**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.
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.