Young Billy Johnson comes to Dodge City to visit his father. Billy's father has been sending Billy letters postmarked from Dodge City on an annual basis. Billy has been attending boarding school, but he has grown disillusioned with school, and he longs to see his father.
Billy thinks his father's name is Will Johnson. He does not know his father is the notorious outlaw Bill Roberts. Roberts is wanted for cattle rustling and murder in several states. When Billy shows Matt Dillon a picture of his Dad, the Marshal instantly recognizes Roberts.
Matt and Festus Haggen do everything they can to keep Billy from finding out his father is a wanted man. Since they allow Billy to hang around the Dodge City jail, it is only a matter of time until Billy discovers the truth. When the outlaw father gets word his son has come to Dodge City, he attempts a clandestine meeting at Ma Smalley's Board House where the boy is staying. The meeting gives Matt the opportunity to arrest Roberts.
The remainder of the episode addresses Billy's conflicted feelings between his loyalty to his father and his friendship with Matt and Festus, while Roberts is conflicted with wanting to be with his son and the dawning realization that it is not in Billy's best interest.
Normally, the Gunsmoke casting is outstanding, but the main characters in this tale are poorly cast, poorly written, and poorly directed. The role of Billy is played by actor Eddie Hodges who, as others have pointed out, was nearly 20 years old when this episode was shot. Of course, it is not unusual for Hollywood to use actors to play much younger roles, but Hodges looks more like a young adult than a kid. The scenes where he attempts to portray immaturity and naivete are awkward and lack believability.
John Anderson, who is normally great in everything he does, plays the outlaw Bill Roberts in this story. Roberts is supposed to be a hardened, calloused killer and thief, but he comes across as a somewhat sympathetic, pitiable character here, especially at the end of the story. (I think Anderson is perfectly capable of playing a tough criminal. It just doesn't happen here.)
However, I do think Bing Russell's performance as one of the Roberts gang is notable. His character's callous disregard for everyone that interferes with what he wants makes it easy to believe he is a notorious outlaw. We needed more of that demeanor from Bill Roberts. This is one of Russell's eight Gunsmoke appearances.
It isn't often the casting and performances are a problem with this series. In fact, there are many episodes where an otherwise mediocre story is lifted by excellent acting. Unfortunately, this is one of those outlier episodes where the overall execution is not up to the usual standards of excellence.
