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Do you remember this Western with stars from Gunsmoke and The Brady Bunch?
The movie grossed about a million dollars in 1976.
The Wild West seems pretty removed from the polyester and bell bottoms of The Brady Bunch. But that didn't keep one of the Brady kids from rolling into town in a cowboy movie just a few years after the beloved sitcom ended. And while stars from Gunsmoke might've felt right at home in this feature, their characters were a far stretch from those they portrayed on TV.
It may not have been a blockbuster box office bonanza, but 1976's Pony Express Rider brought some disparate television stars together on the big screen. Maureen McCormick from The Brady Bunch and Buck Taylor from Gunsmoke starred in the picture, which even featured a bit part for good ol' Ken Curtis, aka Festus.
"Stewart [Peterson] is the hero, and I play his girlfriend," said Maureen McCormick in an interview with the San Angelo, Texas Standard-Times.
Buck Taylor interrupted— "Yeah, and I'm the bad guy. I'm the one who kills his father. And I give him every reason to want to get back at me."
While the premise might promise bloodshed, the producers aimed to keep the violence minimal. Their goal was to produce a movie with either a "G" or "PG" rating. The movie's production company, Doty-Davidson, primarily made family films.
"There's a difference in violence," said Buck Taylor. "The violence on TV today has everyone in contemporary dress. This makes it seem too real to us, like it's right outside our front door. But violence in a Western set in the 1800s seems almost like fantasy to the viewer. It's not as real.
"Besides, that G-rating won't hurt us because I think we're swinging back to the style of films of 20 years ago. Movies like Where the Bells Toll and Shane. Film trends go in cycles, and right now, it's a return to simplicity. Don't get me wrong. I enjoy things like Dog Day Afternoon, that was a brilliant film. But it has its audience and films like ours have their own audience, too."
While he enjoyed viewing certain more grown-up-oriented movies, Taylor stood firmly that he wouldn't want to appear in a movie with nudity or over-the-top bloodshed.
"I just don't want to be a part of it. An actor has got to work. He's got to keep a perspective on his acting. But I just wouldn't accept a part like that."
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