Wednesday, 16 December 2015

Rawhide: The TV Series – Explosive Media Region 2 DVD sets

Today, The Clint Eastwood Archive is very happy to announce that it is joining forces with Explosive Media in co-promoting their fabulous sets of the classic TV series, Rawhide (1959-1965). Rawhide’s history on DVD has at times been a rather frustrating journey. Whilst they have been available through Paramount Video on Region 1 in the United States, the hunt for them within the European market on Region 2 has proven rather patchy. In England for instance, their releases have become painfully slow in coming through. Released through Revelation Films, their last set (Season 3) was released back in July 2011, with Season 4 not ‘scheduled’ for release until June 2016 – a five year gap between seasons is hardly very encouraging. One could of course opt for the region 1 equivalent, but you would have to start with a multi-region player - which isn’t always the ideal solution. Then there is the NTSC system, which again is arguably inferior to that of a purer PAL picture. I did actually invest in the first season of Rawhide on Region 1, but unfortunately, I felt the picture was somewhat grainy and perhaps a little dark and muted. As a consequence, I didn’t invest further and decided to shelve the Rawhide collecting until further, future options might become available. Then I discovered Explosive Media’s DVDs…


I have to admit, these beautifully presented Region 2 sets somehow slipped deep under my radar. How? I don’t honestly know? However, hooking up with Ulrich Bruckner through Explosive Media’s stunning blu-ray release The Best of Rawhide Vol. 1 (see below), lead me to also discover their continuing series of Rawhide DVDs. It was in deed refreshing to discover these Region 2 sets, and it was clear from talking to Ulrich that he was fully committed to the cause. The entire project is clearly a labour of love and Ulrich was wasting little time in releasing each season. I have to say, after sampling their DVDs I was highly impressed by the quality. ‘Incident of the Tumbleweed’ (Season 1, episode 1) for instance, proved far better in comparison to the Region 1 alternative, in overall clarity and in terms of very little grain. The Audio (in both English and German) is also perfectly clear throughout.



Aside from the high quality visual and audio aspects of Explosive Media’s DVDs, there is the packaging. For me, the packaging has always been an integral element, and in my opinion, these releases really do stand out as a cut above the rest. Like the American versions, each season has been divided over two box sets, each with a different beautiful colour shot that prominently features Clint as Rowdy Yates. However, inside of the boxes, each of the individual cases are also different and feature a beautiful b/w photo from the series. Furthermore, Explosive Media have also been smart enough to make each inner sleeve reversible – and eliminating the rather obtrusive green FSK rating block to the bottom left of each cover, a simple – but effective touch which makes a great deal of difference to the overall look.


So far, Explosive Media have released the first 5 Seasons of Rawhide with Season 6 available very soon on December 18th 2015. Be sure to check back here for the remainder of the series, Season 7 box sets will be available from February26th, 2016 with the concluding Season 8 (a single box) arriving in May of 2016. 


There is also something very special in the works from Explosive Media coming towards the end of next year around September/October of 2016 – but more news on that closer the time.



In the meantime, check out these beautiful sets, with full episode listings and links to Amazon where they can be ordered…


Rawhide 1.1
Episodes:
1. Incident of the Tumbleweed Wagon
After a marshal and deputy are wounded and killed, Gil and Rowdy volunteer to finish the delivery of the prison wagon with seven dangerous prisoners to Ft Craig for trial, while the outlaw husband of one prisoner is in pursuit to free her.
2. Incident at Alabaster Plain
The drovers stop to fill water barrels at a mission where Rowdy finds his close friend from the Army is getting married. The drovers are invited to the wedding feast that evening but the bride's stepbrother's arrival causes complications.
3. Incident with an Executioner
The drovers rescue the passengers in a stagecoach that overturns. They learn a gunman known as "The Executioner" was following the coach. Now he is following them while they are with the drovers and no one knows who his target is.
4. Incident of the Widowed Dove
The drovers party in a small town but with big consequences. One drover is killed over a crooked roulette wheel and Rpwdy quits the drive to help a woman. Rowdy may pay with his life because the woman is the wife of the Marshal.
5. Incident on the Edge of Madness
The drive trapped by high water is approached by a Colonel and lady looking for men to join his Confederacy of Panama. Fearing his men will leave, Favor tries to cross, losing a man. The men leave not realizing what the Colonel's plans are.
6. Incident of the Power and the Plow
Needing water and grass for the herd Favor has the okay from a rancher until he befriends a Comanche boy with candy. The rancher wants the Comanche lands so he is willing to start an Indian war and sacrifice his only son who he despises.
7. Incident at Barker Springs
Trying to push a herd through late in the season is just one of the hurdles facing Gil. A hand who insists on covering his face and a visitor who says his horse came up lame are two others. When he uncovers the truth it may be too late.
8. Incident West of Lano
A dead steer leads Favor to four women sharpshooters with a broken wheel who join the drive to the next town. Their leader finds Favor a man to her liking but a conflict with a wagon train of hides at a river crossing creates problems.
9. Incident of the Town in Terror
Rowdy and two cattle are stricken with a disease similar to deadly anthrax. Some drivers and the nearby townsfolk are frightened, allowing no traffic to the drover camp or out in the direction of town. But one fearless nurse is undeterred.
10. Incident of the Golden Calf
Gil hires on an unusual drover - a preacher run off by his gold-crazed parishioners. Gil's steer-men constantly try to wheedle the location of the gold-strike from Brother Bent, whose preaching against the worship of Mammon cost him his pulpit. Gil's much more concerned with a gang of cowboys following the herd, but staying out of sight.
11. Incident of the Coyote Weed
A band of Mexican bandits send a spy to join the cattle drive and poison the drovers with coyote weed so they can swoop in and steal the herd.
12. Incident of the Chubasco
In need of more hands to help get the herd through a dangerous plateau, Gil goes to the nearest town but may not be too happy with the pickins. To top it off he hires an "educated" man who may be hiding something worse than any chubasco.
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Rawhide 1.2
Episodes:
13. Incident of the Curious Street
Favor and Rowdy go after strays but find a deserted town with two women being hostage by a man and his son who killed their stagecoach driver and want a ransom. It runs into a cat and mouse game between them with one woman changing sides.
14. Incident of the Dog Days
Favor is forced to hire several drovers of questionable character. The men question his choices. The herd is facing a dry plain with limited water access. Favor has to decide on the route and his personnel decisions backfire on him.
15. Incident of the Calico Gun
On a long cattle drive, the crew pick up a girl who's parents had just died. Her seeming innocence has both Rowdy and Favor fooled until they get near Silver Springs where all the men are to pick up their pay.
16. Incident of Fear in the Streets
Pete is injured, so Favor and Rowdy into a nearby town for a doctor. Because the town lynched a man the day before, the residents along with Favor and Rowdy are held hostage until the Sheriff and the man who led the lynching are also hung.
17. Incident of the Misplaced Indians
Mr. Favor's found some dead Indians in front of a house of a woman, who is so shocked, that she can't say a thing.
18. Incident below the Brazos
Favor and crew drive the herd into an area populated by farmers who have previously waged a range war against cattlemen. A group of farmers warns Favor to keep his men and cattle off farmland, but a thunderstorm causes some of the horses to stampede and a farmer is killed. The man's death threatens to start a war between the farmers and the drovers.
19. Incident of the Dry Drive
Facing a drought, Favor is being pressured by a corrupt and revengeful acquaintance Jess Hode for first half and then his entire herd for access to water. However, when Hode's son comes to realize the truth about his dad, he tries to help.
20. Incident of the Judas Trap
A local wolver Gil hires to kill a pack besieging the Rawhiders' cattle is more dangerous than Canis lupus. Smirking Brad Morgan promised 3 well-set women to run off with him. Conveniently, one just rebuffed the scout Pete's plea to get back together. The wolf-man sets up Pete to take the fall for murdering saloon owner Nora Sage. While Gil waits for a river up ahead to subside, Morgan lays metal traps for the canyon's gray wolves.
21. Incident in No Man's Land
Prisoners break out of prison and try to steal the drovers' horses.
22. Incident of the Burst of Evil
A crazed man following the drovers comes into camp for help followed by Rowdy finding three hungry women and a boy alone. A mirror slipped to Rowdy by them causes the people at a trading post to think the drovers are Comancheros.
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Rawhide 2.1
Episodes:
1. Incident of the Day of the Dead
Rowdy is tricked into breaking a stallion to pay off a gambling debt by a woman. The horse killed one man and injured others including the daughter of the owner. Rowdy is involved in more than breaking a horse - the break up of a family.
2. Incident at Dangerfield Dip
A dying woman stumbles into the cattle drive. Her husband, a feared gunslinger turned rancher, soon shows up and accuses the drovers of shooting her. Gil & Rowdy fear that their cattle are coming down with a deadly disease, so they turn the herd towards the Rodney Dangerfield chemical dipping station, on the widowed rancher's recommendation.
3. Incident of the Shambling Man
When a delusional old man attacks the passing drovers, his daughter-in-law enlists Gil & Rowdy's help with the powerful ex-boxing champ. The Marshal who made the town safe, is now drunk on his own power, enforcing petty rules to keep the tiniest semblance of trouble out of his jurisdiction. Factoring heavily into the situation is that the daughter-in-law is exquisite and widowed.
4. Incident at Jacob's Well
Rowdy is saved from falling down a well by a woman. Later, the woman's family and friends had to manage to steal the drovers' horses.
5. Incident of the Thirteenth Man
Wishbone, in desperate need of a dentist, finds one in Blanton. Along with Rowdy they both encounter two problems: the doctor is on trial for murder and both of them have been picked to be on the jury. The verdict is the final surprise.
6. Incident at the Buffalo Smokehouse
Mr. Favor is stuck in a house, because the owner of the house is attacked by some men.
7. Incident of the Haunted Hills
Desperate for water, Gil's drive is forced into a deadly confrontation between the Paneequa tribe and surveyors, over the Lake of the Haunted Hills. The valley's ghostly winds and geysers are sacred to the tribe, while the U.S. Army survey is headed by a stubborn Indian killer Captain, who orders a Paneequa woman tortured. Gil hopes his drover Tasunka, who left the tribe as a teen, can mediate the dispute with minimal bloodshed, but when Gil finds that the local White settlement Heliotrope is a ghost town due to the dispute, the trail boss tells Rowdy to take over
8. Incident of the Stalking Death
Gil shoots and wounds a puma while while out scouting for the cattle drive. The puma escaped and kills the young son of a local rancher's widow. Gil and the guys go on the hunt for the puma along with a friend of the widow (Cesar Romero) who also happens to want to kill Gil because he's jealous of the attention the widow shows Gil.
9. Incident of the Valley in Shadow
Driving a herd through Cheyenne country, Favor finds out some of his hands may have hired on for more than just the beeves. There is a large reward being offered for a white girl who has been missing since she was a small child.
10. Incident of the Blue Fire
In the midst of a thunderstorm and despite his men's objections, Mr. Favor hires a man who comes across the camp, blamed for bringing bad luck with him, and one bad break follows another.
11. Incident at Spanish Rock
Claiming to represent President Diaz of Mexico, Villegro and his men want to take one of Gil's men, the son of their biggest enemy, into custody. As they are in Texas and need all hands to drive their herd, Gil is not in favor of doing so.
12. Incident of the Druid's Curse
A woman and his father join the drovers, but the drovers don' t know that they're cursed by the druids.
13. Incident at Red River Station
Favor and Rowdy accidentally get the smallpox, and they leave the herd to find vaccine for themselves, and the town around.
14. Incident of the Devil and His Due
Gil is allowed to continue the cattle drive, despite being accused of murder by the victim's wife and son, after Rowdy is deputized to guard him. Meanwhile, the real killers, three outlaws, scheme to steal church funds from a priest befriended by Gil and Rowdy.
15. Incident of the Wanted Painter
The drovers find a painter from back East on their way, whose paintings help the men of a former Army Major map the town in attempt to bust him out of jail. Mr. Favor gets in the way to help justice be served and stop future bloodshed.
16. Incident at Tinker's Dam
Wishbone buries his brother "alive" to keep Kiowas from killing him for romancing the stony chief's wife. T.J. turns out to be a comical embarrassment: a pot fixer whose customers fight to scalp him for his shoddy tinking, which is his ploy for woman chasing. For years, trail cook Wishy's fellow drovers heard the cook laud his misplaced little brother's prowess as a warrior, politician, you name it. But angering the Kiowa at the moment is deadly serious, because the tribe is divided over signing a treaty. Young braves oppose old Chief Wankawa inking the doc.
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Rawhide 2.2
Episodes:
17. Incident of the Night Horse
An embittered mustanger known by Gil Favor in his younger days blocks the pass that the herd needs to use to reach a river ford where they can cross safely. The mustanger is haunted by a fierce stallion who killed his son, once a friend of Favor.
18. Incident of the Sharpshooter
An outlaw usurps a dead man's identity and he is heading for the next town along with the drovers. When Rowdy gets in the middle of his business he finds himself in serious trouble and it is up to Mr. Favor to figure out a way of saving him.
19. Incident of the Dust Flower
The drovers rescue an injured traveler and his grown daughter, who is sensitive about her unmarried status. The woman flees, but scout Pete Nolan locates her. Upon learning that she can't face patronizing relatives in the town she's moving to, Pete decides to accompany her there and pose as her fiancé.
20. Incident at Sulphur Creek
Horse thieves who have victimized Comanches also strike the drive's ramuda. Gil sends a group headed by Pete and Rowdy out to purchase replacement mounts. They encounter a preacher on his way to officiate a christening at the Lacey ranch, where he says horses are for sale. The drovers find their own stolen horses corralled there. So do the Comanches, who put the ranch under siege.
21. Incident of the Champagne Bottles
It looks like the drovers are moving smoothly until they find a very slow moving wagon on their way, allegedly carrying champagne. As it turns out it was not only champagne and everyone could be in danger.
22. Incident of the Stargazer
A woman gets off the stage expecting to meet her husband. But she was let off in the middle of nowhere, a good 30 miles from her home. Pete decides to help her get there but when they arrive, she recognizes everyone except her husband.
23. Incident of the Dancing Death
When the son of a gypsy queen is murdered, she insists one of the drovers did it and demands the killer be found and turned over. Gil rebuffs her, prompting the old woman to predict trouble for the drive, which does start to happen.
24. Incident of the Arana Sacar
The owner of a remote trading post and his wife are coerced into backing a rustler's scheme to get the drovers drunk, swipe the herd and sell the beeves to hide skinners.
25. Incident of the Deserter
While taking a mountain short cut, Wishbone is injured in a fall caused by a bullying ore freighter. He seeks aid in a small mining town, where he becomes attached to a widow, who is the freighter's fiancée.
26. Incident of the One Hundred Amulets
Jesus goes to town to visit his mother but, while buying supplies to take to her, he is attacked as the town believe his mother is a witch who has cursed the town.
27. Incident of the Murder Steer
A steer with the word "MURDER" branded on its side, considered an omen of violent death, is seen shortly after four mysterious riders from the same town join the drive.
28. Incident of the Music Maker
When Gil receives a nasty wound that becomes seriously infected, he is unaware of a Swiss jack-of-all-trades that has totally unarmed his cowboys. The Swiss has a plan for some of the cattle.
29. Incident of the Silent Web
A young girl is so shocked at her father's murder that she cannot speak. She is taken captive by two escaped convicts.
30. Incident of the Last Chance
Gil takes a protective interest in a stranded tenderfoot couple. Rowdy is interested in the wife.
31. Incident of the Garden of Eden
Rowdy leaves to buy cattle to replenish the herd. He comes to a town of an eccentric English patriarch living with his beautiful daughter. Rowdy doesn't understand why he seems so afraid to sell the cattle without his foreman's permission.
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Rawhide 3.1
Episodes:
1. Incident at Rojo Canyon
Not knowing the Civil War is long over, a Confederate battalion defends an isolated canyon, as Gil's drive approaches. Following the cattle drive is a U.S. cavalry squadron, dispatched to stop mysterious raids on local farms. The green, young cavalry don't know the raiders are CSA veterans who are well dug in and itchy for serious battle. The much older U.S. cavalry sergeant looks suspiciously familiar to drover Jim Quince, who fought under flamboyant rebel General Jeb Stuart.
2. Incident of the Challenge
Aztec Mitla saves Gil's life from a dust storm, in the last steps of his 1500 mile walk to find a legendary princess to save his village in Mexico. Gil accompanies Mitla to the nearest town, and both seem to discover what they desperately need: water for Gil's dying cattle, and a gorgeous raven-tressed b-girl wearing a necklace of Mexican coins. But the saloon dancer's married lover, the town's mayor, stands defiantly in the way of both quests.
3. Incident at Dragoon Crossing
Favor is taking a short but very tough route which the men question. Another trail boss John Cord tells Favor he is wrong. When Favor becomes sick, he asks Cord to take over but the men question Cord's motives.
4. Incident of the Night Visitor
Following the death of his mother, 12 year-old Joey Gardner sets out in search of the father who left him at birth. The only clues he has to his identity are that he is a drover, has a scar below his left ear and his initials are G.F 
5. Incident of the Slavemaster
Confederate prison commandant is shot by a wife whose Union soldier husband disappeared after the War Between the States. She tracked the ex-warden down because she believes her spouse is still alive, so he tries to soothe her, saying he released all his POWs. Trail boss Gil, who fought for the South, intervenes between the livid woman and the reptilian jailer turned wealthy cotton planter, but then Gil's drovers find the woman dead.
6. Incident on the Road to Yesterday
Reformed thief Ralph Bartlett is determined to repay all his victims. Gil Favor is the second last name on the list. The last victim lives in a nearby town where unknown to Bartlett, he is wanted for murder.
7. Incident at Superstition Prairie
Wishbone finds an old Indian who has been left in a cave to die by his tribe. Against the advice of others on the drive, he takes the man out and tries to bring him back to his tribe. But the tribe feels that their custom has been insulted and won't take him back, putting the blame on the entire cattle drive.
8. Incident at Poco Tiempo
Rowdy and Jim, approached by a makeshift posse, are asked a lot of questions but not given many answers. Taken to the town they were headed anyway it is mostly burnt; the bank robbed, a local priest killed and they look good for all of it.
9. Incident of the Captive
Mushy's no-nonsense mom foils a stage robbery on her way to see him. Martha Mushgrove pulled down one highwayman's mask to slap him, so the robbers track her to eliminate a witness. Meanwhile her son, all-thumbs Harkness Mushgrove III begs Gil to train him to be a drover, to impress Mom.
10. Incident of the Buffalo Soldier
The trail crew meet up with a troop of buffalo soldiers - usually freed slaves recruited post Civil War for the US cavalry out west. A rebellious, former sergeant (played by Woody Strode), repeatedly busted down to private for various infractions, is befriended by Rowdy Yates (Clint Eastwood). Killing a fellow soldier in self-defense, the distrusting rebel runs, taking Rowdy's horse. Rowdy is forced to pursue him, hoping he will give himself up.
11. Incident of the Broken Word
Rancher Ben Foley is trying to sell off his herd to Favor in bad faith. Meanwhile, drover Frank Price is falsely accused of murder.
12. Incident at the Top of the World
Robert Culp plays as a Civil War veteran named Craig Kern, who has become addicted to morphine after it was used on him during treatment of a war injury. The head of a Kansas veteran's hospital asks the trail boss to take Kern on as a drover so he can reconnect with the world. Kern decides to try and kick his addiction on the trail. Oh, and the men are trying to stay ahead of a vicious winter storm. As an added complication, Kern's fiancée (Jan Shepard) joins the drive, determined to be with him despite the repeated warning that a cattle drive is "no place for a woman."
13. Incident near the Promised Land
The drive reaches Sedalia but Favor's problems are just beginning. A bank crash back east has wiped out all the cattle buyers and the only viable grazing land is owned by embittered widow Emma Cardwell who is intent on bankrupting Favor.
14. Incident of the Big Blowout
Gil & crew reach trail's end in Sedalia, but Gil's hard drinking is not to celebrate: his fiancée has married another. Waiting for one drover is his own beautiful fiancée, closely tracked by a short-tempered bounty hunter. Gil's approached by another trail boss with a local ranching opportunity. Will Gil return to Philly, stay in Missouri, or meet his men at Chickenfeather Siding for another drive?
15. Incident of the Fish Out of Water
Gil visits his girls encountering an Indian on the train. Gil sees the Indian from the train in a wagon with handcuffs on. He discovers the man is a prisoner. With help they decide to break him out. Both Gil and Eleanor learn about raising the girls.
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Rawhide 3.2
Episodes:
16. Incident on the Road Back
The men are back together and headed to San Antonio with a herd of horses.
17. Incident of the New Start
Favor is ramrod instead of trail boss to save his men's jobs. The trail boss is an older rancher trying to prove he is "king of the hill" to everyone including his young wife. He won't listen to Favor and his wife leaves with a drover.
18. Incident of the Running Iron
While herding strays, Quince comes across a man altering brands. Before Quince can pursue him a posse comes upon the site and charges Quince with rustling. Gil and Rowdy have only hours clear him before Quince faces a vigilante court.
19. Incident near Gloomy River
A dry water hole forces Rowdy and Dan Fletcher who knows the area to investigate. A dam has temporally cutoff the water adding to the feud between Cal Fletcher and Frank Travis. Dan's return ignites Cal's hatred for Dan and love for Flora.
20. Incident of the Boomerang
Entering dangerous Commanche Territory is a herd bound for Australia, whose only drovers are a wizened Ozzie, his stunning fiancée, and a huge Aboriginal. Gil helps strike a bargain with the Commanche chief for safe passage, but when a cowboy, having escaped from prison, is rejected as a drover, he offers the chief a scheme to seize both herds. The cowboy's half Commanche, and the Australian fiancée's his former grifting partner.
21. Incident of the Brother's Keeper
Pete Nolan takes an injured Wishbone to Mineral Springs for some rest only to find himself in the middle of a romantic feud between a paralyzed rancher, his wife and brother when Pete is asked to escort the wife to a barn dance.
22. Incident in the Middle of Nowhere
Favor and Rowdy looking for grazing and water in the Lost Mountains find their path blocked by Indians and an old white man. They hire a guide but he is killed after a lost woman joins them. She has friends that put the group in danger.
23. Incident of the Phantom Bugler
At a river the drovers are startled by a bugle and stopped by a group of Jayhawkers wanting $5 per head to cross the river. They are lead by a Judge who has conned his son-in-law into thinking they own the land and are acting legally
24. Incident of the Lost Idol
The drovers come across a teenage brother and sister and their ill dying mother, alone on the trail. The family had planned to relocate to the East to elude the outlaw father who had just escaped from jail and is evading bounty hunters.
25. Incident of the Running Man
Rowdy gets involved in intrigue as he tries to warn an Army outpost about an impending outlaw attack.
26. Incident of the Painted Lady
Favor's herd is held for ransom by a town who lost $15,000 to Texas drover Thad Clemens. Favor finds him in a nearby town where it appears he lost the money to lady saloon owner. However, Favor finds the situation is much more complicated.
27. Incident before Black Pass
Rowdy and Pete are taken hostage by Kiowas who want safe passage to Black Pass from the Army for their Chief. A scared fortune telling drover causes problems when tells on Favor to the Army and a rancher wanting revenge for his wife.
28. Incident of the Blackstorms
When the law refused to act against his wife's murderer because she was the wife of an Indian, Dr. Sky Blackstorm turned to a life of crime. Now he is returning to town and uses Pete and Mushy as pawns to regain custody of his son.
29. Incident of the Night on the Town
A femme fatale sues Gil for part of his herd. The widow's foreman, fast gun Rance scares everybody, while her tricky lawyer Lewis Lewis hogties Gil in court. The drovers itch to shoot their way out, but Gil sets another scheme off.
30. Incident of the Wager on Payday
Rowdy is framed for murder when a young practical joker's scheme to rob his father's bank takes a tragic turn. 
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Rawhide 4.1
Episodes:
1. Incident at Rio Salado
Favor has been hired to drive a new herd but the appearance of Rowdy's dad is an unpleasant surprise for Rowdy. His dad frames Rowdy to force a local bandit with a $5000 reward into the open. He collects but Favor loses his herd over it.
2. The Sendoff
While gathering mavericks in deep brush, Favor discovers the remnants of a wagon train destroyed by Comanches along with 12 graves. Some are looking for a a survivor including a woman whose son was killed and the man helping her.
3. The Long Shakedown
Favor pushes the men hard to shake out those who won't make it. This time the old hands may be the ones who can't cut it compared to a group of young and eager hands he hired. The old hands quit and the new hands show how green they are.
4. Judgement at Hondo Seco
Drover Jim Quince's niece begs for his help in keeping her fiancé from being tried for murder by her bitter father. Her father has become a hanging judge, following the accidental shooting of his wife. When Judge Quince sent a posse to keep the young couple from eloping, a member of the group fired at the fiancé, who killed him in self defense.
5. The Lost Tribe
With Rowdy, Quince, Hey Soos, and Nolan who was married to one of them earlier as their reluctant guide, a breakaway group of Cheyenne Indians flee an oppressive reservation and head for Mexico - with a posse in hot pursuit.
6. The Inside Man
Favor picks up 750 head from a cattle dealer but a single drover arrives with the herd. He is a talented drover who rubs the men the wrong way. He and the dealer plan to steal Favor's herd until he meets a runaway woman on the drive
7. The Black Sheep
Rowdy escorts an injured sheepman and his flock to a nearby town. However, when the town's residents think he is one of the sheepmen, Rowdy finds himself on the receiving end of the same kind of treatment he used to dish out to sheepmen.
8. The Prairie Elephant
A lost circus with an elephant and lion is scaring the herd and horses. Favor sends Wishbone to guide the circus to their destination. Wishbone becomes involved in a fiery romantic triangle as he guides them to Brailey.
9. The Little Fishes
As Favor picks up 700 cattle, the owner tells him a financial crisis in the east will make the whole herd worthless unless Favor beats the news to Abilene. Favor can't tell the men as a man with fish distracts the men from their jobs.
10. The Blue Spy
A woman wanders into camp needing help. She is an actress who one of the men recognizes later. She worked as a Union spy during the war, although most of the men hate her, one even more so as he was court-martialed due to her.
11. The Gentleman's Gentleman
When his Lord dies after being rescued by Favor, a valet assumes the same role for Favor creating havoc on the drive. The buffalo hunter who shot the Lord is creating problems for Favor and the herd. The valet may be the key to the issues.
12. Twenty-Five Santa Clauses
A conman and his wife con the drovers into pooling their efforts to prepare a Christmas celebration for a sickly Mexican boy. The boy isn't sick and Rowdy ignores Favors orders to move the herd across a river trapping the herd.
13. The Long Count
Rowdy and Pete run into problems crossing a ranch owned by a lady with a rough foreman. In the nearby town the men find Clay Forrester working as a marshal taking the census. He wrangles Favor's men to work for him on it and his scheme.
14. The Captain's Wife
When Favor goes to a fort for supplies, he finds only civilians left to hold off Comancheros in the area. The wife of the commandant sent out the last of the soldiers on her own hoping her husband would win a promotion and trip east.
15. The Peddler
The men spot a Jewish peddler trying to herd cattle from his wagon. Favor lets him join the drive for his safety. However, over time he proves to be a lucky charm for the drive and eventually finds his own luck and love.
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Rawhide 4.2
Episodes:
16. The Woman Trap
The drovers come across a group of women who say they headed to Fort Worth to marry homesteaders. After a dance they go their separate ways until one is found dying. Favor, Rowdy, and Hey Soos try to help but find themselves hostages, too.
17. The Boss's Daughter
Favor finds his path blocked at a property line by an owner protecting his rights. At the same time his two daughters and sister-in-law decide to visit the cattle drive. The rancher wants to marry his sister-in-law and adopt his daughters.
18. The Deserters' Patrol
Warned not to cross Pawnee lands, Favor and Nolan ride to a nearby fort for details. They find the fort undermanned awaiting reinforcements and themselves drafted into the Army to rescue six soldiers held hostage who are really deserters.
19. The Greedy Town
Clad in deepest mourning, a very wealthy woman comes to the small town where her dead son robbed a bank and killed a man. She is prepared to pay each resident several years' income if they agree to wipe her son's crimes off the books.
20. Grandma's Money
On a trip to collect a debt, Rowdy sees an elderly woman apparently hounded by thieves. After rescuing her they go to a nearby town where Rowdy is to collect the debt and she awaits a stage. However, she frames Rowdy for multiple thefts.
21. The Pitchwagon
When a drover is killed by Indians saving a pitchman, the drovers try to raise money for the his family. The pitchman suggests a rigged card game but when that fails his idea of a concert with his wife may leave the drovers high and dry.
22. Hostage Child
A Tonkawa boy is found starving on his way to Fort Lacey to find his sister to help his starving tribe. He unknowingly unearths that Col. Briscoe known as the butcher of Indians is unwittingly married to his sister thinking she is Spanish.
23. The Immigrants
Clay, Wishbone, and Jim find some of their cattle have anthrax and while isolated are taken captive by a Prussian military Officer and held as slaves. When they tell the other workers about American freedom, trouble erupts.
24. The Child Woman
Mushy's cousin and her younger sister are in a nearby town. The younger 15 year old is the star attraction at the saloon. The older sister married to the owner wants mushy to take her sister away but the girl resists leaving.
25. A Woman's Place
Harv's chest is crushed by a wagon. The closest doctor is female who the men don't trust. Complicating the situation a quack in the town is plotting to have her run out of town to save his business.
26. The Reunion
The drivers are helped by Pete Nolan who is scouting for the Army. He has worked to obtain a peace treaty with the Pawnee but the General sent to sign it and the Pawnee Chief both find conflict with their sons over it leading to tragedy.
27. The House of the Hunter
Rowdy is kidnapped and finds himself trapped in a house with a motley group of characters who have no idea why they are being held against their will. This proves to be Rawhide's version of Agatha Christie's "Ten Little Indians."
28. Gold Fever
The crew stumbles on a ghost town with a prospector and his three daughters. The prospector tries to keep some of the men there for his daughters by salting a claim but it soon mushrooms out of control.
29. The Devil and the Deep Blue
The herd is close to Abilene with another herd a few days behind and few buyers in Abilene. When the second herd discovers tick fever, the trail boss is murdered and Favor takes over not knowing the sick cattle are now in his herd.
30. Abilene
One of the drovers falls sick the night before they end the drive at Abilene. The sick man may have smallpox forcing the sheriff to quarantine the men. Favor needs to leave to seal a deal on a ranch and an old foe of Rowdy wants revenge.
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Rawhide 5.1
Episodes:
1. Incident of the Hunter
A man looking for a job is recognized by Rowdy and Clay. Rowdy knows him as a fellow Confederate soldier while Clay knows him as a bounty hunter. When he admits it, everyone begins to think he is after them causing the men to revolt.
2. Incident of the Portrait
After unintentionally killing a blind girl's father, a man signs on as a drover with Favor. When Favor is asked to escort the girl to another town. Favor unwittingly assigns the man as her driver where he comes to cherish her company.
3. Incident at Cactus Wells
Forrester notices a man trailing the herd for a few days but he's elusive. After one of the men stampedes the herd, the man drives in a few strays and asks for a job. The men are suspicious of his actions and they soon learn he has a past.
4. Incident of the Prodigal Son
They find a young man half baked at a water hole. His attitude gets him off to a bad start with the men except for old horse wrangler Sam Hargis. The kid Ben Whitney is a rich kid but he does his job and develops a relationship with Sam.
5. Incident of the Four Horsemen
The herd is caught in a possible range war over land and a woman. Favor needs additional drovers to push the herd out of the area but unknown to him the four men he is able to hire are pushing him into the war and want his herd as well.
6. Incident of the Lost Woman
Favor finds a passed out woman and her baby in the wilderness. The lady recovers and tells Favor her husband is dead and she is headed to California. She neglects to tell him the grandfather and uncles of the baby are after the baby.
7. Incident of the Dogfaces
The drovers rescue soldiers under Indian attack. Chief Broken Bow surrounds the herd. Favor finds Sgt. Duclos was involved with the death of the Chief's son and wife. The Chief takes a settler's wife and son hostage forcing the Sgt's hand.
8. Incident of the Wolvers
With Favor gone, Rowdy has a problem when a pack of wolves start causing bothering the herd. A wolfer and his family offer Rowdy a deal to handle the wolves. At first bypassing the offer, Rowdy later agrees but runs into complications.
9. Incident at Sugar Creek
As the herd nears Sugar Creek Sam Garrett is seriously hurt and they learn the herd is facing tick fever ahead. When the people of Sugar Creek learn Sam is with the herd, the town turns on the drovers except for Marcie who runs the saloon.
10. Incident of the Reluctant Bridegroom
Wishbone and Rowdy go to town for supplies. Rowdy decides to get a bath and spend the evening on the town. At the saloon the bartenders spike the drinks he and a lady have hoping to break them up. Instead Rowdy wakes up with a bride.
11. Incident of the Querencias
Gil stops to see an old friend only to find he broke except for 30 head of cattle. He asks Gil to let him add his cattle to the herd and go to Colorado with Gil. Gil relents and does it but his men suffer for it when Lije breaks the rules.
12. Incident at Quivira
Monty Fox wanders into camp dehydrated and starved. Once revived he has Mushy believing his story about Quivira which is a pot of gold and Fountain of Youth all in one. They steal supplies to search for Quivira forcing Rowdy to find them.
13. Incident of Decision
On the way to meet Favor Rowdy, Quince, and Hey Soos buy some cattle of their own from Harvey Calvin. Calvin's son with a crippled leg has learned to doctor animals but wants to be a drover. Rowdy resists but he tries facing new problems.
14. Incident of the Buryin' Man
The drive first encounters "The Buryin' Man" with his fancy wagon and then a banker and school teacher in Cheyenne territory. The number of Cheyenne keeps increasing while they learn the newcomers are not who they appear to be.
15. Incident of the Trail's End
Harry Maxton is told he is going blind and only has a year or two. Broke he runs into Favor who started with Maxton. Favor offers Maxton a job riding drag. Maxton has a rough reputation and one of the drovers, Frank Slade wants revenge.
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Rawhide 5.2
Episodes:
16. Incident at Spider Rock
The drovers go to town for supplies and some relation. When they see that the saloon and storekeepers are ripping them of with crooked games and bad supplies, they take the saloon apart and get new supplies - plus a saloon singer.
17. Incident of the Mountain Man
Rowdy and men stop a lynching of mountain man Josh Green by a wagon train. Rowdy agrees to take him, his daughter and the Father of the victim to a town for a proper trial. When Green escapes with his daughter, Rowdy goes after him.
18. Incident at Crooked Hat
A rider comes in and picks a gunfight with a man he believes to be gunfighter. When he is shot, Favor and the shooter take him to the doctor trapping themselves in town waiting for the Sheriff. A renewed relationship adds fuel to the fire.
19. Incident of Judgment Day
During Rowdy's birthday party, two ex-Confederate POW's arrive to take Rowdy to settle an old issue. Expecting to discuss the old conflict, Rowdy finds himself on trial for his life in front of a drunk judge in a ghost town.
20. Incident of the Gallows Tree
Quince wakes up in the livery stable drunk after a night on the town with some of the drovers. After he leaves, the body of the leading citizen is found behind the stable door shot. Quince is arrested the next day but remembers nothing.
21. Incident of the Married Widow
While in town the men stop at the "salon" owned by enchanting Abigail Fletcher. A picture hangs on the wall of her late husband Gil Favor. Favor comes in to see for himself. He finds a friend needing help with Gil as her husband.
22. Incident of the Pale Rider
Rowdy, Hey Soos, and Calhoun go to town for supplies and money at Wells Fargo. After collecting the money, Rowdy is held up but when Calhoun interrupts the robbery, he is wounded while Rowdy kills the robber. Or does he?
23. Incident of the Comanchero
The drovers find two stranded nuns who rescued a Comanchero near death from a torture apparatus. As the man slowly heals, the new Comanchero leader tells the drovers he wants the man back. Rowdy has to decide whether to protect him.
24. Incident of the Clown
A clumsy philologist (and former circus clown) stumbles into the trail camp. The man is hoping to compile a dictionary of the Comanche language so that they and the whites can better understand each other. It's a critical time for understanding, as the local Comanche chief is threatening war against the whites if his young son, who became ill while studying under a government education plan, fails to recover.
25. Incident of the Black Ace
A gypsy tells Wish's fortune he draws the death card three times.
26. Incident of the Hostages
Taking in three White children kidnapped by passing Arapahos puts the fatherly drovers in peril. Longing to return to the Apaches who raised them after white men killed their settler parents, Yellow Sky and her younger siblings resist the drovers' every step toward turning them over to authorities in the next town. Arapahos seized the children from the Apaches during tribal warfare. Widower Gil, who misses his two daughters, expects gratitude for a noble act, but the Apache chief, Ulzana, wants the children back and will fight the drovers for them, if necessary.
27. Incident of White Eyes
Favor and Hey Soos stop a runaway stagecoach with a dying driver and several passengers after an Indian attack. Favor leads the coach to the next station. Apaches are waiting and Favor soon learns why along with the other passengers.
28. Incident at Rio Doloroso
Rowdy and Wishbone are warned the herd is crossing private land but Rowdy neglects to give Favor the details. When the locals try to stampede the herd, their leader is killed by the cattle but Favor and Rowdy are sentenced to die for it.
29. Incident at Alkali Sink
Rowdy, running the drive, returns to camp to find it in the midst of a wedding between Burt Harvey and Lorraine Stanton. After the wedding, Lorraine's father Cliff arrives calling Burt a coward and trying to break up the couple. 
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Below: Explosive Media's Individual sleeve designs for each of their Box Set cases









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