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The Worst Episodes of Lawman

Every episode of Lawman ranked from worst to best. Explore the Worst 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

Worst Episodes Summary

"The Old War Horse" is the worst rated episode of "Lawman". It scored 7.1/10 based on 55 votes. Directed by N/A and written by N/A, it aired on 10/9/1960. This episode scored 0.1 points lower than the second lowest rated, "Man Behind the News".

  • The Old War Horse
    7.1/1055 votes
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    #1 - The Old War Horse

    Season 3 Episode 4 - Aired 10/9/1960

    Bess Harper was Lily's mentor as a young girl, the woman who gave her her first job. Now she is an old alcoholic, in town to try to get five thousand dollars out of the town of Laramie left to it by her estranged ex-husband. Lily hatches a plan to rehabilitate her and get her back on stage, to the chagrin of her lawyer, who was the one who put the idea into her head.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Man Behind the News
    7.2/1041 votes
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    #2 - Man Behind the News

    Season 4 Episode 35 - Aired 5/13/1962

    Luther Boardman is the new owner of the Laramie Free Press, and he is in love with the outlaw persona. Feeling the outlaws are the real story in the wild west, he begins a smear campaign against Dan. He accuses him of police brutality because Dan knocked out a man who was rowdy and drunk and threatening to shoot people in the Bird Cage, even though Boardman wasn't in the saloon at the time. He soon has the drunk convinced he needs a public apology from Dan.

    Director: Robert B. Sinclair

    Writer: N/A

  • Explosion
    7.2/1047 votes
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    #3 - Explosion

    Season 4 Episode 38 - Aired 6/3/1962

    The lawmen put their lives on the line to shield an emotionally disturbed youth from a lynch mob. Billings: Gary Vinson. Shay: John Qualen. Troop: John Russell. McKay: Peter Brown. Bobbie: Miranda Jones. Lily: Peggie Castle.

    Director: Richard C. Sarafian

    Writer: N/A

  • The Kids
    7.3/1058 votes
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    #4 - The Kids

    Season 2 Episode 20 - Aired 2/21/1960

    Three kids ride into town, take a shot at Dan, and ride out. He and Johnny pursue them, catch them, and bring them in, in spite of being clawed and bitten in the process. Lily refuses to let him put the little girl, Dodie, in jail and takes her to the Bird Cage. None of the kids will tell Dan anything about who they are, but he soon learns that their father is a wanted outlaw, and they want to go live with him rather than their Uncle Lou.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Man on a Wire
    7.3/1054 votes
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    #5 - Man on a Wire

    Season 2 Episode 33 - Aired 5/22/1960

    The 'Black Hand' was a secret criminal society, esp. of Italians, organized for blackmail and deeds of violence during the last decade of the 1800's. Now, in Laramie, two trapeze artists are being blackmailed, and they believed that they had escaped from the 'Black Hand' by coming to America.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • The Chef
    7.4/1059 votes
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    #6 - The Chef

    Season 1 Episode 22 - Aired 3/1/1959

    Hans is a chef wanting to open up his own restaurant, but the Youngs keep him bound to a contract they have with him. Dan helps him get out of it in an unusual (but legal) way, in a show played for laughs, one of the lighter episodes.

    Director: Stuart Heisler

    Writer: N/A

  • Reunion in Laramie
    7.4/1054 votes
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    #7 - Reunion in Laramie

    Season 2 Episode 23 - Aired 3/13/1960

    Pianist Reed Smith drank to forget the war. He's conquered the drinking problem, but not the men who are trying to get him because of things he did that they can't forget. The reunion takes place at the Bird Cage Saloon in Laramie.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Mark of Cain
    7.4/1046 votes
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    #8 - Mark of Cain

    Season 3 Episode 28 - Aired 3/26/1961

    No description available

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Owny O'Reilly, Esq.
    7.4/1052 votes
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    #9 - Owny O'Reilly, Esq.

    Season 4 Episode 5 - Aired 10/15/1961

    Millie Cotton, the governor's daughter, has run away from home and landed in Laramie. Desperate for money, she robs Owny in an alley with her hairbrush in his back. Both are scared. Owny later describes the robber as a huge, vicious man. Dan, told to be on the lookout for the governor's daughter, recognizes Millie, who sings for Lily and is told honestly that she has a lovely voice. Owny is struck by her, not knowing that she is his assailant. When he finds out, his hurt feelings take over. Later, an escaped convict, Millie, Owny, his horse, and his dog all combine for a scene of pandemonium before everything is sorted out.

    Director: Leslie H. Martinson

    Writer: N/A

  • Jailbreak
    7.4/1050 votes
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    #10 - Jailbreak

    Season 4 Episode 39 - Aired 6/10/1962

    McKay (Peter Brown) is hoodwinked by a reckless---but naive---young lady determined to spring her sinister fiance from jail. Bole: Peter Breck. Little Britches: Pamela Austin. Troop: John Russell. Snead: James Griffith. Callaghan: Frank Ferguson.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: John D. F. Black

  • Lady in Question
    7.5/1057 votes
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    #11 - Lady in Question

    Season 1 Episode 12 - Aired 12/21/1958

    When Johnny McKay's old sweetheart comes to town, she is followed by her lover who goads Johnny into a gunfight. Johnny kills him, but the man's gun is missing when Johnny returns with Dan Troop. Troop must place Johnny under arrest for murder.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Battle Scar
    7.5/1062 votes
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    #12 - Battle Scar

    Season 1 Episode 25 - Aired 3/22/1959

    A military man has a breakdown and finally reveals the truth about a war battle: he let people believe he had been a hero, when instead he was court-martialed for deserting his men.

    Director: Stuart Heisler

    Writer: N/A

  • The Hardcase
    7.5/1050 votes
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    #13 - The Hardcase

    Season 2 Episode 17 - Aired 1/31/1960

    Beth Denning, a somewhat wild girl, seems to stir up trouble wherever she goes. Raised by a lazy father in a filthy cabin, she can't seem to break out of the mold. Dan, knowing that a cattle drive is coming into town, lays down the law to both her father and to her, warning them to not cause any more trouble in Laramie. When Beth is found beat up and near death after a scene at the Bird Cage, the town is ready to lynch an innocent young man until Beth comes out of her coma to identify the real culprit.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Belding's Girl
    7.5/1061 votes
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    #14 - Belding's Girl

    Season 2 Episode 26 - Aired 4/3/1960

    Meg Belding leaves home at 21, away from her verbally and physically abusive father. Lily gives her a job at the Bird Cage, and he tracks her down, threatening to beat her. A kind man she meets protects her, and soon they want to get married. Her father objects. Dan and Lily have to run interference for her.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • The Swamper
    7.5/1051 votes
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    #15 - The Swamper

    Season 2 Episode 35 - Aired 6/5/1960

    An alcoholic, Jim Phelan,is a swamper who is offered a bribe to help make a bank robbery possible. He wants to, but with a condition which involves his unpolished daughter, Ellie.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Old Stefano
    7.5/1045 votes
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    #16 - Old Stefano

    Season 3 Episode 15 - Aired 12/25/1960

    Tracy McNeil is a supposed businessman who is showing an inordinate interest in Lily Merrill. Johnny teases Dan about it, but Dan doesn't want to interfere. In fact, Lily is interested in buying McNeil's thoroughbred horse, but his price is too high: to try to persuade Dan to let him buy up land that isn't really for sale. Meanwhile, Old Stefano, a mute old shepherd who comes to town with an injured sheep dog, is accused of killing McNeil's injured horse. Dan has to intervene in McNeil's behalf.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • The Robbery
    7.5/1052 votes
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    #17 - The Robbery

    Season 3 Episode 16 - Aired 1/1/1961

    On the trail of a murderer, Troop (John Russell) is stymied by the stubborn arrogance of an Army lieutenant. Davidson: Robert Ridgely. Deever: Hal Torey. Roach: Warren Kemmerling. McKay: Peter Brown. Lily: Peggie Castle.

    Director: Robert Altman

    Writer: N/A

  • The Catalog Woman
    7.5/1042 votes
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    #18 - The Catalog Woman

    Season 4 Episode 8 - Aired 11/5/1961

    When one of Laramie's citizens disappears the day after his wedding to a woman he met through a marriage catalog, Dan does some investigating. Learning that several other men have also disappeared after marrying someone from that agency, he decides to try to flush her out by posing as an eligible bachelor, Arthur Daniels. Lily at first thinks it's funny, but gets serious (and jealous) once Johnny points out that this could be for real - or even fatal.

    Director: Leslie H. Martinson

    Writer: N/A

  • Cort
    7.5/1045 votes
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    #19 - Cort

    Season 4 Episode 33 - Aired 4/29/1962

    A stranger rides into town and collapses. After the doctor's examination, Troop tries to question him, but gets nowhere. All the stranger will say is that there's going to be a lot of trouble around sundown.

    Director: Burt Kennedy

    Writer: N/A

  • The Runaway
    7.6/1057 votes
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    #20 - The Runaway

    Season 1 Episode 18 - Aired 2/1/1959

    Ben Steed is a soldier who wants to be a writer. His father, an army colonel, wants him to stay in the army. The son leaves, but not with the intent to desert as much as to get away from the situation. Complicating matters is the fact that he and his girlfriend, whom his father dislikes, have secretly gotten married, and also a troublemaker trying to get revenge on the Colonel.

    Director: Stuart Heisler

    Writer: N/A

  • The Ugly Man
    7.6/1063 votes
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    #21 - The Ugly Man

    Season 2 Episode 19 - Aired 2/14/1960

    Lily is threatened in an alley at night by a man calling himself ""the ugly man"". He seems to know all about her and accuses her of deceit and lies (although she is sure she doesn't know him) and he promises to kill her at midnight on some night soon. Dan and Johnny begin a constant vigil, one or the other being with her 24 hours a day until they can track down a man with no name and no face. Finally, one of the girls who works in the saloon discloses a secret that unlocks the mystery.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: Clair Huffaker

  • The Town Boys
    7.6/1058 votes
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    #22 - The Town Boys

    Season 3 Episode 1 - Aired 9/18/1960

    Johnny goes against everyone else's better judgement when he takes personal responsibility for 4 boys who have been arrested for killing a milk cow. The four boys lack any direction in life and remind Johnny of himself at their age. He finds them work at the livery stable, determined to help them rehabilitate. Three of the boys end up admiring him and wanting his approval, while the fourth boy is not only 'bad', he is criminal.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • The Second Son
    7.6/1046 votes
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    #23 - The Second Son

    Season 3 Episode 11 - Aired 11/27/1960

    When Al May comes home with a bag of stolen payroll money and being pursued by a posse, his younger half brother, Charlie, grabs the money and runs, letting himself get caught and taking the rap for Al. What he wants is acceptance by his dad and his brother, who blame him for his mother's running off with another man years before. Since Lily insists he's innocent and begs Dan to do something, he comes up with a plan to expose the truth.

    Director: Robert B. Sinclair

    Writer: N/A

  • Firehouse Lil
    7.6/1050 votes
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    #24 - Firehouse Lil

    Season 3 Episode 17 - Aired 1/8/1961

    In this lighter episode Jake, in charge of fire co. #2 and Oren, in charge of fire co. #1, crash into each other and start a fight in the street during a fire drill. After Lily chides them loudly in public for their behavior, she is elected unanimously the new fire marshall. A group of bandits witness this and prepare to start a fire as a diversion so they can rob the payroll being held in the bank. Lily and the Volunteer Fire Brigade save the day.

    Director: Leslie H. Martinson

    Writer: N/A

  • The Inheritance
    7.6/1042 votes
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    #25 - The Inheritance

    Season 3 Episode 25 - Aired 3/5/1961

    No description available

    Director: Marc Lawrence

    Writer: N/A