The Cabin

In my book, this is one of the most daring and bleakly original of the half-hour episodes. For once, the neglected factor of weather on the prairie plays a role. Those who've spent some time on the high plains with the wind blowing across the open flats from the Rockies knows how grimly isolating those winter months can be. Unfortunately, Western films seldom capitalized on this important aspect of frontier life and thus excluded a very real dramatic feature. This half-hour understands the elemental significance of winter without the modern amenities.

Matt is driven to seek shelter in a cabin among strangers. There he falls victim to two outlaws who have killed the father of the girl who remains (Patricia Barry). Clearly, from the bruises, she has been repeatedly raped without a man to protect her. Now she cowers before the two grinning outlaws, Harry Dean Stanton (later to become a 60's cult figure) and the perpetually leering Claude Akins in a typically bravura performance. What's more they intend to unceremoniously get rid of the intrusive Marshal. The tiny cabin with its roaring fire and grotesque shadows, appears to be a noirish hell with Matt trapped inside. The look and feel here contrast sharply with the series norm.

Now, all of this plays out in compelling fashion, but what really lifts the episode to sublime heights is the ending. Unsurprisingly, Matt has saved the girl and as a result, we expect a conventional 50's conclusion. But what we get is something entirely different, more realistic and disturbing than the typical happy ending. What wonderful work from writer Meston that lifts this obscure half-hour to memorable heights. Somehow the adult-level climax slipped past the censors of the period, maybe because it was just one more half-hour in a heavy schedule. But for anyone researching the cultural history of the period, this entry amounts to a real departure and can be enjoyed from both a historical and entertainment standpoint. Thanks to the producers for taking a real chance on this one and to writer Meston for not flinching.

The original version of this story, done on the radio Gunsmoke, was a masterpiece of gritty, bleak and realistic storytelling. As other reviewers have suggested, it's a little out of place in the TV version.

Furthermore, Bill Conrad's version of Marshal Dillon with his gravelly voice works much better with the often gloomy and dark story lines that were much more common with the radio show than the more tame television Gunsmoke. Beyond that, radio's reliance on sound effects rather than pictures add a haunting element with the howling winds and the noises in the pitchfork scene.

This episode is good, and worth watching... but do yourself a favor and give the radio version of "The Cabin" a listen!

Trapped in a blizzard traveling on horseback from Hays City to Dodge City, Marshal Dillon attempts to take shelter in a cabin. Only in the cabin are two psychopathic killers and their hostage, the woman whose cabin it is. Dillon finds himself a prisoner as well, constantly with a double-barreled shotgun pointed at him by one of the killers, played by a grimly smiling Claude Akins. John Meston wrote the script for this TV episode and also for the original radio episode of this story. The radio episode ends with Dillon leaving the cabin and, as he rides back to Dodge, commenting on how there was not a sign of life around, that the blizzard had left a barren wasteland. So in this episode Dillon is like a hero from mythology who travels through the Valley of Death and rescues a woman from monsters, then he moves on. The fact that the terrible experience has radically changed the woman's view on life shows that writer Meston does not believe that life tragedies will always wind up for the best. Only Marshal Dillon manages to escape unscathed from a TV version of an encounter with monsters from hell.

One of the best of the early ones.Hard to go wrong with Claude Akins and the wonderful Harry. Dean Stanton. All that was missing was Watren OAtS AND Bruce Dern! Pat Barry was good as well. Small cast small space it felt claudtrophobic, which was right.

Ever since I saw Patricia Barry simper her way around in an episode of Perry Mason, she's annoyed me (I guess that shows her effectiveness). But after seeing her in this role, I can't imagine anyone else playing Belle. Her face contorts with emotion as she breaks down after the villains are dead, but it's not overdone, her relief is palpable.

The next morning there's a subtle, yet definite hardness that's settled over her. You feel the tension and awkwardness between Matt and Belle as they make small talk while drinking coffee. She knows he knows what the outlaws did to her, but it's the elephant in the room. And then as he realizes her determination to go through with her plan, there's a growing sense of his helplessness to change her mind. It's as if she can't wait to start making bad memories in order to forget what happened at the cabin. Matt's final look of horror mixed with sadness after she tells him to look her up some time is brilliant. As often as Matt went to Hays, I wish there had been a follow-up episode so we knew what happened to Belle.