Try this wild Westerns quiz
How much do you remember about the cowboy TV series of the Sixties?
1. Which 1960s Western TV show featured the Cartwright family and was set on the Ponderosa Ranch?
A) Gunsmoke
B) Bonanza
C) The Big Valley
D) Rawhide
2. Who played Marshal Matt Dillon in the long-running Western series Gunsmoke?
A) Clint Eastwood
B) James Arness
C) Lorne Greene
D) Chuck Connors
3. Rawhide helped launch which film actor’s career?
A) Steve McQueen
B) Lee Majors
C) Clint Eastwood
D) Burt Reynolds
4. Which Western centered around a widowed ranch owner and her family in California’s San Joaquin Valley?
A) Bonanza
B) The Rifleman
C) The Big Valley
D) Maverick
5. What was the name of the sharpshooting main character played by Chuck Connors in The Rifleman?
A) Lucas McCain
B) Tom Horn
C) Seth Adams
D) Ben Cartwright
Answers at end
Fun facts
A few things you may not have known about Westerns on the big screen:
The first recognised Western film, The Great Train Robbery (1903), was only 12 minutes long.
John Wayne appeared in more than 80 Westerns, many of which defined the genre’s golden age.
Clint Eastwood’s Man with No Name trilogy was made in Italy and directed by Sergio Leone.
Horses in Westerns often had stunt doubles.
The classic cowboy hat was a Hollywood invention. Real 1800s cowboys often wore bowler hats.
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) was among the first Westerns to blend comedy and anti-hero vibes, influencing modern Westerns.
In the 1950s, one in every four films made in Hollywood was a Western!
Answers
B (Bonanza)
B (James Arness)
C (Clint Eastwood)
C (The Big Valley)
A (Lucas McCain)