"The Hight Chaparral" Topic

Did you like the serie?. And their personages?
In your opinion was it accurate or not?
Wonder to know which was the pistol that used "Manolito".
Finally, who was the personage that the writers would had to add to the serie? Maybe a younger boy that "Blue Cannon" or another female?
Sorry for so many questions.

Amicalement
Armand

All I can remember is the theme song. I think I got a portable reel to reel tape recorder for Christmas that year and had quite a collection of tv theme somgs. ah the days before Al Gore invented the internet!.

Manolito carried a Colt Peacemaker, but the weapon you normally saw him carrying was not real.

Amusing trivia – While shooting an early episode, Henry Darrow (Manolito) fell from his horse and suffered a painful bruise when he landed very hard on the gun at his hip. After much pleading, he convinced the producers and the prop dept. to make a replica pistol out of rubber. Replaced by the real one only when it actually had to be fired, the fake gun remained in Manolito's holster for the rest of the show's run.

The fake pistol was still at the Old Tucson prop department long after the show ended.

And as for the accurate part – well, not really, but it was entertaining. The show did get very high marks for its authentic costumes and sets, and for its positive portrayal of the Mexican cowboys that were a major part of the cattle industry in Arizona. But overall, it was clearly fictional and fun.

The High Chaparral set is still out there at Old Tucson – my company has rented it many times for parties. The surviving cast just had a big celebration out there a couple of months ago.

This series was big in Spain. As a kid, my grandmother bought me a playset named after the show. It had an old west line of wood buildings and all the characters from the show on horseback or on foot in 54mm. I still have this set in my ranch house in the north of Spain. Will someday get there and get it out.

I've never actually seen the show, but as a kid that theme song made a HUGE impression on me… enough that when I got older and started playing RPGs I wrote out a Western setting based on what I imagined the show was like based on the opening credits and music.
It was pretty darn weird… and I hesitate to ever watch the show now because I'd rather not defuse my odd impression of it.

I loved the series, it was aired in the Netherlands as well.

And yes, I still got the Airfix HC set.

Watched and enjoyed it when it ran on tv but have never seen a rerun of it shown in 40 years! I don't know how that can be as it has to be on reruns somwwhere.

Wonderful show!

Hallmark Channel was running it about 10 years ago.

While not historically accurate per se it is in the Louis L Amour vein. That is to say nothing too terribly over the top happened.

Forget the name of the gent who set up a ranch in Apache country and made a go of it. Ran it a bit like a fort and was quite successful.

You can see a fair few of the old shows on youtube now. Great memories.

His name was Big John Cannon, married to the delighful Victoria, sister to Manolito and step mother to Blue boy. Buck was his brother. How sad is it that I can remember this with out googling?

"Did you like the serie?. And their personages?
In your opinion was it accurate or not?"

Any resemblance between media representations of the Old West and reality are purely coincidental.

After a bunch of research, I found a pic of the toy I had as a kid.

link

Still have it stored somewhere in Spain from what my brother tells me.

A big smile crossed my face when I saw The High Chapparral mentioned on TMP. This is Larry Brom's daughter, and I tell you, my sister and I loved that show. Great writing, cast, and I loved the locations. We grew up watching that series and still have great memories of some of the fantastic episodes….one in particular was, I think, with Yaphet Kotto (?) and the Horse Soldiers. At the end, Cameron Mitchell did some narration/tribute to the Horse Soldiers that was much-deserved. Oh how I wish one of the networks would show the reruns here.

Happy New Year everyone!

As a kid, from the couple of scraps of the show I got to see, I assumed that Cameron Mitchell's character was a dark force on the show… kind of like Loki to Leif Erickson's Odin.
For some reason I had this idea that he'd die a lot on the show but keep coming back.
All that because he was dressed in black I suppose.

Very enjoyable show. I thing I gave it high marks for was that it depicted an actually working ranch. They wer out with the cattle and discussed the cattle unlike many other like the Cartwrights that were always in the house and had time to run off and do whatever. Also depicted the Apaches as a desert people rather than Plains Indians.

It was my favourite Western serie and then, when I saw it again many years later, I was fascinated once more time about the so excelent actors which played all the crew.

Victoria was Argentine, and she managed as a perfect Mexican/spanish great lady.
About her… I always had a question… why she never been pregnant?. She show all time that she was a "warrior" at bed with his lovely John and he had a son… so?.

Billy Blue was a young and excelent actor.
The question with him thoght the years was: Why he left the show?. Recently I had read that it was a "money" problem. What a pitty. He sustain the show for us, all a new generation of his age. I also had read that the writter had decided to put him as a "trouble Teenager" because of his own problems with his own son.

John CAnnon was God!.
It was fascinated to see how a "rock" man became each day more and more "human" thanks of the love that Victoria gave him. I cannot remember a single chapter that he failed as an "rude" actor with humanity. He was the father of all the crew.

Uncle "Boots" (named like that by the other actors because he used some special shoes with plataform to looks more hight at the TV (and not so short at the side of his brother)He was the "angel" of the serie. I always take note that when his old companions of the ACW or another places came to him… they always had the best concept and like him but au contraire, his older Brother always received people from his past that had bad feelings against him.
I think he was the best of the actors.
The question was why the writters never give him a wife?

Manolito, what can I said?. As a south american he was the "latin heroe" to all of us.
At the beginning the writters decided that he would be a "dark" man, a bandit, but with the special art he show always laughing and keeding at any situation and his inconditional love for his sister… and that he always became friend of all… Manolito was a master piece on the Ranch. His relationship with his father was superb!.

The "hands" were all excelent as well!.
Specially the mexican guy.
Well, I'm happy that so many people love the show as I did.
Amicalement
Armand

I watched it as a kid in UK and loved it!

hussarbob1746.webs.com

Probably my favorite show as a kid. Manolito was my favorite character. It may have been the cool hat…

Mr. Mweaver… that Hat is similar as the "Picadores" used at the bull fights in Spain.
It is a clasical Spanish Hat.
Many Lancers units used them at the Nap Wars and many years after too.
Did you had seen the "Zorro"?.
he had a similar Hat and the Lancers of Sargent "GARCIA" too.

Amicalement
Armand

Great show. One of my favorites as a kid. Loved the Apache warrior episodes. It really captured the elusive nature of the Apaches. Manolito was my favorite too.

Frank Silvero played the father of Victoria. He was the Mexican bandit in HOMBRE. Paul Newman gives him a stomach wound and he says "hey hombre, you have given me a belly ache like I have not had since I was a little boy!". Him, Newman, and Paladin die in the final gun fight.

I don't know if you remember the episode when Victoria was informed By Uncle Bock about his fathers dead.
It was one of the two last episodes of the serie.

Well, Frank Silvero (who was born in Jamaica!!)WAS dead in a house accident with electricity.

They put in his place another very good actor (I don't remember his name) as his lost brother.
They would continue with four chapters with the new "Lion of Sonora" and another one were "Pedro" (one of the "hands") went to jail…
But the serie stoped and we miss that chapters…

Amicalement
Armand

I just checked Frank Silvera's Wilkapedia bio. Very intresting guy. As a light skin black he was turned down for acting jobs playing black men but got hired to play whites and latinos. I always thought he was just a character actor but he was an important man in the acting community! He was great in Hombre.

I remember seeing it at my grandparents' at weekends when I was 5-6… loved it at the time, but then anything on TV was exciting because we never saw one at home

One thing of the serie I never understand was if Manolito had any "post" at the Hight Chaparral.
I understand that he never had a journal payed by Mr. Cannon, so his money belonge from his own father.
But in many chapters he became at charge of the Chaparral when Cannon brothers had to go to other part.
He was up to the Foreman?.
Was he a "permanent" visitor or a guess?.

Amicalement
Armand

I would guess being the Boss' brother-in-law carried some advantages!

>>I just checked Frank Silvera's Wilkapedia bio. Very intresting guy.<<

A *very* familiar face on 1950's/1960's TV. He was the "go to" guy for all sorts of Italian and Hispanic character parts. I think that "High Chaparral" was his longest running continuous role though. The earliest flick that I can remember him in was when he played "Huerta" in "Viva Zapata" with Brando.

When Silvera met Manolito… a good lesson of acting…

I had read that in real life Silvera treatment to "Manolo" was similar as the serie.
"Manolito" joking mention him as "papá" Silvera.

I think that with his dead… the show lost one of the most important action supports.

Amicalement
Armand

Till today… anyone remember the serie?… (smile)

Amicalement
Armand

The foreman of the HC was Sam. Mano main job was to be Victoria's brother (and someone to get in trouble regularly with Buck.
I 1969 I was living in Tucson, about to go into the Air Force and had joined A Troop, 5th Cavalry Memorial Regiment there doing Indian Wars Reenacting. There was one episode that year that called for a troop of 30 cavalrymen to ride to the rescue of the Cannons. The production hired 15 of our troop members to be cavalrymen. The only concession they made to us to let us were our own bandanas. We would not wear the wardrobe's yellow bandanas as we had learned that the army never issued bandanas (yellow or otherwise)so if you see some red and white ones in one episode, the guys wearing them were from 5A.

Loved it as a kid, have not seen it in many years

Stephen… Do you visit the set?…

Amicalement
Armand

My second activity with A Troop back in 1969 was a troop ride with about 25 of us from the west edge of Tucson through the Tucson Mountains to Old Tucson where the HC set was. It was early June and over 100 degrees that day.--Hot in our blue wool uniforms. Before starting back we visited the HC main ranch house and cooled off under the veranda for a couple of hours. Remember those big wood columns holding up the roof of the veranda? We discovered they were made of fiberglass--ah, the magic of Hollywood.

Oops, to directly answer your question. No, I now live in Albuquerque, New Mexico, about 450 miles from Tuscon. The last time I visited the set was probably in 1977 or '78 when we had a troop mounted drill there. After drill we rode through the streets of Old Tucson and out to the Cannon ranch house. The series had ceased filming 6 or 7 years earlier.

I believe in the 80s or 90's there was a major fire at Old Tucson that destroyed about half of the buildings there. Many have been rebuilt, but aren't as authentically southwestern in appearance as the originals, I'm told.

Many thanks for your reply! (smile)

I remember a chapter with the "Buffalo Soldiers"… do you remember it?… I always think that many riders of that Company were not African American… maybe some of them were your budies?…. with make up?. (smile)

Amicalement
Armand

I've watched that episode twice (once when it was first shown in the 60's and again last year). While not 100 per cent positive, I do believe that all of the troopers in that episode were African Americans. They had a troop of the 10th U.S. Cavalry in Los Angeles at that time (and some of the current members actually rode in this year's Rose Parade in Pasadena on January 2nd. None of A Troop of the 5th were in that episode, of that I am sure.

Thanks! (smile)

Amicalement
Armand