Far from Dodge and without a horse Matt Dillon still manages to bring in Lee Timble...a man wanted for murder. Lee's brother Dolph swears that he'll get him out. Meanwhile, an old friend of ... Read allFar from Dodge and without a horse Matt Dillon still manages to bring in Lee Timble...a man wanted for murder. Lee's brother Dolph swears that he'll get him out. Meanwhile, an old friend of Dillon's, Hack Prine, has arrived in Dodge to take a job. Happy to see each other they rem... Read allFar from Dodge and without a horse Matt Dillon still manages to bring in Lee Timble...a man wanted for murder. Lee's brother Dolph swears that he'll get him out. Meanwhile, an old friend of Dillon's, Hack Prine, has arrived in Dodge to take a job. Happy to see each other they reminisce about old times both unaware that the job Hack is in Dodge for is killing Dillon.
- Dolph Timble
- (as George Wallace)
- Conspirator
- (uncredited)
- Shotgun Rider
- (uncredited)
- Townsman
- (uncredited)
- Conspirator
- (uncredited)
- Barfly
- (uncredited)
- Conspirator
- (uncredited)
- Stage Driver
- (uncredited)
- Townsman
- (uncredited)
- Bartender
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writers
- John Meston(uncredited)
- Norman MacDonnell(uncredited)
- Charles Marquis Warren(uncredited)
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaIn this episode, the 26th shown but actually the pilot, the usual settings in Dodge are not the same as the ones we knew for 20 years. Matt's Marshal's office has the following noticeable differences; the side wall has a window instead of a door. The desk is a high roll-top instead of flat (and against the cell wall instead of angled towards the front door), there is no potbelly stove, the safe is against the front wall instead of the side wall and the outer door and outside front of the office are also different.Miss Kitty's Long Branch Saloon is a totally different building inside and out. The Dodge House is also a different building.
- GoofsWhen Lee Timble discovers his canteen is empty, he asks Matt Dillon, "What about yours?" When Dillon answers "Empty too, Lee", his lip movements don't match the words, which sound dubbed in.
- Quotes
[first lines]
[while Matt Dillon walks through Boot Hill cemetery outside Dodge City, Kansas, the audience hears his thoughts]
Matt Dillon: Out here I remind myself how violence ends. Buried in the rim of a nation, the edge of a wild frontier. Some of these Boot Hill men are the victims of aimless slaughter. The rest, I killed myself. I'm a lawman, United States Marshall. The law comes hard to the frontier. Men like these didn't want it. And more men, still alive, there in Dodge City, they don't want it. They're the drifters, the killers, and the spoilers. And they have to be met. It's a chancy job; makes a man watchful and a little lonely. But somebody has to do it.
[Dillon walks back to Dodge City]
Chester Goode is also waiting for the stage. He tells Matt there is someone waiting for him at the Marshal's office. When Matt walks in the office, he is surprised to see his old friend Hack Prine. Prine is a gunfighter, but he saved Matt's life years earlier.
Trouble arises when Dolph Timble and a group of men in Dodge hire Prine to kill the Marshal. Even though he is the Marshal's friend, he needs the money and agrees to engage the Marshal in a gunfight.
Perennial tough guy Leo Gordon takes on the role of Hack Prine in this story. Although the Prine character is a gunfighter, he does adhere to an ethical code. This is one of five different appearances Gordon would make in Gunsmoke episodes. His last appearance in the series was in Season 19. Gordon appeared in nearly 200 films and television shows, and wrote episodes for series such as Cheyenne, Bat Masterson, Bonanza, Maverick, and Adam-12.
Veteran actor George Wallace appears as Dolph Timble. Wallace's acting career spanned decades, and he remained active in the profession will into his eighties. This appearance is the first of three Wallace made in the Gunsmoke series.
Actor Hal Baylor is a familiar face to westerns fans. He plays the Lee Timble character in this story. He would eventually appear in a total of seven episodes in the series. Baylor is one of the few actors that were not part of the regular cast that appeared in both the first and last seasons of Gunsmoke.
It is well known "Hack Prine" was the pilot episode of Gunsmoke. According to Ben Costello's book "Gunsmoke An American Institution: Celebrating 50 Years of Television's Best Western," Charles Marquis Warren made the decision to air the second episode filmed, "Matt Gets It," as the first episode in the series. "Hack Prine" was aired as the twenty-sixth episode in the series. Warren thought "Matt Gets It" was more dramatic and would better set the tone for the series. In the foreword to the book, "Blood, Bullets and Buckskin" James Arness said, "I always thought we should have aired 'Hack Prine' first. I still feel it was a better show."
I agree with Arness, although there is no way to know how it would have affected the series if "Hack Prine" had been aired first. Obviously, "Matt Gets It" features a shrewder, more vulnerable Matt Dillon character than "Hack Prine." "Hack Prine," on the other hand, features more of the attributes viewers would see from the Matt Dillon character in later episodes.
One major difference between the two episodes is the Kitty Russell character's involvement. "Matt Gets It" is a far better vehicle for Amanda Blake's talent. She only appears in one scene in "Hack Prine." It is an inconsequential scene, and Blake does not look comfortable in the role.
The setting for "Hack Prine" is much different than the familiar Dodge City places viewers would see in other episodes. The Marshal's office, the Long Branch Saloon, and the Dodge House all have a unique look.
Taken on its own merits, this is an excellent episode. There would be many episodes in the coming seasons that would use some of the same themes used here: a brother determined to free his sibling from jail and nearly certain execution; a gunfighter with a reputation who is a threat to Marshal Dillon; and even Matt bringing a prisoner from far away back to Dodge under extreme circumstances (although the thirty-minute episode limits the amount of time devoted to this part of the story).
Note: This is the last episode broadcast that was directed by Charles Marquis Warren. The last episode produced that was directed by Warren was the "Reunion '78" episode.
- wdavidreynolds
- Dec 6, 2021
Details
- Runtime30 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1
- 4:3