Like THE REBEL, JOHNNY RINGO was an Aaron Spelling Western, but lasting only a single season due to the glut of oaters crowding the airwaves in 1959-60. Don Durant not only starred in the title role, he also sang the theme song, with Mark Goddard as his deputy Cully, British actor Terence De Marney as storekeeper Case Thomas, Karen Sharpe as his daughter Laura. "The Raffertys" starts off with US Marshal Adam Polk (Thomas Browne Henry) searching for wanted murderer Ben Rafferty (Lon Chaney), while bounty hunter Slim Pardee (Charles Cooper) figures to make an easy $2500 if he finds Rafferty first. An altercation with Pardee leaves Sheriff Johnny Ringo with an aching jaw and a burning desire to learn everything he can about the fugitive Rafferty. Case is the only man in town who knows where to find Ben and his two children, and how he found himself guilty of killing a thieving landowner despite the fact that anyone in town could have done the same thing. Determined to help Ben clear himself one way or another, Ringo finds himself being shot at not just by the Rafferty offspring but by the waiting bounty hunter. Lon Chaney excels as the bitterly vindictive Rafferty, who listens attentively to the Sheriff's appraisal of the situation and tearfully decides to trust Ringo. Richard Bakalyan plays Ben's son, Roxane Berard his daughter.
Review of The Raffertys
