The WORST episodes of The Rifleman
Every episode of The Rifleman ever, ranked from worst to best by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The worst episodes of The Rifleman!
Widower Lucas McCain can fire a round with his specially modified Winchester in three-tenths of a second. Added to his high moral code and resolve enable him to help Marshal Micah Torrance maintain order in town while raising his son, Mark, on a ranch near North Fork, New Mexico.
#1 - Which Way'd They Go?
Season 5 - Episode 25 - Aired 4/1/1963
The notoriously lazy Jackman brothers discover their mortgage has been foreclosed.
#2 - None So Blind
Season 4 - Episode 25 - Aired 3/19/1962
Mark befriends singer-banjoist Lafayette Bly, a blind man with an acute sense of hearing and a very strong grip.
#3 - The Sixteenth Cousin
Season 5 - Episode 17 - Aired 1/28/1963
A Japanese nobleman seeks revenge when his servant is insulted.
#4 - Old Man Running (aka The Wanted Man)
Season 5 - Episode 24 - Aired 3/18/1963
Lucas, who blames his wife's death on his father-in-law, refuses to help the old man elude gunmen.
#5 - The Debt
Season 4 - Episode 23 - Aired 3/5/1962
Mark learns that the prisoner Micah is escorting to the gallows is the man that saved his life three years previously.
#6 - Quiet Night, Deadly Night
Season 5 - Episode 4 - Aired 10/22/1962
Townspeople brace for the worst when a new girl arrives with symptoms of smallpox.
#7 - I Take This Woman
Season 5 - Episode 6 - Aired 11/5/1962
Lou looks for a way out when the man her dying father promised her to arrives.
#8 - A Young Man's Fancy
Season 4 - Episode 19 - Aired 2/5/1962
The pangs of first love are painful for Mark: the object of his affections has eyes for another.
#9 - The Executioner
Season 4 - Episode 32 - Aired 5/7/1962
A former friend of Lucas' is released from prison and asks him for a job.
#10 - The Anvil Chorus
Season 5 - Episode 12 - Aired 12/17/1962
A blacksmith-turned-deputy sets the stage for trouble when he demands that all townspeople turn in their weapons.
#11 - Mark's Rifle
Season 5 - Episode 8 - Aired 11/19/1962
Sharpshooter Marty Blair tries to persuade Lucas to buy Mark a rifle.
#12 - The Day the Town Slept
Season 4 - Episode 29 - Aired 4/16/1962
The town of North Fork becomes a haven for outlaws when suave Ben Judson smooth-talks his way into the marshal's job.
#13 - Milly's Brother
Season 4 - Episode 30 - Aired 4/23/1962
A veteran returns with tales of heroism and the fate of Milly's brother in the Civil War.
#14 - Sporting Chance
Season 4 - Episode 18 - Aired 1/29/1962
An Englishman arrives with a custom-made rifle and a plan to kill Lucas.
#15 - Suspicion
Season 5 - Episode 15 - Aired 1/14/1963
A peddler is implicated in a series of murders.
#16 - Skull
Season 4 - Episode 14 - Aired 1/1/1962
Lucas seeks an escape when he's captured by outlaws while seeking help for an injured Mark.
#17 - Tinhorn
Season 4 - Episode 24 - Aired 3/12/1962
Mark is shocked when he discovers that his father is a poker player.
#18 - Man from Salinas
Season 4 - Episode 20 - Aired 2/12/1962
Banker Hamilton is closing up for the day when Rudy Gray persuades him to stay open for one more transaction a withdrawal at gunpoint.
#19 - The Most Amazing Man
Season 5 - Episode 9 - Aired 11/26/1962
Fast-draw artist Wade Randall is less than anxious to display his prowess.
#20 - Deadly Image
Season 4 - Episode 22 - Aired 2/26/1962
Lucas has double trouble: his lookalike is tearing up the town.
#21 - Gunfire
Season 4 - Episode 16 - Aired 1/15/1962
When an expected lawman doesn't arrive from Denver, several gunfighters arrive in North Fork and cause trouble.
#22 - The High Country
Season 4 - Episode 12 - Aired 12/18/1961
Lucas becomes the target of a vengeful mountaineer.
#23 - Waste (2)
Season 5 - Episode 2 - Aired 10/8/1962
Conclusion. After Alphonso's wife gives birth, the bandits holding Marshal Torrance relax their guard, enabling Lucas and Mark to rescue the old man.
#24 - The Decision
Season 4 - Episode 6 - Aired 11/6/1961
Corey Hazlett insists he's innocent of murder, despite Lucas's eyewitness testimony.
#25 - A Friend in Need
Season 4 - Episode 13 - Aired 12/25/1961
Mark finds himself the unwilling companion of gunman Carl Avery.