Stuart Whitman was a powerhouse. In 1967, when Cimarron Strip first hit CBS, people didn't quite know what to make of it. It wasn't your typical half-hour shootout. It was huge.
Each episode ran ninety minutes. That’s basically a feature film every single week. CBS was trying to replicate the success of The Virginian, but they gave it a grit and a budget that felt different. Honestly, the show was arguably ahead of its time, which is probably why it only lasted one season.
The Marshall and the Borderland
The show centers on Marshal Jim Crown. He’s stuck in the middle of a literal and figurative no-man's-land between the Kansas border and Indian Territory. It’s the late 1880s. The "Strip" is this massive 10,000-square-mile expanse that's basically a powder keg of land-hungry settlers, cattlemen, and the Army.
Whitman played Crown with a specific kind of weariness. He wasn't just a fast draw; he was a mediator. He had to keep the peace in a place where the law was more of a suggestion than a rule.
You've got a supporting cast that actually worked. Randy Boone played Francis Wilde, a young photographer. That was a cool touch—having a character who documented the "dying" West while it was still happening. Then there was Percy Herbert as MacGregor, the Scotsman, and Jill Townsend as Dulcey Coopersmith. They operated out of a boarding house/cafe that served as the unofficial headquarters for the show’s humanity.
Why the 90-Minute Format Was a Double-Edged Sword
Making a movie every week is exhausting. The logistics were a nightmare.
The production values were insane for the late sixties. They shot on location in places like Bishop, California, and the Kanab area in Utah. You can see the money on the screen. The vistas are wide. The dust feels real. But the cost? It was astronomical.
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Because the episodes were so long, the writers had to actually develop characters. You couldn't just have a villain walk into a saloon and get shot twenty minutes later. You had to know why he was there. You had to see the political pressure on Crown. Sometimes, the pacing felt slow to audiences used to the zip of Gunsmoke. But if you watch it now, it feels like a precursor to the "prestige TV" we obsess over today.
Guest Stars and the Legacy of the Strip
If you look at the guest list for Cimarron Strip, it’s a "who’s who" of Hollywood legends and rising stars.
- Richard Boone showed up.
- Robert Duvall turned in a performance.
- Telly Savalas was there.
- Jon Voight and Warren Oates appeared.
Imagine turning on your TV in 1967 and seeing that level of talent. It’s wild.
The show also tackled themes that were pretty heavy for the era. We're talking about the displacement of Native Americans, the ruthless nature of land speculation, and the psychological toll of violence. It wasn't always "the good guy wins and everyone goes to dinner." Sometimes Crown just barely kept things from exploding, and that was the best-case scenario.
The Music of Maurice Jarre
One thing people often forget is the theme song. It was composed by Maurice Jarre. Yes, the same guy who did Lawrence of Arabia.
The score is sweeping. It doesn't sound like a TV jingle; it sounds like an epic. It sets the tone immediately. When that brass kicks in, you know you aren't watching a cheap studio-set western. You're in the Cimarron.
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The Real Reason It Was Cancelled
Money. Basically, that's it.
CBS spent a fortune. Despite decent ratings, the overhead was just too much to justify for a single season. It also had a tough time-slot competition. By 1968, the "Urban Western" and more contemporary police procedurals were starting to take over the cultural zeitgeist. The sprawling, epic Western was becoming an endangered species.
But here is the thing: the show lived on in syndication. In the 70s and 80s, it found a second life. People who missed it the first time around realized that Cimarron Strip was actually one of the most intelligent Westerns ever produced.
Modern Ways to Watch
If you want to dive into this today, it's easier than it used to be.
- DVD Collections: The full series was released on DVD, often remastered so those Bishop, California landscapes look sharp.
- Streaming: Keep an eye on networks like INSP or MeTV, or specialized Western streaming apps. They rotate it frequently.
- YouTube: Sometimes individual episodes or high-quality clips pop up, though copyright is a fickle beast.
Actionable Insights for Western Enthusiasts
If you're a fan of Yellowstone or 1883 and you've never seen Cimarron Strip, you are missing a primary ancestor of those shows.
Start with the episode "The Legend of Jud Starr." It features Peter Kastner and Robert Duvall. It’s a perfect microcosm of what the show did right: great acting, high stakes, and a moral gray area that most 60s shows wouldn't touch with a ten-foot pole.
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Pay attention to Stuart Whitman's physical acting. He doesn't get enough credit for how he used his stature to convey authority without always shouting. He was the anchor.
Understand that the "Strip" was a real geographical entity—the Cherokee Outlet. Doing a bit of reading on the actual land runs of the 1880s and 90s will make the show's underlying tensions much clearer. The conflict between the "Boomers" (the settlers) and the "Sooners" (those who snuck in early) isn't just a football reference; it was a violent, chaotic reality that the show captures surprisingly well.
Track down the soundtrack if you can. Jarre’s work here is a masterclass in how to use music to make a small screen feel like a cinema.
Don't expect a fast-paced shootout every five minutes. Sit with the long takes. Let the 90-minute runtime do its job. The show is meant to be lived in, not just consumed. It's a heavy, dusty, beautiful piece of television history that deserves more than being a footnote in a broadcast log.
Next Steps for the Viewer:
Identify the episode "The Roarer" featuring Richard Boone. It’s widely considered one of the series' highlights. Watch it specifically to see how two heavyweights of the Western genre play off each other. Afterward, compare the "lawman as a weary bureaucrat" trope in this show to modern iterations like Deadwood to see just how much Seth Bullock owes to Jim Crown.