Gunsmoke: To the Last Man

Matt Dillon is too old and ugly to be in this film. Only his name is the same. Nothing else about the Matt Dillon character seems remotely the same as the original Dillon.

This was well acted, written and produced. The movie was done in the flavor of the series, but it had even more that can only be explained by watching. I loved this movie!

Arness was older in this movie, but he still had the the same authoritative presence that he always had in the series. The supporting actors were well chosen and gave an outstanding performance.

The story was amazingly combined with the historical family feud which occurred in Arizona in the same time period. This gave an extra layer of believability to the movie that made that much more enjoyable to watch.

I am so glad I found this gem!

The TV show Gunsmoke ran from the mid 1950's to 1970's. If you were a big fan of that show and loved the character of Marshal Dillon, as played by James Arness, then you are going to love this TV movie from the 90's.

If you have no familiarity with the show Gunsmoke, and just come into this looking for a western TV movie, chances are, you won't be very impressed. Arness was almost 70 by the time this came out, and he was too old to be beating groups of guys in their 20's with fists and guns, but that was not the point of this film. The point was to give some old fans of an old TV show a taste of the past, and it does that job well.

If you want to see a western movie from 1992 with sensibilities of 1992, watch Unforgiven. If you want to see a western movie from 1992 that has the sensibilities of 1962, Gunsmoke: To the Last Man may be your cup of tea.

The most significant reality is that this is the third of five television movies in which James Arness portrayed Matt Dillon.

The script is fair and the acting is good. The main weakness of the movie is that it needlessly tried to inject itself in the historical narrative of the infamous Pleasant Valley Range Wars, which took place in Arizona territory from 1882-1892. Considered the bloodiest range war in American history, between 30 to 35 people were killed in it.

Extreme artistic liberties were taken with regard to the integration, including liberal substitution of even the names of the primary people who were part of the actual events. Frankly, it would have been far better to simply depict an entirely fictional range war as the background, and then allow the Dillon narrative to play its course.

There is a small degree of linkage between this movie and The Last Apache, which aired a bit over a year earlier. In the end, there is no poignant historical tie-in, and while the acting and production are good, one is left with the sense that it could have been better.

This Gunsmoke film was very enjoyable, with a great storyline and Arness outstanding as usual. Morgan Woodward was a great choice as co-star & western veterans Pat Hingle and Don Collier were both top-notch.

In This film, Matt's friend is killed, cattle are rustled and he finds himself battling masked vigilantes headed by the slightly insane character played by Hingle. Great action-filled plot ! Unlike the lackluster Bonanza films made around this same time, all the Arness Gunsmoke films are highly recommended. They capture the magic of the series.

This is great entertainment and does great honor to the Gunsmoke legend. Outstanding !