Buick Man My dad loved the Opening of this show and always drove Station Wagons. He was a Musician Music Teacher and Assistant Music Director. When the guy says I wish I was you and Bronson says Well Hang In There he Laughed like Crazy. Latter I got to feel that Freedom when I Enlisted in the Navy in the early 70'S. My Duty Stations were in Alameda California for two years and San Diego for two years. Bought two Motorcycles in four years and covered Northern California and Southern California riding those Bikes 🏍 Thanks For That!
I was only 6 years old in 1969 but I remember watching them came Bronson every week… I remember putting a blanket on the handlebars of my mini bike… I thought I was him… I loved that show
@@buickman4878 Two minutes is all I could take. Constructive criticism, no disrespect; lose the background noise. The subject & your narration of it is great! The addition of distracting, monotonous & annoying music ruined the vid for me.
Sorry to hear that, I tried to pick something that would not be intrusive. It may have been louder in some of my videos than others. Thanks for watching what you did.
Children had more intelligence back in those days to appreciate a series with good dialogue, compelling stories, and good actors. I can't imagine a child of 2022 watching the show now for more than two minutes before losing interest. I'm currently watching the complete series and love it.
Same here. I was 14 and had spent the summer of '69 incarcerated on a Nazi (German immigrant) dairy farm in Wisconsin for $10 a week and room and board. To see Bronson cruising the beautiful western states was like therapy to me, although I'd yet to hear that term.
Me too it didn’t get any better I was 10 and got a mini bike first then at 13 I got a brand new OSSA 250 Trials bike think about that .Thank you Jim Bronson and especially you Buick Man I hung in there
I was 14 years old in 1969 and this was my favorite show on TV. In 1973 when I turned 18, I got a used 67 Sportster XLH and took off from Dallas Texas up into Banff Alberta, 4,500 miles trip for an 18 year old punk kid. The next 50+ years has seen me building choppers and I'm still riding the same 1974 Shovel Chopper I got back in 1974, yes, I'm its original owner. That chopper eventually got into Easyriders magazine and has been the basis of the 4 Chopper Hobo books I have written, all due to Then Came Bronson. Michael Parks, you were the best, RIP.
I love this. I own a 1968 XLCH 900cc Sportster, I still have it. I bought it new from Rieman's Harley in Kewanee, Illinois. Roger Reiman was the top road racer in the world at that time and he was also the main mechanic for Evil Knievel when he was doing his jumps. I thought I was Bronson every time I rode my bike. I had the navy watch cap, and the sunglasses, I put the Bronson eye on the tank. My wife was not impressed. She said the bike was the only think of any resemblance of the show. To this day when I ride my sportster, it gets a lot of looks and I am constantly being asked questions about it.
One of my favorite Top five programs of ALL TIME ! I Have had several harleys...but my Sportster (my first and still have) is my favorite ! TCB man !!!
Tom, Then Came Bronson had a parallel effect on my young life as it did yours. I was 11 and 12 years old during the 1969 and `70 series and I remember vividly being so excited that tonight my favorite TV show was on and I too laid on the living room floor in front of the TV so not to miss a single minute of the show. Come that Christmas I was so surprised to get the exact same 4 HP Sears mini bike that you had, and that night in 3 inches of snow and with the outside porch light on in the circle driveway, I rode it until I was almost frozen. (it really got so much colder back then) Come spring, I took the muffler off and found a foot long threaded galvanized piece of pipe and I really started to make some noise. ( our poor neighbors) I would ride literally for hours out our gravel driveway that made a circle at the house then went about a half a mile to a paved county road that headed towards town. Up and down and up and down our driveway singing Long Lonesome Highway for hours on end. It literally was heaven on earth for me. I was so lucky to have a dad that understood my new found passion and never once complained about buying the hundreds of gallons of gas that I would use. At junior high school I would sign all the paperwork that I handed in with a small JB encircled and placed it just above the g in my first name. My own little trademark. I carried this practice on all the way thru high school, to the last day. Being more than heart broken when the series cancelled, this was the way that I was determined to keep the Then Came Bronson dream alive for me. When your at such a young age as we were then, and without realizing it, you look around for a role model and thank god Michael Parks and this show was there for us. Such a free spirited, simple, god fearing soul, perfectly written by talented writers and played by our hero. It hurts me to say that todays generation most likely will never be touched in the same way or will ever know the level of joy that this man and this short lived series has given to us. Now looking back, truly a lifetime of of the best possible memories.....
OMGee. You just spoke my childhood. I was 9 in 69 and road a minitrail 50 with my blue bene hat on and then graduated to a 1972 SL 100! Thank you for the memories.
Some years back I was watching Tarantino's 'Kill Bill Volume 2' when I heard an actor say' "Bill, Bill, Bill...." and I said, "Then Came Bronson." The actor was Michael Parks playing Earl McGraw. I had wondered what had become of the lead from the show I remembered from my TV viewing past. And there he was. I loved that show man.
Me and my brother Rick watched this show every Wednesday and we still ride you all hang in there he always said that l was 12 and my brother 15 that got us closer than ever thanks Bronson 😅
GREAT JOB, Tom! It’ll be fun to watch this channel grow; I’m sure that it will make MANY Bronson - and Harley - fans very happy, and . . . make NEW FANS of 'your' passion!' You’ll become KNOWN, as THE Go-To Source for All Things TCB - Then Came Bronson 🏍!
I was a BIG fan of TCB in 1969 and I was hooked from the very first episode I watched. I was 17 that year and felt very lonely and isolated during my high school years. TCB and particularly the Bronson character as played by Parks, really spoke to me. I so yearned for the free life Bronson lived. That show for me was the embodiment of the liberation I wanted for myself at that time. My brother forwarded a link to one of these Buick Man episodes as he used to watch the show with me sometimes back then. Thanks Buick Man for doing this set of retrospective videos.
I was 19 when Then Came Bronson first aired. I would watch it with my grandmother who loved Bronson as much as I did. My whole life has been centered around Harleys and vintage British twins.
I was 11 y/o when I saw TCB, it blew my socks off! I liked his kindness but coolness too! He was a guy free! The motorcycle was so aesthectically perfect! I still want to ride the roads he rode!
Have the same story , just like when my older friends would come over on all kinds of different bikes , it was always the Harley that got me excited Then Came Bronson was the best
I was eleven years old. Two things stood out to me then about this show. First, Broson was really cool. Second, I felt how Bronson felt. Being free to roam. Explore. Adventure. Meeting people. But, moving on not staying anywhere.
When I first come home from Vietnam in 1969, I got introduced to the program. At that time in my life, I was planning for my trip to experience the country with my 1963 Harley FLH which I purchased at a police auction in 1965. My Harley was parked in my dad’s garage all the time I was in the Army. Bronson was a very interesting program which I look forward to each episode. My reasons for taking my long needed trip was to get the ravages of a war out of my head. At that time the V.A. Wasn’t helpful, only if one got seriously wounded during their tour. I had a few wounds, nothing serious enough to send me home. My wounds was the war stayed with me inside my head. I took off on my long travels and with in a few months I got my head screwed on with the help of my Harley and the very interesting people I got to meet. Most the folks I came across treated we great during my travels. There were a few, like the college kids or junky hippies that had issues with me and my past. As a young kid I learned well how to handle myself with assholes of the world. However, I look back over my memories and travels with my old Pan Head, great times. The program, Then came Bronson, reminded me of my times on the road and my first time at Sturgis. It took me about a year of traveling before I decided to head home to my parents and attempt to get settled in my life. Employee was hard to come by when the prospective employer heard I was a Vietnam vet. The media had so much negativity about us vets that the regular folks seemed to be scared of us vets back then. But that was then, my trips help me heal and that’s what counted. Anyway, I loved the Bronson show, watched it as much as I could. Too bad those type of shows aren’t on the tube today. Just might help some see there is a world outside of their bubble. But the folks today are now on a different wave length and would get bored with it. Old suckers like me would be only ones who would appreciate the show. Still riding this time in my life, enjoy the total freedom my Harley gives me as I travel. Age is just a number, if one has great health and can talk and chew bubble gum at the same time, you’re good to go. But if one is like Brandon. Stay home. Seek care. See ya down the road.
❤ The Esoteric Triangle Eye😮!On The Gas Tank!But you Cant Forget about The Real Bronson!Like Charles Bronson!That's The MAN!Tough as Sh*T!Cant Forget bout that Guy either!Take Care!CooL Story about your Motorcycle Influence!😃😎❣
I loved motorcycles and had seen the promo commercials for the show, me and my dad!,we watched all of them, I was 12 or 13 at the time 😊, ran into Michael Parks a few times at the Sage brush Cantina in Calabasas a few times during the 80's and 90's, he was pretty Cool 😎😁. Where you headed?!, Oh where ever I end up!👍
I was 10 years old when this show came on, and "The Forest Primeval" was my favorite episode. First had a Yamaha Mini Enduro, then later a Hodaka Super Rat. Rode a Yamaha AT125 in college. Quit riding for 25 years until I went riding with a work buddy. Eventually got a Harley Sportster in red to pay homage to my early years watching TCB! Thanks for the memories!
I was 16 in early 1969. I don't know of any other one-season show that had such an impact on me and so many others. I had just restored my first 25" color TV and enjoyed watching this show every week. I still have an audio tape I made of episode 16 "A-Pickin' an' A-Singin'" (no home video back then) and learned to love his easy country singing style. I subsequently bought the album "Long Lonesome Highway", and much later "Closing The Gap" I never got hooked on the Harley craze, and it would be about 4 years later I bought my first bike, a Honda CB360, and 6 years later a CB750F, together I think I put about 200k miles behind me. On short sponsored local weekend rides, we loved to warm our hands around a cup of coffee, while it seems the Harley riders warmed theirs exercising their tool kits! I look forward to checking out your other vids. Love the shot at 9:50!
I just remembered this show, and, I don't remember a lot about it, I don't think the motorcycle was the primary hook for me, but Michael Parks' character, and how he came across as a person, THAT made the most impression on me, I was 10 or 11, at the time. I am very disappointed that the show isn't available on reruns, but I appreciate that there are still many fans around who it made an impression on. Going down that long, lonesome highway.♥️👍🏻
I get that. I liked the idea of the freedom of riding a motorcycle, I liked the bike and I like how Michael Parks was Jim Bronmson! Thanks for watching!
My first bike was a 5hp Tecumsah Taco, and my second was a 1976 Honda XR75. Our arc is similar. And I had never seen this series or knew of these bikes until now. Very interesting video series. Thank you.
I to was a fan of Then Came Bronson. I was born in 1955, and loved watching the series. I went a different direction and rode mostly off road and raced hare scrambles. I never fell in love with Harley, but once worked at a motorcycle shop in the mid 1970's that repaired them. This gave me an opportunity to ride Harley, Triumph, Norton, and many other machines. I have own more bikes than I can member, here are the brands I have owned, Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki, Kawasaki, Can-Am, KTM-Husaberg. I love Easy Rider and On any Sunday. I have ridden from Kentucky to California. I was puzzled by the people that would tow their bike to Sturgis instead of riding it there. I rode to Sturgis just days before the rally. I think I have watch all of your TCB episodes, what a good job.
This is incredible!! I'm 65 now and this took me back to 1969/70! I loved the show and I too wanted to "drive down that long lonesome highway". My journey in some ways mirrored your's. From a used minibike to a '72 Honda SL100 to my first first Harley Sportster and now a Softail Heritage! Beautiful memories!
I had never heard of the movie until the buddy of mine gave me a copy of the movie on a VCR tape and I still have it and it still works and I still watch it
You can get a brand new DVD from Warner Brother Entertainment for about $20 on Amazon of the theatrical release of Then Came Bronson which include some brief nudity. It's crystal clear quality too! Thanks for watching!
Back in the late 70's & early 80's I rode high way 1 many many times. All over San Francisco And Sausalito. And noth of there. Santa Rosa, Healdsburg, Napa, Cloverdale, Guyserville , petaluma, Gurnville, all over. Ot was greate.
I also became a motorcycle due to the show Then Came Bronson. I now have been riding 50+ years. I have ridden 49 states and most of Canada and Mexico. I wish I had a dollar for every time I have sung to myself Going down that Long Lonesome Highway while riding. I do currently own a '66 XLH Restomod that a one time was set up to look like the Bronson bike. Now it sports a turtle tank and stock HD panniers.
Great video. I was 11 in 1969. I dreamed of hitting the road like Bronson. My first bike was a 1969 Honda 50 mini trail. I road my cousin’s 1973 Sportster when I was 15, never forgot the feeling it gave me. 25 years later I finally bought a sportster, the first of several bikes. I’m in my sixty’s now, still riding (3 Harleys and a Honda) and still dream of hitting the road. Nothing like a long stretch of empty highway, immersed in the scenery, the wind, and the drone of the bike. It’s like a runners high…
I have ridden a motorcycle many times across that iconic bridge on Hwy 1 South of Carmel, California. I too was influenced by Bronson. At that time, 1985-86 I was riding a Kawasaki Z900.
love it. I was just a kid in Ireland and had just bought a new Honda 125cc SS. Bronson came on TV and my dad told me about it. This was 1970 and I had just gone 16.
I was 10 when the show came out. This solidified my longing for wanderlust on two wheels. I have 50 years on two wheels now and will only give it up when age prohibits. Hope that is in my 90s. I travel alone and most people dont or cant understand. Motorcycles were never a fad for me, it is a way of life.
Just discovered this channel....so looking forward to the video in this series! Bronson was huge for me as a kid (15 years old at the time). Although Bronson had many cool adventures, and sometimes violence was unavoidable as a guy in a man's world, Bronson always chose peace whenever he could. The Vietnam War was at its peak at this time and millions demonstrated in the streets for an end to the slaughter in a foreign land and the stream of caskets coming back with American boys' remains. The Bronson character was like a deep breath of calm sanity in a crazy time. On another note, the music in the show was stellar. Great songs helped tell the stories and Parks did a fabulous job with pitch perfect vocal stylings. How I miss that character and this great show!
I will never forget what that show did for me I was 9 yrs old to me it was and still is the best show that ever came out of Hollywood and how it inspired so many young people it's such a shame that Hollywood puts out so much trash nowadays I still watch old episodes of Bronson just something about that show it's clean America needs another Bronson any way thanks for what you did I truly appreciate you
Absolutely wonderful video and subject, thank you so much. The way you describe your young discovery of Then came Bronson is a carbon copy of my own a few years later, it first aired in Ireland in the early 70s when I was about 13, and when I rode my bicycle I was Jim Bronson. I don't think my Dad liked me watching it in case I wanted a motorcycle but I was absolutely hooked, and my parents actually lent me the money to buy my first motorcycle when I was 17. Now all these years later I've had many, my pride and joy is my beautiful 1981 xs11oo which I've owned since 1983. Then came Bronson occupies a very special place in my heart and memories more than anything else (closely followed by Laurel and Hardy). Many thanks again Mr Buick man!, I look forward to the rest of the videos and I will definitely try to order the dvd s. Best wishes. Gérard lacey in Ireland. X.
Thanks for making this video! I wasn't born back then, but once I watched a few minutes from this show a few years ago, I was hooked and tried to find as many episodes as possible. I grew up loving bikes, specially Harleys. And my current bike is a Sportster. Looking forward watching your other videos on the subject. Your Bronson replica bike looks amazing, well done! One thing I also appreciate you for bringing up, is the fact that Bronson was not a druggie or alcoholic hell raiser type of biker, he was genuinely a good man.
The motorcycle, positioned in the back of the Harley Davidson out performers ad appears to be a 1969 Harley Davidson Electra Glide which is the bike my Dad purchased new in 1969, same color, the bike I took my motorcycle test on in 1980 at 16 years of age and still sits in my garage. He used the call name :Bronson" for his Ham Radio days all because of the TV show. Good stuff. Thanks for the memory recall.
Nice work. Have you seen this?...... The guy in the wagon.... FIRST CAME BRONSON, NEXT CAME KLITSNER, THEN CAME GREENE Bob Greene CHICAGO TRIBUNE `They just wanted me to play a harried business guy. They wanted me to portray a guy who had to do the same thing every day, day after day -- a guy who is sitting there in traffic, and is stuck in the monotonous commute he's stuck in every day. And then he looks out the window of his car and he sees someone who gets to live a different way." The person speaking -- Stu Klitsner, 74 -- was telling me about a small part he played in a pilot for a television series more than 30 years ago. As you know if you visit this space every day, the TV pilot turned into a series -- "Then Came Bronson" -- that ran for only one season: 1969-'70. I loved that series -- and especially the brief scene that opened every episode. Through the craziness of current-day communications, a reader in Salem, Ore. -- Bruce Bjorkman -- read, on his computer screen, my recent ramblings about "Then Came Bronson," and wrote me that he knew the man who had played the middle-age businessman in that opening scene. The man, Bjorkman told me, had been a counselor at the northern California junior high school where Bjorkman had been a student in the late '60s. The counselor had also been an aspiring actor -- his name was Stu Klitsner. One day he had been hired for a brief part in a new TV show. So one thing led to another, and I was able to find Stu Klitsner in Walnut Creek, Calif., where he and his wife of 49 years live in the house where they have lived for more than 40 years. He was surprised that anyone would take the trouble to look for him -- but he remembered well the scene that was so indelible to me and, or so I am hearing, to a lot of other people. "We shot it in San Francisco, on Lombard Street," he said. "I wore my own clothes -- I think I may have driven my own car. We got it in two or three takes." In the scene, Klitsner, playing the tired businessman, pulls up to a red light. There he encounters Bronson -- played by actor Michael Parks. Bronson is on his motorcycle, heading out to find whatever he can find in America. Their brief conversation at the traffic light -- I described it in Tuesday's column -- set the tone for the show. "I don't think the producers knew they were going to use it to start every episode," Klitsner told me. "But then I guess they realized that it summed up the essence of the show in a very few words. "That scene represented what a lot of guys would say, if they could express their feelings about what they want in their lives, and what is missing. That yearning to try something that will set them free -- that one thing they want to do but they're afraid to do. They're scared -- they're tied into the security they have worked for, so they don't go after the dream. The guy I played -- the guy at the traffic light -- represents who they are. Bronson represented what they wished they could be." Klitsner said that, at 74, he is pleased with how his life has turned out. He spent all his adult years working as a school counselor, and was able to do some acting on the side on days off; he and his wife raised three children, and he has few regrets. But does he ever wish that he had pulled a Bronson -- that he had defied convention, and given everything up to chase a distant dream? "Sure," he said. "I was envious of Bronson, and the chances he was taking. To live freely, without being tied down to a routine. But he was just a TV character -- and I was just the other character in the next car." I thanked Klitsner for his time, and said that I had to ask him a big favor. It might sound stupid to him -- but I had waited all these years, and I had finally found him. I asked him to run through that opening scene with me. "On the phone?" he said. "Yes," I said. "Who plays who?" he said. "You be you," I said. "I'll be Bronson." And so we did it. Same exact dialogue. MR. KLITSNER: "Takin' a trip?" MR. GREENE: "What's that?" MR. KLITSNER: "Takin' a trip?" MR. GREENE: "Yeah." MR. KLITSNER: "Where to?" MR. GREENE: "Oh, I don't know . . . wherever I end up, I guess." MR. KLITSNER (after a pensive pause): "Man, I wish I was you." MR. GREENE (sounding a little surprised): "Really?" MR. KLITSNER: "Yeah." MR. GREENE: "Well . . . hang in there." You know, there are days when I really love this job.
I learned how to ride a bicycle during the Summer of 1969. Yes I was a little late in the bicycle riding adventure - 9 years old. However I made up for lost time. I LOVED that show Then Came Bronson. It showed me a man, a role model that exhibited freedom of the open road and the fact that motorcycles could be fun. My first motorcycle was a 1975 Honda Z50 Mini Trail, my second one was a 1980 Honda XL 100cc dual sport. Back when TCB was on, they were called motosports. My third motorcycle was a 1986 Honda TR 200cc Fat Cat, and finally my final motorcycle was a 1975 Yamaha DT 250cc Enduro. Due to my eye sight not cooperating with me, I had to retire my days of riding motorcycles. I am NOT a happy camper having to do so. However I do have AWESOME memories of those days out on a cow trail plonking and having oodles of fun. 😊❤
I was 8, and rode a 5 HP minibike lol, then a dirt bike at 10, then a Yamaha RD350 at 15....now I'm on a 2003 Harley Heritage Softail after a lifetime of many bikes! great video, we had a similar start to a life of riding!
At 68 years old, still a passionate rider. I love the big muscle cruisers. It all started in elementary school, with my best friend and a couple of Honda Trail 90s and his huge 1.5 acre yard......and then, at 14 years old... "Then Came Bronson".... Like you, and many others, the program with Michael Parks left a huge impact on me. Thank you for sharing this!
I watched every show, I was 12 at the time. When I was 20 I bought a bike and quit my job and headed west by myself with 800 dollars, what a adventure,
I loved this show when I was a kid, I talked about it so much my parents and friends started calling me Bronson, and still do today, I even use it as my handle on TH-cam and Google
I was 10 when the show first aired,it also inspired me to ride motorcycles,and wanted even to be Bronson when I grew up.i would take an audio tape recorder and make my family be quite while recording each episode, than play them back,I remember all the cigarette ads.would love to have a replica bike,never see them for sale,imagine they would be expensive to build? Thank you for preserving the show,I have them on dvds from a guy in Canada who recorded them off the tuner broadcast network. Hang in there
Boy would I like to have a few of the ones or copies of the ones with good quality - it helped me to see a better life for my future - i own 8 bikes even now - am getting to the shape of not being able to ride - but still have my dreams of grandeur -- hehehehehe
I was 11, got the same the itch, I remember the cl 100s,had a carb restrictor to keep at five hp. I got a 1972 Yamaha at2 125 enduro, I have had six in the last 52 years still have1974 Yamaha dt 360 and triumph 2001 thunderbird. Love Michael parks. The king of cool. I think i will go for a ride tommorow.
I too was inspired by this TV series. I bought the model kit of Bronson motorcycle and loved Harley Sportsters ever since. I own a 08 Harley Sportster 1200 Custom but will never come close to the “69. Someday one my come my way. I gotta “Just Hang In There”
Very similar here. I loved that show. About 12 then. Then my dad brought me home a used but in good condition, 5 hp Tecumseh 2 seat minibike with larger tires and I was hooked. Motorcycle at 16. A dozen or so bikes later. I just stopped riding about 5 years ago. Its funny how many people I have talked to that have never heard of that show.
As a restless teen in 1969 after graduating from high school, I got a job to pay for a used 1964 BSA Thunderbolt. Influenced by TCB I spent the summer of 1970 with 4 other riders on a trip from S/W Ohio up into Ontario Canada. I documented that trip in my book "Split the Early Years: a Psychedelic Motorcycle Adventure""
We are Kindred Spirits sir, though you were able to do the dream MUCH more justice. Like yourself, and many others here, the TV show changed me. Living in a small town, just off a major state road (at the time), the one thing I wanted was freedom to travel. The thought of a guy taking off on his own, with minimal gear, going places and having adventures was exactly what I'd already dreamed about, even before this show was aired. TCB set the fantasy in concrete. My imagination was new and young enough to transform my Schwinn "Stingray" into a "Bronson Bike"---I'd later learn that it was called a Sportster---and my adventures were created in my mind as I road it in the streets of my hometown. It would be several years and many miles later on a my first motorcycle, a much-previously-abused Honda 305 "Super Hawk, before I was just barely able to purchase the bike of my dreams, an XLCH Sportster. The bike was incredibly expensive by our standards of the time, and you could buy a pretty nice used car for the $2400 I talked a local banker into lending me. I knew from the start that I'd have to treat it like a car, riding it in all weather, and only freeloading from my friends when the roads were icy. But I had my Sportster, and was happily willing to live on TV dinners and food from generous friends to help me meet the payments. The Sportster didn't kill me, and I still have it today, unmodified, having only swapped a few tires and a main sprocket ( I was a while learning about proper chain tension), and it still runs, though its road time is over for me. Thank you for this video and those to come. Sincerely, Kim
Hey Buck, I too was on the living room floor and was completely taken in by the show. I didn't get into motorcycles until 1977 and never had any H-D bikes, but I road a lot for 7 years, had a great time, no accidents, no mishaps. Thanks for doing this!
I was 7 and 8 years old when the show aired and it was one of my favorite shows at the time and never missed an episode. I remember being so mad when the show didn't return the next season. Michael Parks always reminded me of James Dean. I have always enjoyed any movie or TV show he was later in.
okay, im in, just cant binge watch, ha, although i spent 3 hours watching a live horse auction last nite....youve layed out some great expectations, seems a labor of love and commitment.... huzzah, and God speed
I remember watching some of the shows when I was young. Not more than a few years later by age fifteen I was on the road hitchiking in Canada spent many years hitching around North America. Now decades later wandering throughout Southeast Asia.
Yeah I remembered the show as 9/10 year old in 1969 & 1970, I wanted to be like him and get motorcycle like his his Harley Davidson Sportster what a show.
I was crazy for this show as well. He was was so cool and I so wasn't. Even then I realized some shots were "overproduced" but I still loved it. Still a fan of Michael Parks.
I remember the show and enjoyed it, but what had a greater influence on me was the movie On Any Sunday. I have owned 20 bikes in my life time of riding. My first bike was a Honda SL 350. The smallest was a Honda CT70 and the largest was Honda Goldmine Interstate. I owned just about every type of bike from trail, MX, cruisers, rice rockets, to touring.
I was 15 then and 70 now and still riding a Harley Davison motorcycle back then I raced dirt bikes and road Yamaha street bikes I bought my first Harley at age 17 and still riding them
I have contacted Warner Brothers to ask that question since they have released the Pilot movie that started it all. No reply. If you go to jimbronson.com and click on the STORE tab you can order a set of DVD's in pretty good quality. Thanks for watching.
Also watched this as a teenager this was a great show. Like EMERGENCY! these shows were never in reruns. I met Kevin Tighe who played Roy said Jack Webb and Cinader both died soon after the show was cancelled, I no this isn't TCB., but the old shows were great .
Back in 1974 the speed limit on the interstate was 55 and i could go about 90 miles before reserve and then I was sweating it out trying to find a gas station. Thanks for watching!
Buick Man My dad loved the Opening of this show and always drove Station Wagons. He was a Musician Music Teacher and Assistant Music Director. When the guy says I wish I was you and Bronson says Well Hang In There he Laughed like Crazy. Latter I got to feel that Freedom when I Enlisted in the Navy in the early 70'S. My Duty Stations were in Alameda California for two years and San Diego for two years. Bought two Motorcycles in four years and covered Northern California and Southern California riding those Bikes 🏍 Thanks For That!
Great story! Thank you for your service! And thanks for watching!
Very cool memory! Thanks for watching!
I was only 6 years old in 1969 but I remember watching them came Bronson every week… I remember putting a blanket on the handlebars of my mini bike… I thought I was him… I loved that show
That's really cool! Thanks for watching!
@@buickman4878 Two minutes is all I could take. Constructive criticism, no disrespect; lose the background noise.
The subject & your narration of it is great! The addition of distracting, monotonous & annoying music ruined the vid for me.
Sorry to hear that, I tried to pick something that would not be intrusive. It may have been louder in some of my videos than others. Thanks for watching what you did.
@@buickman4878 nothing but ❤ bro! I'm sure many of your regular viewers like it, or don't even notice it.
Cool! Thanks for watching!
Children had more intelligence back in those days to appreciate a series with good dialogue, compelling stories, and good actors. I can't imagine a child of 2022 watching the show now for more than two minutes before losing interest. I'm currently watching the complete series and love it.
I agree with you! Thanks for watching!
where did ya get the full series - most I have seen is in very bad shape - quality less than a VHS -
I was 14 and still remember watching the first episode, and every episode there after. I loved the show and never forgot the impact it had on me. 💞
Thank you Helen, same for me as well! Thanks for watching!
Same here. I was 14 and had spent the summer of '69 incarcerated on a Nazi (German immigrant) dairy farm in Wisconsin for $10 a week and room and board. To see Bronson cruising the beautiful western states was like therapy to me, although I'd yet to hear that term.
Me too it didn’t get any better I was 10 and got a mini bike first then at 13 I got a brand new OSSA 250 Trials bike think about that .Thank you Jim Bronson and especially you Buick Man I hung in there
🏆Best Comment Award 🏆
Sometimes the comments section is better than the video!
Absolutely!!! I was sixteen and my life was set. I'm 70 now, still in the saddle!!!
Good for you! What do you ride?
@@buickman4878 Now, 99 SERG
I was 14 years old in 1969 and this was my favorite show on TV. In 1973 when I turned 18, I got a used 67 Sportster XLH and took off from Dallas Texas up into Banff Alberta, 4,500 miles trip for an 18 year old punk kid. The next 50+ years has seen me building choppers and I'm still riding the same 1974 Shovel Chopper I got back in 1974, yes, I'm its original owner. That chopper eventually got into Easyriders magazine and has been the basis of the 4 Chopper Hobo books I have written, all due to Then Came Bronson. Michael Parks, you were the best, RIP.
Cool story! Thanks for watching!
I was 9 in 1969. My dad and I watched every episode. A great TV show. A remake of it would be a good idea.❤
That's a great story! I agree, a remake or a movie or something! Thanks for watching!
@@buickman4878 Keeanu Reeves would be perfect for the role.
@@surfkat59 Maybe he would!
Watch the remake of The Fall Guy and rethink if a remake of Then Came Bronson would be a good idea.
Back then there was less TV stations with more TV shows on than today 😂
Funny but true and it was FREE! Thanks for watching!
I love this. I own a 1968 XLCH 900cc Sportster, I still have it. I bought it new from Rieman's Harley in Kewanee, Illinois. Roger Reiman was the top road racer in the world at that time and he was also the main mechanic for Evil Knievel when he was doing his jumps. I thought I was Bronson every time I rode my bike. I had the navy watch cap, and the sunglasses, I put the Bronson eye on the tank. My wife was not impressed. She said the bike was the only think of any resemblance of the show. To this day when I ride my sportster, it gets a lot of looks and I am constantly being asked questions about it.
Great story! Thanks for watching!
One of my favorite Top five programs of ALL TIME !
I Have had several harleys...but my Sportster (my first and still have) is my favorite !
TCB man !!!
That is cool! What year is your Sportster?
❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
HIM FOREVER!!!
Tom, Then Came Bronson had a parallel effect on my young life as it did yours. I was 11 and 12 years old during the 1969 and `70 series and I remember vividly being so excited that tonight my favorite TV show was on and I too laid on the living room floor in front of the TV so not to miss a single minute of the show. Come that Christmas I was so surprised to get the exact same 4 HP Sears mini bike that you had, and that night in 3 inches of snow and with the outside porch light on in the circle driveway, I rode it until I was almost frozen. (it really got so much colder back then) Come spring, I took the muffler off and found a foot long threaded galvanized piece of pipe and I really started to make some noise. ( our poor neighbors) I would ride literally for hours out our gravel driveway that made a circle at the house then went about a half a mile to a paved county road that headed towards town. Up and down and up and down our driveway singing Long Lonesome Highway for hours on end. It literally was heaven on earth for me. I was so lucky to have a dad that understood my new found passion and never once complained about buying the hundreds of gallons of gas that I would use. At junior high school I would sign all the paperwork that I handed in with a small JB encircled and placed it just above the g in my first name. My own little trademark. I carried this practice on all the way thru high school, to the last day. Being more than heart broken when the series cancelled, this was the way that I was determined to keep the Then Came Bronson dream alive for me. When your at such a young age as we were then, and without realizing it, you look around for a role model and thank god Michael Parks and this show was there for us. Such a free spirited, simple, god fearing soul, perfectly written by talented writers and played by our hero. It hurts me to say that todays generation most likely will never be touched in the same way or will ever know the level of joy that this man and this short lived series has given to us. Now looking back, truly a lifetime of of the best possible memories.....
You have a great story! I drew "All Seeing Eyes" on everything in high school. Thanks for watching!
OMGee. You just spoke my childhood. I was 9 in 69 and road a minitrail 50 with my blue bene hat on and then graduated to a 1972 SL 100!
Thank you for the memories.
Cool story! Thanks for watching!
Some years back I was watching Tarantino's 'Kill Bill Volume 2' when I heard an actor say' "Bill, Bill, Bill...." and I said, "Then Came Bronson." The actor was Michael Parks playing Earl McGraw. I had wondered what had become of the lead from the show I remembered from my TV viewing past. And there he was. I loved that show man.
Me and my brother Rick watched this show every Wednesday and we still ride you all hang in there he always said that l was 12 and my brother 15 that got us closer than ever thanks Bronson 😅
GREAT JOB, Tom!
It’ll be fun to watch this channel grow; I’m sure that it will make MANY Bronson
- and Harley - fans very happy, and . . . make NEW FANS of 'your' passion!'
You’ll become KNOWN, as THE Go-To Source for All Things TCB - Then Came Bronson 🏍!
Thanks Ed! I don't want to be a "know it all" but I have learned a lot over the years!
That TV show had a profound effect on many people. I think Michael Parks would be proud for his legacy from "Then Came Bronson".
Yes I think so too! Thanks for watching!
I was a BIG fan of TCB in 1969 and I was hooked from the very first episode I watched. I was 17 that year and felt very lonely and isolated during my high school years. TCB and particularly the Bronson character as played by Parks, really spoke to me. I so yearned for the free life Bronson lived. That show for me was the embodiment of the liberation I wanted for myself at that time. My brother forwarded a link to one of these Buick Man episodes as he used to watch the show with me sometimes back then. Thanks Buick Man for doing this set of retrospective videos.
I like your story and thanks for watching!
I was 19 when Then Came Bronson first aired. I would watch it with my grandmother who loved Bronson as much as I did. My whole life has been centered around Harleys and vintage British twins.
Very cool! Thanks for watching!
I was 11 y/o when I saw TCB, it blew my socks off! I liked his kindness but coolness too! He was a guy free! The motorcycle was so aesthectically perfect! I still want to ride the roads he rode!
I know exactly what you mean! Thanks for watching!
I love this movie! I discovered it as a teenager and always thought it was feature quality. Didn't realize it was a pilot! Thanks so much!
Thanks for watching!
Wow it was like you where in my head ....i was 13 watching sitting on the cold tarazel floor. With my eyes glued to the T.V. Major flash back!
Glad you liked it! Thanks for watching!
Have the same story , just like when my older friends would come over on all kinds of different bikes , it was always the Harley that got me excited Then Came Bronson was the best
Very cool! Thanks for watching!
That was my favorite show of all time,I’m a sport fan.
Me too! Thanks for watching!
I was eleven years old. Two things stood out to me then about this show. First, Broson was really cool. Second, I felt how Bronson felt. Being free to roam. Explore. Adventure. Meeting people. But, moving on not staying anywhere.
Very cool! Thanks for watching!
When I first come home from Vietnam in 1969, I got introduced to the program. At that time in my life, I was planning for my trip to experience the country with my 1963 Harley FLH which I purchased at a police auction in 1965. My Harley was parked in my dad’s garage all the time I was in the Army. Bronson was a very interesting program which I look forward to each episode. My reasons for taking my long needed trip was to get the ravages of a war out of my head. At that time the V.A. Wasn’t helpful, only if one got seriously wounded during their tour. I had a few wounds, nothing serious enough to send me home. My wounds was the war stayed with me inside my head. I took off on my long travels and with in a few months I got my head screwed on with the help of my Harley and the very interesting people I got to meet. Most the folks I came across treated we great during my travels. There were a few, like the college kids or junky hippies that had issues with me and my past. As a young kid I learned well how to handle myself with assholes of the world. However, I look back over my memories and travels with my old Pan Head, great times. The program, Then came Bronson, reminded me of my times on the road and my first time at Sturgis. It took me about a year of traveling before I decided to head home to my parents and attempt to get settled in my life. Employee was hard to come by when the prospective employer heard I was a Vietnam vet. The media had so much negativity about us vets that the regular folks seemed to be scared of us vets back then. But that was then, my trips help me heal and that’s what counted. Anyway, I loved the Bronson show, watched it as much as I could. Too bad those type of shows aren’t on the tube today. Just might help some see there is a world outside of their bubble. But the folks today are now on a different wave length and would get bored with it. Old suckers like me would be only ones who would appreciate the show. Still riding this time in my life, enjoy the total freedom my Harley gives me as I travel. Age is just a number, if one has great health and can talk and chew bubble gum at the same time, you’re good to go. But if one is like Brandon. Stay home. Seek care. See ya down the road.
Amazing story and thank you for your service! Thanks for watching!
Wow, that brought back so many memories. Well done!
Thanks Bob!
❤ The Esoteric Triangle Eye😮!On The Gas Tank!But you Cant Forget about The Real Bronson!Like Charles Bronson!That's The MAN!Tough as Sh*T!Cant Forget bout that Guy either!Take Care!CooL Story about your Motorcycle Influence!😃😎❣
Thanks for watching!
It was an interesting series that opened my eyes to life's journey. Being young it gave me a lot to look forward too.
I agree 100% Thanks for watching!
Brings back some good memories!
Great! Thanks for watching!
Dude! The show bit me too! Been on two wheels for 50+ years!👍
I loved motorcycles and had seen the promo commercials for the show, me and my dad!,we watched all of them, I was 12 or 13 at the time 😊, ran into Michael Parks a few times at the Sage brush Cantina in Calabasas a few times during the 80's and 90's, he was pretty Cool 😎😁. Where you headed?!, Oh where ever I end up!👍
Great story! Thanks for watching!
I was 10 years old when this show came on, and "The Forest Primeval" was my favorite episode. First had a Yamaha Mini Enduro, then later a Hodaka Super Rat. Rode a Yamaha AT125 in college. Quit riding for 25 years until I went riding with a work buddy. Eventually got a Harley Sportster in red to pay homage to my early years watching TCB! Thanks for the memories!
Great story! Thanks for watching!
I was 16 in early 1969. I don't know of any other one-season show that had such an impact on me and so many others. I had just restored my first 25" color TV and enjoyed watching this show every week. I still have an audio tape I made of episode 16 "A-Pickin' an' A-Singin'" (no home video back then) and learned to love his easy country singing style. I subsequently bought the album "Long Lonesome Highway", and much later "Closing The Gap" I never got hooked on the Harley craze, and it would be about 4 years later I bought my first bike, a Honda CB360, and 6 years later a CB750F, together I think I put about 200k miles behind me. On short sponsored local weekend rides, we loved to warm our hands around a cup of coffee, while it seems the Harley riders warmed theirs exercising their tool kits! I look forward to checking out your other vids. Love the shot at 9:50!
Very cool story you have! Thanks for watching!
I just remembered this show, and, I don't remember a lot about it, I don't think the motorcycle was the primary hook for me, but Michael Parks' character, and how he came across as a person, THAT made the most impression on me, I was 10 or 11, at the time. I am very disappointed that the show isn't available on reruns, but I appreciate that there are still many fans around who it made an impression on.
Going down that long, lonesome highway.♥️👍🏻
I get that. I liked the idea of the freedom of riding a motorcycle, I liked the bike and I like how Michael Parks was Jim Bronmson! Thanks for watching!
I never missed the show and at 75, still have an old 73 Sportster that I restored.
Nice ! Thanks for watching!
I loved the show I had a bike when I was 12 and had a few others in my adult life there is a great feeling riding a bike
Yes there is! Thanks for watching!
My first bike was a 5hp Tecumsah Taco, and my second was a 1976 Honda XR75. Our arc is similar. And I had never seen this series or knew of these bikes until now. Very interesting video series. Thank you.
Cool! Thanks for watching!
I to was a fan of Then Came Bronson. I was born in 1955, and loved watching the series. I went a different direction and rode mostly off road and raced hare scrambles. I never fell in love with Harley, but once worked at a motorcycle shop in the mid 1970's that repaired them. This gave me an opportunity to ride Harley, Triumph, Norton, and many other machines. I have own more bikes than I can member, here are the brands I have owned, Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki, Kawasaki, Can-Am, KTM-Husaberg. I love Easy Rider and On any Sunday. I have ridden from Kentucky to California. I was puzzled by the people that would tow their bike to Sturgis instead of riding it there. I rode to Sturgis just days before the rally. I think I have watch all of your TCB episodes, what a good job.
Great story, I too worked at a Harley dealer. Thanks for watching!
This is incredible!! I'm 65 now and this took me back to 1969/70! I loved the show and I too wanted to "drive down that long lonesome highway". My journey in some ways mirrored your's. From a used minibike to a '72 Honda SL100 to my first first Harley Sportster and now a Softail Heritage! Beautiful memories!
Thanks for watching Max!
I had never heard of the movie until the buddy of mine gave me a copy of the movie on a VCR tape and I still have it and it still works and I still watch it
You can get a brand new DVD from Warner Brother Entertainment for about $20 on Amazon of the theatrical release of Then Came Bronson which include some brief nudity. It's crystal clear quality too! Thanks for watching!
Back in the late 70's & early 80's I rode high way 1 many many times. All over San Francisco And Sausalito. And noth of there. Santa Rosa, Healdsburg, Napa, Cloverdale, Guyserville , petaluma, Gurnville, all over. Ot was greate.
That's awesome you got to ride in the filming locations! Thanks for watching!
@@buickman4878 👍
I also became a motorcycle due to the show Then Came Bronson. I now have been riding 50+ years. I have ridden 49 states and most of Canada and Mexico. I wish I had a dollar for every time I have sung to myself Going down that Long Lonesome Highway while riding. I do currently own a '66 XLH Restomod that a one time was set up to look like the Bronson bike. Now it sports a turtle tank and stock HD panniers.
Very cool! Thanks for watching!
Great video. I was 11 in 1969. I dreamed of hitting the road like Bronson. My first bike was a 1969 Honda 50 mini trail. I road my cousin’s 1973 Sportster when I was 15, never forgot the feeling it gave me.
25 years later I finally bought a sportster, the first of several bikes. I’m in my sixty’s now, still riding (3 Harleys and a Honda) and still dream of hitting the road. Nothing like a long stretch of empty highway, immersed in the scenery, the wind, and the drone of the bike. It’s like a runners high…
I agree! Thanks for watching!
I have ridden a motorcycle many times across that iconic bridge on Hwy 1 South of Carmel, California. I too was influenced by Bronson. At that time, 1985-86 I was riding a Kawasaki Z900.
Me too! Thanks for watching!
My first bike was a 1972 orange cl100. I rode that bike all around the Baltimore/Washington area. Good times!
love it. I was just a kid in Ireland and had just bought a new Honda 125cc SS. Bronson came on TV and my dad told me about it. This was 1970 and I had just gone 16.
Thanks for watching!
I was 10 when the show came out. This solidified my longing for wanderlust on two wheels. I have 50 years on two wheels now and will only give it up when age prohibits. Hope that is in my 90s. I travel alone and most people dont or cant understand. Motorcycles were never a fad for me, it is a way of life.
I feel the same way! Thanks for watching!
Just discovered this channel....so looking forward to the video in this series! Bronson was huge for me as a kid (15 years old at the time). Although Bronson had many cool adventures, and sometimes violence was unavoidable as a guy in a man's world, Bronson always chose peace whenever he could. The Vietnam War was at its peak at this time and millions demonstrated in the streets for an end to the slaughter in a foreign land and the stream of caskets coming back with American boys' remains. The Bronson character was like a deep breath of calm sanity in a crazy time. On another note, the music in the show was stellar. Great songs helped tell the stories and Parks did a fabulous job with pitch perfect vocal stylings. How I miss that character and this great show!
I have to agree with you. And thanks for watching!
I don't know that I watched every episode but I know most of the lyrics to this theme song and it was a fan. I also owned a red 1975 XLH.
I will never forget what that show did for me I was 9 yrs old to me it was and still is the best show that ever came out of Hollywood and how it inspired so many young people it's such a shame that Hollywood puts out so much trash nowadays I still watch old episodes of Bronson just something about that show it's clean America needs another Bronson any way thanks for what you did I truly appreciate you
I agree with you! Thank you and Thanks for watching!
Good job,Happy Harley Days, the show and parks inspired me as well. I've had 5 SPORTSTERS, I have a 2022 1200 X. 48. RIDE EASY. 😊
Thank you! And thanks for watching!
Thank you ,I also loved this show
Thanks Stephanie for watching!
Absolutely wonderful video and subject, thank you so much. The way you describe your young discovery of Then came Bronson is a carbon copy of my own a few years later, it first aired in Ireland in the early 70s when I was about 13, and when I rode my bicycle I was Jim Bronson. I don't think my Dad liked me watching it in case I wanted a motorcycle but I was absolutely hooked, and my parents actually lent me the money to buy my first motorcycle when I was 17. Now all these years later I've had many, my pride and joy is my beautiful 1981 xs11oo which I've owned since 1983. Then came Bronson occupies a very special place in my heart and memories more than anything else (closely followed by Laurel and Hardy). Many thanks again Mr Buick man!, I look forward to the rest of the videos and I will definitely try to order the dvd s. Best wishes. Gérard lacey in Ireland. X.
Thank you Gerard! I enjoy doing these videos and trying to keep the memory alive!
Thanks for making this video! I wasn't born back then, but once I watched a few minutes from this show a few years ago, I was hooked and tried to find as many episodes as possible. I grew up loving bikes, specially Harleys. And my current bike is a Sportster. Looking forward watching your other videos on the subject. Your Bronson replica bike looks amazing, well done! One thing I also appreciate you for bringing up, is the fact that Bronson was not a druggie or alcoholic hell raiser type of biker, he was genuinely a good man.
I am glad younger folks like TCB. Thanks for watching!
The motorcycle, positioned in the back of the Harley Davidson out performers ad appears to be a 1969 Harley Davidson Electra Glide which is the bike my Dad purchased new in 1969, same color, the bike I took my motorcycle test on in 1980 at 16 years of age and still sits in my garage. He used the call name :Bronson" for his Ham Radio days all because of the TV show. Good stuff. Thanks for the memory recall.
Cool story! Thanks for watching!
Nice work. Have you seen this?......
The guy in the wagon....
FIRST CAME BRONSON, NEXT CAME KLITSNER, THEN CAME GREENE
Bob Greene
CHICAGO TRIBUNE
`They just wanted me to play a harried business guy. They wanted me to portray a guy who had to do the same thing every day, day after day -- a guy who is sitting there in traffic, and is stuck in the monotonous commute he's stuck in every day. And then he looks out the window of his car and he sees someone who gets to live a different way."
The person speaking -- Stu Klitsner, 74 -- was telling me about a small part he played in a pilot for a television series more than 30 years ago. As you know if you visit this space every day, the TV pilot turned into a series -- "Then Came Bronson" -- that ran for only one season: 1969-'70. I loved that series -- and especially the brief scene that opened every episode.
Through the craziness of current-day communications, a reader in Salem, Ore. -- Bruce Bjorkman -- read, on his computer screen, my recent ramblings about "Then Came Bronson," and wrote me that he knew the man who had played the middle-age businessman in that opening scene. The man, Bjorkman told me, had been a counselor at the northern California junior high school where Bjorkman had been a student in the late '60s. The counselor had also been an aspiring actor -- his name was Stu Klitsner. One day he had been hired for a brief part in a new TV show.
So one thing led to another, and I was able to find Stu Klitsner in Walnut Creek, Calif., where he and his wife of 49 years live in the house where they have lived for more than 40 years. He was surprised that anyone would take the trouble to look for him -- but he remembered well the scene that was so indelible to me and, or so I am hearing, to a lot of other people.
"We shot it in San Francisco, on Lombard Street," he said. "I wore my own clothes -- I think I may have driven my own car. We got it in two or three takes."
In the scene, Klitsner, playing the tired businessman, pulls up to a red light. There he encounters Bronson -- played by actor Michael Parks. Bronson is on his motorcycle, heading out to find whatever he can find in America. Their brief conversation at the traffic light -- I described it in Tuesday's column -- set the tone for the show.
"I don't think the producers knew they were going to use it to start every episode," Klitsner told me. "But then I guess they realized that it summed up the essence of the show in a very few words.
"That scene represented what a lot of guys would say, if they could express their feelings about what they want in their lives, and what is missing. That yearning to try something that will set them free -- that one thing they want to do but they're afraid to do. They're scared -- they're tied into the security they have worked for, so they don't go after the dream. The guy I played -- the guy at the traffic light -- represents who they are. Bronson represented what they wished they could be."
Klitsner said that, at 74, he is pleased with how his life has turned out. He spent all his adult years working as a school counselor, and was able to do some acting on the side on days off; he and his wife raised three children, and he has few regrets. But does he ever wish that he had pulled a Bronson -- that he had defied convention, and given everything up to chase a distant dream?
"Sure," he said. "I was envious of Bronson, and the chances he was taking. To live freely, without being tied down to a routine. But he was just a TV character -- and I was just the other character in the next car."
I thanked Klitsner for his time, and said that I had to ask him a big favor. It might sound stupid to him -- but I had waited all these years, and I had finally found him.
I asked him to run through that opening scene with me.
"On the phone?" he said.
"Yes," I said.
"Who plays who?" he said.
"You be you," I said. "I'll be Bronson."
And so we did it. Same exact dialogue.
MR. KLITSNER: "Takin' a trip?"
MR. GREENE: "What's that?"
MR. KLITSNER: "Takin' a trip?"
MR. GREENE: "Yeah."
MR. KLITSNER: "Where to?"
MR. GREENE: "Oh, I don't know . . . wherever I end up, I guess."
MR. KLITSNER (after a pensive pause): "Man, I wish I was you."
MR. GREENE (sounding a little surprised): "Really?"
MR. KLITSNER: "Yeah."
MR. GREENE: "Well . . . hang in there."
You know, there are days when I really love this job.
Yes I have, that was a great article! Thanks for watching!
Loved watching TCB. Thanks for the memories.
the show got me hooked on riding 50 years later still riding also never wanted to be that guy in the station wagon RIP michael parks
Yep, me too! Thanks for watching!
My Dad loved this show. So much, that I bought him the Michael Parks album with the title track on it. Rollin down that long lonesome highway.
He must be my age! Thanks for watching!
It was a great platform to mirror society @ that tumultuous time of upheaval! BRILLIANT!👍
Fantastic project.
Thanks for watching!
I learned how to ride a bicycle during the Summer of 1969. Yes I was a little late in the bicycle riding adventure - 9 years old. However I made up for lost time. I LOVED that show Then Came Bronson. It showed me a man, a role model that exhibited freedom of the open road and the fact that motorcycles could be fun. My first motorcycle was a 1975 Honda Z50 Mini Trail, my second one was a 1980 Honda XL 100cc dual sport. Back when TCB was on, they were called motosports. My third motorcycle was a 1986 Honda TR 200cc Fat Cat, and finally my final motorcycle was a 1975 Yamaha DT 250cc Enduro. Due to my eye sight not cooperating with me, I had to retire my days of riding motorcycles. I am NOT a happy camper having to do so. However I do have AWESOME memories of those days out on a cow trail plonking and having oodles of fun. 😊❤
That's a great story! Thanks for watching!
I was 8, and rode a 5 HP minibike lol, then a dirt bike at 10, then a Yamaha RD350 at 15....now I'm on a 2003 Harley Heritage Softail after a lifetime of many bikes! great video, we had a similar start to a life of riding!
That's cool and tanks for watching!
At 68 years old, still a passionate rider. I love the big muscle cruisers. It all started in elementary school, with my best friend and a couple of Honda Trail 90s and his huge 1.5 acre yard......and then, at 14 years old... "Then Came Bronson".... Like you, and many others, the program with Michael Parks left a huge impact on me. Thank you for sharing this!
Thanks for watching!
I loved that show, only one season? Too bad, 69 I was 15 years. I also ride and think about that show all the time. Glad I found your channel
Thanks for watching!
I watched every show, I was 12 at the time. When I was 20 I bought a bike and quit my job and headed west by myself with 800 dollars, what a adventure,
Amazing how TCB had such an influence. Good for you!
I loved this show when I was a kid, I talked about it so much my parents and friends started calling me Bronson, and still do today, I even use it as my handle on TH-cam and Google
Cool story! Thanks for watching!
I was 10 when the show first aired,it also inspired me to ride motorcycles,and wanted even to be Bronson when I grew up.i would take an audio tape recorder and make my family be quite while recording each episode, than play them back,I remember all the cigarette ads.would love to have a replica bike,never see them for sale,imagine they would be expensive to build? Thank you for preserving the show,I have them on dvds from a guy in Canada who recorded them off the tuner broadcast network. Hang in there
That was a good idea recording the show like that! Thanks for watching!
Boy would I like to have a few of the ones or copies of the ones with good quality - it helped me to see a better life for my future - i own 8 bikes even now - am getting to the shape of not being able to ride - but still have my dreams of grandeur -- hehehehehe
I was 11, got the same the itch, I remember the cl 100s,had a carb restrictor to keep at five hp. I got a 1972 Yamaha at2 125 enduro, I have had six in the last 52 years still have1974 Yamaha dt 360 and triumph 2001 thunderbird. Love Michael parks. The king of cool. I think i will go for a ride tommorow.
Yes my Cl was a CL100s with the restriction until I turned 16. Thanks for watching!
I too was inspired by this TV series. I bought the model kit of Bronson motorcycle and loved Harley Sportsters ever since. I own a 08 Harley Sportster 1200 Custom but will never come close to the “69. Someday one my come my way. I gotta “Just Hang In There”
Great story! Thanks for watching!
Very similar here. I loved that show. About 12 then. Then my dad brought me home a used but in good condition, 5 hp Tecumseh 2 seat minibike with larger tires and I was hooked. Motorcycle at 16. A dozen or so bikes later. I just stopped riding about 5 years ago. Its funny how many people I have talked to that have never heard of that show.
Yes very similar! That's why I created this TH-cam channel to keep the memory alive and to hopefully inform new folks. Thanks for watching!
Kool thank you I’ll be hanging in there Brother
Good deal! Thanks for watching!
As a restless teen in 1969 after graduating from high school, I got a job to pay for a used 1964 BSA Thunderbolt. Influenced by TCB I spent the summer of 1970 with 4 other riders on a trip from S/W Ohio up into Ontario Canada. I documented that trip in my book "Split the Early Years: a Psychedelic Motorcycle Adventure""
We are Kindred Spirits sir, though you were able to do the dream MUCH more justice.
Like yourself, and many others here, the TV show changed me. Living in a small town, just off a major state road (at the time), the one thing I wanted was freedom to travel. The thought of a guy taking off on his own, with minimal gear, going places and having adventures was exactly what I'd already dreamed about, even before this show was aired. TCB set the fantasy in concrete.
My imagination was new and young enough to transform my Schwinn "Stingray" into a "Bronson Bike"---I'd later learn that it was called a Sportster---and my adventures were created in my mind as I road it in the streets of my hometown.
It would be several years and many miles later on a my first motorcycle, a much-previously-abused Honda 305 "Super Hawk, before I was just barely able to purchase the bike of my dreams, an XLCH Sportster.
The bike was incredibly expensive by our standards of the time, and you could buy a pretty nice used car for the $2400 I talked a local banker into lending me. I knew from the start that I'd have to treat it like a car, riding it in all weather, and only freeloading from my friends when the roads were icy. But I had my Sportster, and was happily willing to live on TV dinners and food from generous friends to help me meet the payments.
The Sportster didn't kill me, and I still have it today, unmodified, having only swapped a few tires and a main sprocket ( I was a while learning about proper chain tension), and it still runs, though its road time is over for me.
Thank you for this video and those to come.
Sincerely, Kim
Hey Buck, I too was on the living room floor and was completely taken in by the show. I didn't get into motorcycles until 1977 and never had any H-D bikes, but I road a lot for 7 years, had a great time, no accidents, no mishaps. Thanks for doing this!
You bet! Tanks for watching!
I was 7 and 8 years old when the show aired and it was one of my favorite shows at the time and never missed an episode. I remember being so mad when the show didn't return the next season. Michael Parks always reminded me of James Dean. I have always enjoyed any movie or TV show he was later in.
Me too!
okay, im in, just cant binge watch, ha, although i spent 3 hours watching a live horse auction last nite....youve layed out some great expectations, seems a labor of love and commitment.... huzzah, and God speed
Yes it was, thanks for watching!
Love it!
Thanks!
Great show
I agree!
I remember watching some of the shows when I was young. Not more than a few years later by age fifteen I was on the road hitchiking in Canada spent many years hitching around North America. Now decades later wandering throughout Southeast Asia.
With out a motorcycle? Very cool!
Really loved that show! It is the reason I rode!
Yep me too!
Thank you 👍
Thanks for watching John!
Good stuff.
Thanks and thanks for watching!
Thanks, didn’t know there was a following for this show that I loved as a kid.
Yep, not a lot of us around but there are a few.
Just discovered this channel. Great stuff! I love TCB to this day. Thanks again.
Thanks! And thanks for watching!
Yeah I remembered the show as 9/10 year old in 1969 & 1970, I wanted to be like him and get motorcycle like his his Harley Davidson Sportster what a show.
Like many of us! Thanks for watching!
Aired 2 months after the Moon walk ! Still remember looking at the Moon that night... seems about 930 pm was when they stepped on it !
Interesting. Thanks for watching!
I was crazy for this show as well. He was was so cool and I so wasn't. Even then I realized some shots were "overproduced" but I still loved it. Still a fan of Michael Parks.
Thanks for watching!
I remember the show and enjoyed it, but what had a greater influence on me was the movie On Any Sunday. I have owned 20 bikes in my life time of riding. My first bike was a Honda SL 350. The smallest was a Honda CT70 and the largest was Honda Goldmine Interstate. I owned just about every type of bike from trail, MX, cruisers, rice rockets, to touring.
I watched On Any Sunday and then wanted a dirt bike. Did some Enduros back in the day. Thanks for watching!
I was 15 then and 70 now and still riding a Harley Davison motorcycle back then I raced dirt bikes and road Yamaha street bikes I bought my first Harley at age 17 and still riding them
Very cool! Thanks for watching!
Then Came Bronson was my start as well.
Thanks for watching JC!
i remember watching bronson as a 7 year old kid yea it changed me
Yep, me too! Thanks for watching!
When are they ever going to remaster and release the DVD set?
I have contacted Warner Brothers to ask that question since they have released the Pilot movie that started it all. No reply. If you go to jimbronson.com and click on the STORE tab you can order a set of DVD's in pretty good quality. Thanks for watching.
Great job on these videos!
Thanks!
Also watched this as a teenager this was a great show. Like EMERGENCY! these shows were never in reruns. I met Kevin Tighe who played Roy said Jack Webb and Cinader both died soon after the show was cancelled, I no this isn't TCB., but the old shows were great .
I agree the old shows were great! Thanks for watching!
Me too. I drove through the U.S. and Germany. That gas tank is on the smallish size? 75-mile range?
Back in 1974 the speed limit on the interstate was 55 and i could go about 90 miles before reserve and then I was sweating it out trying to find a gas station. Thanks for watching!
Thank U much !
Me too ! Mini bike and up to the sportster
Wow, that's cool! Thanks for watching!
“Running down that long lonesome highway”🎼
Yes, going down that long lonesome highway,. Thanks for watching!