User Reviews

A well written story that tells a tale, in a different that usual manner, of a gunslinger, Karl Killion, that comes to Dodge and makes everyone uncomfortable.

Matt knows of Karl's past but with no warrants and no past convictions, Matt is helpless to do anything about the gunslinger. It seems everyone in town is nervous about Karl to the point where they avoid places where Killion may visit. Killion has one man so nervous that he decides that he is the target of Killion's bullet. So he tries to kill Killion only to find himself being buried at boot hill.

With everyone in town walking on egg shells, Killion gets to know this saloon gal named Rusty Farrow. It seems that Killion may settle down after-all making the townsfolk happy. But Matt gets some information that will cause at least one person to realize that they were lucky to still be alive.

Paul Langton did an excellent job of making the villain Killion as exciting as possible. With the fine acting and the excellent script, this was a pleasant show for viewers. Good Watch.

The plot is similar to the 1959 Audie Murphy movie "No Name On The Bullet". A notorious gunman (Paul Langton) rides into town, making everyone nervous, since they believe he's been hired to kill one of them. I think Murphy was better cast in the original movie, given his innocent, all American, bland handsomeness. Langton does well, not radiating any menace. The gunman in both the movie and this episode are congenial enough that each could've given up his career and settled down in town. Both actually make friends in the town. Both have a romantic involvement with a woman in the town. Given that the episode was only 1/2 hour, not much emphasis is given to the subplot of the original movie where many of the leading citizens have a guilty secret in which they something which would motivate someone to hire a gunman to kill them. This episode should have been a full hour long, to give some of the townspeople a backstory where they'd done dirt to someone. Imagine if Miss Kitty or the Doc had an ugly episode in their past! As is, the only interesting plot point is finding out who the gunman's target is.

Black-clad rider arrives in town. Matt knows him from Matt's own unexplained past. The man's Carl Killion, a feared gunfighter, but he is also quite personable and not at all menacing. Still he does have a reputation, and above all, why is he in Dodge. As Matt observes, Killion's not a drifter, so there must be a reason-- someone's marked for death. But who. The whole town is on edge waiting to see how his presence plays out.

Pretty good episode. Paul Langton's Killion is a charming ladies man, even if a bit over-age. Chester's thwarted attempt to spark dance-hall girl Madelyn Rhue appears to be a sub-plot; however, these tightly scripted half-hours seldom meander. Good twist ending. Frequent mentions of head-writer John Meston's home-town, Pueblo (Colorado), made me think script must be from him, but screenplay is credited to Les Crutchfield. Apparently there're advantages to being a head-writer.

(*Carl Killion to Marshal Dillon quote*) - "I'm just a drifter - Here today - Gone tomorrow."

Hired killer, Carl Killion has arrived in Dodge and his presence has got a lot of people in town feeling pretty uncomfortable.

Marshal Dillon knows the score about Killion and he confronts him to find out who is his intended target.

But, Killion ain't revealing anything and, so, the viewer is left wondering until the final climatic moment.