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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...
Genre:Western
Network:ABC

Best Episodes Summary

"The Gang" is the best rated episode of "Lawman". It scored 8.8/10 based on 74 votes. Directed by Stuart Heisler and written by Clair Huffaker, it aired on 3/29/1959. This episode scored 0.1 points higher than the second highest rated, "The Witness".

  • The Gang
    8.8/1074 votes
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    #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

  • The Witness
    8.7/1052 votes
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    #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

  • The Deputy
    8.6/10120 votes
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    #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

  • The Souvenir
    8.6/1058 votes
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    #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

  • The Bandits
    8.6/1056 votes
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    #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

  • The Wayfarer
    8.6/1061 votes
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    #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

  • The Young Toughs
    8.5/1057 votes
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    #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

  • The Friend
    8.5/1062 votes
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    #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

  • Lily
    8.5/1073 votes
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    #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

  • Thirty Minutes
    8.5/1069 votes
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    #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

  • Homecoming
    8.5/1048 votes
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    #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

  • Blind Hate
    8.5/1054 votes
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    #12 - 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

  • Clootey Hutter
    8.5/1056 votes
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    #13 - 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

  • The Oath
    8.4/1077 votes
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    #14 - 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

  • Riding Shotgun
    8.4/1054 votes
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    #15 - 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

  • Cornered
    8.4/1053 votes
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    #16 - 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

  • Whiphand
    8.4/1049 votes
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    #17 - 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

  • The Youngest
    8.4/1049 votes
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    #18 - 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

  • The Doctor
    8.4/1044 votes
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    #19 - 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

  • The Prisoner
    8.3/1075 votes
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    #20 - 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

  • The Senator
    8.3/1054 votes
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    #21 - 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

  • The Press
    8.3/1059 votes
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    #22 - 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

  • To Capture the West
    8.3/1073 votes
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    #23 - To Capture the West

    Season 2 Episode 18 - Aired 2/7/1960

    Artist Frederick Jameson comes to town. Lily impresses him and he offers to paint her portrait. Meanwhile, a murderous gang is on his trail, and he and his Indian companion both seem to know why, although Dan and Johnny do not.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: Clair Huffaker

  • The Mad Bunch
    8.3/1065 votes
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    #24 - The Mad Bunch

    Season 3 Episode 3 - Aired 10/2/1960

    No description available

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Yawkey
    8.3/1065 votes
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    #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