22 JUN 13

TV

My television lied to me ...
that is, while I was growing up in the '60s.
And ... I'm sure it lies to me today too.
What got me thinking was an episode
of "The Rifleman" I just watched on ME-TV.
In it, the bad guy (Lee Van Cleef) rides
into town and takes up residence in the
town saloon.
He's there to kill the marshal
but he wants to spook him first.
His character spends two days and nights
sitting in the saloon drinking whiskey and
staring at the marshal's office.
That's a big lie!
Two days of ingesting nothing but whiskey
would addle the brain and make any kind
of a confrontation a sure failure.
He'd be stumbling-down drunk.
This was typical for depicting tough-guy drinking
habits back in the day.
Fooled all us kids growing up into thinking that
TV actions were how real life was.


-Fini

PS:  Never had seen Lee Van Cleef as a blonde before.
Liked him better with dark hair.

Another lie told ... If this character, who's come to kill the
marshal, just got out of prison ... where did he get the money
to buy two pistols, a rifle, a saddle, tack, a horse ...
and then have money left over to buy whiskey.
All those things cost a big bit of change back then.