''Cade's County'' is a modern-day

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

crime drama Crime film is a film belonging to the crime fiction genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and fiction. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine with many other genres, such as Drama (film and television), dr ...

which aired Sundays at 9:30 pm (EST) on CBS during the 1971–1972 television season. There were 24 episodes.

Synopsis

''Cade's County'' starred well-known

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood ...

actor

Glenn Ford Gwyllyn Samuel Newton Ford (May 1, 1916 – August 30, 2006), known as Glenn Ford, was a Canadian-born American actor. He was most prominent during Classical Hollywood cinema, Hollywood's Golden Age as one of the biggest box-office draws of th ...

as Sam Cade, the sheriff of the fictional Madrid County, a vast and sparsely populated semiarid desert area that was apparently located in the American Southwest. There was a U.S. Border Patrol Station located in the area. Sheriff Cade worked a case with Border Patrol Agents involving murder and drug smuggling on a ranch in the county located on the U.S.- Mexico border, in Episode Four - "Crisscross". The state in which it was located was never mentioned; it could have been

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

(where much of the location filming took place),

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

or western

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

. Cade made occasional references to going to "Capitol City" for hearings and meetings. In the Cade's County Movie: "Slay Ride", Chief Deputy J.J. Jackson makes reference to the Criminal Information and Identification Lab in Austin. In Slay Ride Sheriff Cade describes Madrid County being approximately as large as Rhode Island. There is a town named

Madrid, New Mexico Madrid ( , ) is a census-designated place (CDP) in Santa Fe County, New Mexico, United States. It is part of the Santa Fe, New Mexico Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 149 at the 2000 census and 204 in 2010. Today, Madrid has b ...

, however, it is pronounced "MAD-rid", and is not a county seat. Cade's character was complex and interesting, though never fully developed. He came from a socially prominent and well-to-do family in the county, had served in the U.S. Navy as a fighter pilot — there was one reference to the Korean War — and had been an FBI agent, after which he returned to Madrid County to become sheriff. His father had been sheriff until he was shot and killed. There were no references to a wife or close family in the series. His chief deputy was J. J. Jackson, portrayed by the

character actor A character actor is an actor known for playing unusual, eccentric, or interesting character (arts), characters in supporting roles, rather than leading ones.28 April 2013, The New York Acting SchoolTen Best Character Actors of All Time Retrie ...

Edgar Buchanan William Edgar Buchanan II (March 20, 1903 – April 4, 1979) was an American actor with a long career in both film and television. He is most familiar today as Uncle Joe Carson from the '' Petticoat Junction'', '' Green Acres'', and '' The Bever ...

. While Cade had traveled the world, and had modern law enforcement training, Jackson had apparently spent most of his life and career in Madrid County. Writers avoided the stereotypical combination of "resistant-to-change veteran" and "newly hatched expert" – Jackson was a capable and competent lawman and right-hand man, Cade firmly in control but trusted by his people, who called him "Sam". Together they fought to maintain law and order against violent miners, cattle thieves and other lawbreakers who, for the most part, would have seemed at home in Westerns set in any era. Cade usually drove a Jeep CJ-5, as many of the roads in his jurisdiction were apparently little more than tracks across the sand. Several of the characters, including some of Cade's deputies, were Native Americans. Another deputy was played by Ford's son, Pete (also the name of his character). After summer hiatus, ''Cade's County'' was replaced in the 1972–1973 fall TV season by the hugely successful TV series ''

M*A*S*H ''M*A*S*H'' (an acronym for Mobile Army Surgical Hospital) is an American media franchise consisting of a series of novels, a film, several television series, plays, and other properties, and based on the semi-autobiographical fiction of Richa ...

''. The 94 minute ''Sam Cade — Marshal of Madrid'' was released in 1991 on VHS format, which combined footage from the episodes "Crisscross" and "A Gun for Billy". A two-part episode, ''Slay Ride'', was released as a television feature film, occasionally broadcast by independent television stations. A 92 minute movie was prepared under the name ''Sam Cade'' that is a stitching-together of footage from the episodes "Homecoming" and "Blackout". It was shown on TV, in theaters in Europe, and available on some DVD collections. The musical theme for the show was composed by

Henry Mancini Henry Mancini ( ; born Enrico Nicola Mancini; April 16, 1924 – June 14, 1994) was an American composer, conductor, arranger, pianist and flutist. Often cited as one of the greatest composers in the history of film, he won four Academy Awards, ...

. The title music appeared in an expanded version in the album ''Big Screen, Little Screen''.

Cast

as Sheriff Sam Cade *

as Senior Deputy J.J. Jackson * Taylor Lacher as Arlo Pritchard * Victor Campos as Rudy Davillo * Peter Ford as Deputy Pete * Sandra Ego as Joanie Little Bird * Betty Ann Carr as Betty Ann Sundown

Episodes

References

*Brooks, Tim and Marsh, Earle, '' The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows''

External links

*{{IMDb title, id=0066635, title=Cade's County Television series by 20th Century Fox Television 1970s American drama television series 1971 American television series debuts 1972 American television series endings 1970s Western (genre) television series American English-language television shows Television shows set in California Neo-Western television series CBS crime dramas