Thursday, August 5, 2010

Mannon

As a kid, I watched Gunsmoke faithfully every chance I got, and out of all the episodes, there was one in particular starring Steve Forrest that stood out. Forrest played Will Mannon, a ruthless gunfighter who shows up in Dodge during Marshal Matt Dillon's absence and paralyzes the townspeople. For most of the hour, the suspense built around Mannon's fast draw, just about the fastest anybody had ever seen, and it seemed that as quick as Matt was there was no way he'd be able to take down Mannon. When Dillon finally shows up in the closing minutes, well, ...

Anyway, I see TV Land is showing the "Mannon" episode until August 9th. I hope it's as good as I remember. Wish my dad was here to watch it with me.

7 comments:

Ron Scheer said...

Good episode, for sure. Enjoyable to watch a story told that hasn't been cut like it was MTV. It was also made at a time when a western town was full of mostly good people, not the ethically compromised sorts that we get in today's Deadwoods.

Also, pretty "adult" for network TV in 1969. When Kitty says "$7,000," I thought for a moment that was the asking price for herself.

Thanks. That was 45 minutes well spent.

David Cranmer said...

As a kid, I didn't understand what had happened to Miss Kitty or what the edge was she was giving Matt. When Dillon falls first, that left a helluva shock on a seven-year-old.

Yeah, good people and this was the anti-establishment 1960s.

Charles Gramlich said...

I liked that episode a lot. One of the few I even remember the name too. A dark episode. I liked the fact that Matt had to go up against a man that was faster than he was.

David Barber said...

I just tried watching the episdoe and the website said it was no longer available. From the photos on the site though, I'm sure we used to watch that as kids. They used to put western series on on saturday and sunday mornings and me and my brother used to watch them. High Chapparal, Bonanza and The Lone Ranger come to mind but I can't really remember much about them.

David Cranmer said...

Dave, I just checked and it's still playing here. I have had some trouble watching shows on websites like this across the pond.

Linda McLaughlin said...

My dad was a big Gunsmoke fan, too. While it was never my favorite, I'd love to be able to watch Gunsmoke (or any other TV show) with him. No matter how long they're gone, we never stop missing them, do we?

David Cranmer said...

Linda, We never do. Not a day goes by.

Hey, it's good to see you back and commenting here.