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"I'm still looking for that piece of land to settle down on."

posted 9 years ago by vivacious_dan
5 replies | jump to latest

I just watched "Showdown at Oxbend" (Season 7, Episode 13), the last episode of Cheyenne that ever aired.

As Cheyenne had alluded to in earlier seasons, in this episode he is looking for a ranch to own and raise horses on.

At the end of the episode, he refuses the offer to become Sheriff, stating that he is still looking for that piece of land to settle down on.

As the series ended on that note, we as the viewer never really gets to see how things end up for Cheyenne. I think it is safe to say if there had been more of a "wrap up" when the series ended that we would have seen Cheyenne buying a ranch and settling down. I don't think that there would have been a love interest that he ends up with as that would have been rather abrupt and would have felt "shoe horned" in. The series is built on Cheyenne being a wandering nomad so to all of a sudden pair him up like that wouldn't have felt honest. ("Lonely man, Cheyenne.." "Dream Cheyenne, of a girl you may never love.") If a love interest had been developed over time, that's one thing, but obviously Cheyenne is never in one town long enough for that to happen.

How do you guys think the series would have ended if we had gotten more of a definitive ending?

[–] jamesbwill 9 years ago

I always thought that the unofficial ending of the series was when Clint did the 1966 movie, Night of the Grizzly. His character in that one, Jim Cole, could have been Cheyenne. He had been a lawman, as Cheyenne sometimes was. He was married, to the gorgeous Martha Hyer, no less, and had two children and a niece. They got a ranch that Jim inherited from his uncle and started a new life. I have considered Cheyenne and Jim Cole to pretty much be the same guy. That's why I feel The Night of the Grizzly wrapped up the Cheyenne series.

[–] ben-thayer 9 years ago

Excellent recommendation. I have NotG recorded from a recent airing but haven't watched it yet. I'll keep the last episode of Cheyenne in mind while watching.

[–] Skye_Reynolds 9 years ago

The theme song always teased "And when you settle down, where will it be?" While it may be a bit underwhelming, I'm kinda glad that the final episode simply alluded to him looking for "that little piece of land" instead of actually showing it. It would have seemed a little forced.

Night of the Grizzly feels a lot like Cheyenne, but the addition of new family members spoils the suspension of disbelief that he actually is Cheyenne Body in that movie. There were at least three or four times though when it felt like I was watching a Cheyenne movie adaptation. Even the story itself is very similar to Satonka, an episode from the final season in which Cheyenne is terrorized by an unseen mountain "monster."

Clint Walker also starred in a made for TV movie called Yuma. I think that one was very deliberately written to play off of Walker's presence as Cheyenne Body. He plays a US marshal in a fictional small town and everything he does in that movie is Cheyenne-esque. The only thing missing is the reference to him being raised by Indians. It's not as good as Night of the Grizzly though.

[–] Skye_Reynolds 9 years ago

Basically, Clint Walker was a character actor and any role he played was more or less Cheyenne Body. lol.

[–] eakpabio 8 years ago

So you mean he was a one character actor. :)