Shark Bytes

Being a young poor left handed hunter I carried a fine old '94 until some bastard stole it from my truck .

A a kid I always thought Randall's weapon was a custom 30-30. In fact the 30-30 cartidge is mentioned by name in an early episode. Trouble is the setting is the late 1870s well before smokeless powder... So even the '92 is out there a ways.

BTW it was Marlin we have to thank for the 30-30 designation . Winchester called the same cartridge the Winchester .30. It appears the shells on Randall's belt are far too long to be the legendary and period correct 44.40.

Several posts have mentioned that Randall's 'Mare's Leg' was a factory rifle. I've heard that it was designed by the late Von Dutch which obviously would be impossible. Or it could be Dutch had something to do with those versions used on the show.

Any body know for sure?

Still hokey at it may be Im enjoying seeing the first year of shows again after so long , I do though prefer my Have Gun Will Travel

Jumped in the second season when they added a sidekick for Josh. The guy looks like Jughead Jones
and has zero chemistry with Steve McQueen. The episode that takes place in Mexico is just plain goofy. It's like a bad Twilight Zone. If you read Steve's bio, he was getting bored with Wanted and it shows. I haven't seen the 3rd season yet, but I hear they dropped the sidekick. I'm hoping it improves. Otherwise, one of the better westerns, thanks to the great Steve McQueen.

"he used the "Mare's Leg" a cut down model '92 Winchester rifle in the show, which was completely unbelievable, but entertaining."

For the record, the Mare's Leg was far from unbelievable. Though not a "common" use of a rifle, it wasn't an unusual sight back in the day either. It's just not done a lot today because of all the legal issues due to the length.

Fully functional versions were actually made within the last few years because so many people loved the gun from the series.

Because they even went as far as using the exact same model and year rifle in the show, which makes it a hard find, only a few thousand were offered for sale, making them pretty pricey... or I would have purchased one! And yes, this weapon really did kick like a mare. Another reason not many people cut rifles down like this today.

Steve McQueen even kept one of the three rifles made for the show. If memory serves me, Chuck Norris purchased another. I can't recall who has the third.

This show never jumped. McQueen, even young and not well known, would have walked if the show's quality didn't suit him. That was just the kind of man he was. He demanded perfection and in this show, it was quite evident.

Actually, with the exception of one or two episodes, this series really stank. Addle-brained writing, mostly.

Dick Powell's production company Four Star was always looking for interesting young actors with star potential who would work cheap. They got fine value from 20-something unknowns David Janssen (Richard Diamond), Robert Culp (Trackdown), and Don Durant (Johnny Ringo), but New York actor Steven McQueen was their biggest find. McQueen had understudied and later replaced Ben Gazzara in "A Hatful of Rain" on Broadway. The pilot for "Wanted: Dead or Alive" was "The Bounty Hunter" episode of "Trackdown". McQueen isn't all that impressive in the pilot, and it is a little surprising the series sold. Part of the problem was that McQueen was still obviously trying to imitate James Dean, and he was still a little unsure of himself in front of the camera. But there is nothing like on-the-job training and McQueen was a quick study. His performance as Josh Randall quickly lost any theatrical pretentiousness or derivativeness. McQueen became a surprisingly humorous, very natural, gracefully physical western star. You couldn't help but like him. Action film director John Sturges must have been a big TV watcher for he would have a history of using talented TV actors in his movies (George Maharis, Patrick McGoohan, James Garner, John Saxon, James Wainwright, Michael Tolan). Sturges gave McQueen the third lead in "The Magnificient Seven" and surrounded him with three almost equally dazzling young TV guest stars: Robert Vaughn, James Coburn, and Charles Bronson. (Claude Akins might have had the Brad Dexter role but lost out due to politics.) The acting in "Seven" was a charisma competition and if McQueen didn't quite win (that would be Coburn), the film underlined his star potential by not messing with McQueen's great persona of Josh Randall. "Wanted: Dead of Alive" was a good, lean western with a brilliant, ambitous young action star who would never let his show jump the shark until he was assured of moving on to bigger things.

I grew up in the fifties watching every Western on T.V. This show was the best of them all,by far!! It should be back on in the all-Western Saturday afternoon lineup. Steve McQueen was great on this show.

Great show. Never jumped. One note - the sawed off winchester was used in the series Magnificent Seven. Kind of a double reference to Steve McQueen. A t.v. show based on one of his movies using the gun from his t.v. show.

I'm pretty sure this show never jumped the shark because Steve McQueen was on it, and anything he did was great. It's ironic though if you think about it he played a bounty hunter on the show, and most of his movies were him escaping from prison. He was paid to hunt down people, and people were paid to hunt down him.

Josh Randall's hip gun was a sawed off Winchester .3030 rifle. Never jumped. Never came close.

The name of the show speaks for itself. You did not stand a chance against Steve McQueen and that "sawed off" gun. Continued to watch Steve McQueen throughout his movie career after this show. Never jumped. The shark wouldn't stand a chance against Steve.

Josh Randall,(Steve McQueen) was outstanding, he used the "Mare's Leg" a cut down model '92 Winchester rifle in the show, which was completely unbelievable, but entertaining. All around a very good show.

Steve McQueen as a bounty hunter with a sawed-off shotgun (I thought it was a sawed-of shotgun, as opposed to a rifle; however, I'm not sure.). His character was an anti-hero, typical of McQueen's roles.