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The Best Episodes of The Rifleman Season 1

Every episode of The Rifleman Season 1 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of The Rifleman Season 1!

The Rifleman is an American Western television program starring Chuck Connors as rancher Lucas McCain and Johnny Crawford as his son, Mark McCain. It was set in the 1880s in the town of North Fork, New Mexico Territory. The show was filmed in black-and-white, half-hour episodes. "The Rifleman" aired on ABC from September 30, 1958 to April 8, 1963 as a production of Four Star Television. It was one of the first prime time series to have a widowed parent raise a child.

Genres:Action & AdventureWesternFamily
Network:ABC

Season 1 Ratings Summary

The best episode of "The Rifleman" season 1 is "The Sharpshooter", rated 8.5/10 from 435 user votes. It was directed by Arnold Laven and written by Sam Peckinpah. "The Sharpshooter" aired on 9/30/1958 and is rated 0.4 point(s) higher than the second highest rated, "Home Ranch".

  • The Sharpshooter
    8.5/10 435 votes

    #1 - The Sharpshooter

    Season 1 Episode 1 - Aired 9/30/1958

    Lucas McCain and his son Mark arrive in North Fork, New Mexico. Looking to start a new life, they come across a ranch to their liking, which is for sale. Lucas enters a Turkey Shoot in hopes of winning the down payment for the ranch. Jim Lewis, the man who runs North Fork, has bet on Vernon, a young gun he brought in, to win. When talk of Lucas' reputation back in the Nations circulates around town, Mr. Lewis gets nervous and he makes trouble for Lucas by threatening Mark's life.

    Director: Arnold Laven

    Writer: Sam Peckinpah

  • Home Ranch
    8.1/10 288 votes

    #2 - Home Ranch

    Season 1 Episode 2 - Aired 10/7/1958

    Two hired hands of a wealthy cattleman, who has been using the ranch for grazing his cattle, demand that Lucas move out. When Lucas refuses, he is beaten and dragged and then the ranch house is burned down. They left Lucas and Mark with the burning house and rode off with Lucas' rifle. Leaving Mark to tend to the animals, Lucas tracks them down and confronts their boss, Mr. Jackford.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: Sam Peckinpah

  • End of a Young Gun
    8.3/10 281 votes

    #3 - End of a Young Gun

    Season 1 Episode 3 - Aired 10/14/1958

    Lucas is forced to give refuge to Will Fulton, a young bank robber, who was injured while saving Mark's life. While staying at the McCain ranch Will gets a taste of a life better than the one he's been leading. He's met a girl and grows tired of a life on the run. Will this young man have a change of heart before his brother returns for him and the stolen money?

    Director: Jerry Hopper

    Writer: Frank D. Gilroy

  • The Marshal
    8.5/10 290 votes

    #4 - The Marshal

    Season 1 Episode 4 - Aired 10/21/1958

    Micah Torrance, a once famous lawman, is introduced as a drunken derelict, who stumbles into North Fork. Micah, nursing an arm crippled in a gunfight, is hired by Lucas to help out at the ranch. Three outlaws ride into town looking for revenge against Micah. When they kill the sheriff, it's up to Lucas and Micah to protect North Fork. Micah becomes North Fork's full-time Marshal.

    Director: Sam Peckinpah

    Writer: Sam Peckinpah

  • The Brother-in-Law
    7.8/10 191 votes

    #5 - The Brother-in-Law

    Season 1 Episode 5 - Aired 10/28/1958

    Mark's uncle, Johnny Gibb, a big time rodeo rider, comes to visit. While Mark idolizes his uncle, Lucas discovers that Johnny is on the run from the law for an Express Office Robbery. Stacy has a bronco named Lucifer, that nobody's been able to ride for 15 seconds. Alvah, wanting to humble the almighty Mr. Stacy, asks Johnny if he'd ride Lucifer, so that he and the townsfolk could bet that Johnny would ride Lucifer for 30 seconds. Johnny agrees and then makes a deal with Stacy to throw the ride for $500.00. After spending time with Mark, Johnny decides to give the ride his best and then turn himself in to Marshal Torrance.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Eight Hours to Die
    8.0/10 199 votes

    #6 - Eight Hours to Die

    Season 1 Episode 6 - Aired 11/4/1958

    Judge Burton seeks ""Justice"" against the Hangman, who hanged his son; the Judge, who sentenced his son; and Lucas, the man who caught his son. When Judge Burton discovers that Lucas has a son, he decides that the best way to serve justice is an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a son for a son. Judge Burton tied Lucas to a wagon and went to hang Mark, feeling that Lucas should feel the same agony that he had felt waiting for is son to be hanged.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Duel of Honor
    8.3/10 195 votes

    #7 - Duel of Honor

    Season 1 Episode 7 - Aired 11/11/1958

    When an Italian Count arrives in North Fork, his strange attire attracts the attention of Groder, a town bully. Groder trying to have fun with this stranger, destroys some of the Counts currency, mocks him, and tries to humiliate him. Eventually the Count challenges Groder to a duel and asks Lucas to be his Second. They meet at dawn and the Count, the offended party, brings his single shot dueling pistols, something Groder is unaccustomed to. Lucas as second must see that all rules of the duel are adhered to.

    Director: Joseph H. Lewis

    Writer: N/A

  • The Safe Guard
    8.4/10 191 votes

    #8 - The Safe Guard

    Season 1 Episode 8 - Aired 10/18/1958

    Floyd Doniger comes to North Fork, looking to start a new life. He's got a steady job as the guard at the new bank and he's entertaining ideas of settling down on a spread of his own. Also arriving in North Fork are three men who followed the bank's new safe, figuring any town needing a safe like that must have money to put into it. At the grand opening celebration of the bank, the three men discover the new bank guard is their old pal, Floyd. The three men try to convince Floyd to join them in robbing the bank, after all with a man working inside it should be easy.

    Director: Joseph H. Lewis

    Writer: David Swift

  • The Sister
    8.4/10 203 votes

    #9 - The Sister

    Season 1 Episode 9 - Aired 11/25/1958

    Rebecca Snipe is returning to North Fork after a long visit away. Before her stage left, she over hears a man saying he's going to North Fork to kill a big man with a big mouth. Upon Rebecca's arrival in North Fork, Mark is smitten with her and gets it in his head to play matchmaker between her and his pa. Thinking Lucas has intentions on their sister, the Snipe brothers come looking for Lucas to see if he measures up to their standard of being good enough for her.

    Director: Montgomery Pittman

    Writer: Montgomery Pittman

  • New Orleans Menace
    8.0/10 190 votes

    #10 - New Orleans Menace

    Season 1 Episode 10 - Aired 12/26/1958

    Tiffauges, a wealthy and sadistic Frenchman, who is used to getting whatever he wants, decides he wishes to purchase the McCain Ranch. Tiffauges' lead man, Xavier, proclaims Lucas to be muy macho, and does not believe Lucas will give in so easily. Xavier and the other men are tiring of being subjected to Tiffauges' whippings and cruel treatment. Lucas plays on the men's longing for freedom to keep his ranch.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: Cyril Hume

  • The Apprentice Sheriff
    7.9/10 175 votes

    #11 - The Apprentice Sheriff

    Season 1 Episode 11 - Aired 12/9/1958

    Dan Willard is filling in as temporary marshal while Micah is away. Some Texas cowhands are in North Fork looking for some fun and relaxation, but Dan keeps coming down hard on them. Dan's father tells Lucas that he feels Dan is trying to prove himself as a man to compensate from being dropped from West Point Academy because of his poor eyesight. The Texas cowhands have had enough of being pushed around when Marshal Dan posts an ordinance that all visitors must check their guns at the Marshal's office. Now, they're out to cause some real trouble for Dan.

    Director: Arthur Hiller

    Writer: N/A

  • Young Englishman
    8.4/10 193 votes

    #12 - Young Englishman

    Season 1 Episode 12 - Aired 12/16/1958

    Lucas accuses the young foreman of a neighboring ranch of rustling one of his calves.

    Director: David Swift

    Writer: Samuel A. Peeples

  • The Angry Gun
    8.2/10 170 votes

    #13 - The Angry Gun

    Season 1 Episode 13 - Aired 12/23/1958

    Lucas and Mark return from a cattle sale when their stagecoach is robbed by three outlaws led by sharpshooter Johnny Cotton (Vic Morrow). Lucas sends Mark on in the stagecoach while he goes after the outlaws on foot without his rifle.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • The Gaucho
    8.2/10 170 votes

    #14 - The Gaucho

    Season 1 Episode 14 - Aired 12/30/1958

    Rumson, without even saying to whom he had sold his property, left the bill of sale with the bank and moved away from North Fork. Curge, who's highest offer was upped by $1,000.00 is upset because Rumson sold out to a ""peppergut"". The Argentez family who bought the place are from Argentina. Lucas arranges for Mark to hang out with Manolo, who teaches Mark to use the Bolas. Manolo is angered at anyone who shows interest in his sister, he believes she is only for a ""Caballero"". Her latest suitor, Ned Dunnell, has been found murdered and the townsfolk are quick to believe it was Manolo.

    Director: Jerry Hopper

    Writer: Bruce Geller

  • The Pet
    8.2/10 147 votes

    #15 - The Pet

    Season 1 Episode 15 - Aired 1/6/1959

    Ward Haskins guns down Joe Flecker, who has evidence that could be used to blackmail him. Haskins thinks the information was given to Lucas, since he brought Flecker to the doctor before he died. Stirred up by Haskins behavior, Lucas goes through Flecker's things, finding a wanted poster for Haskins in the sole of Flecker's boot. He also finds Doc Burrage drinking. Doc is discouraged because three children have died of an anthrax epidemic that he has the new serum for, but nobody is willing to allow him to administer it in time. Haskins rides out to the ranch and is bitten by Flecker's horse, which is now believed to have anthrax. Mark overhears about how anthrax always causes death and is worried because he had bitten by Flecker's horse, also.

    Director: Joseph H. Lewis

    Writer: N/A

  • The Sheridan Story
    8.8/10 243 votes

    #16 - The Sheridan Story

    Season 1 Episode 16 - Aired 1/13/1959

    Frank Blandon, a man with only one good arm, wanders on to the ranch. Lucas gave Blandon a job to ""hire him and Mark a clear conscience"". General Sheridan and his patrol wandered by and Lucas offered to let them stay the night at the ranch. Blandon pulled a gun on General Sheridan, as it turned out Blandon was a confederate soldier, who once had General Sheridan in his gun sight during the war. Blandon hung fire, but Sheridan did not hesitate and blew out Blandon's shoulder. General Sheridan shamed Blandon out of exacting his revenge, then lifted Blandon's spirit by praising Johnny Rebs' fighting spirit. Sheridan ordered that Blandon be taken to a hospital to have his shoulder properly mended, carrying out his Commander in Chief's last order to ""Bind up the Nation's wounds.""

    Director: N/A

    Writer: Cyril Hume

  • The Retired Gun
    8.1/10 169 votes

    #17 - The Retired Gun

    Season 1 Episode 17 - Aired 1/20/1959

    Wes Carney and his wife Clair want to settle down and they figure North Fork might do fine. Wes is a well known gunfighter, who has promised Clair that he would hang up his guns for good. The Carney's want to live a simple, honest life and the Feed and Grain Store, which is up for sale, seems like it might work for them. Carney's reputation and the news that he's settling down brings troublemakers to North Fork. Lucas is the only man willing to stand as deputy with Micah. After Lucas tells the Carney's a story, Clair releases Wes of his promise and the three men take on the troublemakers. After the showdown, Clair announces that Wes will be taking the Sheriff's position he was offered in another town, if it's still available.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • The Photographer
    8.3/10 164 votes

    #18 - The Photographer

    Season 1 Episode 18 - Aired 1/27/1959

    Abel Goss, the photographer who took Lucas' wedding photograph, is in North Fork doing a portrait of Mark standing in the street. When Goss sees Col. Whiteside and his sidekick Jamison, he recognizes them as the butchers who tortured him and others while he was captive in their prisoners of war camp. When Lucas stops him from killing them, Goss swears to kill those men. Whiteside planned to call Goss out, but he had Jamison shooting from the upstairs hotel window, as his insurance. When the shots are fired, Whiteside is dead, shot in the back, and his gun hadn't been fired. Goss is arrested and at the trial Lucas and Mark have different testimonies. Mark reenacts the scene in the street, and Lucas backs Mark's theory , using the photographic negative Goss had shot of Mark.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Shivaree
    7.7/10 168 votes

    #19 - Shivaree

    Season 1 Episode 19 - Aired 2/3/1959

    Aaron Pelser's wagon train came across a pair of young boys on a buck board heading west and invited them to join the train. When he found out that one of the boys was actually a girl and the two claimed to be headed to Yuma to get married, Pelser and his crowd force them to be married in North Fork. The wagon train folks want to throw a shivaree, which may have been innocent enough except for two reasons. The first reason being that the couple does not count it as their wedding because they want to be wed by the groom's father in Yuma. The second reason is that Chet Packard keeps pushing things too far, beyond the spirit of a friendly shivaree.

    Director: Joseph H. Lewis

    Writer: N/A

  • The Deadeye Kid
    7.8/10 151 votes

    #20 - The Deadeye Kid

    Season 1 Episode 20 - Aired 2/10/1959

    McCain befriends Donnel O'Mahoney, a tough kid from Brooklyn, and arranges with two men for the young man to continue his travels on their wagon, but then one of them is murdered and the other accuses the boy of having done it.

    Director: Jerry Hopper

    Writer: N/A

  • The Indian
    8.4/10 179 votes

    #21 - The Indian

    Season 1 Episode 21 - Aired 2/17/1959

    U.S. Marshal Sam Buckhart arrives in North Fork in search of renegade Indians suspected of the brutal killing of a Texas Ranger and his family, but the townspeople are suspicious of him when they discover that he too is an Indian.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: Cyril Hume

  • The Boarding House
    8.0/10 170 votes

    #22 - The Boarding House

    Season 1 Episode 22 - Aired 2/24/1959

    Reformed card sharp Julia Massini now runs a respectable boarding house in North Fork, but Sid Fallon is threatening to reveal her sordid past unless she lets him turn the establishment into a saloon and gambling hall.

    Director: Sam Peckinpah

    Writer: N/A

  • The Second Witness
    8.4/10 157 votes

    #23 - The Second Witness

    Season 1 Episode 23 - Aired 3/30/1959

    Lucas puts his life in jeopardy when he agrees to testify in a murder case where the first witness was killed before he could testify, and the killer is still at large.

    Director: Lewis Allen

    Writer: George W. George

  • The Trade
    8.2/10 149 votes

    #24 - The Trade

    Season 1 Episode 24 - Aired 3/10/1959

    Outlaw Sam Morley falls in love with a young woman who has a serious illness, and asks Lucas to turn him in for the reward and then use the money to pay for her medical care.

    Director: Joseph H. Lewis

    Writer: David Lane

  • One Went to Denver
    8.3/10 138 votes

    #25 - One Went to Denver

    Season 1 Episode 25 - Aired 3/17/1959

    Lucas welcomes his old friend Tom Birch, who once saved his life, unaware that the man is now a bank robber who is on the run with his gang.

    Director: Lewis Allen

    Writer: N/A