Cathardincu Surprisingly incoherent and boring

HeadlinesExotic Boring

Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Gurlyndrobb While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

darbski **SPOILERS** excellent little western series. In history, John Ringgold was not a gunfighter, but a bully with a bad attitude who probably committed suicide. I know that when we get these guys with cool names, we want them to be cool, too, but they almost never are. still, in this series, he's turned into a good guy, with an unusual gun; a Lemat revolver from the civil war. Look up guns of the west, and you'll find that as soon as they could, the guys who used these weapons relegated them to the scrap heap in favor of much better firearms. It was balanced poorly, clunky, heavy, not suitable for fast shooting, time consuming to reload, difficult to find ammo for, etc. ... These days they are liked by collectors, and that's about all. The weapon that I've seen portrayed as John Ringo's is a standard S.A.A.Colt Peacemaker. One (and, I feel the best), reason I think he committed suicide is that they found his gun right next to him, not in his hand. Nobody, especially a killer is gonna leave a valuable pistol just laying in the dirt; they'll take it with them.Like almost all westerns, it was fantasy based on Hollywood stereotypes, and depended on good acting and stories to be successful. This series had those, and they worked well. Another reviewer made the strong point that Terence De Manay, and Karen Sharpe leaving had a lot to do with the collapse of the show, and I would probably agree, if I had watched it when I was a kid (I was probably either collecting for my paper route, or doing homework); I know THEIR careers didn't suffer.I recently saw an episode in which an old friend of Ringo's came into town, seeking help. standard rabble rousing lynchmob fare, it turns into something else. The guy I liked was the grizzled old civil war vet (either yank or reb; I couldn't tell which), and the old buzzard saves the day, with a wisecrack for his end line. It was gratifying.In the end, it went the way of almost all western boomtowns; popular until the main characters either established law and order, thereby driving out the action figures (bad guys), and either becoming successful communities, or just dying out. Four years after this series was dropped, Lorne Greene had a hit with the song "Ringo". Although mocked by some, it was a really good western song that told a tight, fast story. Give it a listen and see what YOU think. See if YOU can connect the dots in the episode named "Posse" to the song; it's interesting, I think. Too bad about this series, it showcased a lot of good acting and storytelling.

A_Different_Drummer Lets be upfront, rated 5 out of 10 because in an age when westerns were a dime a dozen, and you are competing for eyeballs with the likes of Steven McQueen and Richard Boone, this product was nothing more and nothing less than average. In those days (boy do I sound old) every western had a gimmick (except perhaps Gunsmoke, where the gimmick was that there was no gimmick, just tedious dialog.) Boone had his hidden derringer, McQueen had his saw-off with trick holster, Hugh Obrien had his Buntline, etc) here the character had really odd pistol which carried an extra shell. (Trivia note -- the writers based this on a real gun designed in France. Where else?) Invariably, just as Wyatt Earp would end up in a gunfight where the bad guy was too far away to fire back, and Palladin would end up fining his derringer when the bad guy looked the other way, Ringo would face an enemy who believed he was out of ammo (counting shots in a 50s western? wow) and surprise the rogue. The real story however is that this series was part of a "package" that a young producer named Aaron Spelling sold to TV, part of a set of three as I recall. He made them on the cheap (the star of Ringo had to sing his own theme song) and he essentially started a dynasty. So if you are in Business School, the rating is a 10.

bkoganbing This rather average western rode into the sunset after one season. As another reviewer said this was the height of the television western era and the airwaves were filled with them. Dick Powell's Four Star Production Company gave us Johnny Ringo.What I remember best was Don Durant as Johnny Ringo having a pistol that fired seven shots, a shotgun shell came from a barrel beneath the one where the six bullets in the revolving chamber came from. That was one handy gimmick especially to those who were counting Ringo's shots before facing him down. When I saw the first Dirty Harry movie where Clint Eastwood dares the punk to try his luck, I immediately thought back to the short lived Johnny Ringo series. I still do whenever I see Clint as Harry Callahan.Ringo got far better than he deserved in this series, in real life he was something of a punk himself in the outlaw trade. He was found shot to death at the age of 32, probably done in by Wyatt Earp and/or Doc Holiday.Don Durant went nowhere after this series, but Mark Goddard played a young trick shot artist who became Ringo's deputy. He of course went on to Lost in Space if you consider that a step up. Still Johnny's seven shooter was quite something to see.

John I'd never seen this series until just recently, catching it accidentally on a satellite channel. Not even sure if it was originally shown in the UK, I can't find anyone who remembers it. A lot of the old half hour westerns could be somewhat corny and maybe weak, but this one has quite absorbing episodes and manages to pack a fair bit of interest into each one with very likable characters.It's a pity it didn't last longer than its 38 episodes, and maybe gone on to longer ones, but perhaps that's what makes it zippy. If you're a fan of 1950's & 60's western series then definitely give this one a try. I haven't managed to catch every episode but the ones I've seen I've enjoyed. What it lacks in sophistication (there's only so much you can do in half an hour) it makes up for in action.Very watchable!