The Best Episodes of Lawman
Every episode of Lawman ranked from best to worst. Let's dive into the Best Episodes of Lawman!
Lawman is an American western television series originally telecast on ABC from 1958 to 1962 starring John Russell as Marshal Dan Troop and featuring Peter Brown as Deputy Marshal Johnny McKay. The series was set in Laramie, Wyoming during 1879 and the 1880s. Warner Bros. already had several western series on the air at the time, having launched Cheyenne with Clint Walker as early as 1955. The studio continued the trend in 1957 with the additions of Maverick with James Garner and Jack Kelly, Colt .45 with Wayde Preston, and Sugarfoot with Will Hutchins. One year later, Warner Bros. added Lawman and Bronco with Ty Hardin. Prior to the beginning of production, Russell and Brown and producer Jules Schermer made a pact to maintain the quality of the series so that it would not be seen as "just another western." At the start of season two, Russell and Brown were joined by Peggie Castle as Lily Merrill, the owner of the Birdcage Saloon, and a love interest for Dan.
Top Episode Ratings Summary
The best episode of "Lawman" is "The Gang", rated 8.8/10 from 73 user votes. It was directed by Stuart Heisler and written by Clair Huffaker. "The Gang" aired on 3/29/1959 and is rated 0.1 point(s) higher than the second highest rated, "The Witness".
8.8/10 73 votes#1 - The Gang
Season 1 Episode 26 - Aired 3/29/1959
The Hayes gang is riding into Laramie, and one of the riders, Clay, is coming in to warn Dan. In a rare show of Dan's background, we learn Clay is his brother, that they both loved the same girl who went off with Clay and then died, and that Clay is not exactly a law-abiding citizen. But he still wants his brother and Johnny to win this fight against the gang, so he gets out of a sickbed to help when no one in the town will.
Director: Stuart Heisler
Writer: Clair Huffaker
- 8.7/10 52 votes
#2 - The Witness
Season 4 Episode 41 - Aired 6/24/1962
Murder suspect Jim Martin (John Agar) is in double jeopardy: if the jury doesn't convict him, the victim's husband will carry out the punishment. Anna: Sarah Selby. Troop: John Russell. McKay: Peter Brown.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 8.6/10 119 votes
#3 - The Deputy
Season 1 Episode 1 - Aired 10/5/1958
In this pilot episode, Dan Troop takes over in Laramie after the previous marshal is killed. His first job is to bring in the marshal's killer, and in the process he gains a fine deputy in Johnny McKay. (This is also the first of several episodes where veteran actors Jack Elam and Lee Van Cleef appeared.)
Director: Montgomery Pittman
Writer: Dean Riesner
- 8.6/10 57 votes
#4 - The Souvenir
Season 1 Episode 27 - Aired 4/5/1959
When Dan and Johnny both draw and fire on an escaped convicted killer's brother, Dan takes the credit for it in order to protect Johnny and draw out the other 2 brothers. But when Johnny learns that he was, in fact, the one who killed Davey, he turns in his badge.
Director: Stuart Heisler
Writer: N/A
- 8.6/10 55 votes
#5 - The Bandits
Season 1 Episode 35 - Aired 5/31/1959
After Ches Ryan's pay is docked, he retaliates by robbing the payroll. As he escapes, he passes through a town plagued with an illness. He comes across a young woman and her little brother who are both ill and have no one to look after them, so he stays to help. Dan catches up to him while there, and consequently gets the fever himself. Ryan then tends to Dan, also.
Director: Lee Sholem
Writer: Oliver Crawford
- 8.6/10 59 votes
#6 - The Wayfarer
Season 1 Episode 36 - Aired 6/7/1959
Doc Holliday is in Laramie, and Dan would like to see him go. He is hanging around, however, for a woman due on the stagecoach, and he won't go until she gets there.
Director: Lee Sholem
Writer: N/A
- 8.5/10 56 votes
#7 - The Young Toughs
Season 1 Episode 28 - Aired 4/12/1959
Three young toughs cause trouble for Johnny while he's left in charge while Dan goes out of town. Finally, he's forced into a shoot out with all three of them, just as Dan gets back.
Director: Leslie H. Martinson
Writer: Clair Huffaker
- 8.5/10 62 votes
#8 - The Friend
Season 1 Episode 39 - Aired 6/28/1959
While Dan is gone (again), Johnny runs across an old friend in town, not knowing he has joined a gang planning on robbing the bank of Laramie. When his friend, Buck Harmon, finds out he's the deputy in town, he first tries to talk him into going out of town with him for the evening, then ends up joining him in the fight against his gang.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 8.5/10 73 votes
#9 - Lily
Season 2 Episode 1 - Aired 10/4/1959
Lily Merrill opens the Bird Cage Saloon after being thrown out of Billings, Montana by the sheriff. Dan hears she was involved in a theft/murder, she assumes he wants to be paid off. Dan, of course, refuses money. Both seem surprised that their opinions are wrong, but Dan is still suspicious. One of her dealers again causes trouble, and she looks guilty. There are several mistakes made by Dan (unusual for him) regarding her innocence until the very last scene, where they gain lasting respect for one another.
Director: Leslie H. Martinson
Writer: Dean Riesner
- 8.5/10 68 votes
#10 - Thirty Minutes
Season 2 Episode 24 - Aired 3/20/1960
In this show, which really is about 30 minutes in the town's life, bad guy (really bad guy) Jake Wilson (Jack Elam) comes to town. At 2:30, he goes into the BirdCage and is soon recognized by a young man, whom he kills right before he shoots Johnny. Then, when Dan hears the shots, Jake engages in a hostage situation, telling Dan he's killed his deputy and will kill his girlfriend unless Dan clears the streets, gets him his horse, and lets him ride out. Shot twice, once by Johnny before he got hit, and once by Dan, Wilson is wounded, in pain, scared, and beligerent (Jack Elam at his best). He terrorizes Lily and the others before the final shootout, which takes place almost on the stroke of 3:00.
Director: N/A
Writer: Richard Matheson
- 8.5/10 47 votes
#11 - Homecoming
Season 3 Episode 21 - Aired 2/5/1961
Troop (John Russell) goes after an escaped murderer who has sworn to kill him. Walker: Marc Lawrence. McKay: Peter Brown. Lily: Peggie Castle. Eddy: Ray Strickland. Mary: Adrienne Marden.
Director: Robert B. Sinclair
Writer: N/A
- 8.5/10 48 votes
#12 - Whiphand
Season 3 Episode 32 - Aired 4/23/1961
Troop (John Russell) steps in when a romantic triangle threatens to erupt in bloodshed. Jed: Med Flory. Cassie: Peggy McKay. Bull: Leo Gordon. McKay: Peter Brown.
Director: Marc Lawrence
Writer: N/A
- 8.5/10 53 votes
#13 - Blind Hate
Season 3 Episode 35 - Aired 5/14/1961
Troop (John Russell) tries to avoid bloodshed when an embittered rancher threatens the man courting his daughter. Lucy: Mala Powers. Warner: Jason Evers. Pastor: Ted de Corsia. McKay: Peter Brown. Lily: Peggie Castle.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 8.5/10 49 votes
#14 - The Locket
Season 4 Episode 17 - Aired 1/7/1962
When a friend of Lily's comes in on the stagecoach - unconscious and the only one aboard - a worried Lily nurses her, while her husband waits for her to regain consciousness so he can talk to her. Lily is suspicious of him, and finds the secret to his identity is hidden in her friend's locket.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 8.5/10 56 votes
#15 - Clootey Hutter
Season 4 Episode 26 - Aired 3/11/1962
Clootey is a female gunslinger who lives up in the hills and has just come into Laramie for supplies. In a pouring rainstorm at night, after spurning his advances in the Bird Cage, she is called in the street by a drunken Earl and shoots him down in a fair fight. Dan is forced to try to arrest her, but she tells him she knows she can outdraw him. Earl's cooler headed brother, Paul, suggests instead she try to 'take him' in a gunfight to prove she really could outdraw the dead man.
Director: Richard C. Sarafian
Writer: N/A
- 8.5/10 49 votes
#16 - The Youngest
Season 4 Episode 32 - Aired 4/22/1962
A sinister matriarch brings her brood to Laramie to wreak vengeance on Troop (John Russell) for killing her outlaw husband. Ma Martin: Olive Carey. Jim: Evan McCord. Sam: Tom Gilson. Darrell: Charles Briggs. McKay: Peter Brown. Lily: Peggie Castle.
Director: Robert B. Sinclair
Writer: N/A
- 8.4/10 75 votes
#17 - The Oath
Season 1 Episode 4 - Aired 10/26/1958
While Dan and Johnny are taking a killer to be hanged and a doctor to prison to serve a term, they come upon a stranded stagecoach with various passengers who need help. While helping the passengers, a conflict ensues, which ends with new light being brought out in the Doctor's case.
Director: Leslie H. Martinson
Writer: N/A
- 8.4/10 53 votes
#18 - Riding Shotgun
Season 1 Episode 29 - Aired 4/19/1959
Larry DeLong is a reformed criminal who is now employed as a shotgun rider on the stageline. When his former gang robs the stage on which he's riding, and the driver is killed, the towns people of Laramie feel Larry is about ready to rejoin the gang. Once again, Dan's faith in him turns the tide.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 8.4/10 52 votes
#19 - Cornered
Season 3 Episode 13 - Aired 12/11/1960
Johnny kills a notorious gunman only because the killer's gun misfires. Although the town wants to make him a hero, he knows the truth. Then he learns that the gunman's son is going to be coming to avenge his father's death, and he's reputed to be faster than his father was.
Director: Marc Lawrence
Writer: Richard Matheson
- 8.4/10 44 votes
#20 - The Doctor
Season 4 Episode 34 - Aired 5/6/1962
Troop (John Russell) is forced to rely on a booze-soaked doctor when a plague threatens to engulf Laramie. Evans: Sherwood Price. McKay: Peter Brown. Cissy: Eloise Hardt. Weeks: Charles Lane. Burrell: Whit Bissell. Sims: I. Stanford Jolley.
Director: N/A
Writer: John D. F. Black
- 8.3/10 74 votes
#21 - The Prisoner
Season 1 Episode 2 - Aired 10/12/1958
In a tribute to High Noon, a man comes into town, looking for a fight. When he kills a man, he is arrested. Johnny gets lessons from Dan on how to handle a prisoner
Director: Richard L. Bare
Writer: N/A
- 8.3/10 53 votes
#22 - The Senator
Season 1 Episode 33 - Aired 5/17/1959
Dan and Johnny must stop an assassination attempt on the Senator, who is supposed to stop in Laramie on the midnight train.
Director: Stuart Heisler
Writer: Clair Huffaker
- 8.3/10 59 votes
#23 - The Press
Season 2 Episode 9 - Aired 11/29/1959
Lal Hoard gets out of prison and heads for Laramie. Dan had put him away, and he swore revenge. Now, Lily and Johnny are worried, but Hoard seems to have changed. He has bought the Laramie newspaper and wants to settle down. It doesn't take long to see that he is starting a smear campaign against Dan, and then tries to blackmail Lily.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 8.3/10 64 votes
#24 - The Mad Bunch
Season 3 Episode 3 - Aired 10/2/1960
No description available
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 8.3/10 64 votes
#25 - Yawkey
Season 3 Episode 6 - Aired 10/23/1960
Yawkey, who has killed 27 men and has the reputation of being the fastest gun alive, shows up at the Bird Cage and sends notice to Dan that he's going to kill him at 3:30 that afternoon. Dan's never met him, and doesn't know why he wants to kill him. Both Johnny and Lily try to talk Yawkey out of it, to no avail. Dan is determined to do his job regardless of the consequences, much to Lily's dismay. The end is a study in the life of a gunslinger.
Director: Stuart Heisler
Writer: N/A