Gunsmoke
Manolo
Season 20, Episode 23 · Aired 1975-03-17
Synopsis
The sons of a Basque sheep herder who's part of a community near Dodge are faced with a manhood ritual. A Basque boy must defeat his father in a fist fight. The older son had beaten a schoolyard rival to death in a fight while a boy in the old country, and wants nothing to do with the ritual. The younger son has no such qualms, and wins the fight with his father in a surprise (inadvertently ramming the old man's head into a huge cast-iron water jug). This leads to the ostracizing of Manolo, made worse when he doesn't spot a wolf attacking the herd and loses sheep and a dog in the process. Manolo goes to work sweeping up at the Long Branch, while his younger brother follows and tries to persuade him that he can fight this.
In the series
This episode is part of Gunsmoke (1955–1975) on CBS.
The long-running western that turned Dodge City into a weekly moral court.
Key cast
- James Arness as Marshal Matt Dillon
- Amanda Blake as Miss Kitty Russell
- Milburn Stone as Doc Adams
- Dennis Weaver as Chester Goode
- Ken Curtis as Festus Haggen