User Reviews

This was turning out to be a great story with some of the most interesting subject matter that we had seen in sometime. Then they almost ruin the entire show by having a fight scene that resembled something from the Disney movie 'Apple Dumpling Gang'. But the show still held together and produced an entertaining program that made for good viewing.

It involved the railroad and their mistake of not buying Jim Graham's land. When the survey teams get to his farm they use some heavy-handed tactics to try to evict him. Marshal Dillon has to get rough with the railroad men making them call the boss Wes Cameron.

Wes is bound to make Marshal Dillon pay for siding with the one man over the railroad so he brings all his workers into town to start trouble. When Matt refuses to give-in to the railroad it will cause one heck of a fight between the Marshal and the railroad boss.

There is more to this episode than the serious side of the main plot. When Festus is trying to read and write, in his own way, it was actually a rather funny scene. Then you have another humorous scene when Louie happens to stumble, thanks to his nose, on a train car full of liquor. With the fine acting and the interesting subject, this episode made for a fine watch.

The engine that drives the plot for this story is a familiar trope used in dramatic television shows. A businessman or company wants to use someone's land, and the landowner resists. In this case, the businessman is Wes Cameron, and the company is the Kansas-North Platte Railroad Company. Cameron has a crew building a railroad to Dodge City. When the men laying the track get to Jim Graham's property, Graham resists. There has been no initial offer of compensation for the use of the land. It doesn't help that Graham is stubborn and cantankerous.

The railroad crew chooses to bully Graham, which only makes matters worse. Graham elicits Matt Dillon's protection. The Marshal stops the progress of the railroad and places Graham into protective custody.

This brings Wes Cameron to Dodge. Cameron is under a tight deadline to see that the railroad tracks reach the town by a certain date. He is willing to pay a price for the right-of-way he needs across Graham's property, but Graham is so angry about the way he has been treated, he refuses to sell.

Marshal Dillon continues to protect Graham. Cameron decides to try to force the Marshal and Graham to go along with what he wants by bringing his crews to Dodge and allowing them to run rampant and create havoc. The citizens of the town are not happy with this development, plus they all have an interest in seeing the railroad arrive.

Although the plot uses a familiar set of circumstances, the overarching theme of this story is the clashing, competing wills of the principal parties, namely Cameron, Dillon, and Graham -- all extremely stubborn individuals.

The strangest aspect to this story is the resolution seems very obvious from the beginning. If Cameron would only realize he can't bully his way through every situation, the situation could be quickly resolved.

Jim Davis is perfect in the Wes Cameron role. His character here is very similar to the Jock Ewing role he would eventually make so famous on the long-running television series Dallas.

Shug Fisher returns in one of his many Gunsmoke appearances, this time as Jim Graham. This is the same sort of bullheaded, garrulous character for which Fisher was noted, which makes him a great fit for this part.

The only member of the railroad crew that really stands out is Ramon Bieri as Forbes, the tenacious foreman with a knack for offending everyone he meets.

Since this story is primarily focused within Dodge City, several of the regulars are present: Burke, Halligan, Sam, and Louie Pheeters all appear at some point.

This is another exciting episode that does not aspire to anything more than providing some entertainment. There are some moments of brief humor, a lively brawl, and a minimum of gunplay. There are no big surprises, and, in the end, the story is instantly forgettable.

I have watched close to 400 episodes of Gunsmoke and the one glaring storyline,in my opinion, is that back in those days the people didn't much care about their friends and neighbors. They would turn on them in a minute on a lie or to make a buck or two. I venture to say that this happened in 20-40% of the episodes, this one being no exception.