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This ''Rifleman'' director said that one of the hardest parts of directing the series was creating an affectionate father-son relationship
"The great message of the show was the love between a father and a son."
In addition to being a first-rate Western, The Rifleman is commended as a well-executed depiction of a loving father-son relationship. While that might seem like small potatoes today, many television series of past decades, especially Westerns, prioritized masculinity over-sensitivity, which meant that we rarely saw our favorite male protagonists show any kind of emotion.
The Rifleman separated itself from other shows of its kind by choosing to highlight the familial love between father Lucas McCain and his son, Mark. In an interview with the Copley News Service, Rifleman star Chuck Connors commended this detail during his description of the series.
He stated, "My star on Hollywood Boulevard mainly comes from one thing — The Rifleman. That's the mark I've left, this wonderful series about a father and his son in the Old West and keeping the family together under duress. I am so proud of The Rifleman.
In an interview with the San Francisco Examiner, Connors also said, "We established the forgotten fact that there is such a thing as a warm relationship between father and son. It happens all over the world. Our background was the West. Put them together and you have The Rifleman. What we are going to do is bring you a type of show we will enjoy seeing."
But while the relationship between father and son was crucial, it was tough getting the actors to portray it on screen, especially in the early days of the show. According to an article from The Billings Gazette, one of The Rifleman's directors, Joseph H. Lewis revealed that at the beginning of the series, actor Johnny Crawford, who played Mark, was reluctant to show physical affection to his onscreen father out of fear that he may look like a weakling to the audience.
This embarrassment was quickly shed, and as the series progressed, Lewis said that Crawford became more and more comfortable being affectionate with his on-screen father. Not only did this shift work out for the betterment of the series, but it also left a lasting impact on viewers as well. Lewis said, "The great message of the show was the love between a father and a son...Children became close to them. It did an awful lot of good all over the world."
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