Gunsmoke (TV Series) The Cover Up (1957) User Reviews

A terrible person can do terrible things.

[kfo9494 · 9/10 · 5 June 2013]

A large rancher, Sam Baxton, is not a very pleasant fellow. Not only does he treat his wife, Sara, like a dog but he cannot stand squatters on his many rural acres. Put Sam Baxton with the two squatters, Hoffer and Ritter, and you really have a story that is not going to turn out well for anyone. Even the two squatters are not fond of each other.

One day Hoffer comes into Dodge and is looking for the other squatter, Ritter. He says that Ritter let his cows eat up his corn and he is set on killing him. Marshal puts a stop to the action but the next day word is out that Ritter is dead from a shotgun wound. Matt and Chester ride out to arrest Hoffer but found him dying from an identical wound as Ritter. However Hoffer is able to tell the Marshal that Sam Baxton was the killer before dying.

Matt arrest Sam Baxton but the next day another identical murder happens. Matt has a suspicion that everything is not what it seems.

As much as you will dislike the characters in this episode, the story is compelling. There is an act at the end of this episode that is as horrid as any in life but at the same time you feel for the victim. A shocking story that was an excellent watch.

A Man Consumed By His Greed

[wdavidreynolds · 8/10 · 3 January 2022]

Ari Hoffer is a homesteader who lives near Dodge City. He rides into Dodge with what Matt Dillon describes as a horse pistol. Hoffer tells the patrons of the Long Branch Saloon he is waiting for Zack Ritter to come into town. Hoffer plans to kill Ritter - another homesteader - because Ritter's cattle have been eating Hoffer's corn.

Ornery rancher Sam Baxton is drinking in the Long Branch. After he hears Hoffer's threats, he tells Hoffer both he and Ritter are illegally squatting on portions of 10,000 acres that he (Baxton) owns. Of course, both the Hoffers and Ritters legally own the land they occupy, but Baxton is greedy.

Ritter arrives soon after Baxton leaves. Hoffer fires his pistol at Ritter, but the shot creases Matt's arm instead of hitting the intended target. Matt takes Hoffer's gun away and tells Chester to lock him in jail.

Ritter appears to practice one of the non-violent Mennonite-based religious traditions and refuses to press charges against Hoffer. The Marshal frees Hoffer.

The next morning, someone shoots and kills Ritter on the land Ritter occupies. Jed Bates - yet another homesteader - rides into Dodge and tells the Marshal and Chester Goode about finding Ritter murdered. Matt and Chester ride to Hoffer's farm to arrest him for Ritter's murder, but they find Hoffer dying from a shotgun blast like the blast that killed Ritter. With his dying breath, Hoffer tells Matt that Sam Baxton shot him.

Matt and Chester arrest Baxton, but when another homesteader is murdered while Baxton is in jail, doubts are raised about Baxton's guilt. Matt decides to set a trap to try to lure the murderer.

Tyler McVey plays the Sam Baxton character in his third Gunsmoke appearance. He had appeared in two episodes from Season 1, including the pilot, "Hack Prine." The character is a quintessential John Meston creation - a greedy man who cares nothing about other people, including his loving, long-suffering wife, Sara. McVey returns for three additional Gunsmoke guest appearances, all during the seasons where the episodes were aired in thirty-minute installments.

Vivi Janiss portrays Sara Baxton in her only Gunsmoke television role, although she appeared in some of the radio episodes. Kitty Russell tells Matt early in this episode that she and Sara worked together at The Oasis Saloon in Abilene years earlier.

(Kitty drops some not-so-subtle hints about her life as a woman who works in a saloon during the scene with Matt.)

Theodore (Ted) Marcuse appears in this episode as Zack Ritter. This is Marcuse's only Gunsmoke role.

Longtime Gunsmoke fans will recognize actor Roy Engel, who appeared in eleven episodes of the series. His first appearance was in Season 1's "Prairie Happy" (which also included Tyler McVey), and his last was in Season 18's "Eleven Dollars." Engel plays Ari Hoffer in this story.

Malcolm Atterbury is another familiar Gunsmoke guest. His appearance as Jed Bates is already his fourth in the series. Atterbury also appeared in the first episode aired, "Matt Gets It."

I credit John Meston and Norman MacDonnell for making Gunsmoke such a unique, outstanding series. This is one of those gritty episodes that demonstrates their brilliance. There is no neat, feel-good resolution to many of these stories. Meston was a student of the Old West, and he manages to provide his interpretation of life during those times in these thirty- and sixty-minute segments without glossing over the often-brutal circumstances.

One minor complaint with this story is the resolution is meant to be a surprise, but the earlier details telegraph the ending. Despite this attribute, the story is still better than average.

Character study that makes no sense...

[AlsExGal · 6/10 · 15 July 2022]

... plus Matt Dillon, in his weekly prologue as he walks through the graves of Boot Hill gives the entire plot away with just one not so subtle line.

This is a half hour show at this point, so there is no time to clearly demonstrate that Sarah Baxton is and always has been madly in love with her husband Sam Baxton, although he at least verbally abuses her and seems to love only money.

One squatter on the Baxton ranch plans to shoot another squatter because his cow ate his corn. Matt stops the shooting. So later when the original target of the other squatter's wrath is shot on his front porch, Matt figures he knows who did it. But THAT squatter is dead on his front porch too!

At this point Matt figures that the shooter must be Sam Baxton, and he arrests him and takes him into Dodge, only to find out that a third squatter on Baxton's land has also been shot dead and that the fourth and final squatter is leaving before he ends up dead. With Sam Baxton in jail, he could not be the shooter of the third squatter, so Matt plans a trap to catch whoever the murderer might be.

Of course the question I have is - If Baxton has four squatters on his ranch, why didn't the law toss them out? Didn't they leave Baxton with no way to defend his property rights? There is no explanation of this whatsoever other than to call the squatters "homesteaders". As a native of Texas I am familiar with the old homestead laws. Some of their customs reach into 21st century Texas law. But in order to claim the land of another as a homestead the original owner had to basically abandon the land and the homesteader had to continually occupy that abandoned land and improve it. You just couldn't move into land on somebody's working ranch and "claim this land for Spain" so to speak.

Also in this episode I notice something that Matt and Kitty definitely have in common - they both love a good bit of gossip. Considering both of them require being able to read people in their respective lines of work, this probably should be no surprise.

This episode seemed rushed and patched together, but the main characters are always a joy to watch.

Did He or Didn't He

[dougdoepke · 26 October 2011]

Squatter Hoffer is one ornery guy, but so is rancher Baxton on whose land Hoffer's squatting. Worse for Baxton, three other squatters are making unauthorized use of his big ranch. He's not happy, but neither is Hoffer when Baxton threatens to overrun him with cattle. Then Hoffer and another squatter are dry-gulched, and naturally Matt arrests Baxton. But is he guilty.

Pretty good episode that keeps you guessing. The clever screenplay has the earmarks of lead writer John Meston, especially the ending. Otherwise, the episode fits into the spare category of a sagebrush whodunit, with a nice turn by Vivi Janiss as Baxton's long-suffering wife.

(In passing-- note that in a couple of sequences, Dodge's Front Street is an exterior set instead of the actual outdoors. Sometimes the series used an outdoor set, sometimes not, depending I guess on their needs of the moment.)

Under Suspicion Of Murder

[StrictlyConfidential · 6/10 · 12 August 2021]

(*Chester Goode quote*) - What in the world's Erik Hoffer doing with that old pistol?"

"The Cover Up" was first aired on television January 12, 1957.

Anyway - As the story goes - A feud ends with two men being shot. But the killing doesn't stop when Marshal Dillon arrests the man whom one of the victims claims did the shooting.

This show doesn't make much sense

[jdeamara · 23 September 2023]

If Baxton is going to use a dispute between 2 of the squatters on his land to get rid of them, shouldn't he try to make it appear as if the two squatters shot each other? Maybe Baxton, like a lot of the criminals on this show, just isn't very smart.

Going along with it, did Baxton put his wife up to killing the other 2 squatters? Does he shoot his wife on purpose or by accident? It would have been better if he did do it by accident, but the confused script seems to imply that he did on purpose. So the theme of the lengths a woman will go to for someone she loves is overshadowed by what a monster Baxton is.

This show does have a nice scene between Matt and Kitty at the start where they are all smiles around each other.