User Reviews

In this sad tale, we have a man named Olie Ridges that lives outside Dodge that has a mule and a few pigs on his land. He loves being outdoors so much that he does not even have a house. He prefers being outside and not cooped inside a box.

He has been having some trouble with some local roughs that want all the land in the area for themselves. When Olie's good friend, Jim Branch, takes him to Dodge one evening. Someone goes by his place and kills Olie's mule and his hogs. Olie knows that it was the roughs that has been after him to move. Olie decides to take the law into his own hands even if means hanging. But he may get something even worse that he cannot even comprehend.

A very interesting yet sad story with a powerful message about friendship. Well done by the actors and writer. This is the kind of show that makes 'Gunsmoke' worth watching.

An eccentric loner named Olie Ridgers lives on the prairie near Turkey Bend with his pigs and mule. Ridgers feels confined when he is inside a building and prefers to live outdoors. A cowboy named Jim Branch is a close friend who lives near Ridgers, and he convinces his friend to go with him to Dodge City for a night on the town. Ridgers is reluctant, but he told Branch he would go, so he goes.

(There is a bit of a coordination issue with this story and the time and distances involved. Chester states the camp where Ridgers lives is forty miles from Dodge. Yet, Ridgers and Branch intend to ride to Dodge, spend the night, and return the next day so Ridgers can care for his hogs. A horse will typically average around four miles per hour, which would mean ten hours to Dodge and ten hours back. An overnight round trip would certainly be possible, but it would be extremely difficult on both the horse and the rider.)

In Dodge, Ridgers is nervous and tentative as he shares a meal with Branch, Chester, and Matt. He later begins to relax and enjoy himself at the Long Branch Saloon. A cowboy passing through recognizes Ridgers and tells him he noticed when he passed by his place that someone had killed his pigs and mule. Ridgers is distraught and convinced a couple of men that have repeatedly harassed him and want his land are responsible.

Matt Dillon already suspects two antagonistic men, Giles and Dever, he and Chester encountered on the trail away from Dodge City. Marshal Dillon thinks they may be responsible for the murder of a man named Bob Riley he and Chester found shot to death inside his cabin.

Ridgers goes after the men and kills one in cold blood. He understands there will be consequences for his actions, but he doesn't care. The subsequent events do not transpire quite as Ridgers expected however, and Matt Dillon finds himself amid another contentious situation.

Vaughn Taylor is outstanding as the Olie Ridgers character in this story. Taylor does not overplay the odd character -- another unique John Meston creation. The viewer can empathize with his quiet rage at the injustice done to him. The darkness of his resolve to accomplish his mission with full knowledge he will face punishment is palpable. This appearance is the first of three guest roles Taylor would play in the series.

Joe Maross was another familiar character actor in the late 1950s and throughout the 1960s and 1970s. He portrays Jim Branch in this episode, which -- like Taylor -- is the first of three appearances in the series.

Viewers are treated to another brutal, sad Meston tale of harsh life on the prairie with this entry in the Gunsmoke catalog. The unpredictability of the characters helps keep the audience guessing. Marshal Dillon fulfils his duty despite the realization that people he likes and respects will suffer as a result. The late scene in the Long Branch Saloon with Doc Adams is key to showing the inner turmoil Matt frequently faces.

Powerful story that combines some of the better features of the series. Drifters Vaughn Taylor and Joe Maross leave the great outdoors for a few days in Dodge. There they strike up an acquaintanceship with Matt and Kitty. Taylor is an odd duck, obviously unfamiliar with civilized conventions. Still, he's basically a good person just kind of cut loose and drifting on the great American prairie. While in Dodge, someone kills his beloved mule and hogs left at a prairie campsite. He suspects two ornery cusses he and Maross earlier encountered.

Story takes its strength from writer John Meston's vividly offbeat concept of Taylor's character. Though uneducated, he's clearly capable of some penetrating wisdom as the crude metaphor on life and radishes demonstrates. Taylor brings genuine pathos to the role, thus deepening the dramatic impact. (Nonetheless, someone in make-up or wardrobe should be demoted for outfitting the balding Taylor in what may be the worst wig of the series.) The best episodes often put Matt in the position of questioning his job or pondering its effect on others. That way he is humanized and not just a mechanical embodiment of law and order and superior gunplay. That happens here in the very last shot, leaving Matt to wonder about the mysterious ways of the world that elude even the best of us. Fine work from writer Meston and the cast.

The episode opens with Matt and Chester coming across an isolated cabin. After sending out a greeting, they enter it and find a man dead. Later, they encounter two hardcase men that threaten them, Matt does not reveal that he is a lawman. Further down the trail, they encounter a man named Olie Ridgers, he raises pigs and the only roof he ever has over his head is the sky. His friend has convinced him to travel to Dodge for a brief getaway. Olie is reluctant, but consents in order to humor his friend. While they are in Dodge, someone kills Olie's pigs and mule, he is devastated and takes the law into his own hands. As Matt says many times in the series, "the law says I have to take you in." Unwilling to fight Matt, Olie surrenders and stands trial, receiving what for him is an intolerable sentence. Although he hates to do so, Matt follows the law and at the end there is a bit of justice rendered. This is an episode where the viewer sympathizes with the victim Olie. All he wanted to do was live his life in peace with his farm animals and two brutal killers violently invade that space. His reaction was understandable, yet there is no sympathy from the court. You see Matt and Chester torn between their duty to the law and what they know is right, a significant moral dilemma.

This is a strong. sad. yet believable tale with soiid vetran actors and solid script.