Hanging Man

A Dodge City businessman named Herb Sawyer is found hanging from a rafter in his office. The initial assumption everyone makes is that Sawyer committed suicide, but as Matt investigates further, he concludes Sawyer was murdered. Matt wants everyone to assume Sawyer killed himself in the hopes the murderer will not feel threatened and reveal himself.

Subsequently, the Marshal sees Mel Tucker purchasing new clothing as Tucker intends to marry Cora Bell, an older, worn-looking woman that recently began working for Kitty Russell at the Long Branch Saloon. Matt is instantly suspicious because Tucker does not have a job or any known means of support. Tucker is placed under arrest and jailed.

Meanwhile, a stranger named Dan Dresslar meets Cora at the Long Branch, and they discuss her relationship with Tucker. Cora reveals that she is marrying Tucker more out of desperation than anything. (It is difficult to understand what future Cora thinks she will have with a man who does not work and has no prospects.)

When another businessman is found hanging while Tucker is incarcerated, Matt is forced to release Tucker. Dillon returns the $300 that was in Tucker's profession when he was arrested.

The normally insanely jealous Tucker and his bride-to-be Cora begin to pal around with Dresslar. When Kitty Russell reveals that Mel and Cora have delayed their marriage because they are broke, Matt figures out the mystery of the murders.

Actor Luis Van Rooten makes his single Gunsmoke appearance as the Mel Tucker character. Van Rooten, who was a master of dialects, had a fairly prolific career in films in the 1940s and early 1950s. With the growing popularity of television, Van Rooten made the transition to several guest starring roles in television dramas in the 1950s and 1960s.

Zina Provendie plays Cora Bell in this story in her sole Gunsmoke role. Provendie's acting career was short lived with only a few television guest starring appearances and a couple of small film roles.

Robert Osterloh also makes his only Gunsmoke appearance in this episode. He plays Dan Dresslar. Osterloh is one of those vaguely familiar faces seen in numerous television shows of the 1950s and '60s.

The Matt Dillon character's detective skills are on full display in this unique story, and John Meston's script keeps the viewer in suspense until all is revealed at the end of another solid Gunsmoke installment.

Strong story that benefits from offbeat casting, an air of mystery, and some nice twists. Luis Van Rooten looks like an undersized ragamuffin with a surly manner and mean eyes, while middle-aged girlfriend Zina Provendie plies drinks as a plain-jane bar girl at Kitty's saloon. Together they're a most unlikely looking couple for the glamor obsessed 1950's. Still, they're hoping to get hitched even though Van Rooten has no money. The plot thickens when a shop-keeper turns up dead, an apparent suicide, at the same time Van Rooten suddenly spends a wad on marriage preparations. Matt gets suspicious and jails Van Rooten only to have another shop-keeper turn up dead under similar circumstances. What gives? Now Matt has to turn the little guy loose.

Suspense builds from unanswered questions instead of the usual impending showdown. Though the make-up people did a pancake number on her face, Provendie gives a rather exotic performance as the aging bar girl-- as she says, she'll get no second chances in the romance department. Episode is also notable for key presence of that fine utility actor Robert Osterloh as the friend. His face is so familiar yet so ordinary. However, no list of unsung versatile actors from that period would be complete without him. All in all, a solid entry that maintains interest throughout.

Here is a tale that spans many aspects of the emotional trail as the episode begins in an eerie state and then by the end of the show you actually feel distressed for one particular party in the program. The show did not leave you with a nice feeling but you were entertained for the thirty minutes of viewing.

It begins when a local store owner is found hung from a beam in his building. It appears to be a suicide but when Marshal Dillon finds money missing he expects foul play.

Over at the Long Branch, Kitty has hired a middle age woman, Cora Bell, that has taken up with a lazy good-for-nothing man by the name of Mel Tucker. Cora is set to marry Mel, not really for anything he can do, but because time is passing her by and she wants to marry someone. When Mel starts showing off a wad of cash, Matt believes he has found the killer. But with Mel in jail, another suicide looking death occurs. It appears that Matt has the wrong man.

Good character placement in this show. All the cast were perfectly cast with rural rough looking people rather than the star of the week. A nice episode that was pleasant to watch.