Original title
The Rifleman
Released
9/30/1958
Origin country
US
Genre
Action & Adventure, Family, Western
Production companies
Four Stars Productions
Status
Ended
Number of seasons
5
Number of episodes
168
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Lucas accuses the young foreman of a neighboring ranch of rustling one of his calves.
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.
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.
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.
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.""
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Dan Nowry, released from Yuma prison, arrives in North Fork intent on getting even with Marshal Torrance,who helped send him to jail.
Young Mark McCain is eager to help lawman Jay Jefferson, who has arrived in North Fork intent on killing an outlaw for the reward, whether he is the right man or not.
When escaped convicts hold up the general store in North Fork and take Marshal Torrance hostage, Lucas comes to the rescue.
Young Mark manages to capture a hawk, but then falls into danger from a rattlesnake. When a stranger comes to his rescue, the grateful Mark invites the man home, unaware that he is on the run from the law.
When a rambunctious teenager wrecks a schoolroom, Lucas McCain, as a member of the North Fork school board, asks the boy's reluctant uncle to pay for the damages.
The McCains try to be tolerant of their embittered neighbor Abel MacDonald, who tels Lucas to keep off his land and won't allow his son to become friends with Mark, but they decide he's gone too far when he won't allow his injured boy to get medical treatment.
An unfounded rumor causes North Fork's outspoken feminist schoolteacher to be attacked by a mob of angry townspeople.
When his employer begins to suspect him of embezzlement, bookkeeper Asa Manning decides to hire a professional gunman to take care of the problem.
Although a drought has forced local cowhands to seek work on a railroad construction project, railraod executives are afraid that their workers will desert them if they believe an old man's claim to have found a way to make rain.
Lucas McCain gives blood to save a dying man and is surprised by Marshal Torrance's odd behavior toward the man. Then three men arrive from a nearby town and demand custody of the stranger.
Mark's finding of the body of a murder victim starts Lucas, his friend Artemus, and Marshal Torrance on a search for the killer.
When renegade Apaches wound Lucas and kidnap Mark, Marshal Torrance joins with U.S. Marshal Sam Buckhart to form a rescue posse.
Lucas is the town's representative to the railroad commission until an infamous train robber dies and leaves his ill-gotten wealth to Lucas. Lucas must clear his name and stop the reckless ambition of his replacement.
When a rancher dies after the bank forecloses the mortgage on his property, his son blames the banker for his father's death.
When a wealthy rancher is killed, Mark suggests that they seek the aid of a mind reader to identify the murderer.
A group of outlaws devise a plan to get rid of Lucas so that they can take over the town of North Fork.
After Lucas kills a mountain man in a barrom brawl, his father arrives in North Fork determined to take revenge on Lucas and Marshal Torrance, once he breaks his other two boys out of jail.
Newly arrived gunslinger Al Walker throws a mammoth party at the saloon, keeping acting Marshal Ben Waller busy until Lucas is forced to intervene.
Newspaperman Byron Claremont specializes in profiles of famous gunmen. One of his stories was responsible for an old-time marshal's death; and his next subject is Lucas.
Gavin and Ezra Martin think that Lucas killed their son Clemmie while taking part in a train robbery, and Lucas refuses to tell them what really happened.
After the daughter of Lucas's friend the hotel clerk arrives in North Fork, two strangers threaten her life.
Town character Brett Conway blackmails Lucas with the knowledge that a young couple Lucas rescued are suffering from yellow fever.
When their wagon breaks down, Mark and an injured Lucas are stranded in the desert.
Mark is kidnapped as he and his father try to protect Banker Hamilton's gold.
Lucas makes a life-or-death decision when Micah is held hostage and the kidnappers demand the release of a notorious outlaw.
Lucas tries to do a good deed for the old town drunk but it backfires when the drunk's son believes he inherited Lucas' ranch.
A dance hall singer asks Lucas to care for her daughter in an effort to hide the baby from her self-righteous, bigoted father.
Lucas becomes involved in a battle between an aspiring writer and a cocky, bragging trail boss.
Mark runs away from home after his father questions his story about overhearing a plot to rob the bank.
A famous buffalo hunter tries to goad Lucas into a shooting match.
When a stranger arrives to marry the town spinster, two brothers who want her land try to discourage him with threats and a beating.
Mark finds himself in grave danger when two unscrupulous detectives searching for a man's long-lost son claim that it is Mark.
Lucas is drawn to a young widow passing through town on her way to claim an inheritance, but others who covet it are trying to kill her.
After a young stablehand kills a notorious gunslinger, he is baffled by the hostility of the townspeople about giving him the reward.
When a horse dealer transporting a prize stallion stops in North Fork, two saddle tramps try to use trickery to obtain it.
An elderly couple moves to North Fork under an assumed name to hide the fact that they are the parents of a vicious killer. The plan backfires when the son shows up at their home.
After foiling a girl's attempt to rob the general store, Lucas finds that she and her brother are plotting the murder of their abusive stepfather.
A condemned killer being transported by train murders a marshal and takes Mark hostage.
Mark discovers that the new preacher and his wife are impostors planning a robbery.
Lucas and Marshal Torrance get into trouble with the Army when they try to help a wounded young soldier who deserted.
After Mark contracts typhoid fever and has a vision of his dead mother, he no longer seems interested in getting well.
An old friend of Lucas's returns to town in the company of a shady gambler and is accused of cheating at cards.
Several men are vying for a rancher's daughter's affections. When she is found dead, one of them becomes the prime suspect in her murder.
Shotgun man John Beaumont, who Lucas sent to prison, returns with vengeance on his mind.
After shooting a man in self-defense, Andy Moon turns to Lucas for protection from his vengeful brothers.
To keep his invalid mother happy, an outlaw forces Lucas and Mark to go along with a masquerade that he is the owner of Lucas's ranch.
A sharecropper enters his colt in a horse race, hoping to win enough money to buy his farm from the owner, who has bet on Mark McCain's entry.
When Lucas hires an ex-con as a ranch hand, the man is the first one under suspicion when a robbery and murder occur in the area.
Lucas helps his former Army captain, now an undercover federal agent, infiltrate a gang of bank robbers.
Lucas finds himself involved in murder when he gallantly steps to the aid of a beautiful woman.
An ex-convict is blamed for a brutal crime despite his claims of rehabilitation.
Lucas is out for vengeance when Mark is used as a pawn in a bank robbery scheme.
Lucas shoots a horse thief who turns out to be a member of the Boyle clan, and now Ma Boyle is after him.
Seven condemned murderers escape and take over the town of North Fork.
When Mark finds gold on their property, a fast-talking salesman who tried to sell Lucas a new lightning rod offers instead to buy the ranch's mineral rights.
Lucas tracks an escaped prisoner to a town that turns out to be run by the gunman's brother, notorious for shooting people in the back.
When an outlaw leader lures Marshal Torrance out of town, Lucas is the only one who can stop him from lynching a local man who killed one of the members of his gang.
A former army captain comes to North Fork to kill the man who shot down his son in a gunfight - Lucas McCain.
A new store owner upsets the town by demanding that all credit accounts be paid off.
The widow of a bandit killed by Lucas plots a grotesque revenge.
Mark and his friend become trapped in an old mine.
Lucas and Mark attempt to reform a con-man.
Lucas encourages a drunken artist charged with murder to use his talents to identify the true killer.
Lucas and Mark try to persuade a persecuted young mute to return stolen money.
A lively old lady arrives in town hot on the trail of a notorious bandit—and the reward money for capturing him.
A doctor seeks revenge on the man he blames for ruining his practice.
Lucas unmasks a killer posing as a door-to-door seed salesman.
Lucas and Marshal Torrance run in trouble transporting a captured killer back to face trial.
A deathbed request from an old friend sends Lucas to a neighboring town in search of the man's long-lost sweetheart.
Lucas thinks he has seen a ghost when a young man, eerily similar to a man he killed in the Civil War, challenges him to a gunfight.
Lucas agrees to take a job as a federal undercover agent and goes to Wyoming to investigate rumors of sales of arms to renegade indians. His life is endagered by the town drunk who stumbles onto his true identity and purpose. (Part 1 of 2)
Mark heads for Wyoming to search for Lucas, who's on the trail of a gang illegally selling weapons to the Indians. (Part 2 of 2)
Lucas looks for answers when recovering alcoholic Micah Torrence returns to the bottle—and turns in his badge.
In a ghost town, Lucas, Mark and Micah tangle with the Newman family and learn the secret of the town's 20-year-old mystery of a lost gold mine.
Blinded in an explosion, Lucas fights despair as he prepares for a meeting with a gun-toting enemy.
Two ex-Confederate officers seek revenge on Lucas, who served as prison guard during their internment.
A salesman can't talk his way out of an assault charge.
Lucas, accused of horse theft, struggles to clear himself before a lynch mob catches up.
A janitor-turned-gunfighter whose reputation hangs on one lucky shot—and a lot of gall.
Lucas tries to get help when he is shot after witnessing a murder.
Lucas is marked for death: he was foreman of a jury that convicted an Apache.
Trouble brews at Lucas's when a whisky salesman and a gunfighter fall for the same woman.
Two pranksters write away for a mail-order bride, using Lucas's name.
Lucas recognizes Dr. Simon Battle as an ex-gunslinger with whom he once traded shots.
A Chinese man and his son fight prejudice as they try to open a laundry in North Fork.
A bandit imprisons Lucas and Mark.
Lucas tries to find out why Mark has taken a job as a stableboy.
Mark and Milly are held prisoner in her general store when two gunmen attempt a daring robbery.
Lucas is taken hostage by two prison wagon drivers angered that he won't give them more whiskey.
Mark goes to work for Will Temple, a badly scarred and very mysterious rancher.
Corey Hazlett insists he's innocent of murder, despite Lucas's eyewitness testimony.
Lucas tries to dissuade a latter-day knight from rushing into battle.
Able Lincoln's claim that he's the Great Emancipator himself amuses everyone except Matt Yorty.
Stubborn Grandpa Fogarty is Lucas's main roadblock as he tries to get young Woody Fogarty to attend school.
Mark Twain visits Southfork, and quickly alienates the townspeople.
Lucas tries to stop embittered John Holliver from venting his wrath on the people who expelled him from town years before.
Lucas becomes the target of a vengeful mountaineer.
Mark finds himself the unwilling companion of gunman Carl Avery.
Lucas seeks an escape when he's captured by outlaws while seeking help for an injured Mark.
The Queen-to-be of France hides out in Northfork.
When an expected lawman doesn't arrive from Denver, several gunfighters arrive in North Fork and cause trouble.
Lucas's old Army pal settles in North Fork with his deaf daughter.
An Englishman arrives with a custom-made rifle—and a plan to kill Lucas.
The pangs of first love are painful for Mark: the object of his affections has eyes for another.
Banker Hamilton is closing up for the day when Rudy Gray persuades him to stay open for one more transaction - a withdrawal at gunpoint.
Sammy Davis Jr. stars as Tip Corey, son of a man allegedly murdered in North Fork.
Lucas has double trouble: his lookalike is tearing up the town.
Mark learns that the prisoner Micah is escorting to the gallows is the man that saved his life three years previously.
Mark is shocked when he discovers that his father is a poker player.
Mark befriends singer-banjoist Lafayette Bly, a blind man with an acute sense of hearing—and a very strong grip.
No one's more surprised than Micah when newcomer Leota Carraway claims he's her long-lost husband and the father of her child.
Lucas is torn by conflicting emotions when he meets the town's new preacher—a former outlaw whom the Rifleman vowed to kill.
The town of North Fork becomes a haven for outlaws when suave Ben Judson smooth-talks his way into the marshal's job.
A veteran returns with tales of heroism and the fate of Milly's brother in the Civil War.
A head wound wipes out Lucas's memory, leaving him with only one clue: he's wearing an outlaw's gun.
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)
Conclusion. After Alphonso's wife gives birth, the bandits holding Marshal Torrance relax their guard, enabling Lucas and Mark to rescue the old man.
Red-headed Lou Mallory arrives in North Fork and soon arouses the townpeople's suspicions.
Townspeople brace for the worst when a new girl arrives—with symptoms of smallpox.
A gunslinger rides into North Fork for a meeting with Lucas.
Lou looks for a way out when the man her dying father promised her to arrives.
An assassination plot unfolds as four gunmen disguised as cavalrymen enter North Fork. Their target: Sen. Jim Borden. Their weapon: a Gatling gun.
Sharpshooter Marty Blair tries to persuade Lucas to buy Mark a rifle.
Fast-draw artist Wade Randall is less than anxious to display his prowess.
A speculator will stop at nothing to grab Lucas's land.
Mark blames himself for a friend's accidental death.
A blacksmith-turned-deputy sets the stage for trouble when he demands that all townspeople turn in their weapons.
Lucas's self-confidence begins to slip away when he misses an easy shot.
A railroad gang boss frames an Apache.
A peddler is implicated in a series of murders.
Gridley Mau is gunning for Lucas, who killed his father during an attempted robbery.
A Japanese nobleman seeks revenge when his servant is insulted.
At Halloween, rustlers take advantage of the seasonal disguises to raid a cattle ranch.
A snake crawls into Lucas's bed, and Mark must lure it away before it strikes.
Lucas is thrown into jail to stop him from murdering an old enemy.
Lucas is baffled when the marshal of a neighboring town refuses to hold a gambler who just attempted murder.
Lucas begins a trek to find a cure for Mark, who is paralyzed after a bad fall.
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.
Lucas, who blames his wife's death on his father-in-law, refuses to help the old man elude gunmen.
The notoriously lazy Jackman brothers discover their mortgage has been foreclosed.
Mark and his girlfriend Laurie discover that an old hermit is very lonely.
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