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Given the genre’s long-running popularity, odds are it wouldn’t be hard for the average audience member to name any number of classic Westerns. Modern staples of the genre range all the way from Clint Eastwood‘s career-defining Unforgiven to more recent outings by veteran filmmakers like the Coen Brothers and Quentin Tarantino, and with Yellowstone’s final season coming this November, die-hard viewers are once again saddling up for the conclusion to one of their favorite frontier stories. Yet, with the Western genre having built such a vast library of iconic films and TV shows, it’s easy to forget that even the most popular modes of film making still come from humble beginnings.
Airing from 1950-1956, The Cisco Kid was one of the first western series to be televised in Technicolor, inviting an entire generation of viewers to appreciate their favorite stories in a new way. Loosely based on the character from American writer O. Henry’s 1907 short story, “The Caballero’s Way,” the series follows Duncan Renaldo and Leo Carrillo as The Cisco Kid and his sidekick, Poncho, two outlaws who travel the frontier in one of the most iconic Western team-ups of the genre’s history. Battling dishonest lawmen and criminals while freeing those wrongfully accused of crimes, The Cisco Kid was especially suitable for children because of the show’s lack of outright bloodshed. Yet, this softer tone didn’t mean the series wasn’t dangerous, as The Cisco Kid’s lead star was still badly injured during filming.
How did Duncan Renaldo Get Injured on the Set of ‘The Cisco Kid’?
At a glance, The Cisco Kid doesn’t look like a series that invites personal injury. While the show’s main duo ride their iconic horses on the way to stopping counterfeiters and mail robbers, the series’ action scenes deviate from the main character’s appearances in darker Western films by almost entirely shunning deadly violence. Renaldo’s character tends to shoot his opponents’ guns instead of their bodies, while Poncho usually uses his trusty whip to disarm enemies in a similar way. Likewise, cloudy explosions and mostly bloodless wounds give the show a less lethal atmosphere, with Renaldo cartoonishly dropping a wooden sign on his opponent in one scene instead of shooting him. Yet, the series’ violent premise still required complicated stuntwork that didn’t completely shield actors from their series’ unsafe setting.
During the filming of The Cisco Kid Season 4, Episode 6, “Battle of Red Rock Pass,” Renaldo himself fell prey to the same life-threatening stakes facing his character. Frequently performing his own stunts for the series, Renaldo’s injury unfolds as his half of one of Westerns’ most classic team-ups helps a veteran toll guard protect his roadway from thieves, leading the criminals to attempt dropping a boulder on the hero’s head. In real life, this boulder was paper-mache, but this fact just barely made the difference in saving Renaldo’s life. During a run-through of the scene, Renaldo’s character was leading his horse, Diablo, under a rocky overhang when the boulder fell and landed directly on the leading man’s neck, resulting in Renaldo’s most horrifying on-set injury in this classic Western series.
How Did One of Hollywood’s Most Classic Westerns Recover From Duncan Renaldo’s Paralysis?
The extent of Renaldo’s injury might have paled in comparison to the Cisco Kid’s encounters with gamblers and outlaw leaders, but the actor’s subsequent recovery was certainly no laughing matter. During Renaldo’s subsequent hospitalization, it was discovered that The Cisco Kid‘s boulder had broken two of the vertebrae in his neck, a diagnosis which resulted in the actor’s paralysis for two months while one of the most important Westerns of the 1950s figured out how to continue shooting. Thankfully for faithful viewers, the production team behind The Cisco Kid soon came up with a workaround, and the series’ following episode, “Bandaged Badman,” used its storyline to wrap its central character in bandages to hide the face of Cisco’s double while Renaldo recovered.
Moreover, once Renaldo recovered from his run-in with the boulder, the actor resumed his role as the beloved Western icon and went on to lead The Cisco Kid through its final two seasons, demonstrating the actor’s commitment to the most important role of his career. While the groundbreaking series features several storylines that would undoubtedly be received as offensive today and isn’t quite as ahead of its time as other 50s westerns like Bonanza, The Cisco Kid’s heroic tone and upbeat action sequences underscore its importance to the early television landscape of Westerns, and the story of its leading man’s injury ultimately illustrates the early performer’s passion for his beloved craft.
The Cisco Kid is available to stream on Peacock in the U.S.
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