Wednesday, April 10, 2019
The worst Rifleman episodes
There were several episodes of The Rifleman which had the same plot. Some outsider would come to town---an Italian, Chinese, Japanese or, on one episode, a British father and son. Local ruffians would threaten and bully them.
I don't know why the British kid, Percy, was such a wimp. Bullying and blatant sado-masochism were part of the British curriculum at least until the 1980's. They should have showed him rolling up his sleeves for a fight and telling then, "Now I shall demonstrate the benefits of an English education."
One of the kids who attacked Percy was Larry from Leave It To Beaver.
Those episodes were all dreary. The victims act humble even if they're Japanese samurai or English. Even when they've had enough and stand up to their tormentors, they never kill anybody. It's a little annoying that the Rifleman is so tolerant, open-minded and non-violent when he's usually a morally rigid killing machine.
The Italian who insisted on dueling with Jack Elam didn't kill him after Elam fired and missed.The samurai, instead killing the two cowboys with his sword, uses Jiu-Jitsu. The Chinese guy just roughs them up so they quickly promise not to bother him anymore.
Contrast that to an episode of Trackdown where the Chinese fellow walks into a Saloon, outdraws and shoots the racist town bully.
What's the point of it being a Western if they aren't going to kill anybody?
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