Sam Kertcher makes his way to Dodge City. Kertcher is a known gunfighter, and he has traveled to Dodge specifically to face Matt Dillon. Anyone who has ever watched a western film or television show knows fast-draw gunfighters often want to prove themselves against others with similar reputations.
Kertcher is arrogant and overly confident. When he and Matt face each other in the street, Matt draws first and kills Kertcher. Another wrong-headed man is eliminated thanks to a situation of his own creation.
Sometime later, a teenage kid appears in Dodge. The kid's name is Peyt Kertcher, Sam's brother. Peyt is determined to avenge his brother's death. The kid has no money and no gun. Matt initially has no idea who the kid is, but he tries to help him by paying for a meal and getting him a job.
Peyt is not deterred from his mission by Matt's kindness. He thinks Matt violated some rule of gunfighting by drawing on Sam first.
Jack Diamond's acting career was limited to his teen years and early twenties. Although the Peyt Kertcher character he plays here is fifteen years old, Diamond was twenty when this episode was filmed. By 1960, Diamond was out of show business. His portrayal of Peyt Kertcher represents his only appearance on Gunsmoke.
Fredd Wayne plays the Sam Kertcher character in his only Gunsmoke appearance. Wayne had more than one hundred appearances in television shows over his extensive career.
This is the first of three Gunsmoke episodes -- all in Season 2 -- for writer/producer Winston Miller. Miller supposedly helped David O. Selznick rewrite the screenplay for the film Gone with the Wind, although he did not receive credit. He co-wrote the screenplay for John Ford's western classic My Darling Clementine.
This is the first of four episodes directed by workhorse director Christian Nyby. Nyby was credited for directing the film The Thing from Another World in which James Arness made an early career appearance as the outer space alien.
There is not much in the way of original substance in this plot. When the credits appeared the first time I saw it, I thought, "That's it?!" It plays like a less sanitized episode of The Lone Ranger. The best scene is when the Peyt character is first introduced in the story. Matt is eating, and Kitty Russell walks in. Matt asks Kitty if she wants something to eat. At first, she refuses, but Matt gives her a bite of his food, and she begins to pick food off his plate. The Peyt character enters the scene at this point. I enjoy those little snippets of life that are sometimes included in Gunsmoke stories.
(There is an episode of The Rifleman from Season 1 of that series titled "Boomerang" that explores some of the same themes as this story but handles everything much better.)