The Rifleman is an American Western television program starring Chuck Connors as rancher Lucas McCain and Johnny Crawford as his son Mark McCain. It was set in the 1880s in the fictional town of North Fork, New Mexico Territory. The show was filmed in black and white, in half-hour episodes. The Rifleman aired on ABC from September 30, 1958, to April 8, 1963, as a production of Four Star Television. It was one of the first primetime series on US television to show a single parent raising a child.
The program was titled to reflect McCain's use of a Winchester Model 1892 rifle, a historical anachronism, as the show was set in the 1880s, and customized to allow repeated firing by cycling its lever action. He demonstrated this technique in the opening credits, as well as a second modification that allowed him to cycle the action with one hand using a technique known as "spin-cocking"
The series centers on Lucas McCain, a Union veteran of the American Civil War and widower. McCain had been a lieutenant in the 11th Indiana Infantry Regiment, and he had received a battlefield commission at the Battle of Five Forks just before the end of the war (this conflicts with episode 3/25, "The Prisoner", in which a former Confederate cavalry major states that he was Lieutenant McCain's prisoner after the Battle of Fort Donelson). Having previously been a homesteader, McCain buys a ranch outside the fictitious town of North Fork, New Mexico Territory, in the pilot episode. His son Mark and he had come from Enid, Oklahoma, following the death of his wife, Margaret (née Gibbs), when his son was six years old. The citizens of North Fork are sometimes willing to subject themselves to tyranny, showing themselves to be cowards in several episodes.
The series was set during the 1880s; a wooden plaque next to the McCain home states that the home was rebuilt by Lucas McCain and his son Mark in August 1881.
A common thread in the series is that people deserve a second chance; Marshal Micah Torrance is a recovering alcoholic, and McCain gives a convict a job on his ranch in "The Marshal". Royal Dano appeared in "The Sheridan Story" as a former Confederate soldier who is given a job on the McCain ranch and encounters General Philip Sheridan, the man who cost him his arm in battle. Learning why the man wants him dead, Sheridan arranges for medical care for his wounded former foe, quoting Abraham Lincoln's last orders to "... bind up the nation's wounds".
Despite his status as the series' protagonist, Lucas McCain is not without fault; he has a tendency to be stubborn and bossy, he has a bit of an inflated ego, and he is extremely protective of his son Mark to the point of being over-protective at times. In "Death Trap", an episode with Philip Carey as former gunman (and old adversary) Simon Battles, he is unwilling to believe the man has changed and become a doctor. It takes a gunfight (with Battles fighting alongside him) to make him admit he is wrong. In "Two Ounces of Tin", with Sammy Davis Jr. as Tip Corey (a former circus trick-shot artist turned gunman), McCain angrily orders him off the ranch when he finds him demonstrating his skills to Mark. Corey suggests he is a hypocrite, because McCain has an equally deadly reputation in the Indian Territory of Oklahoma, where he first acquired the nickname "the Rifleman", and where his wife had died during a smallpox epidemic.
Main cast
Chuck Connors as Lucas McCain, a rancher, a Union Army veteran of the American Civil War, father, and widower (168 episodes)
Johnny Crawford as Mark McCain, Lucas's son (168 episodes)
Paul Fix as Micah Torrance, marshal of North Fork, New Mexico (151 episodes)
Recurring cast
Bill Quinn as Frank Sweeney, the North Fork Saloon bartender (38 episodes)
Joe Benson as Townsman (42 episodes)
Patricia Blair as Mallory House hotel owner Lou Mallory (22 episodes)
Joe Higgins as blacksmith Nels Swenson (21 episodes)
Harlan Warde as banker John Hamilton (18 episodes)
Joan Taylor as general store owner Milly Scott (18 episodes)
Episode 1 - The sharpshooter
Description: Lucas is ordered by a murderous town owner to lose a public shooting match, or he will kill his sharpshooting opponent and possibly harm his son Mark.
Episode 2 - Home ranch
Description: Lucas McCain and his son Mark make their way to the ranch they've just bought but get quite a rude reception. Two cowhands working for big-time rancher Oat Jackford, Billy Lehi and Sam Montgomery, tell Lucas that he's not welcome. Jackford has been using the land to graze some of his cattle and has every intention of continuing to do so. When Lucas doesn't show much enthusiasm for their proposal, he's beaten and the house is burned to the ground. Lucas needs to show them and Jackford that he's not going to get pushed around.
Episode 3 - End of the young gun
Description: After Will Fulton breaks his leg while rescuing Mark McCain who has slipped off the edge of a cliff, he recuperates at the McCain ranch. Will and his brother Hank are outlaws with a posse looking for them. Will is an angry young man but his stay with the McCains softens him, especially after he meets the pretty Ann Bard. He begins to reassess his choices and realizes that he must choose which path he will take in life.
Episode 4 - The marshal
Description: In North Fork, Lucas McCain meets Micah Torrence, now a drunk but at one time considered one of the ablest lawmen in the territory. He admits he lost his nerve and it led him to a life of drink. Lucas offers him a job as a ranch hand and uses a tough-love approach to get him to sober up. The Shelton brother ride into town looking to get even with Micah who jailed them 10 years before. Lucas is lured into a trap but it's Micah who comes to his rescue.
Episode 5 - The brother-in-law
Description: Johnny Gibbs, Lucas' brother-in-law, arrives for a visit at the McCain ranch. A rodeo rider, Gibbs is also on the run from the law, and soon begins to cause trouble in town.
Episode 6 - Eight hours to die
Description: A vengeful judge is convinced that Lucas is responsible for the death of his son, an outlaw who was executed for murder. He captures Lucas and plans to force him to watch Mark hang in retribution for his son's death.
Episode 7 - Duel of honor
Description: When the stagecoach breaks down in North Fork an Italian Count, Alfredo di Montova, has to spend the night at the hotel. His fancy dress and accented English makes him a target for town bully Sim Groder and his little crowd. The Count is a calm and collected type but when Groder pushes him too far, he challenges him to a duel. With Lucas acting as his second, di Montova teaches the bully a lesson.
Episode 8 - The safe guard
Description: A Texas gunslinger is hired to protect the bank of North Fork. When he appears at the McCain Ranch, he doesn't leave a very good impression with Lucas, and for good reason - he has a secret. Mark is proud when he sells his first pig.
Episode 9 - The sister
Description: Mark introduces the pretty Rebecca Snipe to his father, and her two burly brothers are convinced that Lucas would be a fine husband for their sister. Meanwhile three gunmen plot to kill the rancher.
Episode 10 - New Orleans menace
Description: A gambler, fleeing New Orleans with his henchmen, takes a liking to Lucas' ranch. When McCain refuses to sell, his life is threatened.
Episode 11 - The apprentice sheriff
Description: Lucas tries to help a young bespeckled substitute marshall who is hellbent to prove himself, regardless of the consequences.
Episode 12 - The angry gun
Description: While traveling back to North Fork on the stage after selling their herd, Lucas and Mark are sharing the stage with a Marshal and his prisoner Johnny Cotton. When they stop to water the horses, some of Cotton's friends are lying in wait. Cotton steals the money Lucas got for the cattle and his rifle. He sends Mark on with the stage but tracks the robbers as best he can given that he doesn't have a horse or a weapon.
Episode 13 - The young Englishman
Description: Lucas loses a calf and suspects a neighbor's foreman. As it's already been branded, he's threatened with rustling if he uses a rope. McCain has another way of cutting the newborn out of the herd, and he doesn't need a rope or his rifle.
Episode 14 - The gaucho
Description: A hot-tempered Argentinian cowboy along with father and lovely sister, buy a ranch in North Fork. Their foreign ways do not sit well with the local community, especially neighboring rancher Curge Palmer.
Episode 15 - The pet
Description: Lucas helps a man after he's shot in a shootout by a man who wants to keep a secret about his past. When he allows Mark to take in a pet, he doesn't know that his decision will endanger his son's life.
Episode 16 - The Sheridan story
Description: Lucas McCain hires an bitter ex-Confederate to help him around the ranch. When General Philip Sheridan and his staff stop at McCain's ranch to camp, Lucas is afraid there will be trouble.
Episode 17 - The retired gun
Description: A notorious gunfighter gets married and promises his new wife that he will take off his guns and begin a new life. However, a gang of outlaws who hear that he is in the area try to persuade him to break that promise and throw in with them.
Episode 18 - The photographer
Description: When a photographer, an old friend of the McCains, is accused of murder, Mark and Lucas find themselves on opposite sides against each other.
Episode 19 - Shivaree
Description: A wagon train master forces a young couple to marry after they hide the fact that one is a girl, and Lucas takes them in to help them; but trouble soon arises when a drunken crowd calls for a Shivaree.
Episode 20 - The deadeye kid
Description: When a young boy from Brooklyn is accused of murder, Mark, believing the boy's claim of innocence, hides him until he can find the real killer.
Video and audio information (average):
Video : 225 MB, 1202 Kbps, 29.970 fps, 636x480 (4:3), V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC x264 core 164
Audio : 24 MB, 128 Kbps, 48000 Hz, 2 channels, 0x55 = AAC, CBR
Screens:Download link (torrent file)
https://ufile.io/csbhkggv
Rating 6.9/10
