The Cabin

... What is Batman syndrome you ask? Suppose you are a really evil villain. You have a powerful gun trained on the good guy who is intent on taking you to face justice. Your choices as the villain are:

A. Shoot the good guy with no further talk or thought about it.

B. Yammer at the good guy while battering a hostage you already have until the good guy gets the drop on you probably with the help of the hostage who hates you too.

In 1950s and 1960s TV the bad guy always lost, so they usually picked B, although not with the flair of the villains on the old Batman TV show, but I digress.

There is a blizzard blowing in Kansas, and Matt Dillon, returning from business in Hayes City, seeks shelter from the storm in an isolated cabin. Unfortunately the cabin is harboring two really nasty fugitives from justice. One is rather simple minded, the other is a sadist who is saddled with the aforementioned Batman Syndrome.

This episode has very little action and practically no Doc, Kitty, or Chester. But then the claustrophobic episodes of Gunsmoke tend to be the best. And at the end there is a conversation about a subject that was rarely broached on TV unless it was in a Western, and the impact on the victim in the aftermath of the crime is handled in a very sensitive and realistic way.

That's one reason there were so many westerns and science fiction shows and movies in the rather sterile 1950s. If the censors said - Hey! You can't talk about social problems here! Then the writers could say - We're not talking about modern issues! This a western!

Also keep a look out for Harry Dean Stanton 28 years before he was Pretty in Pink. Highly recommended.

Even with the melancholy ending, this episode hit a nerve that resounds through the entire series making this show one of the better in the entire collection. The way the episode leaves the viewer feeling for the forlorn character makes this an unusual ending, from the regular happy-go-lucky closures, that we usually get from the writers. In this your emotions run shallow as the camera fades to black leaving the viewer wanting more in order to find out the outcome of life.

The episode begins with Marshal Dillon getting struck in a blizzard while leaving Hays City back in route to Dodge. He stumbles up on a cabin where two outlaws have invaded and set up their little house of horrors by killing the man and making the woman, Belle, a slave to their every whim. Belle, from the bruises on her face, has been abused physically and mentally for some time. Even the viewer give the hint of sexual assaults that must have continued for more time that anyone, especially Belle, wants to remember.

The outlaws are set on killing Matt but wants it to look more like an accident than a murder. So they prepare a plan that will have Matt knocked unconscious and then left in the blizzard to die.

An excellent choice of actors brings the episode to life that includes Claude Akins, Harry Stanton and the wonderful Patricia Berry. With the script and the actors this show was bound not to fail. Excellent show.

Matt Dillon is traveling from Hays City to Dodge City when he is caught in a blizzard. He finds a cabin where he can take shelter, but the cabin is already inhabited by Hack and Alvy, two murdering, bank-robbing, sadistic psychopaths, and Belle, a woman who lived in the cabin with her father until Hack and Alvy killed him.

Belle tries to help Matt obscure his status as a U. S. Marshal. When Hack finds out Matt's position, he promises to punish Belle by banishing her outside in the blizzard. He devises a plan to kill Marshal Dillon by hitting him in the head and then dumping his body somewhere on the plains, so it appears he was thrown by his horse and froze to death.

This episode features a small, stellar cast. Claude Akins guest stars for the third time in a Gunsmoke episode. He portrays the "leader" of the duo, Hack. It should be no surprise that Akins is appropriately mean and menacing in the role. He fits the role well. Akins appeared in ten Gunsmoke episodes.

Harry Dean Stanton (credited as Dean Stanton, as he often was earlier in his career) makes the first of his eight Gunsmoke appearances with his performance in this episode as the slow-witted Alvy.

Patricia Barry also makes her series debut in this story as Belle. She would return for another two episodes after the series expanded to one-hour episodes.

Occasionally, Gunsmoke ventured into what could be considered the horror genre, and this episode is one example. A familiar premise in horror films is someone or some group seeks help or shelter somewhere not knowing the people there are deranged psychopaths. Hack and Alvy are monsters with no redeemable qualities.

Hack abuses Belle physically and verbally. It is clear the abuse extends well beyond the events depicted in the episode. Note when Belle warns Hack the food she is preparing will be ruined by being overcooked, he tells her to shut up. Later, when she serves the food, he complains about the lousy quality.

Meston adds a touch of sick, almost Tarantino-esque humor when Alvy is talking about his past. (Incidentally, Tarantino's film The Hateful Eight, while thematically quite different, shares some plot elements with this Gunsmoke episode.) He mentions he is the only member of his family "that turned out any good." Hack replies, "You done fine, Alvy. Just fine." It is worth noting that Harry Dean Stanton would later work with the unconventional director David Lynch. It is easy to imagine Stanton's Alvy character in an episode of Twin Peaks or in one of Lynch's films.

(The radio version of this story is far more graphic than the television episode. Alvy is described as more of a freakish character, and the monstrous duo is even more cruel, if possible. Matt says of Alvy, "Too much of him was missing." Since the action cannot be seen, it is described in some graphic details.)

Gunsmoke does not get darker, more disturbing, and surreal than this story, which means the episode may not be suitable for everyone. The first twenty minutes of the episode inside that cabin are the stuff of nightmares.

With that caveat, this episode is a highlight of the entire series. Season 3 of Gunsmoke features some of the most dark stories of the full twenty year run of the series. They do not get any darker than this.

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.

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.