7.9/10155 votes#1 - Waste (1)
Season 5 Episode 1 - Aired 10/1/1962
Marshal Torrance is heading home from a cattle sale with Lucas and Mark when the old lawman mysteriously disappears. They trace him to a nearby Mexican ghost town. (Part 1 of 2)
Director: Joseph H. Lewis
Writer: Robert Culp
8.1/10140 votes#2 - Waste (2)
Season 5 Episode 2 - Aired 10/8/1962
Conclusion. After Alphonso's wife gives birth, the bandits holding Marshal Torrance relax their guard, enabling Lucas and Mark to rescue the old man.
Director: Joseph H. Lewis
Writer: Robert Culp
8.1/10126 votes#3 - Lou Mallory
Season 5 Episode 3 - Aired 10/15/1962
Red-headed Lou Mallory arrives in North Fork and soon arouses the townpeople's suspicions.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
8.1/10120 votes#4 - Quiet Night, Deadly Night
Season 5 Episode 4 - Aired 10/22/1962
Townspeople brace for the worst when a new girl arrives—with symptoms of smallpox.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 8.7/10164 votes
#5 - Death Never Rides Alone
Season 5 Episode 5 - Aired 10/29/1962
A gunslinger rides into North Fork for a meeting with Lucas.
Director: Joseph H. Lewis
Writer: N/A
- 7.5/10119 votes
#6 - I Take This Woman
Season 5 Episode 6 - Aired 11/5/1962
Lou looks for a way out when the man her dying father promised her to arrives.
Director: Joseph H. Lewis
Writer: N/A
- 8.2/10124 votes
#7 - The Assailants
Season 5 Episode 7 - Aired 11/12/1962
An assassination plot unfolds as four gunmen disguised as cavalrymen enter North Fork. Their target: Sen. Jim Borden. Their weapon: a Gatling gun.
Director: Arthur H. Nadel
Writer: Herman Groves
- 8.3/10125 votes
#8 - Mark's Rifle
Season 5 Episode 8 - Aired 11/19/1962
Sharpshooter Marty Blair tries to persuade Lucas to buy Mark a rifle.
Director: N/A
Writer: Oliver Crawford
- 8.5/10169 votes
#9 - The Most Amazing Man
Season 5 Episode 9 - Aired 11/26/1962
Fast-draw artist Wade Randall is less than anxious to display his prowess.
Director: Arthur H. Nadel
Writer: N/A
- 8.1/10113 votes
#10 - Squeeze Play
Season 5 Episode 10 - Aired 12/3/1962
A speculator will stop at nothing to grab Lucas's land.
Director: Joseph H. Lewis
Writer: Ed Adamson
- 7.8/10127 votes
#11 - Gun Shy
Season 5 Episode 11 - Aired 12/10/1962
Mark blames himself for a friend's accidental death.
Director: Arthur H. Nadel
Writer: Cyril Hume
- 8.0/10114 votes
#12 - The Anvil Chorus
Season 5 Episode 12 - Aired 12/17/1962
A blacksmith-turned-deputy sets the stage for trouble when he demands that all townspeople turn in their weapons.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 7.3/10111 votes
#13 - Conflict
Season 5 Episode 13 - Aired 12/24/1962
Lucas's self-confidence begins to slip away when he misses an easy shot.
Director: Arthur H. Nadel
Writer: Ed Adamson
- 8.4/10111 votes
#14 - Incident at Line Shack Six
Season 5 Episode 14 - Aired 1/7/1963
A railroad gang boss frames an Apache.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 7.8/10109 votes
#15 - Suspicion
Season 5 Episode 15 - Aired 1/14/1963
A peddler is implicated in a series of murders.
Director: Joseph H. Lewis
Writer: N/A
- 8.2/10168 votes
#16 - The Sidewinder
Season 5 Episode 16 - Aired 1/21/1963
Gridley Mau is gunning for Lucas, who killed his father during an attempted robbery.
Director: Joseph H. Lewis
Writer: Robert Lewin
- 7.5/10137 votes
#17 - The Sixteenth Cousin
Season 5 Episode 17 - Aired 1/28/1962
A Japanese nobleman seeks revenge when his servant is insulted.
Director: Arthur H. Nadel
Writer: N/A
- 7.6/10112 votes
#18 - Hostages to Fortune
Season 5 Episode 18 - Aired 2/4/1963
At Halloween, rustlers take advantage of the seasonal disguises to raid a cattle ranch.
Director: Arthur H. Nadel
Writer: N/A
- 8.0/10113 votes
#19 - And the Devil Makes Five
Season 5 Episode 19 - Aired 2/11/1963
A snake crawls into Lucas's bed, and Mark must lure it away before it strikes.
Director: Joseph H. Lewis
Writer: N/A
- 7.9/10108 votes
#20 - End of the Hunt
Season 5 Episode 20 - Aired 2/18/1963
Lucas is thrown into jail to stop him from murdering an old enemy.
Director: Arthur H. Nadel
Writer: N/A
- 8.2/10124 votes
#21 - The Bullet
Season 5 Episode 21 - Aired 2/25/1963
Lucas is baffled when the marshal of a neighboring town refuses to hold a gambler who just attempted murder.
Director: Joseph H. Lewis
Writer: N/A
- 8.2/10110 votes
#22 - Requiem at Mission Springs
Season 5 Episode 22 - Aired 3/4/1963
Lucas begins a trek to find a cure for Mark, who is paralyzed after a bad fall.
Director: Arthur H. Nadel
Writer: N/A
- 7.7/10115 votes
#23 - The Guest
Season 5 Episode 23 - Aired 3/11/1963
New arrival Mario Arsatti becomes very friendly with Lucas, but this turns out to be merely pleasure before business: he's been hired to kill Lucas.
Director: Joseph H. Lewis
Writer: Ed Adamson
- 8.4/10137 votes
#24 - Old Man Running (aka The Wanted Man)
Season 5 Episode 24 - Aired 3/18/1963
Lucas, who blames his wife's death on his father-in-law, refuses to help the old man elude gunmen.
Director: Arthur H. Nadel
Writer: N/A
- 6.3/10156 votes
#25 - Which Way'd They Go?
Season 5 Episode 25 - Aired 4/1/1963
The notoriously lazy Jackman brothers discover their mortgage has been foreclosed.
Director: Arthur H. Nadel
Writer: N/A
The Best Episodes of The Rifleman Season 5
Every episode of The Rifleman Season 5 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of The Rifleman Season 5!
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...
Genres:Action & AdventureWesternFamily
Network:ABC
Season 5 Ratings Summary
"Waste (1)" is the best rated episode of "The Rifleman" season 5. It scored 7.9/10 based on 155 votes. Directed by Joseph H. Lewis and written by Robert Culp, it aired on 10/1/1962. This episode is rated 0.2 points higher than the second-best, "Waste (2)".