Customer Reviews

The Rifleman, Vol. 7

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Chuck Connors is Lucas McCain, nicknamed The Rifleman, for his lighting quick shooting skills with a Winchester. A widower, he lives on a small ranch outside of the town of North Fork, New Mexico, with his son Mark (Johnny Crawford). His good friend is town Marshal, Micah Torrance (Paul Fix). This is the seventh collection of their adventures. Here are summaries and/or comments for the episodes in this set. Episode ratings are on a scale from one to five (best).

The Most Amazing Man: (2)
Sammy Davis Jr. guests as Wade Randall, a smooth-talking spinner of tall tales. Mark is so taken, that he writes an essay about him entitled, The Most Amazing Man I Ever Knew. Randalls lies get him in trouble, when after falsely claiming to have killed an outlaw, a friend of the dead man challenges him to a gunfight. Lucas steps in, arranging for a light hearted theatrical solution to a tense situation.

New Orleans Menace (4):
Cesar Tiffauges (Akim Tamiroff), an autocratic high roller from New Orleans, arrives in North Fork, with a band of armed hired cronies. Arrogant and ruthless, he has his eyes set on the McCain ranch, and aims to get it, any way he can. Tiffauges is a particularly slimy fellow, who boasts of killing women. Lucas is fully prepared to put his life on the line to defend what is his. The setup for the showdown is well done, with McCain alone against the band of hired guns, but the resolution is not by any means muy macho. The subtitling for this series is always excellent, and it may be helpful to have them turned on for this episode.

One Went to Denver (3):
As he has often done in the series, Richard Anderson guests as an old friend of Lucas McCains. This time hes Tom Birch, part of a group of men, in town to rob the local bank. The night before the planned heist, Birch drops in at the McCain ranch to renew old acquaintances. Its another moral dilemma for Lucas, as he must keep yet another friend from committing a crime.

The Prodigal (4):
A hardened criminal wants to borrow Mark, to pose as his son, in order to deceive his mother, who is coming for a visit. McCain reluctantly agrees to the charade, to avoid hurting the feelings of a gentle old woman. Things get complicated, when some ex-partners of the outlaw, show up at the McCain ranch looking for their share of stolen loot. This episode finishes off in classic Rifleman tradition with a shootout.

The Safe Guard (4):
In this episode, a bank is opening in North Fork, which is a bit strange, as in previous episodes, a bank had already opened in the town. Claude Akins guests as Floyd, a gunfighter, hired as an armed guard in the bank. Quick on the draw, but not too bright, Floyd is tempted by fate, with deadly consequences.

Whoever is selecting the bonus episodes for the Rifleman collection is making some questionable choices. Volume 7 features two episodes involving plots to rob the North Fork bank. Why not select stories that provide more diversity? Still, this collection is slightly above average, with Lucas showing some of the typical McCain fire. This disc is recommended to both fans of the series, and fans of vintage TV westerns. This DVD is also part of the four DVD Rifleman Boxed Collection 2, which contains Volumes 5 through 8. If you found this review useful, please see my other reviews of this series.

This is a nice selection of Rifleman episodes. But it's a shame that sellers are asking this much for it; when it originally sold for 14.99.