They Don't Make Theme Songs Like They Used To Quiz

Answer: High Noon

"High Noon", the 1952 movie starring Gary Cooper and Grace Kelly, is, perhaps, one of the greatest Westerns of all time. Directed by Fred Zinnemann, it tells the story of former Marshal Will Kane who has just married and is planning to leave Hadleyville, New Mexico; he hears that criminal Frank Miller has been let loose and is on his way back to seek revenge against Kane who turned him in. With his wife ready to leave ("Do not forsake me") and the townspeople unwilling to help, Will Kane must face this threat alone.

The song "High Noon" was written by Dimitri Tiomkin and sung by Tex Ritter.

Answer: Gene Barry

William Barclay 'Bat' Masterson (1853-1921), straight out of the Old West, was a U.S. Marshal, frontier lawman, Army scout and (oddly) sports editor and columnist for the New York Morning Telegraph. He lived to the ripe old age of almost 68. In 1952, a TV series was created to memorialize the life of this 'dandy' with his cane and derby hat (he HAD to be brave to wear that!). Who better to play Bat than the suave actor Gene Barry (1919-2009) who exuded a kind of Cary Grant 'lite' charm? Gene Barry was born Eugene Klass in New York City and was a star of stage, screen and TV, including "Burke's Law".

Answer: Love Me Tender

Both the movie and the song title are "Love Me Tender", a 1956 Western with music, which was Elvis Presley's movie debut and the only time he did not receive top billing. Originally the movie was titled "The Reno Brothers" with Elvis as Clint Reno, the youngest of four brothers who was forced to stay home to take care of his family and the farm while his brothers were out fighting in the Civil War.

When the advanced sale of the sheet music of Elvis' single "Love Me Tender" came out, it was the first ever to sell over one million copies; the title of the movie was changed to capitalize on the popularity of the sheet music.

Answer: F Troop

Who is old enough to remember one of the first Western TV comedies? The 1965 series ran for only two years, but with some of the most memorable screw-ups on the small screen. Before appearing in "The Andy Griffith Show", "Mayberry R.F.D", "Fantasy Island" or "Mama's Family" Ken Berry played the extremely inept Captain Wilton Parmenter, Commander of (ironically) Fort Courage, Kansas. With Sergeant O'Rourke (Forrest Tucker) and Corporal Agarn (Larry Storch), they comically dealt with the Indian (pre Native American) tribe 'The Hekawis' - and if you don't get the joke, just say aloud "We're the Hekawi"!

Answer: Maverick

"Maverick" and its catchy theme song ran from 1957 through 1962 and featured James Garner as Bret Maverick, a well-dressed gambler who survived more by using his wits than his gun. Jack Kelly played his brother Bart and, after a while, we met his other kin, i.e., Beau (Roger Moore before his spy days) and Brent (Robert Colbert).

The show was made into a 1994 movie with Mel Gibson and Jodie Foster; to pay homage to the TV show, James Garner was also cast in the movie with his character's name, Zane Cooper, after Western writer Zane Grey and Western star Gary Cooper.

Answer: Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head

B.J. Thomas had hits with all of the choices listed (including Harry Nilsson's original song "Everybody's Talkin'") but the scene with the song "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head" with Paul Newman as Butch and Katharine Ross as Etta Place riding a bicycle is classic cinema.

In the summer of 1969, Burt Bacharach scored the film "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" about bank robbers in the 1890s, with Newman as Butch (aka Robert LeRoy Parker) and Robert Redford as the Sundance Kid (aka Harry Longabaugh). Bacharach and partner Hal David wrote the song; B.J. Thomas took it to #1!.

Answer: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Clint Eastwood certainly is making quite a number of appearances in this quiz! He was, of course 'the good' with Lee Van Cleef and Eli Wallach as 'the bad and the ugly', respectively, in Sergio Leone's 1966 Western set in the Southwest during the Civil War (also making a number of appearances in this quiz).

It is called "Il buono, il bruto, il cativo" in Italian and the appelation of 'Spaghetti Western' was given to mid-1960s Westerns made in the style of Sergio Leone. It seems 'the good' and 'the ugly' wind up forming a tenuous partnership to beat 'the bad' to the gold buried in a remote cemetery.

Answer: Frankie Laine

You'll never guess who starred in the TV show "Rawhide" (1959-1965) as Rowdy Yates...what??? You said Clint Eastwood - brilliant! "Rawhide" was about a bunch of cowboys on a cattle drive, and their adventures. The original song was published in 1958 and sung by Frankie Laine, originally a pop singer who became known as a country singer after "Rawhide". "Rawhide" was written by Ned Washington and composed by Dimitri Tiomkin, and the members of the Western Writers of America chose the song as one of the top 100 Western songs of all time. "Move 'em on, head 'em up, Rawhide!".

Answer: Clint Eastwood

Strange as it may seem that any of the above choices was cast in a musical, the answer is Clint Eastwood as Pardner with (also, oddly) Lee Marvin as Ben Rumson. The 1969 movie was set in California during the Gold Rush and is the story of two prospectors who share the same wife searching for gold in a mining camp named "No Name City"; did you ever notice that with Clint, either the city or the character he is playing is often unnamed? Anyway, the "Paint Your Wagon" score featured three fairly successful songs, i.e., "Wand'rin' Star", "I Talk to the Trees" and "They Call the Wind Maria".

Answer: Happy Trails to You

All of the incorrect choices were songs sung by "The Singing Cowboy" (and once owner of the Angels Major League Baseball team), Gene Autry; but what better way to end a Western theme song quiz with Dale Evans' 4th husband, Roy Rogers (aka Leonard Slye), "King of the Cowboys" and Roy's second wife, Dale Evans (aka Frances Octavia Smith), singing "Happy trails to you/'Til we meet again..." Ahhh, the 1950s...how peaceful, how comforting, how long ago!