We are watching a minor TV western from 1960, Whispering Smith. I saw a lot of westerns when I was a kid but I don't remember this one at all. It starred Audie Murphy as a police detective for the Denver force in 1868. He comes across as an extremely decent fellow.
The shows generally have a bad guy and a bad gal. Smith does detective work, rather than posse stuff. He used a clue of a clump of mud that had come from a different town in one episode. I half-expect to see DNA technology used before we're done. And that won't take long since the whole series is only 25 episodes.
The thing that is most remarkable about the show is the score. I don't mean the theme but the music that runs through each episode. It's amazing stuff. The composer for most of the show was Richard Shores. He did a lot of TV music (Richard Diamond, Gunsmoke, Man from U.N.C.L.E., Hawaii Five-O).
A wonderful retrospective of his career is at the Film Music Society website. If you are interested in scoring, the FMS site looks like a real treasure trove.
The shows generally have a bad guy and a bad gal. Smith does detective work, rather than posse stuff. He used a clue of a clump of mud that had come from a different town in one episode. I half-expect to see DNA technology used before we're done. And that won't take long since the whole series is only 25 episodes.
The thing that is most remarkable about the show is the score. I don't mean the theme but the music that runs through each episode. It's amazing stuff. The composer for most of the show was Richard Shores. He did a lot of TV music (Richard Diamond, Gunsmoke, Man from U.N.C.L.E., Hawaii Five-O).
A wonderful retrospective of his career is at the Film Music Society website. If you are interested in scoring, the FMS site looks like a real treasure trove.