User Reviews

For the last show of season six plus the last thirty minute show released for broadcast, we get a classic western tale that is sure to entertained even the novice viewer.

The story begins when Matt and Chester come up on a cowboy, Rod Ellison, that has been shot in the back while riding on the prairie. They take him back to Dodge where Doc removes the bullet which was lodged close to the spinal cord. Then Matt gets word that another man, Ben Witter, had been shot in the shoulder and believes that the two men might be connected.

Ben Witter is a deputy sheriff from Colorado who claims to have been chasing Ellison where he robbed a local bank in Pueblo. But there is something different about this deputy sheriff. For some reason he has disdain for US Marshals and refuses to give Matt any information that might lead to an arrest. And when Matt refuses to turn the wounded Ellison over without a warrant, Witter is not a happy camper. Matt needs to do a little more investigation before he is satisfied with the information provided by the deputy sheriff.

The script was solid but there seemed to be a flaw in the cast. Robert Karnes, who was the deputy sheriff, seemed ill at ease on how to play the character. He is more of a General Store employee rather than a tough lawman fighting for justice making the character unbelievable from the very start. Other than that small flaw the episode was still entertaining enough to produce a nice watch for viewers. Next season the series will begin a full hour format per episode.

Someone already mentioned this but did one reviewer really say they hoped Chester got paid a lot for doing the chores??? He literally poured water on the floor then left it there to go eat. That coupled with being a complete idiot playing with Doc's stethoscope (Doc would have his head messing with his tools) while the prisoner gets away I hope he got paid in dust, and not the kind in gold. Old calm cool Matt is perfectly fine with it, obviously he had nothing better to do so once again Chester's blunders are never looked at as a bad thing.

Anyway, this is a decent entertaining episode with a nice twist(?) in the end that always makes it that much better. Also a farewell to the half hour format, no more quick and straight to the point plots. From here on out we get to go deep into the lives of the characters of the week. Eveything will be more fleshed out. Matt becomes more seasoned imo as far as knowing how to read people and handle situations. There's pros and cons to both sides but I admit going forward I will miss the swift feel of the 30 minute episodes.

Though I'm kinda curious to know how a half hour show would play out with say Festus or Quint... or even in color!

As a big Gunsmoke fan, I especially liked the half hour episodes. No wasted dialog or scenes. Matt had everything wrapped up in 25 minutes or so. As a response to another reviewer had to say about Chester having to scrubbing the office floors. I agree to some extent but.... Once again a prisoner escapes while under Chester's watch, so I'm saying l hope he wasn't paid too much!!

Matt and Chester are shot at when they stumble across a wounded man on the prairie. Matt fires back, but the shooter gets away. Back in Dodge, Doc patches the wounded man up; meanwhile, a hard-nosed deputy sheriff from Pueblo turns up, claiming the wounded man is wanted in Colorado for bank robbery. Trouble is the deputy doesn't respect Matt's authority in Dodge, while the suspect escapes from Doc's care. So Matt has to polish his gun and sort things out.

Average episode whose ending, however, is both unpredictable and nicely ironic. Karnes gives good performance as ornery sheriff, but it's odd to see ordinarily meekish Wright King in bad guy role. I don't know how much Chester is paid for doing all the housekeeping chores (scrubbing floors) for Matt's jail. But I hope it was a lot.