"Gunsmoke" Vengeance: Part 1 (1967)

User Rating:

10.0/10   

Director:

Richard C. Sarafian

Writer:

Calvin Clements Sr. (writer)

TV Series:

"Gunsmoke" (1955)

Original Air Date:

2 October 1967 (Season 13, Episode 4)

Genre:

Drama | Western

Plot:

Plot Keywords:

Marshal | Cult TV | Bartender | Town Doctor | Based On Radio Show

Cast

James Arness	...	Marshal Matt Dillon
Milburn Stone	...	Dr. Galen 'Doc' Adams
Amanda Blake	...	Kitty Russell
Ken Curtis	...	Festus Haggen
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
James Anderson	...	Hiller
Royal Dano	...	Rory Luken
Kim Darby	...	Angel
Paul Fix	...	Sheriff Sloan
Victor French	...	Eben Luken
John Ireland	...	Parker
Ted Jordan	...	Nathan Burke
Sandy Kevin	...	Floyd Binnes
James Nusser	...	Louie Pheeters
Rudy Sooter	...	Rudy
James Stacy	...	Bob Johnson
Glenn Strange	...	Sam Noonan
Buck Taylor	...	Leonard Parker
Morgan Woodward	...	Zack Johnson

Series Cast

These people are regular cast members. Were they in this episode?

Dabbs Greer	...	Wilbur Jonas
Hank Patterson	...	Hank Miller
Roy Roberts	...	Harry Bodkin
Charles Seel	...	Barney Danches

Runtime:

USA:60 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Filming Locations:

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

Company:

Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS)

Great Cast in this episode!

This is a two-part vengeance story that could have fit into one really good episode. Some drifters are accused of stealing from Parkertown's ranch, and Mr. Parker is some old codger who runs some town where nobody lives except for his ranch hands. It is kind of silly when you see the empty town, especially considering how everyone in Dodge City seems to think of Mr. Parker as being some kind of titan of industry, but that is what the story is about.

The cast features John Ireland as Mr. Parker, Paul Fix (Micah on The Rifleman) as the Sheriff of Parkertown, Kim Darby (True Grit) as the cute girl who likes Brad Johnson (James Stacy), the son of Zack Johnson (Morgan Woodward), who is one of the guys that dies due to the actions of Mr. Parker and his ranch hands. Kim Darby met Stacy on the set for the first time, and they got married (and later divorced). While the great cast builds this episode up, the best scene of this first part is that Newly (Buck Taylor) gets shot to death by James Stacy. Setting up an inferior gunfighter to get killed in a gunfight is nothing new in the Western genre. It has been done in hundreds of movies and other TV shows (and in other episodes of Bonanza). Gunsmoke had several episodes like this one, and they usually feature the young loudmouth gunslinger (like Newly in this episode), getting killed by the street smart, veteran gunfighter.

In this episode, Newly is playing the son of Mr. Parker, so he is not yet Matt Dillon's deputy. However, seeing his goofball grin and moronic character shot to death is well worth watching this episode. For some reason Matt Dillon always had retards as his deputies (Dennis Weaver, Festus, Newly). The only exception was for the brief time that Quint (Burt Reynolds) played the role of a part-time deputy. The killing of Mr. Parker's son sets the stage for the second part of the story, when Mr. Parker tries to get revenge on the kid (James Stacy). Most of this good cast does a good job of building up expectations and suspense. If you are not a fan of Buck Taylor, then this is a great episode to watch.