Prairie Wolfer (18 Jan. 1964)

Festus returns to Dodge from wolfing and is hired by the Cattleman's Association to hunt down the wolves killing everyone's cattle. What he finds is that what's been doing the preying may ... See full summary »

Director:

Andrew V. McLaglen

Writer:

John Dunkel

Stars:

James Arness, Dennis Weaver, Milburn Stone

Cast

Episode cast overview:
James Arness	...	Matt Dillon
Dennis Weaver	...	Chester
Milburn Stone	...	Doc
Amanda Blake	...	Kitty
Burt Reynolds	...	Quint
Ken Curtis	...	Festus
Noah Beery Jr.	...	Nate
Don Dubbins	...	Wendt
Holly McIntire	...	Sarah
Fred Coby	...	Charlie
Glenn Strange	...	Sam
James Drake	...	Dude

Storyline

Festus returns to Dodge from wolfing and is hired by the Cattleman's Association to hunt down the wolves killing everyone's cattle. What he finds is that what's been doing the preying may wind him up in prison if he doesn't get Matt's help.

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Genres:

Drama | Western

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

18 January 1964 (USA)

Filming Locations:

CBS Studio Center - 4024 Radford Avenue, Studio City, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Arness Production Company, Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

60 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This episode introduces Festus Haggen (Ken Curtis) as a regular. This episode is also unique because it features all of the major characters, including both Chester and Festus.

User Reviews

Ken Curtis becomes a 'Gunsmoke' family member.

It has been over a year since we were introduced to the character Festus. Last year in the episode 'Us Haggens', Festus was introduced but at the time there was no indication that the character would become a regular. In fact, Ken Curtis played another character in 'Lover Boy' episode of 'Gunsmoke' earlier this same season. But with Dennis Weaver already set for a new series in 'Kentucky Jones' the powers felt that another side-kick was needed so they made Festus much more likable and brought him back to become a regular character in the show. And from this real introduction as a regular character we get to see the side of Festus and the acting ability of Ken Curtis which will become a pleasure to all 'Gunsmoke' fans.

This episode begins Festus, a wolfer (kills wolves for their hide), sees two men Raleigh Wendt and Nate Guthrie loading a cow into their wagon. He then rides on and comes up on a farm house occupied by Nate's daughter named Sara. Greets her and then moves on to Dodge where the leader of the Cattleman's Association wants to hire Festus to kill wolves in the area. Festus agrees to help the farmers out and set off to kill wolves in the area.

Festus moves out and camps close to Nate. But we learn there is a reason that Nate does not want Festus close to his farm and it has nothing to do with his daughter. So Nate and Raleigh try to frame Festus for killing cattle. But it gets away from them with one turns on another.

Even though this was a nice story, it really was not better than others in this season nine collection. What makes this episode great is that we are introduced to Festus becoming a regular character plus we get to see Chester, Festus and Quint all in one episode. With this episode, Ken Curtis becomes part of the 'Gunsmoke' family.