He Who Steals

I love the Gunsmoke episodes that focus on characters from the Archaic West (1820-1865), and their laments and rebellions against encroaching civilization. Other such episodes--besides "He Who Steals"--are "Abe Blocker" starring Chill Wills, and "Jonah Hutchinson" starring Robert Simon.

Now what's particularly admirable about these shows is how they--contravening our postmodern ethical expectations--actually give a fair hearing to these half-wild frontier reactionaries who Quixotically sought to preserve the archaic way of life they saw being destroyed. These episodes don't necessarily say that men like Blocker, Hutchinson and Jeff Sutro (Harold Stone) from "He Who Steals" are right, but they are nonetheless at least moderately sympathetic to their beliefs and behaviors.

The point of these episodes, I believe, is to cast doubt on our unexamined notions of progress. In our postmodern age we tend to think all that is new is superior to what it supplanted. Extrapolated, 2025 is better than 1925, which is better than 1825. The episodes at issue here correctly point out that while we may gain something with this or that innovation, we also lose something into the bargain. It is an important corrective to mindless positivism to note what it is we have lost from the past.

This episode marks an end of an era, as it is the final episode written by the great John Meston. As a writer, Meston pretty much carried "Gunsmoke" on his back the first few years on both TV and radio. By the 10th season, new blood was coming in and winds of change were on the way. Meston had a dark, mean style to his writing that pulled no punches and "He Who Steals" is full of that trademark style.

Harold J. Stone, a frequent guest star, plays buffalo hunter Jeff Sutro, a rugged individualist who makes his own law and ignores any other. "Gunsmoke" featured a fair amount of these throwback characters. Ironically, Stone played another lawless buffalo hunter Jim Gatliff in an earlier episode, but while Gatliff was a murderous psychotic, Sutro is more reasonable in his rebellion. At least to start... Stone is great as always in the part.

Young Russ Tamblyn plays young Billy, a green cowhand who is entranced by Sutro's rough ways. He finds his hero worship is badly misplaced when Sutro hangs an innocent man for stealing his horse. The shine wears off an idol pretty quickly when he's covered with blood. Things head downhill to a bloody and inevitable conclusion.

Marshall Dillon and Festus are really just observers as the drama plays out. Festus rather admires Sutro himself, but Dillon knows that his kind is on its way out...just like the buffalo he hunted.

Meston leaves the series on a high note. With his departure, "Gunsmoke" was really never quite the same again.