This is ought to be one of the very best "Gunsmoke" episodes. It comes //so// close -- and then stumbles at the end.
The producers recognized a superior script, and cast accordingly -- Eric Braeden as the principled gunslinger, Mariette Hartley as his wife, and Gene Evans as the unyielding -- but not stupid -- ranch owner. Miriam Colon -- best-known to "Gunsmoke" fans as Chato's wife -- plays Evans'.
What makes this episode a standout is its dramatic ambiguity. There are no real "bad guys" (except the lawyer, of course), and the legal issues are clouded. The ending is not a foregone conclusion. But...
To put it in so many words -- had Shaw and Talley come to the decision //on their own// that fighting over the water rights solved nothing -- especially as Shaw would eventually lose them "legally", anyway -- you would have had a ten-star episode that ranked with the very best. Instead, we have a weak ending -- not unlike "Red River" -- in which the women force the men to back down. Stories in which people willingly change are almost always more interesting and involving than when they are intimidated into change.
Ron Bishop's dialog is exceptional, with heavy use of period language. Matt Dillon is not just a bystander, but plays an important role in trying to resolve the problem, with words rather than guns.
I would enjoy hearing other viewers' comments on this episode.
The producers recognized a superior script, and cast accordingly -- Eric Braeden as the principled gunslinger, Mariette Hartley as his wife, and Gene Evans as the unyielding -- but not stupid -- ranch owner. Miriam Colon -- best-known to "Gunsmoke" fans as Chato's wife -- plays Evans'.
What makes this episode a standout is its dramatic ambiguity. There are no real "bad guys" (except the lawyer, of course), and the legal issues are clouded. The ending is not a foregone conclusion. But...
To put it in so many words -- had Shaw and Talley come to the decision //on their own// that fighting over the water rights solved nothing -- especially as Shaw would eventually lose them "legally", anyway -- you would have had a ten-star episode that ranked with the very best. Instead, we have a weak ending -- not unlike "Red River" -- in which the women force the men to back down. Stories in which people willingly change are almost always more interesting and involving than when they are intimidated into change.
Ron Bishop's dialog is exceptional, with heavy use of period language. Matt Dillon is not just a bystander, but plays an important role in trying to resolve the problem, with words rather than guns.
I would enjoy hearing other viewers' comments on this episode.