Gunsmoke (TV Series) Trail of Bloodshed (1974) User Reviews

Better than expected episode.

[kfo9494 · 8/10 · 4 October 2013]

This episode was much better than expected when we have a criminal-minded man, Rance Woolfe, comes calling on his brother, John Woolfe, to seek some help as he is again on the run from the law. But this meeting will not be a happy family reunion as Rance kills his brother and then ransacks the house looking for any type of money. That is just about the time John's son (Rance's nephew), Buck Henry Woolfe, comes walking in the door as he sees his father dead and Rance taking all the money. Rance actually fires at Buck which only tends to scrap the forehead before Rance goes riding off.

Festus, which has been tracking Rance on a related charge, finds Buck where he learns the entire story. When Festus wants Buck to let him handle the situation, Buck knocks Festus over the head and takes off after his uncle to seek revenge for the killing of his father. The shooting is not over with yet.

Other than the unnecessary use of Buck's girlfriend riding along with Festus, the script was first class. An interesting tale that was entertaining to the very end. Most viewers will remember this episode for having young Kirk Russell as the lead character but the best performance was given by Craig Stevens as he portrayed an aging gambler with a dry intellect of communication.

Another Matt-lite show as James Arness makes his peek-a-boo cameo as he shows up right at the end to say three words. Arness says "Festus" and then "What happened?"- Must be nice.

One of the Best Lines Ever

[Nick_in_Virginia · 8/10 · 19 May 2010]

I've seen this episode only once, and it was probably about 25 years after it was made. I remembered Kurt Russell as being about 13 years old in the show, but the episode date would have made him 23. Whatever.

Anyway, Russell (the gunfighter's nephew) is chasing his murderer uncle around the country, comes into town and tells the bartender he is hunting Rance Woolf. The bartender says "A kid like you can't outfight a killer like Rance Woolfe", and Russell replies "I didn't come here to fight him. I came here to kill him".

As simple and straightforward as you can get. With all these Kung Fu movies where the bad guy spends what seems like hours "punishing" his foe (and then ends up finally getting killed when the good guy pulls a surprise move), that line was just plain fantastic.

The Determined Vengeance of Buck Henry Woolfe

[wdavidreynolds · 7/10 · 20 October 2021]

The trail of bloodshed the title of the episode references is the product of the actions of Rance Woolfe. Rance is one of those purely evil, unrepentant outlaw characters the Gunsmoke writers favored over the years.

Prior to the start of this episode, Woolfe has paid a visit to Mr. Lathrop's store in Dodge City. He robbed the store, and mercilessly beat Mr. Lathrop. Doc Adams is tending to the store owner's medical needs, and Festus Haggen learns the details of the crime from Mr. Lathrop. Festus promptly sets out in pursuit of Woolfe.

After leaving Dodge, Rance travels to his brother John's farm. John Woolfe lives on the farm with his son Buck Henry. John is not pleased to see his despicable brother, but he agrees to allow Rance to stop long enough to rest himself and his horse. The two brothers argue, and Rance shoots and kills John. He begins to ransack the house looking for money.

When Buck Henry walks into the house, he sees his uncle searching for money and his father lying dead on the floor. He quickly realizes Rance killed his father. When Buck Henry raises his rifle to shoot Rance, the outlaw draws his gun and shoots Buck Henry.

Rance has taken what little money there was and is back on the run. Festus eventually arrives at the house and finds Buck Henry injured, but, fortunately, the bullet from Rance's gun only creased the young man's head. He will be okay.

Buck Henry is determined to avenge his father's death by killing Rance, but Festus insists he leave justice to the proper legal authorities. After the young man hits Festus in the head with a cast iron skillet, he sets off in pursuit of his fugitive uncle. When Festus regains consciousness, he goes after both Buck Henry and Rance and soon finds he has Buck Henry's girlfriend Joanie riding along.

A couple of Gunsmoke veterans play the Woolfe brothers. Tom Simcox portrays Rance, and Larry Pennell plays John. It is easy to believe these characters are brothers, because the two actors look they could be related. This is the final appearance in the series for both men.

Kurt Russell plays Buck Henry Woolfe. This is Russell's second and final appearance in a Gunsmoke episode. The earlier role was ten years earlier in Season 10 when Russell was still a kid. His appearance here is just prior to a proliferation of acting jobs that would begin to define his acting career.

The great character actor Harry Carey. Jr. Is yet another actor making his final appearance in the Gunsmoke series with this episode. He plays Amos Brody, a carefree farmer, who is one of John and Buck Henry's neighbors and the father of Joanie, Buck Henry's girlfriend.

Janit Baldwin makes her only Gunsmoke appearance as Joanie Brody. Baldwin enjoyed a successful ten-year acting career before leaving the profession to pursue a successful career as a fashion designer.

Look for Craig Stevens, who is best known for his starring role as the ultra-cool detective Peter Gunn in the Blake Edwards series of that name, as a mysterious character credited only as "The Gambler." I wanted to know more about this sharply dressed character who spends his time hanging out, gambling, and drinking in a saloon in a small middle-of-nowhere town. The story gives the impression that he is the saloon owner and operates a brothel upstairs. The character is basically a hard-drinking, gambler version of Peter Gunn sans the detective attributes.

This is also the final appearance for Read Morgan in the series. He plays the bartender in the saloon where The Gambler operates. This marks Morgan's tenth Gunsmoke appearance.

I find it amusing that Festus is the person pursuing Rance Woolfe and encounters Woolfe's nephew, Buck Henry, who also wants to catch Rance to dispense his own measure of justice. Festus is adamantly opposed to the idea of Buck Henry accompanying him in his further pursuit.

Long time Gunsmoke fans will recall the Festus character was first introduced to Gunsmoke in Season 8's "Us Haggens" when Matt Dillon encountered him while pursuing Black Jack Haggen, who was Festus's uncle. Festus was trying to catch up with his uncle because Black Jack had killed Fergus Haggen, Festus's twin brother. Like Buck Henry and his uncle Rance in this story, Festus was planning to kill Black Jack. Marshal Dillon never quite knows whether to trust the man or not, but he allows Festus to accompany him in the pursuit.

This is a fun episode, even though it lacks much in the way of originality. It uses several tried-and-true Gunsmoke story elements: the incorrigible, unconscionable outlaw (Rance), the outlaw's innocent victims (Mr. Lathrop, John and Buck Henry Woolfe), the righteous character pursuing the outlaw (Buck Henry), the righteous character's love interest (Joanie), and the hero (Festus).

The story features the Festus Haggen character most prominently of the regular cast members. Milburn Stone is seen in a couple of bookend scenes at the beginning and end, and James Arness makes his requisite appearance in an extremely brief scene at the end. Paul Savage's script provides a few moments of humor along the way.

Buck Henry Woolfe vs. Rance Woolfe... 3 times!

[clck2001 · 10/10 · 5 August 2007]

One of the best episodes of Gunsmoke. We finally get to see why Festus has his own special way with mules. The gambler was very experienced at what he did, and from what we see on screen, he had a very shady past- that is why he was the way that he was. In my opinion, he identified Rance Woolfe as trouble the very first minute he walked through the doors of that saloon. I have not been able to decide whether Kurt Russell was better in this than he was in the episode of "The Fugitive" called "Nemesis" as, basically, a mini-version of his father, Lt. Philip Gerard. It is a pity that in these last episodes of Gunsmoke that James Arness was not able to be on the show very much at all, except for, perhaps the "towards-the-end" episodes Chato, P.S. Murry Christmas, Quiet Day in Dodge, etc. That girl in the saloon made a good decision when she dumped Rance because he was losing money, but, of course, she should have dumped him LONG before that, and furthermore, she should never have been with him in the first place. GUNSMOKE IS #1!

"Matt peek-a-boo cameo" episode explanation

[rrrozsa-55134 · 9/10 · 1 February 2024]

A well-respected reviewer, Kfo9494, whose Gunsmoke reviews many of us have enjoyed over the years, mentioned one thing in his/her review of this episode that I feel needs some commentary. In the last paragraph of the review, kfo referred to the episode as a "Matt-lite" episode. I have heard other reviewers mention the fact that in a lot of the later seasons of Gunsmoke, James Arness (Matt) is noticeably absent from many of the episodes, often just showing up for the very last shoot-out, or as in this episode, popping in at the last scene to speak a few lines. As a long-time Gunsmoke fan, I thought I would share some background that I myself was not aware of until reading about it very recently.

Most of us are aware that Matt Dillon was the only character who appeared in every episode of Gunsmoke's 20-season run. But there are facts that many of us, including kfo, may not be aware of.

James Arness was drafted into the US Army during the middle of World War II. In 1944, his right lower leg and foot were badly injured by machine gun fire during the US invasion of Anzio, Italy. After staying in the hospital for almost a year, undergoing multiple surgeries, he was left with his famous limp for the rest of his life. He was awarded the Purple Heart and the Bronz star. His rehabilitation was lengthy and arduous, but Arness fully recovered. However, the injuries plagued him for the rest of his life, limiting his ability to walk for any length of time. Gunsmoke had to schedule his walking scenes early in the day throughout his career with the show.

In part due to his height (he was 6'7"), arness contracted arthritis in the latter part of Gunsmoke's run. The pain became so bad that Arness could no longer deal with multi-day shoots, so the producers allowed him to film all of his scenes for an episode in a day. The arthritis made riding horseback excruciatingly painful.

Between the old war injury affecting his walking, and the arthritis impacting his ability to ride and participate in fist-fights that had comprised to much of his screen time in the earlier seasons, he was forced to reduce his time spent in action scenes, although we do still see him show his stuff occasionally in some of the late episodes.

Some may feel that, given the amount pain Arness experienced when shooting scenes involving leaping onto horses, galloping through over rocky crags, chasing down villains by foot, or engaging in prolonged fist fights in the last seasons, he perhaps should have just walked off the show entirely, rather than only showing in "cameo" appearances in many of the late episodes, one of which this episode seems to have been. In my own opinion, however, it wouldn't be Gunsmoke without Matt Dillon. Even a short scene in which he appears really has an impact on the episode, given his strong screen presence. I myself just appreciate even more those episodes late in the series in which he is still featured, now that I know what he was going through, every moment of the shooting.