In Amanda Blake's last episode after 19 years on the show. Matt's life is changed when his gun arm is seriously wounded.In Amanda Blake's last episode after 19 years on the show. Matt's life is changed when his gun arm is seriously wounded.In Amanda Blake's last episode after 19 years on the show. Matt's life is changed when his gun arm is seriously wounded.
Photos
- Director
- Writers
- Shimon Wincelberg
- Norman MacDonnell(uncredited)
- John Meston(uncredited)
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThis episode included Amanda Blake's final appearance as Kitty, after 19 years on the series. The reason she left the series was because of the death of Glenn Strange.
Featured review
The Wounded Marshal and the Part-Time Pacifist
The penultimate season of Gunsmoke ends with this tale of Matt Dillon and the town of Dodge City facing a crisis.
A gang robs the Dodge City bank, and Matt shoots and kills one of the fleeing thieves. Unfortunately, one of the crooks manages to shoot Marshal Dillon in the right arm. Doc Adams is able to patch up Matt once again, but the damage to the arm is serious enough that the Marshal cannot use the arm - the arm he uses for drawing his pistol - for an extended time. In fact, Doc warns the damage could be permanent.
Everyone knows the news of Matt's disability will mean anyone with a vendetta against the Marshal is likely to come after him. Matt decides to resign his position and leave town.
The leader of the scoundrels that committed the robbery is a man named Loveday. His brother was the man killed as the thieves were making their getaway. When Loveday learns Matt is still alive, he is determined to avenge his brother's death.
As Matt rides along, he encounters a young man named Lem Rawlins. Rawlins deserted the Army after the unit he was part of massacred a small group of American Indians. The young man considers all life sacred and refuses to be part of any killing, regardless of the circumstances.
Meanwhile, back in Dodge, the new marshal arrives. He receives a rude reception. He immediately gets off on the wrong foot with Festus Haggen.
Dennis Redfield makes his first Gunsmoke appearance in this episode as the ideological Lem Rawlins. Redfield guest starred on several television shows throughout the 1970s and 1980s. He had a recurring role in the short-lived 1979 ABC series Friends (not to be confused with the popular NBC series that debuted in 1994). The ABC series only lasted five episodes before it was canceled. Redfield also had recurring roles on Dallas and The Waltons. The actor returned to Gunsmoke as the character Shep Hockett in two Season 20 episodes, "The Wiving" and its sequel, "Brides and Grooms."
This is the final appearance in the series for Frank Marth. This marks the fourth episode for Marth, who often played villains, as he does here as the Loveday character.
Robert Phillips and Marco St. John make their second and final appearances in the series. They play members of Loveday's gang in this story. Claire Brennan portrays Sissy, a woman who lives with Loveday and his men. Brennan previously appeared in the two-part episode "Waste" in Season 17.
David Huddleston plays a bounty hunter named Asa who plans to take Lem Rawlins in for the $100 reward being offered for his return. The notable aspect to Huddleston's one scene in this episode is he would return in Season 20 as virtually the same scurrilous character named Emmett Cassinger.
This story provides a fitting ending to the season. Matt and Lem learn from one another. Lem learns it is impossible to be a partial pacifist. Matt learns he cannot run from his responsibilities.
However, it is puzzling the circumstances that caused Matt to resign and leave Dodge still exist at the end of the story. Circumstances that were thought to be unacceptable earlier in the episode are suddenly acceptable.
Matt Dillon resigned his position at least three times over the course of the series. Once because he was upset that he mistakenly killed a man he thought was trying to shoot him. The second was when he was angry and wanted the freedom to kill a man that had brutally attacked Kitty Russell. This is the third.
Early in the episode after he has been shot, Matt walks to the telegraph office and tells Barney -- played once again by actor Charles Seel -- to send a telegraph, hands him a piece of paper, and leaves. Barney looks at the paper and his expression changes to one of shock. The man in the office that was playing checkers with Barney asks him what the paper says. Barney replies that Matt is "resigning as Marshal of Dodge." Matt Dillon was not "Marshal of Dodge." Towns often did have marshals during this time, but Dillon was a U. S. Marshal, which carries completely different responsibilities. However, Matt Dillon often acted more like a town marshal than a U. S. Marshal.
Although it was not known when the episode was produced, this installment sadly features the final appearance for Amanda Blake and the Kitty Russell character in the series. The official word at the time was Blake decided to leave the series, but subsequent years have revealed a more complex set of circumstances.
It has been widely reported that Blake was understandably heartbroken over the death of Glenn Strange - who played bartender Sam Noonan and died during Season 19 production - and decided continuing to be part of the show was too difficult. There may be some truth to this report, but based on comments made by others, it is not a full explanation.
Blake had grown weary of physically taxing location shoots - episodes that were filmed at locations other than the Gunsmoke set. She was living in Arizona at the time and commuting to Hollywood to appear in the series. Blake also tired of the dresses she was provided for the show and had demanded new clothing. These circumstances apparently played a part in Blake's departure.
The root of the problems that developed with Blake and the show can be traced back to Season 17's debut episode, "The Lost." That episode was a location shoot, and it required exhausting physical work by Blake. Supposedly, Blake hated doing the episode and made it clear to everyone on the set how much she despised it.
John Mantley was the Executive Producer of the show in those days, and he and Blake began to increasingly disagree. Sometimes those conflicts erupted into arguments on the set in front of crew members.
The two-part episode "The Guns of Cibola Blanca" early in Season 20 may have been the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back where Blake was concerned. The story was to be shot on location and required the Kitty Russell character to be raped and to engage in a physical altercation with another female character. When presented the script, Blake protested and refused to participate. Many people close to show say this incident led to Mantley firing Blake. Some people involved behind the scenes have said they think Blake wanted out anyway.
Writer Jim Byrnes was heavily involved in the show during this time. In Ben Costello's book Gunsmoke: An American Tradition, Byrnes is quoted as saying "What's the official word? The official word? She quit? She didn't quit. Mantley fired her." Byrnes also stated, "John Mantley couldn't handle strong women.'
Supposedly, Mantley later regretted his actions leading to Blake's absence. There were rumored plans to bring Blake back for Season 21.
Whatever the reason (or reasons) for Blake's departure, it likely led to the show being canceled after Season 20. Fred Silverman, who had assumed the responsibilities for programming at CBS following the dismissal of Michael Dann, engineered the so-called "rural purge" in 1971. Many popular shows were unceremoniously canceled because Silverman wanted to target different demographics. New shows were introduced that proved to be popular with younger audiences.
Gunsmoke had somehow survived the initial purge. William S. Paley, who had built CBS into a powerhouse entertainment outlet, may have been a big reason the show was still around. Dann had canceled it in 1967 following Season 12, but Paley made him reinstate it.
Silverman reportedly hated the Westerns genre. When the ratings for Season 20 declined -- something many have attributed at least partially to Amanda Blake's departure -- Silverman had the ammunition he needed to cancel the series. Episodes were ordered for Season 21, but they were never made.
A gang robs the Dodge City bank, and Matt shoots and kills one of the fleeing thieves. Unfortunately, one of the crooks manages to shoot Marshal Dillon in the right arm. Doc Adams is able to patch up Matt once again, but the damage to the arm is serious enough that the Marshal cannot use the arm - the arm he uses for drawing his pistol - for an extended time. In fact, Doc warns the damage could be permanent.
Everyone knows the news of Matt's disability will mean anyone with a vendetta against the Marshal is likely to come after him. Matt decides to resign his position and leave town.
The leader of the scoundrels that committed the robbery is a man named Loveday. His brother was the man killed as the thieves were making their getaway. When Loveday learns Matt is still alive, he is determined to avenge his brother's death.
As Matt rides along, he encounters a young man named Lem Rawlins. Rawlins deserted the Army after the unit he was part of massacred a small group of American Indians. The young man considers all life sacred and refuses to be part of any killing, regardless of the circumstances.
Meanwhile, back in Dodge, the new marshal arrives. He receives a rude reception. He immediately gets off on the wrong foot with Festus Haggen.
Dennis Redfield makes his first Gunsmoke appearance in this episode as the ideological Lem Rawlins. Redfield guest starred on several television shows throughout the 1970s and 1980s. He had a recurring role in the short-lived 1979 ABC series Friends (not to be confused with the popular NBC series that debuted in 1994). The ABC series only lasted five episodes before it was canceled. Redfield also had recurring roles on Dallas and The Waltons. The actor returned to Gunsmoke as the character Shep Hockett in two Season 20 episodes, "The Wiving" and its sequel, "Brides and Grooms."
This is the final appearance in the series for Frank Marth. This marks the fourth episode for Marth, who often played villains, as he does here as the Loveday character.
Robert Phillips and Marco St. John make their second and final appearances in the series. They play members of Loveday's gang in this story. Claire Brennan portrays Sissy, a woman who lives with Loveday and his men. Brennan previously appeared in the two-part episode "Waste" in Season 17.
David Huddleston plays a bounty hunter named Asa who plans to take Lem Rawlins in for the $100 reward being offered for his return. The notable aspect to Huddleston's one scene in this episode is he would return in Season 20 as virtually the same scurrilous character named Emmett Cassinger.
This story provides a fitting ending to the season. Matt and Lem learn from one another. Lem learns it is impossible to be a partial pacifist. Matt learns he cannot run from his responsibilities.
However, it is puzzling the circumstances that caused Matt to resign and leave Dodge still exist at the end of the story. Circumstances that were thought to be unacceptable earlier in the episode are suddenly acceptable.
Matt Dillon resigned his position at least three times over the course of the series. Once because he was upset that he mistakenly killed a man he thought was trying to shoot him. The second was when he was angry and wanted the freedom to kill a man that had brutally attacked Kitty Russell. This is the third.
Early in the episode after he has been shot, Matt walks to the telegraph office and tells Barney -- played once again by actor Charles Seel -- to send a telegraph, hands him a piece of paper, and leaves. Barney looks at the paper and his expression changes to one of shock. The man in the office that was playing checkers with Barney asks him what the paper says. Barney replies that Matt is "resigning as Marshal of Dodge." Matt Dillon was not "Marshal of Dodge." Towns often did have marshals during this time, but Dillon was a U. S. Marshal, which carries completely different responsibilities. However, Matt Dillon often acted more like a town marshal than a U. S. Marshal.
Although it was not known when the episode was produced, this installment sadly features the final appearance for Amanda Blake and the Kitty Russell character in the series. The official word at the time was Blake decided to leave the series, but subsequent years have revealed a more complex set of circumstances.
It has been widely reported that Blake was understandably heartbroken over the death of Glenn Strange - who played bartender Sam Noonan and died during Season 19 production - and decided continuing to be part of the show was too difficult. There may be some truth to this report, but based on comments made by others, it is not a full explanation.
Blake had grown weary of physically taxing location shoots - episodes that were filmed at locations other than the Gunsmoke set. She was living in Arizona at the time and commuting to Hollywood to appear in the series. Blake also tired of the dresses she was provided for the show and had demanded new clothing. These circumstances apparently played a part in Blake's departure.
The root of the problems that developed with Blake and the show can be traced back to Season 17's debut episode, "The Lost." That episode was a location shoot, and it required exhausting physical work by Blake. Supposedly, Blake hated doing the episode and made it clear to everyone on the set how much she despised it.
John Mantley was the Executive Producer of the show in those days, and he and Blake began to increasingly disagree. Sometimes those conflicts erupted into arguments on the set in front of crew members.
The two-part episode "The Guns of Cibola Blanca" early in Season 20 may have been the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back where Blake was concerned. The story was to be shot on location and required the Kitty Russell character to be raped and to engage in a physical altercation with another female character. When presented the script, Blake protested and refused to participate. Many people close to show say this incident led to Mantley firing Blake. Some people involved behind the scenes have said they think Blake wanted out anyway.
Writer Jim Byrnes was heavily involved in the show during this time. In Ben Costello's book Gunsmoke: An American Tradition, Byrnes is quoted as saying "What's the official word? The official word? She quit? She didn't quit. Mantley fired her." Byrnes also stated, "John Mantley couldn't handle strong women.'
Supposedly, Mantley later regretted his actions leading to Blake's absence. There were rumored plans to bring Blake back for Season 21.
Whatever the reason (or reasons) for Blake's departure, it likely led to the show being canceled after Season 20. Fred Silverman, who had assumed the responsibilities for programming at CBS following the dismissal of Michael Dann, engineered the so-called "rural purge" in 1971. Many popular shows were unceremoniously canceled because Silverman wanted to target different demographics. New shows were introduced that proved to be popular with younger audiences.
Gunsmoke had somehow survived the initial purge. William S. Paley, who had built CBS into a powerhouse entertainment outlet, may have been a big reason the show was still around. Dann had canceled it in 1967 following Season 12, but Paley made him reinstate it.
Silverman reportedly hated the Westerns genre. When the ratings for Season 20 declined -- something many have attributed at least partially to Amanda Blake's departure -- Silverman had the ammunition he needed to cancel the series. Episodes were ordered for Season 21, but they were never made.
helpful•161
- wdavidreynolds
- Oct 24, 2021
Details
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content