A rancher's spoiled son believes even after he is convicted of murder that his father's wealth and influence will save him from the hangman.A rancher's spoiled son believes even after he is convicted of murder that his father's wealth and influence will save him from the hangman.A rancher's spoiled son believes even after he is convicted of murder that his father's wealth and influence will save him from the hangman.
Photos
Linden Chiles
- Pat
- (as Lindon Chiles)
Robert Stevenson
- Foy
- (as Robert J. Stevenson)
Fred Aldrich
- Townsman
- (uncredited)
Danny Borzage
- Townsman
- (uncredited)
Chet Brandenburg
- Townsman
- (uncredited)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaR.G. Armstrong was only 9 years older than James Best when he played the latter's father in this episode.
- GoofsWhen Lottie asks Quint, "Is he dead?", Quint says, "Yeah, he's dead," but his lips say something else.
Featured review
One of the best Gunsmoke episodes
Major Creed has a cowardly bully, Dal, for a son. Dal tries to bully one of his father's ranch hands, and when he won't be bullied Dal says he might put a bullet in his leg. Dal backs down when the hand actually challenges him to a gunfight. The Major comes out and gets only Dal's side of the story and fires the ranch hand. This scene is probably included to illustrate what kind of a person Dal is.
The the scene changes completely to show the ranch hand who didn't get fired attempting to assault a local girl, Lottie, and murdering her father when he attempts to intervene. Quint hears the gunfire, fights with the murderer, and has to kill him to contain him.
Lottie ends up working at the Long Branch since her father's farm had to be sold to pay her debts. She and the ranch hand who got fired from the Creed ranch strike up a romance. When Dal tries to get romantic with Lottie against her will, he once again is shown up as a coward by that same ranch hand. Later that night he tries to shoot the ranch hand down in cold blood as he walks along with Lottie, but hits and kills Lottie instead, by accident. Dal exchanges gunfire with Chester, who clearly sees him. Dal is tried for murder, convicted, and sentenced to hang.
Everything up to this point has just been to get to the essence of the plot - That Dal is a completely worthless person who cannot take responsibility for what he has done and thinks his father will find some way to bend the system - his friendship with the governor, his money, something to get him off the hook for murder, because dad has been getting him off the hook for everything his whole life. He doesn't realize that what he has done is so despicable that nobody is going to keep him from hanging. I wondered why there was that violent scene at Lottie's ranch that seemed to have nothing to do with anything in what came before or after, except perhaps for this - If Lottie had been some random girl whose sad past you did not see, the audience might not hate Dal quite so much. And the author of this piece obviously wants you to really hate this guy.
As the date of his execution nears, Dal melts down into a whiny mess. The major can see he is going to shame both of them when he does die, and he says something interesting to Dillon - That he would rather he die than see his son shame him by dying a coward. What did he mean by that? Watch and find out.
The the scene changes completely to show the ranch hand who didn't get fired attempting to assault a local girl, Lottie, and murdering her father when he attempts to intervene. Quint hears the gunfire, fights with the murderer, and has to kill him to contain him.
Lottie ends up working at the Long Branch since her father's farm had to be sold to pay her debts. She and the ranch hand who got fired from the Creed ranch strike up a romance. When Dal tries to get romantic with Lottie against her will, he once again is shown up as a coward by that same ranch hand. Later that night he tries to shoot the ranch hand down in cold blood as he walks along with Lottie, but hits and kills Lottie instead, by accident. Dal exchanges gunfire with Chester, who clearly sees him. Dal is tried for murder, convicted, and sentenced to hang.
Everything up to this point has just been to get to the essence of the plot - That Dal is a completely worthless person who cannot take responsibility for what he has done and thinks his father will find some way to bend the system - his friendship with the governor, his money, something to get him off the hook for murder, because dad has been getting him off the hook for everything his whole life. He doesn't realize that what he has done is so despicable that nobody is going to keep him from hanging. I wondered why there was that violent scene at Lottie's ranch that seemed to have nothing to do with anything in what came before or after, except perhaps for this - If Lottie had been some random girl whose sad past you did not see, the audience might not hate Dal quite so much. And the author of this piece obviously wants you to really hate this guy.
As the date of his execution nears, Dal melts down into a whiny mess. The major can see he is going to shame both of them when he does die, and he says something interesting to Dillon - That he would rather he die than see his son shame him by dying a coward. What did he mean by that? Watch and find out.
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- AlsExGal
- Nov 8, 2022
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime1 hour
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1
- 4:3
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