Reward for Matt

I am surprised that nobody has mentioned the fact that if you do a search for this episode on other sites , some of them have it mixed up with season 6 episode "Love Thy Neighbor". Also the TV guide that comes with my TV subscription has it wrong too. The 2 episodes have nothing in common so I don't get how they got them mixed up. Weird. I think I have seen mix ups like this on other episodes also.

The Stoners are that frontier archetype of tough people who tame the wilderness, but also have little regard for the sod-busters who come after them. When Matt's forced to shoot old man Stoner, his haughty, vengeful wife offers a thousand dollar reward to the person who kills the marshal, no questions asked. Now Matt has to watch his back at all times. Will he crack under the strain.

Helen Wallace as old lady Stoner is impressively cold-eyed throughout, whether bending in her emotions or not. It's also one of Little and Victor's better screenplays with a solid dramatic core. Finally some of the wild gunplay in town ends up killing a bystander, an effective plot wrinkle. However, old lady Stoner's final turn-about seems a tad abrupt and too self-abasing. Considering the pressure Matt's under, I don't think it's one of his better shaded performances. Still, a quite watchable 30 minutes.

Jeremy and Sarah Stoner were among the original settlers in the Dodge City area. The Stoners resent new settlers arriving and homesteading around them. Mr. Stoner suspects the newcomers of stealing his livestock before he can brand it, even though there is no evidence of any crimes occurring. He has taken to shooting the homesteaders on site, which draws the attention of Matt Dillon.

When the Marshal confronts Stoner about the shooting of a man named Jake Reeves, Stoner does not deny the murder, but he considers it justified. Matt plans to take Stoner into custody. The old man raises his rifle to shoot. Matt draws, shoots, and kills Stoner.

When Sarah Stoner learns of her husband's demise, she offers a bounty of $1,000 to anyone that will kill Matt Dillon. Naturally, there are people all too willing to kill the Marshal for the money. Some hate Matt for past actions he has taken to enforce laws. Others are desperate for money.

Little known actress Helen Wallace threatens to steal the show as the stubborn, steel-jawed, piercing-eyed Sarah Stoner. Her loathing of Matt Dillon when she discovers he killed her husband is palpable. Wallace portrayed characters in three more Gunsmoke episodes, including two one-hour, black-and-white installments.

Val Dufour appears in this story as the pesky, annoying Day Barrett. Barrett is a ranch hand in the area who is delighted to see the bounty on Marshal Dillon's head. Dufour would return for another role later in Season 1 and would join the guest cast two more times in addition to the two first season appearances.

Paul Newlan makes a brief appearance at the beginning of the story as Jeremy Stoner. Newlan played hundreds of uncredited parts in films earlier in his career. He would return once more to the Gunsmoke set in Season 2.

Jean Inness plays a key role near the end of the episode as Mrs. Reeves. Inness appeared once more in the series in a Season 5 episode.

There is a great scene where Kitty Russell visits Mrs. Stoner to ask her to abandon her efforts to see Matt killed. This is the first incident where the Gunsmoke viewers see the tough, intensely passionate Miss Kitty that would become familiar over the run of the series. At one point in the scene, Kitty calls Mrs. Stoner a "nasty old hypocrite," and it is vintage Kitty Russell.

Bert Rumsey, who played Sam Noonan the bartender in many episodes during the first five seasons of Gunsmoke, has a rare speaking part in this story. (Of course, this is a different actor playing this character. Glenn Strange was the most famous Sam Noonan beginning near the end of Season 6 of the series into Season 19.)

Gunsmoke writers would use the theme of pioneering settlers resenting newcomers at various points during the run of the series, and the idea of putting a bounty on one of the main characters is a familiar device in westerns. One of the challenges of reviewing these early episodes so many years later is trying to consider them within the proper context. These episodes were establishing trends when they first aired.

The resolution of this story is abrupt, which is common in the thirty-minute episodes. However, it does highlight an axiom that is as true today as it was in 1955. It is easy to objectify and dehumanize people you don't know.

In this episode we are introduced to a older couple named Stoner that appear to have been some of the first people to settle on the prairie around Dodge. Mr Stoner is one that has been living his life the same way for many years and now feels like his way is being threatened by the new settlers with their new methods living around him. So now he blames all his ills on them and even goes so far as to kill anyone that gets in his way. When Marshal Dillon meets Stoner on the trail with stolen horses, Mr Stoner vows not to be messed with and fires on Matt. Matt fires back killing Mr Stoner.

Along come Mrs Stoner that believes Marshal Dillon murdered her husband and places a $1000 reward for anyone that kills the Marshal with no questions asked. All this does is lead to cowboys wanting to take their chance against Matt for the reward money. Unless something can be done more blood is going to be spilled in Dodge all for the sake of reward money.

A perfect western story that was well acted and well written. Helen Wallace was excellent as the unyielding widow with the forlorn look and the stubborn personality. A show that was entertaining to watch from beginning till end. Good watch.