Move 'em out for a Rawhide marathon

If you are interested in seeing Clint Eastwood before his sneering, raspy voice, Bridges of Madison County days, then today (July 4th) is your lucky day. The Hallmark Channel, which seems to show an inordinate amount of Western movies and television shows, is currently running a marathon of Rawhide until 8 p.m. this evening.

For those of you not familiar with the series, Rawhide starred Clint Eastwood as Rowdy Yates, one of a group of Texans led by Gil Flavor (Eric Fleming) who where taking 3000 herd of cattle north to market in Kansas. During their journey they encounter a number of characters, such as a bank robber who portrays himself as an East Coast lawyer, and they run into plenty of trouble, like a mob of angry townsfolk who learn that Rowdy and a number of cows have come down with anthrax. What the hell was Rowdy doing with the cows anyway? I mean, I know it's lonely in the West, but come on!

Episode summaries and some more information on the series, which ran from 1959 to 1965 on CBS, can be found at The Hallmark Channel website.