User Reviews

Judd Nellis brings a badly beaten man to Dodge City. Nellis claims he found the man out on the trail. Doc has doubts as to whether the beaten man will live.

As Matt Dillon begins investigating the situation, he discovers he actually knows Nellis. Years earlier, someone attacked Dillon and left him badly beaten. Nellis found Matt and was able to see that he received medical attention, similar to what happened with the stranger Nellis brought into Dodge.

Nellis soon returns to his home in the town of Friend, Kansas.

The wounded stranger begins to recover, and Matt finds that his name is Frank Gore. Gore claims he never saw whoever was responsible for the beating, and they also stole $1,000 Gore was carrying. Gore asks about the person that brought him to Dodge, and Matt tells him about Judd Nellis. Once he is sufficiently recovered, Gore leaves Dodge.

About three weeks later, Matt receives a letter from a priest in Friend informing him that Judd Nellis is dead. The priest, Father Tom, requests Matt come to Friend.

Matt makes his way to Friend and talks to Father Tom. The priest explains that he had talked with Nellis after Nellis returned from Dodge. Father Tom subsequently had to leave for a few days, and when he returned, he found a grave with a marker labeled "Judd Nellis" in the church graveyard. Although Father Tom asked around the town, no one seems to know what happened to Nellis.

The remainder of the story involves the Marshal trying to solve the mystery of Judd's death. It isn't that easy, because the people in Friend are not that free with their information.

This episode features yet another solid cast. Tom Reese, a veteran of television westerns and a frequent Gunsmoke guest, is Judd Nellis. The great character actor Ralph Moody is Finley, an older, hard-of-hearing resident in Friend. Moody appeared in many classic television shows around the time this episode was filmed, including The Rifleman and The Andy Griffith Show, where he appeared as recurring characters in numerous episodes of each. Finley's grandson is a kid everyone calls "Runt." Runt is played by Butch Patrick, who would soon star in The Munsters as Edward Wolfgang "Eddie" Munster. The lovely Jan Shepard appears as Marge, who was in a relationship with Nellis and sports a mysterious bruise on her face. The versatile character actor Ben Wright is Father Tom. Wright had a very long career in both television and films. His voice work was featured in a number of Disney animated films, including One Hundred and One Dalmatians, The Little Mermaid, and The Jungle Book.

This is a clever Kathleen Hite script. There are several clues that everything is not necessarily as it appears, but the reasoning behind it all is an unexpected surprise. While most of this story takes place in the town of Friend, we do get some early scenes in Dodge with Doc, Kitty, and Quint -- no Chester or Festus, though.

I've seen many, many Gunsmoke episodes, and this plot had me confused and guessing all the way to the end. I'm still not entirely sure what happened!

Here is another surprising offering. More of a mystery tale that will have the viewer glued to the screen waiting for the next piece of the story to be revealed.

It begins as Judd Nellis comes into Dodge bringing a badly wounded man that he found on the prairie. He takes the man over to Doc Adams where Doc advises that he might not live. Matt, who happens to be an old friend of Judd, wants to know more about the wounded man. Matt has known Judd ever since Judd saved his life when bandits jumped him years ago. Judd was the one that got Matt help. Judd tells Matt that he found the man, who later we know as Frank Gore, along the side of the road east of town. Nothing else was seen and Judd just felt like he needed to get him some help. Judd leaves town heading home.

Later Frank has recovered from his wounds. Frank advises that when he was brought in he could hear voices and now can place a face with Doc and Matt put he did not know the other voice. Doc tells him that the voice was Judd Nellis and he was the one that brought him into the office. Frank wanted to know where he lives so that he could thanks him. Matt finds out that Frank was carrying $1000 and it was stolen.

Three weeks later, Matt receives a letter from a pastor saying that Judd had been killed and ask Matt to come to his church. When Matt arrives the priest, Father Tom, did not know anything about his death other than the grave was here after he returned from another town. But Matt finds out from a saloon girl that Judd had a visitor right before he died. The visitor's name was Frank Gore.

Matt also finds out that the pastor, Father Tom, is also an friend of Judd. He had been a friend since Judd found him beaten up on the roadside and nursed him back to health. And now Matt knows that Judd may not be the friend everyone thinks. When a small boy named Runt tells Matt that he saw a fight between Judd and Gore and that next day there was a tombstone with Judd's name, Matt feels lead to dig up the grave. This will cause a situation where at the end of the episode there will be two freshly dug graves.

Cannot say more about this episode. A script where the entire time the tale gets stranger and stranger till you know something is wrong. A great mystery that will have the viewer guessing at what happens next. Good watch!

So i'm watching these episodes out of order but like the episode (after this one) this episode was truly fascinating and so unusual! i still enjoy it every time i see it, my only regret is not being able to feel that same exciting astonishment each step of the way that i experienced the very first time i perused this episode! Another Gunsmoke scenario that i don't ever recall another western program copying. After watching many MANY westerns, that in itself is pretty unusual! i've also found myself becoming a big fan of reviewer "kfo9494" as i've noticed this person hasn't yet written a review that i didn't enjoy and agree with. Hope you keep up the great work!

Good idea but it went on too long with too many plot twists which became silly.