roycevenuter

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."

I watched "White Collar" when it first was telecast thirteen years ago. This week, I watched the third season again. The plot structure, the dialogue, the story arc, and the suspense are designed to compel audience interest, tension and suspense and a just conclusion. Over the range of the entire series, characters learn, are tested, grow and change, culminating in a just ending. I looked forward to each theatrical permutation, the introduction of each new supporting character. And the marvelous innovations wrought by the amazing array of directors and script writers.

In 1957. When I was a seventh grader, we read the original short story version of "The Quiet Man." and it remained one of my favorite stories until my father and I saw John Ford's seminal production of the film adaptation together. John Ford's direction packs together an entire Irish village to serve as the crucible for the deliverance of the man who in the text was Shawn Kelvin, but who in Ford's hands became Shawn Thornton. I guess that the powers that be cannot resist changing the classics once they have purchased the literary property, and of course, no one can stop them. John Wayne is at his very best and so is Maureen O'Hara. The suspenseful buildup to the confrontation between Thornton and Danaher consumes much of the movie plot whereas on the page the event is tightly compressed. Now 69 years after that movie was made, I watched it again this morning. And not only has it lost none of its charm and suspense. The final bonding of the boxer from Pittsburg and the colleen and her brother seems now to be near perfect poetic justice.