The Live of Charles Goodnight - A Documentary for PBS (2009)

This 2010 Panhandle PBS documentary, produced by Ellen Robertson Green, voiced by David Green, and edited by Buddy Squyres, explores the remarkable life of Charles “Charlie” Goodnight (1836–1929), one of the most influential ranchers of the American West.

Born in Illinois in 1836, Goodnight moved to Texas as a boy in 1846, where the frontier would shape the course of his life. By 1856, he was working as a cowboy and serving in local militia units, fighting against the Comanche. He later joined the Texas Rangers and became known for his role in leading a posse that located a Comanche camp in 1860—an event that resulted in the recapture of Cynthia Ann Parker. During the Civil War, Goodnight served in the Frontier Regiment before returning to Palo Pinto County to build his legacy as a rancher.

A natural scout and frontiersman, Goodnight once described the qualities required for the role: “First, he must be born a natural woodsman and have the faculty of never needing a compass except in snow storms or darkness.” His instincts, leadership, and resilience helped shape the cattle industry and the mythology of the American West.

Inducted into the Hall of Great Westerners at the National Cowboy u0026 Western Heritage Museum in 1955, Charles Goodnight remains a towering figure in Western history. This documentary traces his journey from frontier boy to legendary rancher, illuminating the grit and vision that defined a generation.