What a nasty place to visit! Marshal Dillon is ordered to re-investigate the death of a payroll master at a fort that was later abandoned. The town that supplied the fort with goods had a shady history that Dillon wants to look into.
His friend, the former town sheriff is played by James Gregory. Gregory plays a complicated character who is afraid to go to prison, and is a victim of his own vigilante justice. The sheriff's son is played by Jeremy Slate, who delivers an earnest performance as someone brought up to be honest, but conflicted by loyalties to his father and his town.
Jack Weston plays a central role as a town vagrant who has some mental issues and relies on the charity of the townspeople to survive. He makes some gutsy decisions by helping Dillon, but he also tries to help the old sheriff (Gregory) and the town. Weston does an excellent job with his divided loyalties.
Lots of tension between the good characters that have done bad things, and Matt Dillon. Dillon's instincts tell him something is fishy, but he does not want to hurt his friends. On the other side of town are some of the crudest and nastiest characters that ever appeared on Gunsmoke. The townsfolk have no scruples, and they are willing to murder again for the sake of the town and its profits. Richard X. Slattery is the main crumb. He often appeared on TV shows of this era playing a racist, a bully, a thug, or some other low-class character. In this episode, he is the main one calling for the death of Matt Dillon, even before Dillon has actually investigated much.
One thing about this story is there is no gray area. It is kind of unrealistic how fast the townies are ready to kill as soon as Dillon has interviewed a couple of people. The rabidness of the townspeople is harsh.
I was really hoping that fast-draw Dillon would have taken out at least a couple of the nasty people that were attacking him in the livery stable the first time. Later on, Dillon gets beaten up again before the old sheriff arrives. I certainly would not visit that town. It was hard to believe that it was prospering (as they all claimed), considering how meanly they treated strangers.
One humorous note is that when the townies attack the sheriff's office and are pushing Jeremy Slate around, the notice board behind him falls off the wall. Slate and a couple of others keep pushing the board up, and holding it against the wall while they are fighting. When the camera angle changes, the board is back on the wall. It was the only funny thing in this dark episode.
