Mannon

This is a very simple plot that is played out for the entire 52 minutes of air time. Will Mannon (Steve Forrest)is a crazed ex-civil war vet that has one of the fastest draws in the west. He is such a bad-butt that he is willing to kill just for the sport. He first shoots Festus outside Dodge and rides his mule into town. Now his sights are set on Marshal Matt Dillon.

Matt is out-of-town while Will Mannon intimidates the entire town. The townsfolk are so scared of him that while playing poker Mannon says he has four aces and no one questions him. And to show how bad he is- he even assaults Ms Kitty causing her to need Doc Adams for her injuries.

Newly finally finds Matt and tells him about Mannon and the injured Ms Kitty. The climax of the show appears when Matt rides into town and faces Mannon on the street of Dodge.

Steve Forrest did a good job of making the character of Mannon come to life. This could have been a long painful episode but Forrest's acting ability brought great interest to the show.

When Matt finally rides into town, Mannon is chomping on a piece of meat. Others here have claimed it was ridiculously loud, crunchy chicken, But it was clearly a pig's foot. My question was how was he eating that? They don't usually have lots of centrally located meat. If anyone knows what he was eating, I'd be obliged.

Meanwhile, Kitty claims to give Matt an advantage in instilling self-doubt into Mannon's mind. Shaking his confidence. And yet? Matt survives as a fluke, a piece of luck. Not really sure what we're supposed to make of that.

What is that song Mannon sings so many verses of? Steve Forrest was a classically trained baritone.

With 20 years and over 600 episodes to choose from, its hard to pick a favorite one but this is it. Steve Forrest plays the villain so well that you're trying to reach into the screen to strangle him. Many other reviewers point out how unbelievable some of the events are. What they don't seem to realize is that the whole purpose of this episode was to have a confrontation between Forrest and Matt. This was done beautifully (and brutally). Saying this was the BEST episode is really saying something given the quality of 5he series.

This is one of the best written episodes of the entire Gunsmoke series. Steve Forrest plays the heaviest of heavies to terrorize Dodge City. Amamda Blake plays her role with power and grace Her admiration and trust in Matt Dillon is so strong, The ending I will not spoil. Enjoy the story.

Westerns such as this one, where Steve Forrest plays yet another of Quantrell's psychopaths and thieves, are morality plays so uniquely American in that without the one hero- the one willing to give his life for a cause- whole masses of people are paralyzed into fear and submission; women are abused, the town is plundered ( a bit ) by the psychotic who has lost normal fear!

He has no conscience whatsoever and only vaguely seems to even recognize why he's there- a 19th C fantasy we believe in the 21st century?

Without a leader, the rest of the town debates why they are impotent to do anything and even when Mannon TELLS Newly Doright he'll be naked in a tub momentarily, their unable to act- except for Sam.

The problem for me for 65 years child to codger is this: if I need to kill a declared killer/ archvillain, I can a) blow his brains out while he's in a bathtub or playing poker, or b) I can doom myself and have a 99% death occurence by standing out in the street in broad daylight?

Except for the English redcoats for a few months, and poor Alexander Hamilton, prooblem solved!