Old Tony (1963) User Reviews (6)

The series comes full circle with this great episode.

[vivacious_dan · 8/10 · 21 November 2015]

Seriously? Another reviewer gave this episode ONE star out of ten? For real?

I thought this episode was the perfect way to end the series and was truly everything in the series coming full circle.

Two older crotchety neighbors, Old Tony and Joe Static, are involved in a feud that goes on throughout the episode. Mark and his friend Lorrie are invited to Tony's property to look for arrowheads and to have lunch with him. Danger arises when Mark and Lorrie get stuck in quicksand and Lucas has to save the day.

So, okay, that's what the episode is about on the surface. But there is more going on here. Old Tony is basically where Lucas may potentially end up. The series started when Mark was 10 and he is now a 15 year old teenager. In a few years, he will fall in love, move off the ranch, get married and have children and a family of his own. Micah is getting older, not younger, and will clearly not live forever. And Lucas is obviously not married and there is no real way to determine where things may have gone with Lou, she may have moved out of North Fork like Milly did. So, where would that leave Lucas? A loner widower, who may have eventually become a bitter recluse like Tony. So, Tony is a cautionary tale for Lucas to not shut himself off from the world when Mark moves off of the ranch.

Mark is now fully grown and we as the viewer have watched him grow from the young boy in "The Sharpshooter" to a young man in this final episode of the series. His friend Lorrie asks him what he thinks makes a good marriage and, although he repeats what Lucas told him in a previous episode that friendship is the most important ingredient, he is clearly uncomfortable and seems to think of Lorrie more as a friend than anything else. But this episode conveyed to the viewer that Mark has matured to the point where he is ready for a serious romantic relationship and is old enough to contemplate marriage with the right woman. Mark has had childhood crushes before (notably in the episode where he sang "Something Special") but nothing serious. This is a progression for the character in the series and was signaling that the time was approaching that Mark would be leaving the ranch to establish his own family.

I also absolutely loved Mark's rendition of "Greensleeves". It was a great scene where someone like Tony who had shut himself off so much emotionally from the world was able to be deeply touched by Mark's singing. I am upset that the song was never released on LP.

Okay, yes, was it stupid for Mark to literally walk into quicksand after Lorrie? Should he have grabbed a rope or a branch? Of course. I did cringe a bit watching that scene. But you know what, I did not mind one bit Lucas saving him because that is one of the themes that the show was centered on: the love that Lucas had for his son and him coming to his rescue time and time again. I did not mind being able to see that one last time as the series came to an end.

So, to me, this was the perfect way to wrap up the series.

A Series Finale That Wasn't Supposed To Be The Finale

[hogwrassler · 6/10 · 26 February 2021]

The last episode of the series is a disappointment. Two old codgers are feuding. Mark and his girlfriend Lorrie visit Old Tony, one of the feuding pair. Mark plays his guitar and sings "Greensleeves." Mark and Lorrie get trapped in quicksand. Will Lucas get there in time to save them?

Karen Sue Trent plays Lorrie. She had previously appeared in 14 episodes of Leave it to Beaver, playing Beaver's classmate and sometimes nemesis, Penny Woods. Karen Sue was actually injured during the filming of the quicksand scenes in this episode. The incident so soured her on acting that this Rifleman appearance was her last time in front of the camera.

This turned out to be the last episode of the series. Most of the accepted reasons are that Chuck Connors and Johnny Crawford both wanted to go on to other projects. However, in an interview that appeared on MeTV, Patricia Blair stated that the producers had already planned a sixth season expanding to hour long episodes. The opening episode was to start off with Lucas and Lou getting married and the three of them all living on the ranch together (like Bonanza) and enjoying many new adventures. Patricia, Johnny Crawford, and Paul Fix had already signed contracts for the sixth season. But Chuck had just married an actress from India named Kamala Devi. She felt that Chuck was above being in a western series and wanted him to portray a sophisticated, educated, character who wore a suit and tie. So, he opted out and immediately signed to do a new police/crime series called "Arrest and Trial." Chuck played John Egan, a criminal defense attorney where he could definitely be an educated character wearing a coat and tie. But the series fizzled and was canceled after one season. Patricia Blair remarked that once you took Chuck out of his tight-fitting western shirt with the sleeves rolled up, he lost all his sex appeal. However, he went back to westerns two years later when he signed to play Jonas McCord in the series "Branded." At least in that series he got to play a West Point graduate, so maybe Kamala was a little bit happy with it. Anyway, so ended a great western series that was destined to be another "Gunsmoke" or "Bonanza," but didn't quite make it.

An average show to end the series.

[kfo9494 · 6/10 · 7 December 2013]

Even though I found this episode to be better than another reviewer, I do have to agree that the 'quicksand' scene was not one of the best moment in the series run. With Mark running around like he could not tell where the sounds of 'help' were coming and then acting like he fell into the sand by accident- this was painful. Yet the rest of the episode was interesting enough to make for an enjoyable watch.

Mark, with his girlfriend Lorrie, asks for permission from an angry German man, Tony, to look for arrow heads on his land. After Mark sings 'Greensleeves' it softens the old man's heart and he lets the kids on his property. That is when the quicksand scene comes into play and we can only hope that help arrives in time to save Mark and Lorrie from certain death.

This was an episode designed for the teens that featured Mark (Johnny Crawford) at his best. Mark gets into a conversation about marriage and gets to hold the girl during the episode which was pushing Mark for more of an adult role. It was just too bad that this was the last show of the series.

Awful ending to a great series

[bhogston · 1/10 · 18 December 2021]

I love The Rifleman. Loved Lucas and Mark. Loved Micah. But this is simply an awful episode and a terrible way to end the series. If someone were to discover this series and watch this episode first, they'd never watch another. No part of this makes any sense Mark singing Greensleaves? Why? The quick sand scene? Please no. It's unwatchable.

scraping the bottom of the barrel

[grizzledgeezer · 1/10 · 11 June 2013]

"...and the series ends, not with a bang, but with a whimper." This pointless and plot less episode seems to be a mishmash (the crossword-puzzle term is "olio") of story ideas that couldn't be worked into other episodes.

There are two old codgers who fight -- for no obvious reason. Mark and a girl search for arrow heads -- for no obvious reason. Mark sings "Greenfleeves" -- /for/ an obvious reason, that of promoting Johnny Crawford's singing career. The show ends with Mark and the girl getting caught in quicksand -- for no obvious reason, other than that there's ten minutes of air time to fill up.

How low has a series sunk when it has to borrow from "Lassie"?

Shows are not always broadcast in the order filmed. The producers could have chose a far-better episode -- such as "Incident at Line Shack Six" -- to end the series.

If you're a classical listener -- Yes, Stefan Schnabel's father is Artur.

Clinker

[tsn-48730 · 1/10 · 30 July 2023]

Mark and his girlfriend go "looking for arrowheads" and actually look for arrowheads? Really? At their apparent age in the real world and in the real old West looking for arrowheads would have been the last thing on their minds. Granted this was older TV, but with just a bare hint at romance? At least a little realism would have been nice. They're teenagers for Pete's sake!

Then there's the excruciatingly obvious promotion of Johnny Crawford's singing career that we certainly could have done without. Or at least anyone who wasn't a 12yo girl at the time.

Add to that one of the very worst Hollywood tropes of almost "drowning in quicksand" which actually only happens in movies and TV shows and it all comes out to an episode that leaves this big fan of the show really, really, really wishing there'd been more episodes to come to give the writers a chance to redeem themselves from this one. Or perhaps I should just be happy the show didn't return if they'd reached this level.