Johnny Cross is wanted in Kansas for robbing a stagecoach and killing the people onboard, and he has a $2,500 "Dead or Alive" bounty on his head. He is a suspect because a loner named Franks happened to see someone leaving the scene and identified Johnny Cross as the perpetrator. The problem with the identification is Franks had not previously seen Cross for six years when Cross was just a kid and significantly smaller.
Cross has a grandfather and sister that live near Dodge City. When Cross receives word that his grandfather is extremely ill, he decides to risk going home. A pair of bounty hunters named Yates and Hodge locate Cross and manage to shoot him, but Cross eludes capture.
Cross arrives at the family farm just in time to see Yates and Hodge approach. While the wanted, injured Cross watches from a distance, the bounty hunters bully Vera Cross and the grandfather while they search the house for Johnny.
Deputy Newly O'Brien soon follows the bounty hunters to the house where he manages to prevent the contemptible pair from abusing Vera or her grandfather any further. Yates and Hodge make the assertion to Newly that Johnny Cross "belongs" to them before they reluctantly leave the farm.
Newly is investigating because Matt Dillon is -- surprise! -- away in Topeka, and Festus Haggen is recovering from some minor surgery where Doc Adams removed a carbuncle from his backside. (Kudos to writer Calvin Clements, Sr. For inventing this mildly humorous, clever ploy to involve Newly in something Festus would normally do.) A lot of compelling evidence suggests Johnny Cross is close by. Newly follows the unsuspecting Vera to Johnny's hideout.
Newly convinces Johnny to go to Dodge to allow Doc to tend to his wound. This provides Johnny an opportunity to make the case that he is innocent of the crime. Newly visits Franks to gain some assurance of Johnny's guilt or innocence and convinces him to come to Dodge to identify Johnny in person.
When Yates and Hodge find out Franks is the key witness, they pull Franks aside. The bounty hunters insist Franks positively identify Cross, or they will "pay a visit" to his shack.
Will Cross be convicted of the crimes? Will Yates and Hodge get their bounty? Will Franks recant his identification?
Any episode that includes Harry Dean Stanton (credited here as Dean Stanton, as he often was earlier in his career) is worth watching. Here Stanton plays the bounty hunter named Hodge. John Crawford, the veteran character actor who would eventually play the recurring role of Sheriff Ep Bridges on The Waltons, is the other bounty hunter named Yates. Both Stanton and Crawford were frequent Gunsmoke guests with more than twenty episodes between them.
Jeff Pomerantz makes the second of three total Gunsmoke guest appearances as the Johnny Cross character. Pomerantz is well cast as the desperate, wrongly identified suspect.
Kelly Jean Peters makes her final guest visit to the Gunsmoke set as Vera Cross. All three of the appearances by Peters were made in Seasons 13 and 14 in 1967 and 1968.
Charles Thompson has a small role as the Cross grandfather. Like Peters, this is the last of three Gunsmoke appearances by Thompson. Thompson is often seen in television shows throughout the 1960s when an older character is needed. He is probably best known for various characters on The Andy Griffith Show, most notably as a character named Asa.
This is one of the earliest episodes, if not the first, that features Buck Taylor's Newly O'Brien character officially acting as a Deputy.
The overall theme of a man falsely accused of a heinous crime being doggedly pursued by corrupt bounty hunters is nothing new in the Westerns genre. However, the story here is handled quite well with a few elements that lift it about routine, standard fare.
Cross has a grandfather and sister that live near Dodge City. When Cross receives word that his grandfather is extremely ill, he decides to risk going home. A pair of bounty hunters named Yates and Hodge locate Cross and manage to shoot him, but Cross eludes capture.
Cross arrives at the family farm just in time to see Yates and Hodge approach. While the wanted, injured Cross watches from a distance, the bounty hunters bully Vera Cross and the grandfather while they search the house for Johnny.
Deputy Newly O'Brien soon follows the bounty hunters to the house where he manages to prevent the contemptible pair from abusing Vera or her grandfather any further. Yates and Hodge make the assertion to Newly that Johnny Cross "belongs" to them before they reluctantly leave the farm.
Newly is investigating because Matt Dillon is -- surprise! -- away in Topeka, and Festus Haggen is recovering from some minor surgery where Doc Adams removed a carbuncle from his backside. (Kudos to writer Calvin Clements, Sr. For inventing this mildly humorous, clever ploy to involve Newly in something Festus would normally do.) A lot of compelling evidence suggests Johnny Cross is close by. Newly follows the unsuspecting Vera to Johnny's hideout.
Newly convinces Johnny to go to Dodge to allow Doc to tend to his wound. This provides Johnny an opportunity to make the case that he is innocent of the crime. Newly visits Franks to gain some assurance of Johnny's guilt or innocence and convinces him to come to Dodge to identify Johnny in person.
When Yates and Hodge find out Franks is the key witness, they pull Franks aside. The bounty hunters insist Franks positively identify Cross, or they will "pay a visit" to his shack.
Will Cross be convicted of the crimes? Will Yates and Hodge get their bounty? Will Franks recant his identification?
Any episode that includes Harry Dean Stanton (credited here as Dean Stanton, as he often was earlier in his career) is worth watching. Here Stanton plays the bounty hunter named Hodge. John Crawford, the veteran character actor who would eventually play the recurring role of Sheriff Ep Bridges on The Waltons, is the other bounty hunter named Yates. Both Stanton and Crawford were frequent Gunsmoke guests with more than twenty episodes between them.
Jeff Pomerantz makes the second of three total Gunsmoke guest appearances as the Johnny Cross character. Pomerantz is well cast as the desperate, wrongly identified suspect.
Kelly Jean Peters makes her final guest visit to the Gunsmoke set as Vera Cross. All three of the appearances by Peters were made in Seasons 13 and 14 in 1967 and 1968.
Charles Thompson has a small role as the Cross grandfather. Like Peters, this is the last of three Gunsmoke appearances by Thompson. Thompson is often seen in television shows throughout the 1960s when an older character is needed. He is probably best known for various characters on The Andy Griffith Show, most notably as a character named Asa.
This is one of the earliest episodes, if not the first, that features Buck Taylor's Newly O'Brien character officially acting as a Deputy.
The overall theme of a man falsely accused of a heinous crime being doggedly pursued by corrupt bounty hunters is nothing new in the Westerns genre. However, the story here is handled quite well with a few elements that lift it about routine, standard fare.
