Texas Cowboys

Good premise reveals a lot about how a frontier town like Dodge survived. A trail hand is murdered in a Texas cattle-drive camp outside of town. Matt investigates but gets no help from the crew led by former cowboy star Allan "Rocky" Lane. In retaliation, Matt closes down Front Street so the cowboys can't get the big pent-up release they've been looking forward to. The result of course is a tense confrontation.

Good script with one flaw-- the hostile meeting between Matt and the town's business leaders over closing Front Street almost sounds as if they've never met before. Yet they all presumably live in the same small town. Also, it's poorly staged, the businessmen looking like they belong in New York City and not Dodge (and where is Kitty since her saloon would really be adversely affected).

Lane is effective as the trail boss, showing how a good actor can play either a convincing hero or a menacing villain. Also, a touching turn by Ned Glass as the ill-fated Sam Peeples. The last line is especially poignant. (Something should also be said for the fine harmonica score that accompanied many episodes. It was always used sparingly and intelligently, effectively underscoring the dominant mood, as it does here.)

While watching this episode I got the feeling that something odd was going on with the regular characters in the performance of this show. Some of the acting appeared to be out-of-the-norm that was usually played each week during the TV show. Doc Adams digressed back to season one as he was an ornery disagreeable character and Matt more angry than has been seen in a long time. Add a really odd scene involving Marshal being degraded by town leaders and you have a show that was unconventional by any standard. The acting was just different from the previous episodes where the regular characters were becoming part of TV culture.

The plot centers around a murder in the camp of a Texas cattle drive and the trail boss, Talley, tells his men not to say anything to the Marshal Dillon. In turn, Matt closes down Front Street and the cowboys have no place to drink.

Soon Talley brings in an older man that has been beaten up telling the Marshal that the old man was the murderer. Matt knows that this is a outright falsehood and works to get to the truth.

Not as impressed with this episode as have been with others. Nearly everyone, except Chester and Kitty, walked around with a chip on their shoulder. It just did not seem the same Dodge that we left one week earlier.

Yes, this was an outstanding episode of Gunsmoke, which should have deserved a 10. When Matt Dillon orders a beer instead of a whiskey, which Miss Kitty insists upon, towards the end of the episode, what Mr. Dillon does with said beer, and Miss Kitty's response to it.....is just priceless.

As Doc Adams, Matt Dillon, and Chester Goode are engaging in banter on the Dodge City streets, an ornery, grumpy cowboy named Gil Choate approaches on horseback. He is looking for a doctor to accompany him back to a campsite outside the town where some drovers are camped. Choate refuses to reveal the reason a doctor is needed.

After hearing the exchange between Doc and Choate, Marshal Dillon decides he and Chester should accompany the doctor on this adventure. Matt, Chester, and Doc follow the cowboy to the camp.

Upon arrival at the campsite, the trio encounters Kin Talley, the trail boss. Tally tells Matt there is no longer any need for a doctor. Doc confirms this when he examines a man who has died from a gunshot wound to the back. The Marshal questions Talley about the details of the shooting, but the obstinate trail boss refuses to reveal anything he knows about the situation. Marshal Dillon warns Talley that if he and his men continue to refuse to cooperate with the investigation, he will close Front Street in Dodge so Talley and his men will not be able to enjoy themselves in the town.

When word spreads of Dillon's intentions to close Front Street, several businessmen from the town confront the Marshal and implore him not to take such drastic actions. They argue that closing Front Street to the cowboys will not only mean they lose the money those men would spend, but other groups might choose to avoid Dodge. Matt disagrees and refuses to back down.

When a group of the cowboys led by Choate arrive in town, they find everything closed just as Marshal Dillon promised. Later, Talley arrives at the Marshal's office with an obviously beaten, older man named Sam Peeples. Talley claims Peeples is responsible for murdering the dead cowboy. After questioning the poor old man, Matt is convinced Peeples is being used as a scapegoat.

Veteran actor Allan Lane is excellent in the Kin Talley role. This is the first of three Gunsmoke appearances for Lane. The actor began his career as a leading man in films in the 1930s and 1940s. In the mid 1940s, he found success playing heroic characters in Saturday afternoon matinee Westerns. As television became more popular in the 1950s, Lane made the easy transition to that medium.

Clarke Gordon (billed as Clark Gordon) appears in his only Gunsmoke role as the Gil Choate character. This role takes place relatively early in what would be a prolific career for the actor, who was active well into the 1990s.

This is the fourth appearance in the series by Ned Glass, who plays Sam Peeples in this episode. Glass would return for another five episodes in the series.

Watch for a couple of small, notable roles in this episode. John Mitchum plays a character named Bob who in involved in a scene in the Long Branch Saloon. Mitchum was the younger brother of Robert Mitchum. This is the third of seven Gunsmoke appearances for the actor.

Stanford Repp appears as Mr. Hightower, the leader of the group of Dodge City businessmen. Repp played in many different television shows during his career. He was perhaps best known for playing Gotham City Police Chief O'Hara in the Batman series. Incidentally, both Mitchum and Repp appeared in Batman. Repp appeared in a total of five different Gunsmoke episodes.

This episode contains plot elements from a couple of earlier Gunsmoke entries. Season One's "How to Die for Nothing" includes a Texas trail boss who refuses to cooperate with Marshal Dillon and holds anything in Kansas with great disdain. In that episode, trail boss Jacklin goes to far as to threaten to terrorize Dodge City unless Matt releases one of his men. Season Two's "The Round Up" features a situation where Matt closes Front Street, and a group of local businessmen plot to kill the Marshal.

This story highlights the problems so-called cattle towns in the Old West faced when drovers would arrive with their herds. Trail bosses and the trail hands that worked for them pretty much operated as autonomous entities with their own rules and enforcement of those rules. When the trail bosses clashed with local law enforcement, such as is the case in this story, the situation could easily get out of hand.

This was an interesting premis but needed an hour to tell,properly and develop the characters.