Tied for the best movie I have ever seen

This Movie Can Only Be Described With One Word.

Too much about the plot just didn't add up, the writing was bad, some of the scenes were cringey and awkward,

it is the rare 'crazy' movie that actually has something to say.

I am in the process of watching all 156 episodes of LAWMAN, the Warner Bros western which ran from 1958 to 1962. I remember it from its original run, but haven't seen an episode in nigh to fifty years. I was a trifle worried it wouldn't be as good as I remembered. Back in the day critics slammed this show as being a ripoff of GUNSMOKE with the same granite-butt marshal and his saloon owner love interest, only set in Laramie rather than Dodge.The bad news? The critics had a point. Marshal Dan Troop is pretty much a clone of Marshal Matt Dillon. Miss Lily is pretty much a clone of Miss Kitty. The good news? John Russell is fabulous as the granite-butt law officer, even better in my judgment than James Arness. The gorgeous Peggy Castle is even sexier at the Birdcage than Amanda Blake was at the Long Branch. These two certainly gave the show a solid foundation.The third cast regular is the young and handsome deputy Peter Brown. Here LAWMAN departed significantly from GUNSMOKE, in which the eccentric Chester and Festus were often comic relief characters. Brown was a top-of-the-line young Warners heartthrob. His relationship with Russell's veteran marshal had a father to son quality. He was nothing like the old B western comic sidekicks who seemed the inspiration on GUNSMOKE.The production values on the show were good, better on the whole than the early GUNSMOKE's in which the indoor for outdoor sets and painted backdrops were often obvious. Not here. The guest casts were an interesting combination of young talent like Robert Fuller, Richard Long, James Drury, and Louise Fletcher with established fifties western regulars like Lee Van Cleef, Coleen Gray, Strother Martin, Jack Elam, and Slim Pickins, and a smattering of real old-timers such as Glenn Strange and Lane Chandler.All in all, this show lacked the penetrating writing which made GUNSMOKE unique, but fine performances by the three regulars, good guest casts and production values, and solid, if perhaps rarely out of the ordinary scripts, make this series one well worth rewatching.

I really want to thank the Encore Westerns Channel for bringing this series back to television. I am getting a chance to see this series for the first time, and so far I am loving it. I was somewhat familiar with John Russell and Peter Brown due to their guest spots on Maverick and Cheyenne. With a lot of the garbage shows that are on TV nowadays, it is nice to see a series that was built on telling good stories, and not how many uses of the F-Word you can squeeze into 30-60 minutes. Most of the westerns I've watched in the past were 60 minutes, but this is a rare one that is only 30 minutes. I think the shorter time actually works for them, because it allowed for them to film more episodes, and also the episodes themselves move at a faster, more exciting pace. It has been interesting to watch the series evolve. It seems like at first they weren't to confident in Peter Brown, so most of the early episodes they had John Russell as Dan Troop tell him to keep an eye on things and he did the action by himself. However, in the latter half of season one and now as I write this we are in season two, Johnny McKay has become more involved, and Peter Brown has been allowed to show more personality. They became kind of like the Batman and Robin of the Old West. I also like the addition of Peggie Castle as Lily. She and John Russell had some great chemistry, and to be honest, I'm a little more into them than Matt Dillon and Kitty Russell. I've also noticed since season two started showing on Encore Westerns, that they added more humor into their scripts, which is something I like. If you get a chance to check this series out, I definitely encourage you to do so. It is definitely worth a look. Now if they can find Sugarfoot in their vault, I'll be an even bigger happy camper.

At the same time John Russell was playing ranch owner Nathan Burdette, trying to free his no good brother Claude Akins from sheriff John Wayne in Rio Bravo he was working the other side of the law on television. These years were probably the high point of Russell's career, his most noted screen role and his most famous television role, Marshal Dan Troop of Laramie in Lawman.Russell kept law and order in Laramie the same way that James Arness did it in Dodge City on Gunsmoke. Unlike Gunsmoke, Laramie never developed the all the minor characters that gave you the feel of Dodge City at the time. Instead it concentrated on Russell taking care of business and learning the business of law to his eager young deputy Peter Brown.Brown played deputy Johnny McKay who was a most respectful young man, constantly referring to his boss as Mr. Troop. He was pretty handy with a shooting iron, but was inclined to be impulsive. Good thing Marshal Troop was around.The other series regular was the Kitty Russell of Laramie, Lily played by Peggie Castle. This is where Lawman most resembled Gunsmoke. There was an unspoken understanding between Russell and Castle that even the smallest of children couldn't have missed. And I wasn't the smallest of children when Lawman was in first run.Sadly Peggie Castle developed substance abuse problems after Lawman's run ended. I remember a small obituary marked her passing in the first half of the Seventies. She was one beautiful woman.Lawman was good no nonsense western from that golden era of the adult television western. It was one of the best.

John Russel was excellently cast in this Western about protecting Laramie from the badder elements of society.Russell, a former Marine, was straight and tall and worked wonderfully as the wise lawman who used his six-gun with deadly accuracy and regularity. Peter Brown as Deputy Johnny McKay was also fast in the leather slappin' dept.Brown brought the young ladies in to view the weekly adventures while Russell, I'm sure, caught the attention of both women viewers and men.This was a smart Western with a great theme song composed of male voices singing the praises of the "Lawman." Russell's steely eyes made the part of tough-guy Marshall believable. The epitome of what you would expect a real Marshall in the old west to be. Brown's good looks and athletic prowess made for some great action during the series.I was sad to see Russell cast as a villain in the 1985 Clint Eastwood film, Pale Rider. Russell will forever remain one of the ultimate lawmen in the Old West in my mind as a result of this wonderful old Western series.