Hung High

Much great dramatic TV here...an episode that seems like a real epic, packed into 50 minutes. Excellent direction and cinematography, and the CAST is one of the biggest and most entertaining in Gunsmoke history. I wish the two good guys that George rounds up in the final saloon scenes had received screen credit, as well as the guy that Scott Marlowe insults and fights in the earlier scenes.

I hate to be too picky, but I also wish the make-up dept. Could come up with fake mustaches that aren't so obviously fake (Harold Stone and Robert Culp).

BUT those are minor issues; the episode is VERY impressive..hard-hitting, gritty, unyielding in its portrayal of the dark, dangerous, sinister men that surround Matt Dillon on a daily basis. And after his harrowing encounter with the gang of thugs, Matt arrives in the town (is it Hays City?) and meets a charming, curious little busy-body named George..a friend in need who helps Matt deal with his desperate situation. Elisha Cook, Jr really delivers in this role; he's really quite amazing to watch..a real old pro.

BUT...the pace and tension slacken in these final scenes; there's too much time spent with Matt, George and their hard-boiled eggs...very whimsical, I realize (complete with the chirpy music cues that seem WAY out of place in this dark drama)...but the PACE suffers, as we watch too-lengthy scenes with Culp, Goober, and Conrad sitting around the saloon drinking and laughing, etc. I kept WAITING for something to happen to maintain the story's great pace and tension, which slackens up JUST when the script really needs to tighten the screws (eg: it took FOREVER for the cavalry officer outside to walk into the saloon to see what was happening, RIGHT at the moment when we were losing the intensity of the final encounter; bad editing decision..but then, there wasn't much of interest going on INSIDE the saloon.

The final action was OK (a too-obvious stunt double for Culp; I bet he could have done the fight himself), and a "what-ever-happened-to-Sgt. Ed Asner?" finale (I would have liked to have seen a reconciliation of sorts between him and Matt) definitely detract from the effectiveness of the ending.

I also would liked to have seen a much stronger resolution with the two guys that George brought in..they were the ones who REALLY saved the day, by pushing back against Asner and allowing Matt to make his case to the witnesses.

These crucial final scenes needed more thought and some re-writing, and they really affect the overall show in a negative way. Too bad, since the rest of the episode is so strong. LR.

Great unforeseeable developments Along the journey on this one - a "must watch!"

Many stars in this one. Culp, Asner and "Goober" as bad guys. Elisha Cook as an all-knowing and observant "George," a variant of "Icepick" in Magnum as a go to guy for information. In the final action scene, Matt fends off all the bad guys without a gun.

At one point, the sergeant (Asner) orders his troopers to shoot escaped "prisoner" Dillon on sight. In the final scene, the sergeant does see Dillon but there are too many witnesses. To survive with no money and no gun, Dillon relies on George, the town drunk, played by Elisha Cook, who plays a more compassionate character than in Maltese Falcon and Magnum. An interesting morality moment in which two honest townpeople, gathered up by George, turn things around. Definitely not "High Noon." This episode "Hung High" came out five years before "Hang 'em High."

Rather than review this episode (it's been done thoroughly), I would like to state that Hung High has one of the best casts to grace the screen during Gunsmoke's 20yr run.

Six of the guest stars are very well-known, with a couple of others who are lesser known, but nevertheless have their place in pop culture as well.

1- Edward Asner (Mary Tyler Moore Show, Lou Grant, Up)

2- Robert Culp (I Spy, Greatest American Hero)

3- George Lindsey (Andy Griffith Show, Hee Haw)

4- Elisha Cook, Jr. (Star Trek TOS, Magnum PI, and a gazillion others)

5- Michael Conrad (Hill Street Blues

6- Harold J. Stone (I remember him from Bridget Loves Birney, but the man was darned prolific)

Also, a couple of others to note:

7- Steven Marlo (in Star Trek TOS, A Piece of the Action, he was the gangster Kirk conned with the fake card game "Fizbin")

8- Arthur Peterson ( The Major in SOAP)

IMO this would likely be one of the greatest casts of the series, if not THE greatest.

Harold J. Stone, who appeared on Gunsmoke seven times, plays a marshal who is visiting Dodge City after he retires. Along comes drunken slimeball Serpa, played by Scott Marlowe. Scott Marlowe appeared on Gunsmoke four times. Marlowe shoots Stone in the back, because he wants to kill a cop. Serpa gets caught by Dillon the very next day.

Serpa is tried, convicted, and sentenced to hang. Why they did not execute criminals in Dodge City is something I never understood. Considering the crime rate in Dodge, it would have been easier to hang convicts there, than to take the two day ride to Hays City.

On the way to Hays City, Dillon runs into Robert Culp. Culp had played a Texas Ranger on the TV series Trackdown (1957-1959). This is his only appearance on Gunsmoke, a few years before he co-starred on I Spy (1965-1968).

Culp has Michael Conrad with him, who is best known as Sgt. Esterhaus on Hill Street Blues from 1981-1984. Conrad died in 1983. George Lindsay, who is best known as Goober, on the Andy Griffith Show, was also on board as a member of the gang.

The three of them catch Dillon by surprise, knock him out, and pour whiskey all over him. Then they hang Serpa, who was part of their gang, for creating so much trouble for the gang. They want Dillon to get blamed for lynching Serpa, when the cavalry finds him.

Along comes sullen Ed Asner, the drunken Sergeant that Matt Dillon had arrested at the very beginning of this episode. Now he is on patrol with his cavalry detail, and he immediately sees his chance to get revenge.

Dillon is arrested, and Asner's goal is to find a way to kill Dillon on the way back to Fort Dodge. From the first scene, until the end, mean Ed Asner is asking for some bullets in his fat guts.

Everything is going wrong, but Matt Dillon never gives up. Dillon escapes during the night, and Asner tells his squad of soldiers to shoot Dillon on sight. He is to be killed as a common fugitive.

Dillon gets to a local town, and finds an ally in the town bum, played by Elisha Cook, Jr. At that point, things seemed to go from bad to worse. Can the town drunk help Dillon against the U. S. Army and a gang of outlaws? This episode has some creative twists, and some good gun-fights too.