JinRoz For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!

CommentsXp Best movie ever!

MoPoshy Absolutely brilliant

Kien Navarro Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

darbski **SPOILERS** excellent little western series. In history, John Ringgold was not a gunfighter, but a bully with a bad attitude who probably committed suicide. I know that when we get these guys with cool names, we want them to be cool, too, but they almost never are. still, in this series, he's turned into a good guy, with an unusual gun; a Lemat revolver from the civil war. Look up guns of the west, and you'll find that as soon as they could, the guys who used these weapons relegated them to the scrap heap in favor of much better firearms. It was balanced poorly, clunky, heavy, not suitable for fast shooting, time consuming to reload, difficult to find ammo for, etc. ... These days they are liked by collectors, and that's about all. The weapon that I've seen portrayed as John Ringo's is a standard S.A.A.Colt Peacemaker. One (and, I feel the best), reason I think he committed suicide is that they found his gun right next to him, not in his hand. Nobody, especially a killer is gonna leave a valuable pistol just laying in the dirt; they'll take it with them.Like almost all westerns, it was fantasy based on Hollywood stereotypes, and depended on good acting and stories to be successful. This series had those, and they worked well. Another reviewer made the strong point that Terence De Manay, and Karen Sharpe leaving had a lot to do with the collapse of the show, and I would probably agree, if I had watched it when I was a kid (I was probably either collecting for my paper route, or doing homework); I know THEIR careers didn't suffer.I recently saw an episode in which an old friend of Ringo's came into town, seeking help. standard rabble rousing lynchmob fare, it turns into something else. The guy I liked was the grizzled old civil war vet (either yank or reb; I couldn't tell which), and the old buzzard saves the day, with a wisecrack for his end line. It was gratifying.In the end, it went the way of almost all western boomtowns; popular until the main characters either established law and order, thereby driving out the action figures (bad guys), and either becoming successful communities, or just dying out. Four years after this series was dropped, Lorne Greene had a hit with the song "Ringo". Although mocked by some, it was a really good western song that told a tight, fast story. Give it a listen and see what YOU think. See if YOU can connect the dots in the episode named "Posse" to the song; it's interesting, I think. Too bad about this series, it showcased a lot of good acting and storytelling.

A_Different_Drummer Lets be upfront, rated 5 out of 10 because in an age when westerns were a dime a dozen, and you are competing for eyeballs with the likes of Steven McQueen and Richard Boone, this product was nothing more and nothing less than average. In those days (boy do I sound old) every western had a gimmick (except perhaps Gunsmoke, where the gimmick was that there was no gimmick, just tedious dialog.) Boone had his hidden derringer, McQueen had his saw-off with trick holster, Hugh Obrien had his Buntline, etc) here the character had really odd pistol which carried an extra shell. (Trivia note -- the writers based this on a real gun designed in France. Where else?) Invariably, just as Wyatt Earp would end up in a gunfight where the bad guy was too far away to fire back, and Palladin would end up fining his derringer when the bad guy looked the other way, Ringo would face an enemy who believed he was out of ammo (counting shots in a 50s western? wow) and surprise the rogue. The real story however is that this series was part of a "package" that a young producer named Aaron Spelling sold to TV, part of a set of three as I recall. He made them on the cheap (the star of Ringo had to sing his own theme song) and he essentially started a dynasty. So if you are in Business School, the rating is a 10.

classicsoncall 'Johnny Ringo' premiered on the CBS television network on October 1st, 1959, and interestingly, it's star Don Durant appeared a week earlier in the final episode of 'Trackdown', in which he and DeForest Kelley portrayed a pair of brothers who's mother was going senile. Both of these shows, 'Trackdown' and 'Johnny Ringo', I used to watch regularly as a kid and it's been a treat to watch the entire Ringo series again over the past few weeks.The origin show of the series introduced Johnny Ringo, a noted gunslinger who arrived in Velardi, Arizona attempting to live down his past. After accepting the town's offer to become sheriff at two hundred dollars per month, French gunsmith LeMat fashioned a newly designed handgun for Johnny consisting of a standard six round .45 caliber cartridge with a separate barrel for a .410 shotgun shell. Having fired a .410 I can say that it doesn't have the kind of firepower Ringo's gun seemed to have, which sounded like a cannon when it went off. My recollection of the show from it's single season on air was that there were quite a few stories where Johnny's seventh shot came into play, but that wasn't really the case as I completed the series today, maybe a half dozen all told.The show had a number of regulars, including Terence de Marney as Case Thomas, an alcoholic Johnny befriended in the first episode who turned into a respectable citizen and general merchandise shop owner afterwards. Case had a daughter Laura portrayed by Karen Sharpe who became Johnny's romantic interest for the first two thirds of the series. Miss Thomas seemed to be more interested in Johnny than vice versa, and I don't recall now if they ever even shared an on screen kiss. Both characters were written out of the show with Episode #24 'Border Town' when Case was killed by a gunman robbing his store and Laura left town because of his murder. Apparently, Ms. Sharpe and series creator Aaron Spelling had a difference of opinion on how her character was to be portrayed. No mention of the Thomases was made for the rest of the series run.Johnny had a deputy named Cully, introduced in the second episode as Kid Adonis, a carnival trick shot artist and son of a man Johnny killed years earlier. His real name was William Charles Jr., and after working out their issues over the senior Charles death, Cully became a loyal deputy. He was portrayed by Mark Hammond, who's looks remind me a lot of Michael Landon and another TV show deputy, Peter Brown of 'Lawman'. Hammond almost always wore a black shirt and didn't figure very prominently in any of the stories considering how he might have been a significant threat to Johnny starting out.As with all TV Westerns, a recognizable list of character actors used to show up as guest stars, including Richard Devon, Elisha Cook Jr., Dean Stanton, Royal Dano, John Carradine, Alan Hale and Warren Oates. Occasionally some bigger names appeared like James Coburn in the first episode, Lon Chaney, Burt Reynolds, and Martin Landau. Buddy Ebsen and Wayne Rogers both appeared in Episode #29 'The Killing Bug', and I was surprised to see Diane Cannon in the following week's show, 'Soft Cargo'.If I had to pick a favorite story, it would probably be 'Killer, Choose a Card', in which Lurene Tuttle plays a raucous saloon owner from Broken Wagon who's been arrested for murder and calls for old friend Johnny to save her from being hanged. The story goes way over the top in sheer audacity when Mamie Murphy (Tuttle) fakes a suicide, and returns as a ghost to trap the real killer. I'm thinking maybe this is a strategy O.J. Simpson could try.'Johnny Ringo' lasted only one season on CBS, but it lives on in my memory as one of my favorites. On top of that, a highlight for me back in 1960 (I would have been nine years old) was when my Mom and Dad took me to a local movie theater where Don Durant appeared in person. Up till then, that was probably the high spot of my young life. I only recall seeing him on stage from a distance but that was good enough for me. Having just completed watching the entire series in order, that Johnny Ringo tune now keeps running through my head, compliments of Don Durant, the only TV Western cowboy to write the words and music to his own theme song.One final trivia note: Just as Don Durant appeared in the final episode of 'Trackdown' starring Robert Culp as Texas Ranger Hoby Gilman, Culp returned the favor by appearing in the finale of 'Johnny Ringo' in a show titled 'Cave-In'.

revdrcac This western series was short-lived ,but was well-produced by the great Aaron Spelling. Don Diamond was well cast and brought a commanding presence to the role of the reformed shootist.The episodes I have seen were fast-paced and fairly realistic when compared to other shows of the era. Unfortunately, the airwaves were filled with cowpoke drama at the time and this interesting show quickly rode off into the sunset.In many ways, this show compares favorably with Wanted:Dead or Alive , which made a star of Steve McQueen. Don Diamond was not so fortunate.Some episodes are available on DVD, check them out.... Not half bad !