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The Worst Episodes of The Rifleman

Every episode of The Rifleman ranked from worst to best. Explore the Worst Episodes of The Rifleman!

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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,

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  1. #1 Worst Episode
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    The Rifleman Season 1 Episode 1 - The Sharpshooter
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #1 - The Sharpshooter

    S1:E1

    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

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  2. The Rifleman Season 1 Episode 3 - End of a Young Gun
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #2 - End of a Young Gun

    S1:E3

    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.

    Director:Jerry Hopper
    Writer:Frank D. Gilroy

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  3. The Rifleman Season 1 Episode 4 - The Marshal
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #3 - The Marshal

    S1:E4

    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

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  4. The Rifleman Season 1 Episode 5 - The Brother-in-Law
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #4 - The Brother-in-Law

    S1:E5

    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.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  5. The Rifleman Season 1 Episode 6 - Eight Hours to Die
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #5 - Eight Hours to Die

    S1:E6

    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.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  6. The Rifleman Season 1 Episode 7 - Duel of Honor
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #6 - Duel of Honor

    S1:E7

    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.

    Director:Joseph H. Lewis
    Writer:Ken Kolb

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  7. The Rifleman Season 1 Episode 8 - The Safe Guard
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #7 - The Safe Guard

    S1:E8

    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.

    Director:Joseph H. Lewis
    Writer:David Swift

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  8. The Rifleman Season 1 Episode 9 - The Sister
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #8 - The Sister

    S1:E9

    Rebecca Snipe is returning to North Fork after a long visit away. Before her stage leaves, she overhears 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 becomes smitten with her and gets it in his head to play matchmaker between her and his pa.

    Director:Montgomery Pittman
    Writer:Montgomery Pittman

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  9. The Rifleman Season 1 Episode 10 - New Orleans Menace
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #9 - New Orleans Menace

    S1:E10

    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:Unknown
    Writer:Cyril Hume

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  10. The Rifleman Season 1 Episode 11 - The Apprentice Sheriff
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #10 - The Apprentice Sheriff

    S1:E11

    Dan Willard is filling in as temporary marshal while Micah is away. Meanwhile, some Texas cowhands are in North Fork looking for fun and relaxation, but Dan keeps coming down hard on them, which leads to blowback.

    Director:Arthur Hiller
    Writer:Unknown

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  11. The Rifleman Season 1 Episode 12 - Young Englishman
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #11 - Young Englishman

    S1:E12

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

    Director:David Swift
    Writer:Samuel A. Peeples

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  12. The Rifleman Season 1 Episode 13 - The Angry Gun
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #12 - The Angry Gun

    S1:E13

    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:David Swift
    Writer:Samuel A. Peeples

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  13. The Rifleman Season 1 Episode 14 - The Gaucho
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #13 - The Gaucho

    S1:E14

    There’s prejudice all around, when Rumson moves away from North Fork, having sold his property to the Argentez family, who are originally from Argentina. Curge, who was outbid for the property, is upset because Rumson sold out to a "peppergut". Meanwhile, Manolo, the son of the Argentinian, has a problem with his sister being with a “gringo”.

    Director:Jerry Hopper
    Writer:Bruce Geller

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  14. The Rifleman Season 1 Episode 15 - The Pet
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #14 - The Pet

    S1:E15

    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. Later, Haskins rides out to the ranch and is bitten by Flecker's horse, which is now believed to have anthrax.

    Director:Joseph H. Lewis
    Writer:Unknown

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  15. The Rifleman Season 1 Episode 16 - The Sheridan Story
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #15 - The Sheridan Story

    S1:E16

    When Frank Blandon, a man with only one good arm, wanders onto the ranch, Lucas gives him a job. This leads to major complications later.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Cyril Hume

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  16. The Rifleman Season 1 Episode 17 - The Retired Gun
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #16 - The Retired Gun

    S1:E17

    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.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  17. The Rifleman Season 1 Episode 18 - The Photographer
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #17 - The Photographer

    S1:E18

    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 Colonel Whiteside and his sidekick, Jamison, he recognizes them as the butchers who tortured him, and others, while he was captive in their POW camp.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  18. The Rifleman Season 1 Episode 19 - Shivaree
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #18 - Shivaree

    S1:E19

    Aaron Pelser's wagon train comes across a pair of young boys on a buck board heading west and he invites them to join the train. When he finds 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.

    Director:Joseph H. Lewis
    Writer:Unknown

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  19. The Rifleman Season 1 Episode 20 - The Deadeye Kid
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #19 - The Deadeye Kid

    S1:E20

    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:Unknown

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  20. The Rifleman Season 1 Episode 21 - The Indian
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #20 - The Indian

    S1:E21

    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:Unknown
    Writer:Cyril Hume

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  21. The Rifleman Season 1 Episode 22 - The Boarding House
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #21 - The Boarding House

    S1:E22

    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:Unknown

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  22. The Rifleman Season 1 Episode 23 - The Second Witness
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #22 - The Second Witness

    S1:E23

    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

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  23. The Rifleman Season 1 Episode 24 - The Trade
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #23 - The Trade

    S1:E24

    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:Unknown

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  24. The Rifleman Season 1 Episode 25 - One Went to Denver
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #24 - One Went to Denver

    S1:E25

    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:Unknown

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  25. The Rifleman Season 1 Episode 26 - The Deadly Wait
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #25 - The Deadly Wait

    S1:E26

    Dan Nowry, released from Yuma prison, arrives in North Fork intent on getting even with Marshal Torrance,who helped send him to jail.

    Director:Joseph H. Lewis
    Writer:Unknown

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Worst Episodes Summary

"The Sharpshooter" is the worst rated episode of "The Rifleman". It scored /10 based on 0 votes. Directed by Arnold Laven and written by Sam Peckinpah, it aired on 9/30/1958. This episode scored 0.0 points lower than the second lowest rated, "End of a Young Gun".