Whelan's Men

A surprising episode that featured Amanda Blake at her very best.

When a group of bandit comes into Dodge they take the town by storm. With Marshal Dillon out-of-town, the group led by Dan Whelan lock up Newly and Festus and take control of the town. They rob and take everything and anything they wish- from the bank to the general store. They even take money and jewelry from people walking down the street.

It is not long before they end up at the Long Branch. There we learn the true intention of Dan Whelan and his gang. They are there to kill Marshal Matt Dillon.

Amanda Blake as Kitty, now has the men in her saloon and will start a card game they will bring relief to the citizens of Dodge. Ms Blake's performance is top notch as she deals a game of card with her usual disdain for bandits.

With a lot of the recent shows where the regular cast just makes a cameo appearance. Amanda Blake brings the episode along with the flare of olden times. Was pleasantly surprised by this story. Good show!

...watching them play poker for most of the episode? That all kinda made it a snoozefest for me. I mean, I understand why they had to have that occur, to go with the storyline but, watching some people play a card game doesn't hold much interest for me. That being said, i loved that they featured Kitty so prevalently, and i always admire her - and the rest of the regular cast's - acting so, it was nice to see that. She did so well with the whole episode. Plus the guest stars are usually pretty talented themselves, and this episode is no different. However, I just got tired of them playing poker for so long and wish they'd have had other sort of action take a bigger role.

Overall, not a bad episode, though.

With Marshal Matt Dillon away, Dan Whelan and his rogue gang ride into Dodge City and quickly take control of the town. They lock Newly O'Brien and Festus Haggen in the jail. They rob everything and everyone. The point to the visit is more than simple robbery, though. They intend to kill Marshal Dillon when he returns.

They establish a center of operations at the Long Branch Saloon, naturally. Since they must wait for Matt's return, they decide to pass the time playing poker. Kitty Russell recognizes an opportunity to use the card game to level the playing field with Whelan and his men.

Actor Robert Burr portrays Dan Whelan in this story. Burr's acting career featured sporadic appearances primarily in television shows until the early 1970s when he started gaining more roles, primarily as villains. This is his only guest role in a Gunsmoke episode.

Whelan's gang of bandits is comprised of several familiar actors, the most famous of which is Harrison Ford in an early acting job. This is the second and final appearance in the series for Ford.

Anyone that watches many episodes of Gunsmoke will recognize William Bramley. Here he plays the sadistic, lecherous, card-cheating gang member named Loomis. Bramley excelled at playing this type of character. This is the final appearance by Bramley in the series. He appears in nine other episodes.

This is the only Gunsmoke appearance for Noble Willingham, who plays the character Tuck. Willingham enjoyed a successful acting career in both films and television. He appeared in notable films The Last Picture Show, Paper Moon, and Chinatown. Many years later he was a regular on the series Walker, Texas Ranger with Chuck Norris.

Gerald McRaney has a small part in this story as the character Gentry. McRaney would appear twice more in the series, including Season 20's "Hard Labor" where McRaney is the last person in the show's history to face Matt Dillon in a gunfight. McRaney would go on to star in the television series Simon & Simon and Major Dad. He also played a recurring character in the HBO western series Deadwood.

Actor Frank Ramírez appears as one of Whelan's men. The character is only identified by the name "Breed." Ramírez appeared in several U. S. television shows in the 1970s, but most of his career was spent acting in his home country Columbia. His final role before his death in 2015 was playing the character Héctor Salamanca in the Columbian version of the series "Breaking Bad," which was titled "Metástasis" in Columbia.

As a standalone entry in the series, this story is immensely entertaining and suspenseful. However, similar stories have been done at least three times before in Gunsmoke history. The Season 11 debut "Seven Hours to Dawn" is most similar with the outlaws systematically riding into town and taking everything in sight. The difference with that take on the theme is Matt is present at the beginning. Season 14's "The Long Night" includes a similar theme where several series regulars are held hostage in the Long Branch while they await the Marshal's return, although the primary motivation of the intruders in the story is revenge against Matt Dillon. Season 15's "Morgan" again uses the theme of outlaws taking over Dodge and awaiting the Marshal's return.

The difference in this story and the other comparable stories is the poker game angle with Kitty Russell as the focal point. The "honor among thieves" aspect to this episode is a bizarre, unexpected twist that is telegraphed from early in the episode. (You will have to watch it to understand.) The Tuck character even acknowledges the gang will steal and murder, but they always honor their bets. There is also a definite "the ends justifies the means" aspect to this story that becomes clear at the conclusion.

Amanda Blake is once again outstanding in the Kitty Russell role in this episode. A common element to this kind of story is that the townspeople are usually terrified and completely at the mercy of the intruders. In this case, Kitty exudes confidence and defiance. She never lets Whelan and his men think they have intimidated her.

Episode writer Ron Bishop cleverly manages to remove most of the series stars from the story, so the episode focuses almost solely on the Kitty Russell character. Festus and Newly are locked in a jail cell. Matt is out of town. Doc Adams is kept on the periphery of the story by the gang who forces him to retreat to his office and stay there.

(Side note: I find it interesting that Matt questions Kitty so intensely about what has transpired overnight in Dodge. It strongly suggests there have been some previous discussions about Kitty's prowess with cards.)

Interesting note: Harrison Ford plays one of the bad guys.

This is one of these episodes that television that they made for the entertainment value that was so far from the truth how things really were in the west. First the chance that a gang could ride into town and take over the whole town is near impossible. Remember most of the town would be made up of men that either served in the Civil War or served in European armies before they came to this country. The prime example is when the James gang came to Northfield, Minnesota. When the merchant's and farmers saw what was going on they took on the james gang and shot them up the rest is history. Besides that I really enjoy the story line. I never watched this show much growing up but now that I'm retired I know why it was so popular.