Mannon

Will Mannon was Quantrell's executioner in the Civil War. In this episode, the actor who portrays Mannon develops his character almost totally by the way that Festus, Doc, Kitty and the entire town react, the subtlest but most potent way of drawing in an audience. Steve Forrest's portrayal of Mannon is an acting master class in underplaying the role. We see a Festus, a Kitty and townspeople never quite viewed in this manner before. It is my favorie of all of the "Gunsmoke" episodes. Forrest will reprise the type of gunfighter seasons later in another episode entitled "The Widowmaker."

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.

I remember watching this episode with my parents, years ago. Steve Forrest did a great job as Mannon. But the overenthusiastic sound effects when he was eating fried chicken kind of ruined the mood. We still laugh about that. CRUNCH CRUNCH CRUNCH.

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!