The cast is very good, but most of them are only on for a minute or less. Henry Brandon was an excellent actor, and he plays the commanding officer at Fort Dodge. He is in one scene, for about thirty seconds. He made two appearances on Gunsmoke. Charles Fredericks played the Sergeant guarding the payroll. He appeared on Gunsmoke seven times, but was on this show for about thirty seconds. He got shot off his horse, and managed to put a slug in Lurie, as he rode away with the army payroll.
The villains are played by Rudy Solari as Lurie, the Army soldier who steals the payroll along with an accomplice who shoots several of the cavalry soldiers. Solari was on Gunsmoke only one time. Joseph V. Perry was the accomplice who killed the cavalry soldiers and he was in two scenes for a total of about two minutes. He was on Gunsmoke five times. X-Finity/Comcast always shows a photo of Joe Perry the guitarist for Aerosmith when Joseph V. Perry is in the cast.
Harry Bartell was on Gunsmoke ten times, and he plays inbred Jed, the father of Lurie. Jed gets the drop on Dillon when Dillon has apprehended Lurie. Then Chester comes along, not paying attention, and gets shot by Jed. At that point Jed and Dillon were having a loud discussion when Chester limps in. Of course, in addition to not having a clue as to what was going on, Chester is not armed either, totally useless. Matt Dillon would have been better off with a German Shepherd instead of Chester. At least the dog might bite someone.
The story then focuses on the recovery of Chester at the home of Jed and his wife, Maddie (played by Jean Inness). Dillon should have just rolled Chester into a ditch and let him die. Give up on the useless sidekick and wait for Quint Asper to come in a couple of years. As often happened on Gunsmoke, the wife of the knuckle-dragging hillbilly turns out to be a really sweet lady. She helps Dillon take care of Chester.
Meanwhile the more interesting story of Jed taking Lurie off to hide from the Army was left to the imagination. It would have been nice if a couple of minutes of "Chester recovery time" had been deleted, and Dillon had caught up to hillbilly Jed and popped a few bullets into his guts as payback. Buried Jed and Lurie (father and son) in unmarked graves out on the harsh prairie.