Yorky

Pretty good episode, with Sam Peckinpah screenplay. Yorky is a white boy reared as an Indian, who's shot while trying to steal horses from a white man. A good-hearted farmer takes him in and fetches Matt to take care of the wound. At first, Yorky is belligerent, but after being befriended, he begins to adapt to life in Dodge. However, the burly horse-trader Howard Petrie arrives with a string of mounts of uncertain ownership, and the plot begins to thicken.

Good work by Petrie who looks and acts like he could command a big remuda across the plains. Jeff Silver as Yorky, however, lacks the needed fire to help drive the plot. Not much else to single out, except perhaps the aptly ironical ending that preserves Peckinpah's reputation as one of the most uncompromising scenarists of the day. Tellingly, however, that resolution is not shown on screen.

The episode begins when an Arapaho Indian brave named Yorky is sneaking into a corral of horses. It appears that the intent of the Indian is to steal the horses from a man known as Brant. Because of some precautions that was set up by Brant and his son they hear the commotion and come out shooting. Brant manages to shoot the Indian in the leg before the Indian rides away.

Later Mr Seldon comes to the Marshal's office in Dodge. He tells the Marshal that he found what he thought was an Indian boy shot in the leg and unconscious. But to his surprise the Indian boy is really a white boy that had been captured by the Arapaho's years ago and is now part of the Indian Reservation outside of Dodge.

Matt rides out and performs a little surgery (since Doc is out of town) and gets the boy back on his feet. He take young Yorky back to Dodge where he seems to be fitting into life in civilization better than expected. But then we learn why Yorky was pretending to like city life plus we also find out why he was taking the horses from Brant.

The story actually had a twist that made the plot interesting. Perhaps it was the video version that I watched but this episode played like a 1930 talkie movie. There was dialog and then a lot of dead air where all you could hear was the crackling of the recording system. No music or sound effects tying the two scenes together. The dead air seemed to make this episode rather plain or common. But the circumstance of Yorky prevailed making this a nice watch for viewers.

An Arapaho teen named Yorky is shot in the leg while trying to steal a horse from a Dodge City rancher named Abe Brandt late one night. Brandt and his son Tom are awakened by a makeshift alarm Yorky tripped while trying to escape. Abe shoots the boy in the leg, but he still manages to get away.

Yorky is found by a local farmer named Seldon. The farmer quickly sees Yorky is a Caucasian and not an Arapaho. Seldon tries to treat Yorky's gunshot wound, but the boy resists any attempts to provide help and threatens Mr. Seldon. Yorky's condition grows continually worse. Mr. Seldon rides into Dodge and informs Matt Dillon of the situation. Doc Adams is out of town, so the Marshal rides to the Seldon farm to try to help the boy.

Matt removes the bullet and treats the leg, which saves Yorky's life. The Marshal takes the boy back to Dodge City. He gets the boy a job at Moss Grimmick's stables and gives him a job sweeping the Marshal's office.

Yorky starts to adapt to life in Dodge. He says he does not know who his real parents were and only knows life as an Arapaho. He begins to doubt whether to return to the tribe or not once he has fully healed.

Abe Brandt arrives in Dodge to sell horses to the army. He tells Matt about the incident where he shot Yorky. Brandt does not realize Yorky is sweeping in the back of the jail and hears the conversation. The Marshal now realizes Yorky is the boy Brandt shot. Yorky then tells Matt some things no one knows about Brandt.

Young actor Jeffrey Silver portrays Yorky in this story, which is his only Gunsmoke role. Silver's acting is the weakest aspect of an otherwise solid story. Like many younger actors, he quit acting once he grew out of his teenage years.

Howard Petrie also makes his only Gunsmoke appearance as the big rancher Abe Brandt. He was a familiar face in many westerns throughout the 1950s and into the early 1960s.

Dennis Cross was a more familiar Gunsmoke guest, as he appeared in thirteen different installments of the series over the years. He fills the role of Tom Brandt, Abe's son, in this story.

Malcolm Atterbury previously appeared in the series debut episode, "Matt Gets It." He is included in this story as the character Seldon. He would make six more appearances in the series. His wife is played in this story by Mary Gregory, who was just beginning what would be an extensive career playing small parts mostly in television series.

"Yorky" is another Sam Peckinpah screenplay based on a John Meston story. As such it contains a few subtle Peckinpah touches. While Chester Goode is caring for Yorky during his recuperation, he repeatedly refers to Yorky as "Injun," although Yorky is a white man. He also encourages Yorky to abandon the Arapaho and "live more civilized." Later, Abe Brandt literally talks down to Chester (the Brandt character is sitting on a horse, while Chester is standing on the ground) and repeatedly calls him "boy," which Chester clearly resents.

Every time we (the viewers) think we know what is going on in this story, a new surprise is revealed, all the way to the end.

In that scene between the Brandt and Chester characters, Chester is seen standing in front of the General Store. The sign overhead reads "Wilbur Jonas, Prop." This is the first mention in the series of Mr. Jonas, although the character is not seen. John Patrick plays Jonas in the "Tap Day for Kitty" episode. Dabbs Greer would begin appearing as Wilbur Jonas several episodes later in the first season of the series.

Longtime Gunsmoke fans know Matt Dillon rode a buckskin horse (Festus Haggen even calls him "Buck" in a much later episode). This episode reveals what may be the origins of that horse.