Gunsmoke: O Retorno a Dodge City

This was far better than I was expecting; a solid reunion movie although only a handful of cast members returned. In a sense, this is kind of a "Wrath of Khan" for "Gunsmoke." Returning foe Mannon (expertly played by Steve Forrest) heads into Dodge to wreak vengeance on Matt and Kitty. There are quite a few flashback scenes, but they further the plot. Although James Arness looks a little odd at times (why did they color his hair??), he's still the same Matt Dillon we last saw in the mid 70s. The real scene stealer is Forrest with his blue-eyed glare and gruesome demeanor. Earl Holliman also gives a great performance as Jake Flagg, loyal friend to Matt (although it's never explained why he's in prison). Even the most casual "Gunsmoke" fan will be be impressed.

I agree with others who have said the Earl Holliman character just didn't fit with the rest of the movie. As for Matt's mountain man look, I think there are many episodes in the series that suggest that if he hadn't become a U.S. marshal, he would have become a mountain man / trapper. But for any Gunsmoke fan, I think it was very special seeing Matt and Kitty back together one last time. Since Kitty wasn't in the last season of the regular TV series, this episode provided some closure to one of the longest screen romances of all time. I think the final scene with Matt and Kitty stayed true to the tone set by the TV series.

Twelve years after gunslinger Will Mannon is sent to prison, he is parolled. He has sworn to revenge himself by killing Matt Dillon and the judge who sent him there. Fellow prisoner, and old friend of Dillon's, Jake Flagg, tries to convince the warden to temporarily release him so he can warn Dillon, but is refused. Flagg breaks out and is being hunted for the murder of the warden. Dillon, hearing of this, sets off to track his old friend down. In the meantime, Mannon shows up in Dodge and begins terrorizing Miss Kitty. This is the first of five TV-movies recalling the later escapades of Matt Dillon after retiring as the marshal of Dodge City, Kansas. Earl Holliman is excellent (as usual) as Jake Flagg, as is Steve Forrest in reprising his role from the original 1975 episode. This is a very good story and there are several flashbacks from the original episode interspersed throughout. Thanks to director Vincent McEveety, the film retains the same cinematic "feel" of the original episode. It's a "must see" for any die-hard "Gunsmoke" fans.

This last Gunsmoke movie returns to Dodge City where Matt Dillon has to face once again someone from his past when he was marshal there. Steve Forrest who is one sick puppy of a villain has been released from prison and is looking for Dillon whom he shot before, but who was caught anyway.

This film with flashback scenes from a Gunsmoke episode from 1969 gives us the background of the story. Obviously someone was inspired by the Star Trek film The Wrath Of Khan.

For good measure the blame is thrown on another old time convict Earl Holliman when Forrest shoots the warden after his release. James Arness is trailing him for most of the film with the non-help of shavetail army lieutenant Ken Olandt who has his orders to bring Holliman in. Olandt is quite good in his role, brave and loyal, but a bit of a jerk.

James Arness looking craggy which befits his role as the retired marshal. The flashback sequences give a real time feel to this film because it is real time.

The confrontation scene is well staged and unforgettable. In fact both of them, the one with Holliman and Arness standing off some bounty hunters and the one with Forrest. The one with Holliman is borrowed straight out of Ride The High Country.

One very fitting coda to the life and career of Matt Dillon.

Yesterday was the 60th anniversary of the premiere of "Gunsmoke", so I watched "Return to Dodge". Is this TV movie as bad as some people say it is? No. It's worse.

The story can be briefly summarized as "A lot of people are out to kill Matt, and a few to help him." That's it.

"Kill Matt" was not an uncommon story line, and several excellent episodes were built around it ("The Jailer", "Matt Dillon Must Die"). These episodes worked, because they had dramatic elements that took the story beyond whether Matt would live or die. This is important, students, because... "We know Matt isn't going to die!"

"Return to Dodge" has all the dramatic punch of a thrice-used tea-bag. In addition to the requisite clips from series episodes, most of the story has people running around and shooting at each other, and little else.

It only gets involving in the last five minutes, when Matt has his final confrontation with Will Mannon, in which Kitty plays an important role. (Kitty never took **** from anybody, while remaining "feminine".) It's the only satisfying part of the story, and you have to wait one hour and 55 minutes for it to arrive.

Attention must be paid to the horrible makeup and costuming. Kitty often looks as if she just crept out of the crypt. And it seems some unattractive animal attached itself to Matt's head and died there. * (He wears his hat through most of the second half, likely after seeing a rough cut of the first half.)

I don't understand reviewers' objections to Matt being a trapper. He's fundamentally a loner, unable to commit himself to close relationships -- especially with women.

Ken Curtis didn't appear in "Return to Dodge", supposedly because he was offered less than Amanda Blake. This is probably true, but I wouldn't be surprised if he'd read the script (little more than a rehash of "Mannon") and decided to avoid contact with this turkey.

Given that the production team (including a writer and director who'd worked many years on the series) presumably had more than a decade to work on this story, its abject failure is startling.

* Mountain men, plainsmen, etc, often wore their hair long. Matt's "do" bears zero resemblance to how such long hair actually looked (qv, Custer and Hickok).