Matt Dillon has captured an outlaw named Charlie Noon. When the story begins, the Marshal and Noon are on their way across the desert back to Dodge City where Noon has been sentenced to be hanged. The reason why Dillon had to chase and capture Noon is never revealed -- it is not important to the story. Later in the episode, Noon reveals he has killed several people.
Marshal Dillon and Noon ride upon a house that has burned and is still smoldering. A dead man is found outside the house, and there are signs the destruction are the results of a Comanche raid. When Matt begins examining the site more closely, he finds a woman and a young man hiding in a cellar.
"The Woman" (her name is never revealed, she explains her Comanche name is too difficult to pronounce) is also a Comanche. The young man is Jamie Barker, and his father had married The Woman years earlier. After the husband and father died, the man who the Marshal and Noon found dead outside the burned house had taken in Jamie and The Woman. Dillon's prisoner harbors a hatred for Comanches, and he protests Matt's insistence The Woman and Jamie accompany he and Noon.
The Woman reveals she is the reason the Comanches, led by a man named Lone Wolf, are searching the desert. Lone Wolf considers her his property, and they were supposed to be married before she escaped the tribe and married Jamie's father.
The foursome of The Woman, Jamie, Marshal Dillon, and Charlie Noon soon find themselves pinned down by their pursuers near a watering hole. Noon has been injured by a Comanche arrow, and The Woman graciously and lovingly helps care for him, despite the venomous comments he makes toward her.
The remainder of the episode involves the foursome attempting to evade death at the hands of the Comanches while Matt develops a strategy for getting them out of the situation.
This is one of the episodes where James Arness is the only regular Gunsmoke cast member involved. The entire story takes place in the desert setting.
The cast is minimal for this episode, but they are all outstanding. James Best plays the Charlie Noon character. Best guested in three different Gunsmoke episodes, including Season 8's "With A Smile," which I consider easily among the top ten of all Gunsmoke episodes. Best was an underrated, versatile actor who could easily play everything from comedy roles to the most sinister villains imaginable.
Ron Howard, who was still being billed as "Ronny," fills the Jamie Barker role. This would constitute Howard's only Gunsmoke appearance. Classic television fans will already know that Howard and Best appeared together in Season 1 of The Andy Griffith Show. This role falls between Howard's time as Opie Taylor on The Andy Griffith Show and his starring role in George Lucas's American Graffiti, which was followed by his subsequent portrayal of Richie Cunningham on Happy Days.
Miriam Colon returns to Gunsmoke as The Woman in this story. Colon appeared in eight different Gunsmoke episodes going all the way back to Season 7's "He Learned About Women." She had appeared in one of the standout episodes of Season 14 in "Zavala."
This story marks the final appearance by Edmund Hashim in a Gunsmoke episode. Hashim usually played villains, and portrays the Comanche chief Lone Wolf in this episode. Hashim appeared in a total of seven installments of the series over a four-year period.
This is one of the most unusual Gunsmoke episodes of the entire series. Often, the stories that involve a significant amount of dialog and personal introspection give the appearance of merely filling time to stretch a story that is lacking. This is not the case with "Charlie Noon." Jim Byrnes's script manages to deal with prejudice and dehumanization of entire groups of people with subtlety and respect. It also portrays poignant grace and mercy in the face of hatred and abuse from Colon's The Woman character. The outcome of the story is no huge surprise, but the pleasure here is in the journey to the end.
Developing unique scripts had to be a challenge fourteen-plus seasons into this series. Gunsmoke certainly had its share of formulaic stories and sometimes relied on Western tropes. Brief descriptions of this story reduce it to familiar plot devices used in Westerns, but the treatment here makes the story compelling and well worth watching.
Marshal Dillon and Noon ride upon a house that has burned and is still smoldering. A dead man is found outside the house, and there are signs the destruction are the results of a Comanche raid. When Matt begins examining the site more closely, he finds a woman and a young man hiding in a cellar.
"The Woman" (her name is never revealed, she explains her Comanche name is too difficult to pronounce) is also a Comanche. The young man is Jamie Barker, and his father had married The Woman years earlier. After the husband and father died, the man who the Marshal and Noon found dead outside the burned house had taken in Jamie and The Woman. Dillon's prisoner harbors a hatred for Comanches, and he protests Matt's insistence The Woman and Jamie accompany he and Noon.
The Woman reveals she is the reason the Comanches, led by a man named Lone Wolf, are searching the desert. Lone Wolf considers her his property, and they were supposed to be married before she escaped the tribe and married Jamie's father.
The foursome of The Woman, Jamie, Marshal Dillon, and Charlie Noon soon find themselves pinned down by their pursuers near a watering hole. Noon has been injured by a Comanche arrow, and The Woman graciously and lovingly helps care for him, despite the venomous comments he makes toward her.
The remainder of the episode involves the foursome attempting to evade death at the hands of the Comanches while Matt develops a strategy for getting them out of the situation.
This is one of the episodes where James Arness is the only regular Gunsmoke cast member involved. The entire story takes place in the desert setting.
The cast is minimal for this episode, but they are all outstanding. James Best plays the Charlie Noon character. Best guested in three different Gunsmoke episodes, including Season 8's "With A Smile," which I consider easily among the top ten of all Gunsmoke episodes. Best was an underrated, versatile actor who could easily play everything from comedy roles to the most sinister villains imaginable.
Ron Howard, who was still being billed as "Ronny," fills the Jamie Barker role. This would constitute Howard's only Gunsmoke appearance. Classic television fans will already know that Howard and Best appeared together in Season 1 of The Andy Griffith Show. This role falls between Howard's time as Opie Taylor on The Andy Griffith Show and his starring role in George Lucas's American Graffiti, which was followed by his subsequent portrayal of Richie Cunningham on Happy Days.
Miriam Colon returns to Gunsmoke as The Woman in this story. Colon appeared in eight different Gunsmoke episodes going all the way back to Season 7's "He Learned About Women." She had appeared in one of the standout episodes of Season 14 in "Zavala."
This story marks the final appearance by Edmund Hashim in a Gunsmoke episode. Hashim usually played villains, and portrays the Comanche chief Lone Wolf in this episode. Hashim appeared in a total of seven installments of the series over a four-year period.
This is one of the most unusual Gunsmoke episodes of the entire series. Often, the stories that involve a significant amount of dialog and personal introspection give the appearance of merely filling time to stretch a story that is lacking. This is not the case with "Charlie Noon." Jim Byrnes's script manages to deal with prejudice and dehumanization of entire groups of people with subtlety and respect. It also portrays poignant grace and mercy in the face of hatred and abuse from Colon's The Woman character. The outcome of the story is no huge surprise, but the pleasure here is in the journey to the end.
Developing unique scripts had to be a challenge fourteen-plus seasons into this series. Gunsmoke certainly had its share of formulaic stories and sometimes relied on Western tropes. Brief descriptions of this story reduce it to familiar plot devices used in Westerns, but the treatment here makes the story compelling and well worth watching.