John Charron and Luke Cumberledge are two cattle barons that have been involved in a ten-year-long feud. Cumberledge is driving a large herd to Dodge City, while Charron is waiting to ambush his rival (the ambush is intended to be legal, not physical). Marshal Matthew Dillon does everything he can to prevent chaos and destruction as Cumberledge moves closer to Dodge...and a confrontation with Charron.
A highlight of this episode includes the performance by Robert J. Wilke as Cumberledge. Wilke appeared in about every television Western, including seven different Gunsmoke episodes, as well as several Western films. He often played heavies but was certainly capable of playing "good guys." His performance in Terence Malick's Days of Heaven is especially noteworthy. Wilke's weathered features and gravelly voice are perfect as a grizzled cattle man.
Ken Curtis provides one of his better performances as Festus Haggen as he offers more than comic relief or someone that simply hangs around the Dodge City Jail. In this episode, Festus is helpful and an important part of the story.
Forrest Tucker fills the John Charron role, and his more casual, matter-of-fact demeanor contrasts nicely with the seemingly tougher, rough-around-the-edges Cumberledge character.
This episode features a relatively large cast with familiar actors John Milford, Lew Brown, Robert Sampson, Brad Johnson, and Fred Coby. Many of the Dodge City regulars appear, including characters Louie Pheeters, Lathrop, and Halligan.
There are a few problems with this story, however. John Milford plays a menacing gunfighter named Blair Smith, but there seems to be no reason for his presence in the story, other than to kill time. The biggest problem is the story attempts to shift from an increasingly tense, problematic situation into a silly comedy with a trite, rushed ending.
Unlike Season 12's two-part finale "Nitro!" that lacks enough story to fill two episodes, this story seems hurried. Season 12's "Saturday Night" does a much better job at portraying the grueling nature of a cattle drive in a limited amount of time. Here, Cumberledge talks about the tough, arduous time he and his men have experienced, but there is nothing much in the story to support it. We are merely told Charron and Cumberledge are enemies. It would have been better to give us more reason to understand their animosity. The Blair Smith character would have been more menacing if he had done something other than look and talk threatening and push poor Lathrop around.
In the end, the premise is great. Two dueling, feuding cattle barons fighting over a herd is different than some of the tired tropes that tend to be overused in Westerns. However, the story itself does not give the idea the treatment it deserves.
