Episodes of “The Rifleman” will kick off a day-long “Best of the West” marathon.
Mark your calendar: SundanceTV aims to please western fans April 8 with an all-day “Best of the West” marathon.
Starting at 5 a.m. Central, the cable channel will air six hours of The Rifleman, the enduringly popular 1958–63 TV series starring Chuck Connors as widowed rancher Lucas McCain — who wields his customized Winchester rifle against bad guys only when absolutely necessary — and Johnny Crawford as Mark, his young son.
After that, SundanceTV will kick off a countdown of feature films, starting with 3:10 to Yuma (11 a.m. Central), the 2007 drama starring Christian Bale (recently on view in Hostiles) and Russell Crowe, and directed by James Mangold (Logan). Other films on the schedule: How the West Was Won (1 p.m. Central), the star-studded 1962 western epic featuring (among many others) John Wayne, Debbie Reynolds, James Stewart, and Gregory Peck; and The Quick and the Dead (4:30 p.m. Central), the offbeat 1995 melodrama starring Sharon Stone, Gene Hackman, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Russell Crowe — yep, him again! — and directed by Sam Raimi (Spider-Man).
SundanceTV’s “Best of the West” marathon will conclude with a pair of Clint Eastwood classics: The Outlaw Josey Wales (7 p.m. Central) and Hang ’Em High (10 p.m. Central).
