**SPOILERS** Okay, no lecture, only a question. Why oh Why don't Matt teach Chester to carry a sidearm, and to keep suspects covered in iffy situations? For instance: when the tenderfoot's horse broke free and Matt chased after him, Chester just sat there, his back to Pegger and Steed. A perfect opportunity to stick that big knife in his back and then just wait for Matt to ride up and pull down on him. The best way would be to have taken their guns, but failing that, Chester should have had a scattergun on them, and been behind THEM. My God he wasn't even armed. Also, they didn't have much water, and small canteens; silliness when water is so important.
6 Reviews
Dillon Detective Mystery
Johnny_West29 March 2020
This is one of the best episodes of Season Five. Matt Dillon and Chester find an injured girl on the prairie (were it seems only bad things happen). They take her to Doc Adams, and he and Miss Kitty take care of the girl. Dillon finds out a few details from the girl, such as a white man was on the Indian lands, and came to see the girl and her husband. After they fed him, he killed her husband, and shot the girl when she was trying to escape (which she did). Considering how slowly the girl was traveling because she had been shot in the back, it seems odd that the villain did not catch up to her at the outset.
Matt Dillon contacts the local U.S. Cavalry fort, and finds out that some white men had been spotted in that area. So he and Chester head out to find them, and bring justice to the Native American girl. Of course, Chester is only armed with a piece of licorice and his whittling knife. I always wondered why most of the time Chester was not armed at all.
Eventually Dillon and Chester find the white men, and they include Robert Wilke, who almost always plays a villain, and Jack Elam who played a villain about 75% of the time. Lesser known Gene Nelson, a gambler from Saint Louis is also with them. He claims he got lost. For some reason, I always thought he was probably the killer, because he was the least guilty looking of the three.
So on the long road back, Dillon keeps baiting the three of them with little details about the murder, and he keeps telling them that when they get to Dodge, Sochia (the victim) will be able to identify them. By the time they get to the edge of Dodge (Boot Hill), they are very frazzled and edgy. Dillon succeeded in getting all of them to the edge of their sanity, and the guilty one breaks. Great example of Dillon working the mental edge on criminals, similar to what many other great detectives have done in many other movies and TV shows. I was impressed.
One issue that is brought up is why Dillon let the suspects keep their guns? He says it was because he wanted them to think they could get away. I think it is because Dillon was hoping to have the opportunity to goad the guilty party into a confrontation. In the early years, Matt Dillon was incredibly sure of himself, and often confronted people. It was pretty obvious he thought he was the fastest gun around, and he did not mind risking his own life every day. Another reason that Chester should have been carrying a rifle all the time.
Matt Dillon contacts the local U.S. Cavalry fort, and finds out that some white men had been spotted in that area. So he and Chester head out to find them, and bring justice to the Native American girl. Of course, Chester is only armed with a piece of licorice and his whittling knife. I always wondered why most of the time Chester was not armed at all.
Eventually Dillon and Chester find the white men, and they include Robert Wilke, who almost always plays a villain, and Jack Elam who played a villain about 75% of the time. Lesser known Gene Nelson, a gambler from Saint Louis is also with them. He claims he got lost. For some reason, I always thought he was probably the killer, because he was the least guilty looking of the three.
So on the long road back, Dillon keeps baiting the three of them with little details about the murder, and he keeps telling them that when they get to Dodge, Sochia (the victim) will be able to identify them. By the time they get to the edge of Dodge (Boot Hill), they are very frazzled and edgy. Dillon succeeded in getting all of them to the edge of their sanity, and the guilty one breaks. Great example of Dillon working the mental edge on criminals, similar to what many other great detectives have done in many other movies and TV shows. I was impressed.
One issue that is brought up is why Dillon let the suspects keep their guns? He says it was because he wanted them to think they could get away. I think it is because Dillon was hoping to have the opportunity to goad the guilty party into a confrontation. In the early years, Matt Dillon was incredibly sure of himself, and often confronted people. It was pretty obvious he thought he was the fastest gun around, and he did not mind risking his own life every day. Another reason that Chester should have been carrying a rifle all the time.
A Prairie Whodunit
dougdoepke17 November 2012
Head writer Meston?s collaboration with Les Crutchfield proved a productive one in the late 50's. This is one of them. Matt and Chester find comely Indian girl Soshi (Buck) on horseback alone on the prairie and shot in the back. She's able to tell Matt and Doc Adams that a white man shot her in a nearby location. So Matt and Chester go searching, and find two of Hollywood?s best plug- uglies Wilke (Pegger) and Elam (Steed), along with handsome, mild mannered Gene Nelson (Foss). None of them like Indians, so definitely one is the guilty party, but which one. Naturally, we figure it's one of the two onery tough guys, but is it.
This is one of the few entries filmed almost entirely on a location that really does look like western Kansas. It's really a whodunit, beautifully played out by a colorful supporting cast and some entertaining dialog. The writers show how riveting a story can be even in the absence of much action, along with the series's typical thoughtful ending.
This is one of the few entries filmed almost entirely on a location that really does look like western Kansas. It's really a whodunit, beautifully played out by a colorful supporting cast and some entertaining dialog. The writers show how riveting a story can be even in the absence of much action, along with the series's typical thoughtful ending.
More Strange Brew
LukeCoolHand25 February 2022
Now we're getting into the strange Gunsmoke episodes. This one and the 2 before it are really strange departures. Even the one after this is a little whacky. Other reviewers have already explained the absurdity of this episode so I'll just let that stay for others to read. Anyway, these weird episodes are part of what makes Gunsmoke great . Other westerns of the time hardly ever ever went into the very strange. They never showed the 30 minute episodes of Gunsmoke since first airings on any station I got, only the later hour color episodes which to me are sub par compared to the half hour ones. At least this pandemic did one good thing - It brought back the very old episodes of Gunsmoke on THREE different TV channels.
An episode of happenstance
kfo949421 August 2013
There is much about this episode that really did not make for a believable show. Take when Matt and Chester just happens to be out on the lonely prairie and runs into a wounded Indian girl named Sochi riding slowly off the main trail. Then when she is able to tell Matt only small details about the incident, which includes that a white man killed her Indian man and then shot her, Matt is just able to find three men again on the lonely prairie to take back to Dodge and let her identify who was the one that shot her. The episode just had too many far-fetched circumstances that was hard even for the most avid fan of the show to comprehend.
Anyway the mystery continues with the three men. Two of the men are old hunters that are well seasoned. One is a greenhorn that had little business on the prairie. Matt has a little scheme, that also seemed fat-fetched plus dangerous, to find which man may have shot the poor Indian girl.
After some darn good shows this seemed drape and lackluster in the plot. Perhaps I was spoiled from the previous few shows but this was really stretching the limit of the viewer. It was not a bad show just one that seemed like a game of hat-shuffle in order to find out the killer. Nothing wrong with the actors it was the story that needed some work.
Anyway the mystery continues with the three men. Two of the men are old hunters that are well seasoned. One is a greenhorn that had little business on the prairie. Matt has a little scheme, that also seemed fat-fetched plus dangerous, to find which man may have shot the poor Indian girl.
After some darn good shows this seemed drape and lackluster in the plot. Perhaps I was spoiled from the previous few shows but this was really stretching the limit of the viewer. It was not a bad show just one that seemed like a game of hat-shuffle in order to find out the killer. Nothing wrong with the actors it was the story that needed some work.
On 2nd Thought, Dillon Acted Stupidly
jamdifo12 October 2013
Warning: Spoilers
Dillon and Chester are out on the prairie and find an Indian woman wounded by a gunshot. They take her back to Doc, find out where it happened and by a white man.
Dillon and Chester head to the basin (60 miles away) and find out 3 white men are in the basin, Foss (Gene Nelson), Peggar (Robert J Wilke, who previously played Hickok on Gunsmoke), and Steed (the ever popular character actor Jack Elam). I did find it odd the killer would still be in the basin, but Dillon takes all 3 back to Dodge so the Indian woman can identify the shooter.
The whole time all 3 of the suspects still had their guns and I'm thinking what an idiot Dillon is for not taking there guns away. The end fooled me, as Dillon explained his reasoning, Soschi (Connie Buck), died before he left and he had to find out who would resist so he could find the guilty person. I'm sorry, but that reasoning is just ridiculous. He simply could've waited to see who would run away when given the chance. No need for them to carry guns. In fact, the actual killer took a shot at him at the campfire, making it seem it was accidental. In real life, Dillon would've been dead.
I liked how the episode ended on Boot Hill (1st time in Gunsmoke history, it always started an episode). We also find out that Boot Hill is 20 minutes from Dodge.
Dillon and Chester head to the basin (60 miles away) and find out 3 white men are in the basin, Foss (Gene Nelson), Peggar (Robert J Wilke, who previously played Hickok on Gunsmoke), and Steed (the ever popular character actor Jack Elam). I did find it odd the killer would still be in the basin, but Dillon takes all 3 back to Dodge so the Indian woman can identify the shooter.
The whole time all 3 of the suspects still had their guns and I'm thinking what an idiot Dillon is for not taking there guns away. The end fooled me, as Dillon explained his reasoning, Soschi (Connie Buck), died before he left and he had to find out who would resist so he could find the guilty person. I'm sorry, but that reasoning is just ridiculous. He simply could've waited to see who would run away when given the chance. No need for them to carry guns. In fact, the actual killer took a shot at him at the campfire, making it seem it was accidental. In real life, Dillon would've been dead.
I liked how the episode ended on Boot Hill (1st time in Gunsmoke history, it always started an episode). We also find out that Boot Hill is 20 minutes from Dodge.
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