Wanted: Dead or Alive // A Review of Sorts (Legends of Western Cinema Week)

This week has just gone by in a flash, hasn't it? How could we be at the end of Legends of Western Cinema Week already?! With life and everything else going on, I unfortunately didn't end up having enough time to write up all of the wonderful ideas for posts that I had for this blog party. D:

But, after reading this post of Natalie's, I was especially determined that I just couldn't let this western-themed blog party go by without at least posting something about one of my favorite westerns right now, even if I am a day late.

What show is this? It's Wanted: Dead or Alive!

*Belts out show's opening music* DUN DUNN! ...DUN DUNN! ...Dun. Dun. DUN. dun DUUUUNN DUN DUN DUN dun....."

Okay, Faith, we get it. You're super excited about this.

Ahem. Okay, so, as in the words of Josh Randall himself, "let's gooo" ahead and get into this, shall we? xD

In a nutshell, Wanted: Dead or Alive is about bounty hunter, Josh Randall, a man who rides throughout the wild west, seeking to bring about justice and protect the innocent -- all while being as cool, calm, and collected as he possibly can.

Josh does his job for the money, of course, to make a living; and he values money quite highly. But you can also see that deep down, his main goal many times through his work is to see true justice be done. You can see this in the way he does his job and treats his prisoners. He takes the phrase "innocent until proven guilty" to heart. And when he knows someone is innocent, he does all he can to help fight for them.

He respects human life. He doesn't just kill for the thrill. Even though the poster says, "Wanted: Dead or Alive" he tries hard to give all of the people he tracks down a chance to come back alive, and be able to have a fair trial. However, if they don't take the chances Josh gives them though, well, he's not afraid to use his handy sawed-off shotgun when he needs to.

Despite his profession that is looked down upon by many people he comes across, Josh stays strong in his determination to see justice be brought about in each situation he finds himself in.

Josh is just an overall likable character. And that's quite an important thing, too since he's the only consistent character throughout the whole series (except for Jason who becomes his partner for a while in season two). The moral code Josh has, his stance on justice, and his willingness to protect the innocent are some things about him that causes admiration. He doesn't seem to care about what others think of him, and is willing to go against the masses to stand with what he believes is true.

And don't get me started on how fun it is to see him with the cute kiddos that occasionally appear on the show. There's just this soft, understanding side that comes out of Josh whenever he's around and/or talking with a little kid that we don't always see in him. For example, there's one episode where this little boy wants to hire Josh to find Santa Claus, and all the other men around him are just laughing at the little squirt about it. But Josh just listens, takes him seriously, and cares about his feelings; and that's one thing I really love about his character toward kids, especially in that episode. :)

So, Josh is a great guy, no mistake there. However, all of this great moral character of his though doesn't mean that he doesn't have his flaws. He does drink, gamble, and can't seem to help himself from flirting with certain beautiful women he runs into -- who usually happen to be saloon gals. But, despite those cringe-worthy, flirtatious moments when he tries to be romantic, he does show a respect for women overall, which is, of course, always a noteworthy attribute.

One thing that I think would have been a great addition to this series is if there was actually a good, moral lady that Josh liked who continually showed up throughout different episodes, and whom he ends up marrying in the end. But alas... The very few girls that I think would be right for Josh only really show up for one episode, and then move on and never show themselves again.

                                          (I actually don't remember who this lady was... but it's such a sweet picture though, don'tchya think? :) )

Oh, but anyway. So, there's not a certain fabulous "ship" that I've found for Josh in the series yet, but oh well. :P
So, even with his and the show's occasional little quirks, it's still very enjoyable to watch, and I'm so glad my family and I came across it! We first discovered Wanted: Dead or Alive last year on MeTV. We somehow got quite into it and liked Steve Mcqueen's character a lot, and so decided to look the cool dude up to find out more about him. Well, when we first looked up Steve McQueen on Wikipedia, it was a little saddening to read about his rough childhood and and untimely death at fifty years old.

But then, one night when I was supposed to be asleep, I was on my phone while sitting in bed and noticed that I still had the Wikipedia page for him up. That's when I scrolled past something it said about him becoming a Christian toward the end of his life. I immediately looked into this further, read some articles and such about it (like this one), and found out that this really was true! I also discovered that there's even a documentary film all about how he came to Christ (which I still need and very much want to see). And so, of course, I WAS SO HAPPY ABOUT THIS I JUST could have ran around our house a dozen times or something. xD Now, whenever I watch Wanted (or anything else with Steve Mcqueen in it... which isn't really a lot of other things, but anywho), it adds that extra happiness to it just knowing that in his real life he finally found true life and peace in Jesus.

So yes. Much happiness. :)

Now, back to the show... ;D

I suppose I should also say a little something about Jason as well. Even though he only becomes Josh's partner for a little while during the second season, he's still a character to be noted. He's not the most iconic or perfect sidekick ever. He, too has his flaws, and at times is irritatingly naive, but most of the time, he's a pretty good partner to have along. He helps out Josh a lot in several episodes, and learns much from him about bounty hunting... and maybe even teaches Josh a few things in the process as well.

(Addionally, Jason has a look that could perhaps remind one of Woody from Toy Story... hmm.) *thinks up some highly unlikely conspiracy theory of how Jason was actually Pixar's true inspiration for the character of Woody*  XD

So yep. Wanted: Dead or Alive is just a good, fun, likable show. It gives ya all the western vibes. (I mean, obviously, pfft... that's a pretty redundant statement for a clearly western show. :P) Anyway. I do enjoy that there's a mix of both the serious and humorous throughout the series. Some episodes are more on a serious level, while there are a few that are just downright hilarious. There are some episodes, however, that don't have much of an ending at all or just leave you a bit befuddled at the end of it; or those few times when the writers push Josh out of his normal, smart character. (Like when he starts to fall in love with this lady prisoner, and just... like, WHAT. ARE. YOU. DOING. JOSH. STOP. WHAT DID THOSE WRITERS DO TO YOU.)

But then there are a lot of really great episodes as well with clever plots. So, you sometimes get a bit of a mixed bag as far as the stories go. But overall, it's really just a good show with some good stories and good characters. I believe it's definitely worth a watch... especially if you're a fan of classic westerns and/or Steve McQueen!

So there ya go! There's a bit about Wanted: Dead or Alive, and a few thoughts/rambles of mine about it! I could probably go on for a lot longer about this show, but I'll stop there for now. I'm sorry if this was a bit more of a ramble than a review, but whatever it was, I hope that perhaps it made you interested in checking this show out, or, if you've already seen it, made you fangirl smile a little at least. :)

Well, thanks so much for reading, y'all! This week sure has been a heap o' fun! I'm looking forward to going back and reading through some of the other western-y posts from this week! And you can check out all these other great posts as well that everyone else contributed here!

Thanks so much to Olivia, Heidi, and Hamlette for hosting this rip-roarin' party! I'm so happy that Legends of Western Cinema Week happened once again, and hopefully it will be a thing next year as well! ;D

Have an awesome week, everyone! Write to ya later, and God bless! *Waves cowboy hat in farewell*
~Faith

P.S. Have you ever seen Wanted: Dead or Alive? What did you think of it? Tell me your thoughts!