Gunsmoke: Matt Dillon Must Die (1974) – Review

It’s not only impressive that Gunsmoke ran for a total of twenty seasons but the fact that it started as a popular radio series, which ran from 1952 to 1961, which is truly impressive. But while Gunsmoke was a show that helped usher in the television Western, as they say, all good things must come to an end, and today we are looking at the episode that kicked off that last season.

This episode begins with U.S. Marshall Matt Dillon (James Arness) tracking down bank robber Laban Wakefield (Frederick Herrick) and after a brief gunfight the robber is dead, with Matt Dillon standing victorious, unfortunately, the man’s father and brothers soon arrive on the scene and things become complicated rather quickly. Outgunned and out manned, Dillon is captured by the Wakefield; a family that consists of patriarch Abraham Wakefield (Morgan Woodward) and his sons Esau (William Lucking), Isacc (Henry Olek), Able (Douglas Dirkson) and Jacob (Joseph Hindy) who seems to be the only reasonably sane one in the bunch.

Note: Actor Morgan Woodward starred in a record nineteen episodes of Gunsmoke through the show’s twenty seasons and was staple of television for decades.

We learn from Dillon that the Wakefield family are wanted all over the state as they are known for burning homesteads all the way from the Dakotas and have murdered between forty and fifty people. But what started this rampant lawlessness? Turns out that years ago a vigilante mob tracked a killer to their home and Abraham’s wife Annabel (Elaine Fulkerson), who was home alone, was taken hostage and died when the mob set fire to the house. This caused Abraham to hate anyone even remotely associated with law enforcement. “I did it for her! Because they killed my lady. Them righteous, psalm-singing hypocrites who come out here to squat on the land and try to bend every livin’ thing to their way of doin’… Well, I showed ’em I don’t bend.”

This is when the episode slides into “The Most Dangerous Game” territory with Abraham announcing that Dillon will be given a one-hour head start before he and his sons begin to hunt him down. When Dillon asks “What’s the real reason for this, Wakefield?” the man responds coldly, “I told ya, I don’t want you dying quick or easy. I want you to have time to feel your bones freeze and stiff. I want you to have time to suffer. Then I’m gonna kill ya.”  But is that really a good idea? This Marshall Matt Dillon we’re talking about.

 

Hunting Matt Dillon isn’t dangerous, it’s suicidal.

Stray Observations:

• A year earlier, Bonanza did their own take on “The Most Dangerous Game” in an episode titled “The Hunter” with Tom Skerritt chasing down Michael Landon.
• Jacob states “I’ve never put a hole in no one” but he’s just as guilty as his father and brother as there is no such thing as an “innocent bystander” in a gang of murderers. He was complicit in his family’s crimes simply by riding with them.
• Esau Wakefield is attacked by a mountain lion, which is typical in a Western movie or show, but you are more likely to drown in your bathtub than be attacked by a mountain lion in real life. I’m guessing this big cat was a personal friend of Matt Dillon.
• Isacc and Able Wakefield find remnants of a fire and question “How could he start a fire?” Now, I’m no expert on the Wild West but I bet most U.S. Marshalls have the same ability that cave men possessed when it comes to making a fire.
• This episode gives us a unique arm-wrestling contest, where the loser would have his hand forcibly impaled on a knife that is jutting out of the table, unfortunately, this would most likely result in the knife going through the hands of both parties.

 

The Stallone film “Over the Top” could have been improved by this addition.

Directed by Victor French, who was also a popular television actor and known for his work on Little House on the Prairie and Highway to Heaven, and he did an excellent job with “Matt Dillon Must Die” as not only does he give us some good old-fashioned Western action but as a character piece it excels on every level. Abraham Wakefield isn’t some moustache-twirling villain, he’s a man bent and broken by one tragic event and while you can’t necessarily sympathize with his actions you can understand them. As the episode goes on he becomes more and more deranged, having long conversations with his dead wife “There’s a darkness hanging over me, Annabel. And a cold wind a blowin’ on my dreams. The enemies are lurin’ our boys away, killin’ them off sos I don’t have no family left to help me hold a sword over your grave.”

It’s the gripping performance by Morgan Woodward, he gives us an unhinged man that keeps you invested and without it we’d be watching just another take on “The Most Dangerous” and not the very gripping story we have here. And while James Arness and the rest of the cast all provide decent work it was Woodward who elevated this episode to greatness and it is his performance that makes “Matt Dillon Must Die” worth tracking down.