Lawman

It is a shame that this series hasn't been remastered and produced on video by Warner or some other professional movie house.

Copies of most episodes are available, but are usually of poor quality, being copies of copies of copies.

As I understand it, 92 episodes were produced during its run, but only 15 are noted here.

Some of the series writers, such as Richard Matheson, went on to become noted authors.

Excellent series, well written, well staged and well produced.

Michael Weldon,

Udon Thani, Thailand

The theme song often goes through my head after all these years. I was never much of a TV watcher, probably because I was just entering my busy teen years when my family bought our first set in 1948 and it never became part of my life. But from the first episode of Lawman I was hooked, and it is the only TV show I've ever scheduled my week around.

Intelligent, believable, well-written and well-acted, and John Russell is still to me the most beautiful man I ever saw. (Peter Brown was no dog, either :o)

I agree that it is one of the most underrated TV series of all time. I hope I can find some episodes for my grandchildren to watch.

Warner Bros. churned out a slew of western series in the late '50s and early '60s, some good, some not so good. "Lawman" was one of the best. John Russell, a veteran western character actor, was perfectly cast as tough Marshal Dan Troop. Russell's commanding presence, rich voice and no-nonsense demeanor fit the character perfectly. Peter Brown was well cast as Russell's eager young deputy, and beautiful Peggy Castle was a treat for the eyes as the owner of the local saloon and Russell's cat-and-mouse love interest. The show drew some good directors (Robert Altman, Burt Kennedy), had consistently interesting stories, and there was real chemistry between Russell and Brown. And, to top it off, it had what is probably the best theme song of any western series ("the lawman came from the sun, there was a job to be done . . ."). All in all, a memorable series that unfortunately didn't last as long as it should have.

'Lawman' was shown on Australian television in the early 1960's, and I remember it as being one of the best of the genre, amongst others great western series, such as 'Trackdown', 'Cheyenne', 'Have Gun, Will Travel','Gunsmoke', and so many others from the golden years of television westerns. John Russell was most impressive as Marshall Dan Troop, reminding me of a long lean Clark Gable, and Peter Brown as the young deputy, who tried to live up to his boss's ideal! Above average scripts, and fine performances by Russell & Brown defined this series, and why Warner Bros. haven't seen fit to release it onto DVD, I have no idea? They'd be doing themselves, and western fans a great favour! It took a long while for 'Cheyenne' to appear, and 'Maverick' is still waiting, so perhaps there's also hope for the great 'Lawman'? Incidentally, Warners westerns had the greatest theme songs around!

Lawman was fantastic! Even though I'm 45 I never saw it during the 60's, I don't even know if it was on Australian TV during that era or not. We only noticed it when they had it running at 3 or 4 in the morning and we stumbled upon it by mistake whilst looking for something to watch after a particularly punishing night. Were we hooked! My mate started taping it each day and has about 50 or so Lawmans on video but alas they did not run all of them so we have over 100 to go! Do you know if they are on DVD at all? Marshal Dan had the straightest back in TV! We never did a body count but if the rate of bad guys that got shot each episode that we've seen is anything to go by surely there were no outlaws left in the wild west by the time the series ended! Where's Lawman when you need him now! "Get out there and march that badge up and down the street Johnny!" Troy from Sydney

"That is a specious analogy!"