing and Sheb Wooley was a regular. Of course Eric Fleming leaving /being fired a few seasons later was the ultimate death knell.

I watched quite a few episodes of Rawhide several years back when the ran it on F/X. It was a pretty uneven show. None of the cast members were very good actors (including Clint Eastwood) but the show was often quite good when the episode was carried by a quality guest star and Rawhide had plenty of them (Lon Chaney, Peter Lorre, Dean Martin, Buddy Ebsen, Victor McLaglen, John Cassavetes, Robert Blake and Charles Bronson in the same episode). If the particular episode mainly concerned the regulars it tended to be weak and nowhere near the calibre of say Gunsmoke, Bonanza, Maverick, and Have Gun, Will Travel. The show officially jumped during the final season when Eric Fleming was fired as trail boss Gil Favor and second banana Clint Eastwood was left to lead the cattle drive. Clint just didn't have it in those days.

RAWHIDE jumped the shark with the firing of Eric Fleming who played the character of Trailboss Gil Favor. I suspect one reason the character of "Gil Favor" became more visibly temperamental in the last year of existence was because of off-stage degradation and manipulation of the plotlines and character definitions by both CBS and other "actors" in the show. Rawhide had a tried-and-true story formula that worked astonishingly well for the show. Initially, the plots were at least somewhat based on the diary of a real trailboss. That being said, the 'heart' of the show - the pivotal character - was Gil Favor (Eric Fleming). Whether the character was in a given show for two seconds or the entire episode, Eric Fleming was counted on to ground the show and give it the successful flavor it had. Fleming, being about 6 years older than counterpart Clint Eastwood, gave the show age and depth that the character of "Rowdy Yates" wasn't designed for. Eric Fleming did not leave the show willingly. Eric Fleming was very outspoken and - like it or not - correct in his assessment that the later shows were beginning to deviate from the form that made Rawhide (and Clint Eastwood) award winning and famous. As they universally remain today, the pinheaded TV execs got burrs under their saddles when Fleming shot straight with them. They were sure they were right and Fleming was wrong - and they fired him to prove it. They then resented Fleming for 'making them' kill off his character and, ultimately, the show. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that Eastwood encouraged the firing. (Ask Sondra Locke and Warner Bros. if he's capable of that kind of behavior.) After all, (in his own mind at least) HE could carry the show, couldn't HE? He was, by then, a STAR. Unfortunately, the role of Rowdy Yates was never drawn to carry the show. (And the fact that he couldn't fill Eric Fleming's shoes is probably the biggest reason why he refuses to discuss the issue today.) The character of Rowdy Yates was not a stand-alone character. No offense to Eastwood but the character of Rowdy Yates was generally supposed to bat his baby blues at any woman in the plot and maybe get into a little trouble - so what? That was an integral part of his character, it worked well for Eastwood, and no one seemed to criticize it. But heaven forbid anyone in the Industry should give that kind of latitude to Eric Fleming. Fleming's "Gil Favor" was the essence and backbone of Rawhide. All the other characters spun off of him and needed that character - to be a good guy, an upstanding and forthright guy, a character with some frailties, (even a rigid, pain in the ass), a character holding to the highest standards and a leader of his men - so that the men could wander and still come back to center with Gil Favor. So - no one (especially a TV exec) likes an intelligent, righteous, ultimately correct guy all the time and Eric Fleming himself was that - and more. He stood his ground when the gray-suited office boys started inanely screwing with the plots and they killed his character off for it - and their own show. A personal opinion: The actual early death of Eric Fleming is the only reason he didn't grow to be a star that would dwarf Clint Eastwood today. And, as Eastwood has developed his style, there is evidence of massive 'borrowing' from Fleming's style - that I doubt he'd be generous enough to credit him with. Eric Fleming is what Clint Eastwood wants to grow up to be. For the records, Eric Fleming did not die 'fording a river on a horse'. Eric Fleming was shooting what he desired to be his last film, "Selva Alta" (High Jungle), in Peru. After filming, he was planning to marry his girlfriend, Lynne Garber, and retire to the ranch he purchased in Hawaii. There, he planned to pursue other interests, including art and oceanography - and probably get away from Hollywood nitwits for a while. Halfway through the filming, Fleming was required to guide a dugout canoe through a series of deadly rapids on the Huallaga River. The crew was having difficulties with weather, and sustained dysentery, and everyone wanted to get the action scene over with. The director changed the location to one thought to be 'safer.' Eric Fleming and his scene partner weren't given a safety plan and Fleming made the decision (based on his knowledge of surfing and boating) that if the boat swamped, he would jump out and swim away from it so it wouldn't hit him. The other actor made the decision that he would try to stay with the boat. A local Peruvian crew ran a test river run. They indicated that part of the river had never been forded. The actors were then encouraged to try to get the scene filmed before the rains of the day began. Fleming was in the front of the boat and, when it immediately started to swamp, he evacuated as he said he would. He was a strong swimmer and headed back for shore. However, close to shore, he was swept back into a cross-current that quickly sapped his strength. He screamed for help, while the Peruvian crew sat on the shore and did nothing. Finally the other actor struggled to shore and pushed the crew into a boat to try to save Fleming. They reached him and one man managed to grab him by the hair and, at that time, it seemed that Fleming was unconscious. The fierce rapids pulled Fleming from the man's grasp and he was lost. He and Lynne Garber were to be married the next day. Instead, she sat on the shore watching his death. His body was recovered days later. In accordance with the instructions of his will, his body was donated to the University of Peru and, apparently, Eric Fleming's grave is in the graveyard there. There was a deadly lack of concern for the safety of the actor on the part of the production company. Supposedly, Fleming's death caused many changes in the Screen Actor's Guild safety procedures, although Vic Morrow probably wouldn't think it was enough. Oddly, there was even a graceless desire on the part of some executives involved to blame Eric Fleming for his own death. "He panicked - it was his own fault" was what I was told by a CBS exec. Bullshit. The entire US crew had dysentery for 5-6 weeks during the shoot. No safety measures whatsoever were in force. An honest, professional man lost his life. The arrogant lack of Industry compassion shown to Fleming upon his death is in keeping with the pompous, grandiose regard with which Entertainment Executives generally hold themselves. Eric Fleming gave a solid performance as Gil Favor, over-the-top as it might have sometimes been. As a matter of fact, Fleming said that neither he nor Eastwood knew that the first show of Rawhide that they shot was the pilot of a series. Since (in their minds) it was going to be a one-time-only TV show, it would be a stretch to say they had enough information to work with in order to craft their characters "gently" with the understanding there would be more development in the future. Eric Fleming deserved better - across the board - in his life. He will always get "the best" from me.

I'd have to say it jumped when Eric Fleming left the show. Clint Eastwood was a much more interesting actor, but the show needed Fleming as its anchor. Gritty well done show; SO much superior to Bonanza.

gil favor did not die filming the show...he did drown in south america i think between seasons filming a movie. clint eastwood with a gun...can't get much better than that, if you ignore bronco billy....

Rawhide jumped after the unfortunate loss of Eric Fleming who played Gil Favor after an accident on the set (he drowned while fording a river on horseback). Rowdy was a great second lead, but he couldn't carry the show without the wise, firm leadership of Favor.

The final season (1965-66) after Eric Fleming left the series. Without the character of Gil Favor the show was never the same. The shark began to appear during the 1964-65 season because Gil Favor's temper started getting short. Unlike his previous, level-headed years, he was now apt to make rash decisions that were mistakes. Still, an edgy Gil Favor is better than none. When he disappeared, the show jumped the shark and slipped beneath the waves after just 13 more episodes.

The show jumped during the last season. Rowdy Yates as trail boss? Puh-leeze!!