History Series / TheRifleman

The rifleman is notable for being the first primetime television series about a single parent. It also is distinguished among Westerns by the fact that the main character almost never carried a pistol. True to the show's name, [=McCain=]'s rifle is prominent in the series, appearing in virtually every episode. While not all episodes were resolved with violence, [=McCain=] did rack up a substantial body count, killing 120 villains in the show's 5-year run, a pretty staggering amount for a protagonist who was not in the military, law enforcement, or security services.

* SharedUniverse: With of all things the TV movie series ''The Gambler''... more specifically ''The Gambler Returns'' where an elderly Lucas [=McCain=] and an adult Mark [=McCain=] appear, and yes they are identified by name.

* BlindWeaponmaster: Lucas for an episode where some gunpowder went off in front of him and temporarily blinded him. He still managed to use his rifle with amazing skill.

''The Rifleman'' is available completely and legally on Creator/{{Hulu}}. Oh, and if the "widower and son take over the running of a frontier settlement" premise sounds familiar but you could have sworn it took place in the Alpha Quadrant, it may be because ''[[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Deep Space Nine]]'' was originally pitched as "''The Rifleman'' [[RecycledInSpace IN SPACE]]!"

The rifleman is notably for being the first primetime television series about a single parent. It also is distinguished among Westerns by the fact that the main character almost never carried a pistol. True to the show's name, [=McCain=]'s rifle is prominent in the series, appearing in virtually every episode. While not all episodes were resolved with violence, [=McCain=] did rack up a substantial body count, killing 120 villains in the show's 5-year run, a pretty staggering amount for a protagonist who was not in the military, law enforcement, or security services.

The rifleman is notably for being the first primetime television series about a single parent. It also is distinguished among Westerns by the fact that the main character almost never carried a pistol. True to the show's name, McCain's rifle is prominent in the series, appearing in virtually every episode. While not all episodes had to be resolved with violence, McCain did rack up a substantial body count, killing 120 villains in the show's 5-year run, a pretty staggering amount for a protagonist who was not in the military, law enforcement, or security services.

* ShirtlessScene: Lucas spends most of "The Vaqueros" without a shirt, and his hair all messed up. And it is awesome.

* ImprobableAimingSkills: Lucas [=McCain=] frequently displays uncanny shooting ability with his rifle. He almost never misses and is as fast or faster than gunfighters with a pistol. He does most of his shooting from the hip with pin point accuracy. Other feats include shooting weapons out of opponents hands, not missing despite being blinded, and landing a shot with a improvised rifle made out of a bit of junk lumber for a stock and pistol.

* ImprobableAimingSkills: Lucas [=McCain=] frequently displays uncanny shooting ability with his rifle. He almost never misses and is as fast or faster then gunfighters with a pistol. He does most of his shooting from the hip with pin point accuracy. Other feats include shooting weapons out of opponents hands, not missing despite being blinded, and landing a shot with a improvised rifle made out of a bit of junk lumber for a stock and pistol.

* BlastingItOutOfTheirHands: Lucas [=McCain=] frequently performs this trick when he doesn't want to kill the person or even persons he is facing off against. Typically, it is a fast hip shot blasting a pistol out of a persons hand leaving them clutching a seemingly unwounded hand in pain.

* BlastingItOutofTheirHands: Lucas [=McCain=] frequently performs this trick when he doesn't want to kill the person or even persons he is facing off against. Typically, it is a fast hip shot blasting a pistol out of a persons hand leaving them clutching a seemingly unwounded hand in pain.

The show was created by Arnold Laven and ran on Creator/{{ABC}}. Among the show's more notable crewmembers was Creator/SamPeckinpah, who wrote the Pilot and wrote and directed several other episodes.

* YouLookFamiliar: You constantly see the same actors coming back in different roles.

* MissingMom: Mark's mother and Lucas' wife died due to disease leaving Lucas to care for his son alone. It comes up frequently in the various episodes whether from Lucas reminiscing, Mark asking a question, or another character bringing it up in someway.

''The Rifleman'' is an American live-action western from 1958 to 1963.

The story is about Lucas [=McCain=] and his son, Mark [=McCain=]. Mark's mother and Lucas' wife died of an illness when the medicine failed to reach her in time. Lucas enters a turkey shooting contest to buy a plot in North Fork, New Mexico, but throws the contest to a younger gunman (Creator/DennisHopper) gunman when the man who runs the town threatens Mark's life. Lucas confronts the man who runs\ownes most of the town, who killed the younger gunman's relative\guardian. In the saloon Lucas, with a bit of help from Hopper, kills the man and his henchmen. The judge in the town invites Lucas to stay, which he does and buys the ranch.

* BlastingItOutofTheirHands: Lucas [=McCain=] frequently performs this trick when he doesn't want to kill the person or even persons he is facing off against. Typically it is a fast hip shot blasting a pistol out of a persons hand leaving them clutching a seemingly unwounded hand in pain.

The show was created by Arnold Laven and ran on ABC. Among the show's more notable crewmembers was Creator/SamPeckinpah, who wrote the Pilot and wrote and directed several other episodes.

''The Rifleman'' is available completely and legally on Creator{{/Hulu}}. Oh, and if the "widower and son take over the running of a frontier settlement" premise sounds familiar but you could have sworn it took place in the Alpha Quadrant, it may be because ''[[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Deep Space Nine]]'' was originally pitched as "''The Rifleman'' [[RecycledInSpace IN SPACE]]!"

* InstrumentalThemeTune: In the TitleSequence, it's preceded by a rapid firing of 12 shots and the announcer calling out, [[TitleScream "The Rifleman!"]]

* HookerWithAHeartOfGold: Lil

The story is about Lucas [=McCain=] and his son, Mark [=McCain=]. Mark's mother and Lucas' wife died of an illness when the medicine failed to reach her in time. Lucas enters a turkey shooting contest to buy a plot in North Fork, New Mexico, but throws the contest to a younger (Dennis Hopper) gunman when the man who runs the town threatens Mark's life. Lucas confronts the man who runs\ownes most of the town, who killed the younger gunman's relative\guardian. In the saloon Lucas, with a bit of help from Hopper, kills the man and his henchmen. The judge in the town invites Lucas to stay, which he does and buys the ranch.

''The Rifleman'' is available completely and legally on {{Creator/Hulu}}. Oh, and if the "widower and son take over the running of a frontier settlement" premise sounds familiar but you could have sworn it took place in the Alpha Quadrant, it may be because ''[[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Deep Space Nine]]'' was originally pitched as "''The Rifleman'' [[RecycledInSpace IN SPACE]]!"

** Lucas himself became this for an episode where he was[[TemporaryBlindness blinded]]. It helps that he was a badass before that happened.

* InstrumentalThemeTune: Tune is preceded in opening credits by a rapid firing of 12 shots and the announcer calling out, "The Rifleman!"

** Lucas himself became this for an episode where he was blinded. It helps that he was a badass before that happened.

* TheLoad: Mark [=McCain=]. Somewhat justified since he's just a kid, but ''still''. A good 80% of the conflicts are directly caused or made worse by him. And he's useless.