Home Surgery

Matt Dillon and Chester Goode are on their way back to Dodge City after escorting a prisoner to Tascosa, Texas. They had camped overnight and are preparing to resume their journey of more than one hundred miles when someone fires a shot into their camp. A woman named Holly Hawtree soon appears. She is the person who fired the shot. After averting any hostilities, Holly asks the men to accompany her to the farm where she lives with her father.

Mr. Hawtree was injured when a horse stepped on his foot. The foot and leg became infected with gangrene. Ben Walling is a hired hand on the farm with romantic designs on Holly. Walling left a week earlier to get a doctor, but he has not returned. Matt knows Mr. Hawtree's only hope is immediate amputation. The Marshal decides he must perform the home surgery.

Matt successfully removes the leg, but the infection has spread. Mr. Hawtree is still in bad shape. Ben Walling soon returns but without a doctor. Upon further investigation, Matt realizes the situation is different than he was first led to believe.

Gloria Talbott, who first started acting as a child, was a veteran of films and early television by the time she made this Gunsmoke appearance in the Holly Hawtree role. It was not unusual to see Talbott in television dramas -- especially westerns -- in the 1950s and 1960s. She would appear twice more later in one-hour, black-and-white Gunsmoke episodes.

Joe De Santis plays Holly's father. His performance is particularly notable. He is in bed in every scene where he appears, but he plays the role with such intensity the viewer can easily empathize with his agony. De Santis returned for three more episodes of Gunsmoke.

Actor Wright King was another veteran of the television western. He portrays the Ben Walling character in this story. He would appear seven more times in Gunsmoke stories. A few years after this episode was produced, he had a recurring role in the series Wanted: Dead or Alive where he played the bounty hunter Josh Randall's (portrayed by Steve McQueen) sidekick, Jason Nichols.

This story -- which was adapted from one of the radio episodes -- is pure John Meston with its raw, brutal depiction of rural life in the middle and late 1800s. The acting is outstanding at every turn. The discussion between Matt and Mr. Hawtree over how the amputation will be performed is not for the squeamish. In fact, television does not get much more unsettling than this. The writing and direction are masterful in depicting an extremely grim situation without engaging in graphic images. Even the name of the episode is cringe worthy -- but in a good way.

This was an excellent episode. Matt Dillon gets to play doctor and Marshal in this one. It makes you wonder what it would be like to live back then when infections were so deadly. Now days, a scratch on a finger is nothing. Back then it could be deadly. People lost arms and legs to keep gangrene from setting in, and if they didn't get to it in time, people died.

Gloria Tallbott was perfect for this part. She's good at playing the tom-boyish female. I won't give away the ending, but it shows just how tough girls had to be living out on the prairie with nobody living for miles around.

The choice Matt Dillon had to make was a tough one, but at least he gave the rancher a chance and was able to save the daughter from the vicious ranch hand besides.

It's all in a day's work for Matt Dillon.

To say that "Home Surgery" was (indeed) a mighty sobering episode from TV's "Gunsmoke" (1955) would truly be an understatement.

And, as this grim story goes.... Through some completely unexpected circumstances Marshal, Matt Dillon and his bungling sidekick, Chester Goode find themselves accompanying the despairing, young Holly Hawtree back to her father's ranch.

And, upon their prompt arrival at the farm they immediately encounter Mr. Hawtree (that's Holly's dad) in considerable pain and in need of some serious medical attention, as his leg is badly infected with gangrene.

Anyway - It doesn't take but a minute for Matt Dillon to assume full charge of the situation. But, yet, as things turn out, some unexpected complications enter into the escalating drama.

But, of course, the viewer never has to fear, as justice is most certain to prevail.

"I know I couldnt do it. I just dont have the spirit" - Chester, on deciding who will cut off Mr Hawtree's leg.

This scene tells so much about these two characters.

And the fact that Hawtree already knew how to do the surgery on himself also tells us the brutal reality of life in this era.

A great Gunsmoke episode!

This episode is probably the best I've ever seen of "Gunsmoke" -- great story, full of convincing, true acting and authentic-looking sets reminiscent of just how earthy and gritty life was at that time and place. Sexy Gloria Talbott plays a farm girl who takes Matt & Chester back to her place to help her wounded father (Joe De Santis), immobilized with gangrene. Scenes played between father and daughter are touching without being overdone. Matt is forced to apply the "Home Surgery" of the quirky title. James Arness and Dennis Weaver are no less good in this and it is especially impressive how the style and ethic of this series was already firmly established and whole in this first month of airing (1955). No wonder it was hailed as the first 'adult' western on TV compared to "The Lone Ranger", "Hopalong Cassidy" and "The Cisco Kid" already on, and contrasted to the "horse operas" like "Wagon Train" and "Bonanza" that were still to arrive.