Luke Brazo is on the trail of a lone wolf, nicknamed Lobo, that has been harassing farmers around Dodge. But Luke will prove to be more of a lone wolf and just as dangerous as any animal.Luke Brazo is on the trail of a lone wolf, nicknamed Lobo, that has been harassing farmers around Dodge. But Luke will prove to be more of a lone wolf and just as dangerous as any animal.Luke Brazo is on the trail of a lone wolf, nicknamed Lobo, that has been harassing farmers around Dodge. But Luke will prove to be more of a lone wolf and just as dangerous as any animal.
- Doc
- (credit only)
- Townsman
- (uncredited)
- Saloon Girl
- (uncredited)
- Townsman
- (uncredited)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaFifth and final appearance of Sandy Kenyon, various credited characters. Seventh and final appearance of Sheldon Allman, various characters, only one uncredited. Twenty-third and final appearance of Frank Ellis, all uncredited as barfly or townsman, and once as a waiter.
- GoofsWhen Luke Brazo throws one of the wolf hunters across the saloon, the hunter smashes through a table where Matt Dillon is sitting. While Brazo is fighting the other hunter, Marshal Dillon comes in through the entrance.
- Quotes
Luke Brazo: [talking to the cornered, slightly-injured wolf that has no way to escape Luke and Matt] A couple of years ago you'd a lost us. You just too old, plum run out. I'm sorry, old friend.
[shoots and kills the wolf]
A rugged old loner named Luke Brazo has made his way to Dodge City. Brazo is not a "wolfer," but he has an interest in the wolf that has been causing the trouble, as he feels a kinship with the lobo.
Luke is one of Matt Dillon's old friends. Brazo invites the Marshal to accompany him on a quest to find the wolf before the wolfers can find it. Matt agrees.
This is not the first time Dillon has encountered old friends who happen to be loners struggling with changing times and the steady advancement of people into territories that were previously unoccupied. Abe Blocker, Caleb Nash, and to some degree, Quint Asper fit into that category. (Quint was not Matt's old friend, but one can imagine him fitting this mold later in life.)
Brazo is torn between knowing the wolf will continue to kill livestock and his affinity with the wolf. Luke romanticizes the life of the wolf and ascribes him traits that Luke desires. As a result, the wolf becomes much more than an animal; it is a metaphor for Luke's own way of life. Luke sees both the life of the wolf and his own life as increasingly unsustainable and inevitably leading to a tragic end.
Therefore, when Luke and Matt eventually find the wolf, Luke does not want to kill it, but he knows it is for the best. He wants to handle the situation on his own terms. He tells Matt he plans to bury the wolf deep enough to keep the vultures -- both the avian and the human -- away, and then he wants to find a place where time does not exist.
Morgan Woodward shines in his performance as Luke Brazo. Woodward could play many diverse types of characters. In Season 13's "Death Train," Woodward is an arrogant, elaborately dressed businessman accustomed to luxury. Here he is a grizzled, stoic, introspective, disheveled nomad.
Some of the actors playing wolfers who come to Dodge in the hopes of killing the wolf include Sheldon Allman, Sandy Kenyon, Ken Swofford, and Eddie Firestone, all familiar faces on the show. This episode would be the last appearances for Kenyon and Allman in a Gunsmoke episode.
The regular cast members show up early in the episode within Dodge City and again toward the end of the story. Most of this episode focuses on the Luke Brazo character and takes place outside the town.
This is the most profound Gunsmoke story viewers have seen in some time, and it comes along at a time when several recent episodes had used rehashed, predictable story ideas. I especially enjoy the way writer Jim Byrnes contrasts legal and moral aspects of the story. Luke Brazo violates the law with his actions later in the story, but his actions are consistent with his morality. It is not so much that Brazo's actions are acceptable, but they are understandable under the circumstances. (Byrnes would revisit this theme later in the Season 20 award-winning, highly regarded episode "Thirty a Month and Found.")
- wdavidreynolds
- May 18, 2021
Details
- Runtime1 hour
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1
- 4:3