This was a rather anti-climactic episode for the title character, as Johnny Ringo (Donald Curtis) simply died of thirst and exhaustion in the desert attempting to escape a posse headed by Railroad Detective Matt Clark (Jim Davis). Prior to that, no mention is made in the story of Ringo's association with historical figures of the Old West like the Earps, Clantons or McLaury's, the primary characters associated with the Gunfight at the OK Corral.
One of the few things this episode got right was that Johnny Ringo was a gunfighter and killer, though his place in history probably doesn't warrant inclusion with some of the more famous outlaws like Billy the Kid or Jesse James. The business with demanding an opponent in a gunfight to be strapped to him at arm's length to insure a kill by the faster gunfighter was almost surely made up for this episode. The unfortunate victim here was B Western veteran Harry Lauter.
There's also a pretty cool brawl in the story between Ringo and Matt Clark with an impressive roll down a flight of stairs. But the best was a couple of scenes that might have been the inspiration for the 1969 film "Butch Cassidy and the Sundnace Kid". While tracking Ringo, Matt and a posse ride their horses off a train car, and later on in order to make a getaway, Ringo drives his horses pulling a wagon right over a cliff and into a river! It was really a stunning scene for a small budget TV Western filmed in 1954.
As a kid growing up, one of my favorite TV Westerns was the single season 1959 series 'Johnny Ringo' starring Don Durant in the title role, though in that story Ringo becomes the town sheriff of Velardi, Arizona attempting to live down his lawless past. In the 1993 film "Tombstone', Ringo is killed by his arch-enemy Doc Holliday, who he actually had a run-in with during his time in Arizona. The circumstances surrounding Johnny Ringo's death range from suicide to murder and involve any number of theories, but dying alone in the desert is not one of them.
One of the few things this episode got right was that Johnny Ringo was a gunfighter and killer, though his place in history probably doesn't warrant inclusion with some of the more famous outlaws like Billy the Kid or Jesse James. The business with demanding an opponent in a gunfight to be strapped to him at arm's length to insure a kill by the faster gunfighter was almost surely made up for this episode. The unfortunate victim here was B Western veteran Harry Lauter.
There's also a pretty cool brawl in the story between Ringo and Matt Clark with an impressive roll down a flight of stairs. But the best was a couple of scenes that might have been the inspiration for the 1969 film "Butch Cassidy and the Sundnace Kid". While tracking Ringo, Matt and a posse ride their horses off a train car, and later on in order to make a getaway, Ringo drives his horses pulling a wagon right over a cliff and into a river! It was really a stunning scene for a small budget TV Western filmed in 1954.
As a kid growing up, one of my favorite TV Westerns was the single season 1959 series 'Johnny Ringo' starring Don Durant in the title role, though in that story Ringo becomes the town sheriff of Velardi, Arizona attempting to live down his lawless past. In the 1993 film "Tombstone', Ringo is killed by his arch-enemy Doc Holliday, who he actually had a run-in with during his time in Arizona. The circumstances surrounding Johnny Ringo's death range from suicide to murder and involve any number of theories, but dying alone in the desert is not one of them.
