User Reviews

Just finished watching this on Netflix and if this isn't a "10" I don't know what is! I don't want to give away any of the twists and turns but suffice to say it starts off with Dillon tossing Ed Asner, who plays a nasty Army sergeant, out of his jail (you just know we'll see him again later in the episode) and also co-stars Robert Culp and "Goober" from Mayberry as bad guys (what a combination LOL).

It's one of those "Dillon has to escort convicted bad guy to Hays City for the big jump" episodes (I always wonder why he does this alone so many times... but he's a man inclined to take risks!) but with plot surprises you'll never see coming. Robert Culp is worth the price of admission alone! Don't trust the "7.2" rating... 8 people gave it a 10 like me, 1 gave it a 9 and 1 nitwit gave it a 1! IMO the rating average should throw out such extreme outliers since rating this episode a 1 is the act of a crazy person.

Watch this episode and you won't be disappointed! And to think I was about to go to bed, after watching 3 hour-long Gunsmokes in a row, but decided to sit through "just one more"...

Final comment: great Matt Dillon line, said as he throws Ed Asner about 15-feet across Front Street (Asner was BORN fat so he's a big guy even before Mary Tyler Moore): "Get out of here before I lose my temper." LOL This is one episode I will watch over n over!

Excellent story. This could have been a 2 hour movie. Each plot twist keeps upping the ante. By the time we meet a town drunkard who helps Matt spring a trap on the villains, this episode is coasting on sheer storytelling magic.

Future "Cowboys" film director Mark Rydell staged one of the best and more complicated "Gunsmoke" episodes from the 10th season, entitled "Hung High," about the murder of a retired lawman who had been an old friend of protagonist Matt Dillon. Unlike most "Gunsmoke" episodes, U.S. Marshal Matt Dillon finds himself challenged by savvy adversaries who make his life a nightmare from start to finish. Writer John Meston, who penned 106 episodes of the landmark television series, displays considerable imagination in orchestrating the events. The guest stars in "Hung High" include Ed Asner of "Lou Grant" fame, Robert Culp of "I Spy," Elisha Cook, Jr. of "The Maltese Falcon," Michael Conrad of "The Longest Yard," and George Lindsey of "The Andy Griffith Show" as you've never seen this comic actor. Indeed, this is the first time that I have seen the man known around the world as Goober playing a hardcase.

The episode opens with Matt tangling with a mean Cavalry soldier, Sergeant Wilks (Ed Asner), whose duties at Fort Dodge are about to change as a consequence of his sojourn in jail. A drunken gunman decides to kill one of Matt Dillon's oldest friends, retired lawman Jim Downey (Harold J. Stone), and he shoots the former marshal several times in the back and then gets really drunk and falls asleep in the livery stable. When Serpa (Scott J. Marlowe) was drinking at the Long Branch, he confided to another man that he was going to kill Downey. Later, he meets Downey walking down the street at night, passes him, and then turns and shoots him. The next morning after Matt Dillon learns about the murder of his friend, Serpa is trying to slip out of town when he gets in a knock down drag out fight with the man who he had spoken to in the Long Branch. Anyway, Serpa stands trial and is sentenced to hang. Marshal Dillon claps Serpa in irons and escorts him to Dodge City. Along the way, Dillon and Serpa meet another man, Joe (Robert Culp) and his two gunmen rescue Serpa. Initially, it appears as if Matt will swing from a noose, and Serpa is itching to make it happen. The first surprise comes as shock since Serpa was so sure that Joe would eliminate Dillon. Instead, Joe eliminates Serpa and his men and he ride away before a group of U.S. Calvary non-com and his men stumble onto the scene. Wilks takes Dillon prisoner when he finds out hero passed out and apparently drunk. When he tries to reason with Wilks, Dillon gets nowhere and finds himself tied up. Wilks order his men to shoot Matt on sight if he tries to escape. Meantime, Matt assures them that he didn't hang Serpa and that the men who did are getting away with murder. Wilks and another trooper set off to trail Costa and company. During their absence, Dillon manages to escape from his calvary captors. He rides out after the three gunmen but he doesn't have a gun, a badge, or a good horse. Marshall Dillon goes from the top of the heap to the bottom before he arrest the men who tried to save Serpa. The twists and turns are fast, and the acting is first-rate. An episode NOT to be missed!

I will go alone with this being an action pack episode but there was just too many strange coincidences that was hard for the viewer to comprehend.

In Dodge, Matt is visited by a long time friend and ex-lawman Jim Downey. After playing some cards in a friendly game, Jim is shot in the back by thug called Tony Serpa.

By chance Matt is able to prove that Tony is the murderer and sets out for Hays City for a hanging. But then he runs in to friends of Tony that do not take to kindly for the Marshal nor do they take kindly to Tony for confessing about killing the lawman. So they set up Matt to look like he took revenge out on Tony.

When a passing cavalry unit comes up on the scene they find Tony hanging from a tree and Marshall Dillon appearing to have been drinking. The sergeant (who had swore to get back a Matt for putting him in jail earlier in the show) now has the upper hand as he arrests Matt with the idea of taking him back to Fort Dodge.

When Matt escapes and gets on the trail of Tony's friends, it will prove that the Sergeant did not make the correct choice.

It is a good show but there is a lot of information that does not make the most sense. From Tony's confession, the fact that the cavalry was in the area, Matt escapes from guards, and Matt finding a drunk with brave friends. But we as viewers know we have to accept things even if they do not correspond with regular behavior. In that matter the show was good. Not exceptional but a good watch for viewers.

Jim Downey, who was a friend and mentor to Matt Dillon in his formative years of law enforcement, visits Dodge City where he is shot and killed in an act of cold-blooded murder by Tony Serpa. Serpa had talked with another cowboy in the Long Branch Saloon about his desire to kill a law man. When Downey is murdered, the cowboy confronts Serpa at Moss Grimmick's stable. When the two begin to fight, Marshal Dillon steps in and learns that Serpa killed his friend.

Serpa is tried and sentenced to hang, which means the Marshal has to take him to Hays City. Serpa was part of a gang led by a man named Joe Costa. Costa and his gang -- Bud Evans and Dick Corwin -- intercept Dillon and Serpa on the trip. The entire gang shares Serpa's disdain for law enforcement officials. Rather than just kill Dillon, the gang attempts to frame the Marshal for murder.

A U. S. Calvary Sergeant named Wilks who holds a grudge against Matt for a previous encounter is leading a scouting team. They find the Marshal at the murder scene and Wilks places Matt under military arrest.

Although Matt manages to escape from the soldiers, he is still in a bit of a jam with no money, no weapon, and no proof that he is a U. S. Marshal.

This is certainly not one of those slow episodes that seems to be full of scenes to kill time. If anything, there is too much going on in this story.

The supporting cast in this episode is a veritable who's who of character actors. Harold J. Stone, who played various roles in countless films and television shows, appears here as Matt's doomed friend, Jim Downey. Scott Marlowe, who previously played a very similar character in the Gunsmoke episode "Legends Don't Sleep," is Tony Serpa. Robert Culp of I Spy and Trackdown fame is Joe Costa, the scheming gang leader. Michael Conrad, who won Emmys for his role as Phil Esterhaus on Hill Street Blues is Dick Corwin, one of Costa's gang. George Lindsey, who everyone remembers for his character Goober on The Andy Griffith Show, is Bud Evans, the other member of Costa's gang. Elisha Cook, Jr. Is a helpful, friendly character that helps Matt when he needs it most. Cook was another very familiar face in television as well as movies. Finally, multiple award-winning actor Ed Asner is the bitter, grumpy Sergeant Wilks.

This is definitely a highly entertaining, fast-paced episode, but it doesn't warrant too much thought. The plot is somewhat convoluted, and the motivation for many of the actions are suspect.

For example, at one point one of Costa's gang mentions that Serpa had only been away in Dodge for three days. Clearly, one of those days was the day he killed Downey. Assuming that was the first day, Serpa was arrested the second day. He was subsequently tried and sentenced. The Marshal and Serpa had already camped one night on the way to Hays. This would seem to indicate Serpa killed Downey, was tried, convicted, and sentenced; Matt had traveled far enough away from Dodge with him that they needed to stop for a night; and all of this happened over a three-day period!

When Wilks and his men find Dillon unconscious with Serpa hanging from a tree, they do not believe the Marshal's story about Costa, Corwin, and Evans. However, there would have been ample evidence that other horse riders had been there just a few minutes earlier. (Granted, Wilks was looking for an excuse to blame Matt.)

Matt rides into Crest bareback on his horse, but no one notices except the town drunk, George. Coincidentally, all the time, Costa, Corwin, and Evans are sitting a few feet away in the saloon.

How did Wilks and his men track Marshal Dillon to Crest? Costa, Corwin, and Evans had gone there, too. There must have been all sorts of horse tracks on the way. It would have been impossible to single out Matt's horse.

When Matt asks George if anyone in town might be willing to help, George tells him it isn't likely. Yet, when Matt later asks George if there might be a couple of men that could be trusted, George replies he might know a couple and immediately gets them to accompany him to the saloon.

It is worth noting this is the first episode in the series produced by Philip Leacock, a noted television director and producer who would go on to produced a total of 82 episodes of Gunsmoke over the coming years. Norman MacDonnell, who along with John Meston had created Gunsmoke for radio and had produced the television show since its second season, was abruptly fired by CBS during Season 10. Leacock took over the producer role after MacDonnell's departure.