The Rifleman (Seasons 1–5)

The Rifleman (1958) is an ABC Western series you can watch online on iFILM. Chuck Connors plays Lucas McCain, a widowed rancher raising his son Mark alone in 1880s New Mexico Territory — one of the first prime-time shows to center a drama around a single parent. Shot in black and white, the series ran five seasons and 168 half-hour episodes from 1958 to 1963.

What set it apart: the show treated the father-son bond as seriously as any gunfight. Lucas teaches Mark more than marksmanship — each episode works through a moral question the frontier keeps raising. Early in their careers, Richard Donner and Sam Peckinpah directed episodes here.

Stream all seasons of The Rifleman online on iFILM.