User Reviews

Matt's on his way back from Hay City when this Mexican gunslinger named Miguel Samando meets him on the road. He tells Matt that he has to kill him. But Matt is faster than the Mexican and kills him. While searching the body Matt finds a wag of money. About that time a man comes riding up and it just so happens to be an old lawman named Jack Pinto. Jack's has quit the law and is on his way to California to make a new start. He helps Matt take the body with him into Dodge.

Meanwhile in Dodge, Festus has seen these three men come into Dodge at different times. He thinks they maybe gunslingers so he goes to the Long Branch where they are drinking and gets friendly with one of the gunslingers. Festus finds out that the men are in town to kill Marshal Dillon and collect $25,000 but he cannot find out who is paying that much money.

One of the gunslingers named Billy Cole decides to take on Matt when he enters the town. Billy's new home is in boot-hill. Two down, two to go.

So that leaves Doyle Phleger and Al Tresh trying to get $25,000 for killing Matt Dillon in a fair fight. But we the viewer will get knowledge that everyone is not who they seem to be. Will Matt recognize this fact before it is too late.

An interesting story with a fine cast. This episode has a twist that makes the viewer stay focused on the events on screen. Much better show than expected.

Whenever you have Bruce Dern staring down Warren Oates for a gunfight, you know you're going to be in for a fun time. The collection of all star gunslingers come to Dodge to wax Matt Dillon for a handsome fee of $25,000. But who is paying for it, and are all the noted gunmen showing themselves since all of their identities are only known to the mysterious promoter? Dern's performance is creepy, but what else would you expect from the man who killed John Wayne in the Cowboys and would later pilot the Goodyear blimp in efforts to kill 80,000 people at the Super Bowl. And whenever you have a character in the ensemble named Jack Pinto, you know he is going to be trouble. A fun watch.

Marshal Matt Dillon is returning to Dodge City from a trip to Hays City when a pistolero named Miguel Samando yells at him from a cave. Samando seems to take great delight in explaining to the Marshal in a roundabout way that he is planning to kill him. When Samando goes for his gun, Dillon easily outdraws and kills the stranger.

Ex-lawman Jack Pinto is also on his way to Dodge City when he hears the shot and investigates. Pinto and Dillon are old acquaintances and make the trip back to Dodge together. As Matt rides into town with Samando's body, a mysterious man is seen watching from an upstairs window. The man is writing in a notebook.

Matt quickly learns that gunfighters Billy Coe, Al Phleger, and Al Tresh have all ridden into town since he left. Dillon visits the Long Branch Saloon where the three gunfighters are passing time. A conversation with Phleger does not reveal much, other than the identities of the three men.

Upon leaving the saloon, Coe tries to pull a sneak attack on Matt by calling him while Matt's back is turned, giving Coe a definite advantage. Phleger sees what is happening and kills Coe.

Meanwhile, the viewer sees the mystery man mark through Coe's name in a notebook. We can also see that Samando's name has previously had the same treatment. Phleger's and Tresh's names are both seen in the list. There is another name listed, too: Jack Pinto.

When Phleger and Tresh become involved in an altercation inside the Long Branch, Tresh makes it clear they are both in Dodge to kill the Marshal for a $25,000 bounty. Festus has been doing a little clandestine investigation in the saloon, primarily by drinking with Tresh, and reports his findings to Matt. The gunfighter must kill the Marshal, and it must be a fair fight for the $25,000 bounty to be earned.

The remainder of the story involves the unraveling of this mystery. The title of the story, "Ten Little Indians," provides a strong clue as to how the events will transpire. The resolution is surprising, if not a bit convoluted.

The casting of Gunsmoke episodes is almost always above par, and this episode features an especially great cast. Nehemiah Persoff is Jack Pinto. Persoff appeared in hundreds of television shows and movies over his 50-plus years of acting. As of this writing, Persoff is still living at over 100 years old.

Zalman King, who began his career acting primarily in television and later became a director and producer, is Billy Coe in this story. Rafael Campos fills the Miguel Samando role.

The highly awarded, prolific actor Bruce Dern is Doyle Phleger. Dern tended to play the same character in each of his four Gunsmoke appearances. Warren Oates is Al Tresh here, one of his 10 Gunsmoke roles. Like Dern, Oates enjoyed an illustrious career playing all sorts of characters in television and films.

John Marley appears here as Ben Pringle. Marley is another actor that enjoyed quite a successful career in both television and films. Although he enjoyed several notable roles in his career, I will always remember him as movie mogul Jack Woltz who learns all about receiving "an offer he can't refuse" from Vito Corleone in The Godfather.

There is a bit of an "Easter Egg" in this episode. Toward the end of the story, Ben Pringle tells Matt that his grandson named Thad Ewing -- someone the Marshal knew -- was killed by gunfighters during a range war. Roger Ewing was introduced as Thad Greenwood in the previous episode. According to the production numbers assigned to the episodes, this was episode number 0452, and the previous episode titled "Clayton Thaddeus Greenwood" was episode number 0454, which would indicate the episodes were not shown in the order they were written.

At the end when Dillon tells Festus to get the bad guy up to Doc's, Doc had to be fast because he was out at the ranch when Dillon left to get back to town.

A man offers $25,000 to a number of individual gunmen to have Marshall Dillion shot with the single condition being that the killing would be in a fair gunfight. However the man's motive was not to have Dillion killed but rather to have all of the would-be gunmen killed by either Matt Dillion, or each other. It is a strange case of revenge. I can't say that the storyline is exactly plausible but the cast for the episode had a young Bruce Dern and Warren Oates. It wasn't a bad episode, just a little too oddball to get top marks.