Johnny Ringo (Ken Scott) arrives in an Arizona town, immediately encountering a young rascal, Vince (Robert Bolger), putting his hands on a beautiful woman, Myra (Elizabeth MacRae) in a saloon, itching to draw on a legend for the reputation. Myra tells Ringo that Vice killed a "saddle tramp" who arrived in town and that taste of blood and notoriety provides that itch to kill again. Vince talks tough but Ringo isn't some saddle tramp and he socks him in the saloon, embarrassing him, later firing a warning into the kid's shoulder, a clean wound that doesn't do any irreparable harm. The episode is more philosophical and focuses on Ringo's troubled soul, the trail of death behind him, and Myra's interest in him. Myra tries to figure out what makes him tick, as does the town doc (Denver Pyle; Uncle Jesse of "The Dukes of Hazzard"), with Hamlet often quoted-by Doc, incorrectly, with the college-educated, Ringo, having to educate him on the right Act and Scene. "Something about the eyes" is often brought up when Myra or Doc try to understand Ringo, that he isn't what an infamous gunslinger often looks like. Ringo gives Vince chance after chance, eventually shaking him to the core as he threatens with his Colt .45 and fires warning shots to prove a point, teach him a lesson. Meanwhile a nasty robber and killer named Jacoby (Gregg Palmer) rides into town with a partner to rob Wells Fargo, as Ringo informs the sheriff (Harry Lauter) that he has a disease, a sickness to kill. Later when holed up in a cave outside of town, Jacoby proves how distasteful he is when he mocks the shocked face of a young security guard at the bank he shot, who eventually dies to Ringo. Ringo makes sure he gets a bellyful when Jacoby goes to draw. The 30 minute episode spends less time on gunfights and more on Ringo kvetching about his reputation and the life left behind tragically when he was just Ringold. The "hole full of emptiness" talk with Myra and Hamlet dialogue with Doc are truly what the episode cares more about...giving Ringo character, a soul, a person that isn't defined by how fast he can pull his Colt from the holster than someone else challenging him.While this is very dialogue heavy, this is still very much a western so the gunfights make sure to remind us that Ringo is very quick on the draw.
Review of The Melancholy Gun
