User Reviews

Marshal Dillon's crisis of conscience aligns perfectly with Dennis Weaver's best performance in Season Two as Chester Goode. So often Chester is, to a flaw, a silly flibbertigibbet more like a Baldwin sister from The Waltons than a deputy marshal in Dodge City. In this episode his sensitivity is served-up in passionate soliloquy: a game changer for the Marshal and the viewer. Perhaps there is greater depth to Mr. Goode than the oft seen soft sensitive sidekick that contrasts so well to Mr. Dillion's lawman machismo.

Four men attempt to rob the bank in Dodge City and fail, but not before they kill two people. Matt Dillon follows the men to their hideout. When he orders them to surrender, they start shooting. The Marshal prevails, and when the (gun)smoke clears, three of the four men are dead. Brand, the leader of the gang, is the only one who was not shot.

Brand seems a bit stunned by the developments. When he sees his three partners all lying dead on the ground, he begins to accuse Matt of being a brutal butcher. There is no question about the fairness of the shootings, but Brand's assertions trigger something in the Marshal.

The next day, a gunfighter named Stanger appears in Dodge. When he is verbally abusive to a new employee at the Long Branch Saloon, Chester steps in. The two men have words, but Chester is not wearing a gun. When Stanger learns Chester works for Matt Dillon, the gunfighter tells Chester he has business with the Marshal.

The next day, Matt confronts Stanger. Stanger challenges the Marshal to a gunfight, but Matt chooses not to draw. Stanger accuses Matt of being afraid, but Matt still walks away.

These events culminate in Matt choosing to submit his resignation as U. S. Marshal. He is sick of the killing the job sometimes demands and even tells Chester he has hated the job since he took it.

Lawrence Dobkin frequently appeared in the radio episodes of Gunsmoke. He portrays the Brand character in one of his three appearances in the television version of the series. Dobkin was a familiar face in front of the camera in many westerns, but he was also involved behind the camera and as a writer. For example, he directed five episodes of The Rifleman, and wrote two episodes for that series.

Russell Johnson makes the first of four Gunsmoke appearances with this episode where he plays Stanger. Johnson had no trouble playing villains, as he often did in television dramas. He would later become famous for portraying Professor Roy Hinkley, Jr., also known as "The Professor," in the Gilligan's Island series.

This is an outstanding installment of the Gunsmoke series, and an important story in the formation of the world of Gunsmoke. There is a dark, sad element to the story about a man seeking to escape awesome, overwhelming responsibilities -- possibly suffering from what is commonly called "burnout" today -- only to realize the consequences of walking away are greater than bearing the weight.

(This is the first of a few situations where Matt decides to resign his position. According to the Gunsmoke movies that followed the series, Matt eventually did quit.)

Dennis Weaver is especially good in a surprising, impassioned final scene. Just prior to that scene, James Arness and Amanda Blake engage in a rare, mildly romantic scene. James Arness's scenes following Matt's resignation are especially fascinating from a character development perspective.

A very good and unusual entry early in the series. It's only season two of twenty seasons but Matt is already fed up with just how much killing a US Marshall has to do in a mid western town during the 1870s. It gets to him emotionally complete with nightmares. He decides to quit, much to the despair of his friends ( Hey, who's gonna take care of us) He really seems to be enjoying himself, teaching kids how to track animals, going on picnics with Kitty etc. Unfortunately he's jolted back to reality by a very emotional speech by Chester. Actually Chester's speech may be the best of any character in the twenty year run. By the way, Chester WAS NOT a deputy. He "worked" for the Marshall but wasn't a deputy. Fortunately for us Matt got over nightmares and continued protecting Dodge for another 18 years.

Really offbeat and superior episode. Matt kills three gang members in a shootout and is suddenly stricken by all the killing that being marshal involves. It's not so much his conscience that gets to him— he's done nothing legally or morally wrong—instead it looks like he's reached some kind of limit to the violence he can tolerate. But if he quits, who will handle gunmen like Stanger, a friend of the slain men.

Now, this sort of reaction from TV heroes of the time was, I believe, almost unheard of. TV heroes did what they had to do without noticeable psychological damage. But here we see an unusual side of Dillon (Arness) that is rather unsettling because it's in such contrast to what we're used to. Note too, the noirish touches in the lighting, symptomatic in Hollywood terms of emotional conflict. Anyway, it's the sort of episode that distinguishes the series from its many competitors of the day.

There's a lot of who's better Chester or festus talk amongst gunsmoke fans! I urge the people who prefer Festus,to watch this episode. I like festus a lot also but I'll always give the edge to Chester! His speech turned an average episode into a classic! Probably the best episode of season 2 but there's a few greats so it's hard to say?

This is one of the best episodes of Gunsmoke! We have watched all 20 seasons, and have started back at the beginning.

I love Matt's and Kitty's performances, but Chester played his heart out! He brought me to tears!

The interaction with the whole cast through all 20 seasons is always top notch, but this episode is something special.

Matt's question of conscience and thinking there was one way to deal with it. Kitty was the supportive friend, as was Chester. But when push came to shove, they all knew what needed to be done.

One thing that Gunsmoke does well is leave you thinking, without tying it up with a bow.

When Matt goes after four robbers, he has to shoot three of them and the fourth, Jack Brand, calls Matt a butcher for killing his friends. And for some reason the weight of killing hangs on Matt as he takes the prisoner and bodies back to Dodge. It bothers him so much that he has nightmares about the many men he has killed.

When a friend of Brands, Joe Stanger, comes into Dodge he tries to pick a gunfight with Matt. But with the weight of the killing still on his head and he refuses the gunfight. Matt then comes back to the office and writes his resignation saying that he is tired of killing.

As we should know (since there are many more episodes of Gunsmoke) something happens that lets Matt know that he is needed as Marshal. This episode really was not my cup of tea plus the ending kind of left us hanging. On the up side, Dennis Weaver does a great job of delivering an emotional speech which really shows his excellent side of acting. Otherwise it was just a nice show.

Well, here we go. Years ago, we used to have things like morals, purpose, etc. This episode, with all of the confines of Hollywood at the time, captures it perfectly. Every element is presented here, the ambiguity of Kitty and Matt's relationship (that was always the heart of the show), and how awesome Dennis Weaver was in the role of Chester. Considering that this was only a half an hour, my humble opinion, much better than most 2hour Hollywood movies. Every great movie, or show, lets the audience use their imagination. Not necessary to show, or explain, everything. Weaver's performance was awesome, and the ending shot was perfect. Sometimes, we can't run from our own destinies.