Season 18 of Gunsmoke begins with a bang as the producers make every effort to impress with a location shoot along Oregon's Rogue River featuring expensive helicopter and crane shots and a large cast of guest characters.
One notable difference with the first show of this season is a change to the show opening. In recent past seasons, the show had started with a short scene showing Matt Dillon riding his horse hard (the scene is from the Season 14 finale, "Nitro, Part 2"). This was followed by a dramatic scene establishing the foundation for the rest of the story. The longer opening credits would then play introducing the main cast.
Beginning with Season 18, the show opens with the longer opening that had been included after the establishing scene in the previous seasons. The scene with Matt riding the horse and the initial establishing scene have been eliminated.
This story begins with Marshal Matt Dillon on the run. He is shackled to a man, and he is carrying saddlebags containing $24,000, which was stolen from four banks by a notorious outlaw named Charlie Utter. Utter and his men are chasing the Marshal. The pursuers soon shoot and kill the Marshal's prisoner. Matt removes the shackles and leaves the dead man behind. Everyone is running along cliffs overlooking a river. To escape, Matt makes a daring leap from a high cliff into the water below.
Matt is able to float and swim for some time. He is found barely clinging to consciousness by two kids on a raft. On board the raft, Matt loses consciousness, and Hannah and Tuttle Kincaid -- the two youngsters -- discover the man on the raft is a U. S. Marshal. They also find the saddlebags containing the money.
Marshal Dillon soon regains consciousness. He learns Hannah and Tuttle are orphan runaways. They tell Matt about their plan to join a river pirate named Joe Snagg. Hannah is a caring, conscientious young lady, but Tuttle is more of a shrewd Huckleberry Finn type who possesses a knack for getting into trouble.
Matt and the kids finally arrive at a makeshift encampment along the banks of the river. Matt leaves the kids to watch the raft while he goes to the General Store for some supplies, but Tuttle talks Hannah into exploring the area. The place is filled with prostitutes and people running crooked gambling services, along with miners and trappers readily taking advantage of the opportunities available.
It does not take long for Tuttle and Hannah to get into all kinds of trouble as they take advantage of a woman named Paulette Duvalier who is running a dishonest roulette game. Matt finds his own problems when he stops the lynching of a trap thief named Pierre Audubon. (The viewer will soon learn Pierre and Paulette are a couple.)
While the encampment erupts into chaos, Utter and his gang arrive to add to the excitement.
The part of Charlie Utter is played by Slim Pickens. The always-memorable actor had appeared in three previous Gunsmoke episodes. This two-part episode represents his last role in the series.
Jack Elam also makes his final Gunsmoke appearance in this episode. He plays the character Pierre Audubon. Elam and Pickens would both be cast later in the television mini-series The Sacketts, which was directed by frequent Gunsmoke director and occasional actor Robert Totten.
This story features Miriam Colon, who is certainly no stranger to Gunsmoke fans. Colon plays the Paulette Duvalier character.
Clay O'Brien and Patti Cohoon (later Cohoon-Friedman) portray the two children in this story. O'Brien played the Hardy Fimps character in the film The Cowboys with John Wayne. His acting career was quite short-lived, but he has enjoyed an extremely successful career as a rodeo performer and a Team-Roping champion. O'Brien does return as a different character for a second episode in Season 19. Cohoon had appeared in two Season 17 episodes and would appear again later in Season 18 and in one Season 19 episode.
Several other smaller parts are played by actors with some history of appearing on Gunsmoke. Roger Torrey plays a trapper with the interesting name of Finn MacCool that is intent on lynching Audubon. Stunt man Jerry Gatlin makes an appearance as one of Utter's gang. Jack Perkins appears as a drunk character, something he does in several other episodes. Don Megowan portrays a gambler who becomes furious when he learns he has been cheated at the roulette wheel. Pete Kellett, who was one of the kings of uncredited roles, makes another of his whopping sixty-three Gunsmoke appearances. He plays the character known as Hodad in this story.
As is often the case with two-part episodes, this first half spends most of the time laying the foundation for the second half. The characters played by Miriam Colon and Jack Elam are introduced toward the end of the episode.
One notable difference with the first show of this season is a change to the show opening. In recent past seasons, the show had started with a short scene showing Matt Dillon riding his horse hard (the scene is from the Season 14 finale, "Nitro, Part 2"). This was followed by a dramatic scene establishing the foundation for the rest of the story. The longer opening credits would then play introducing the main cast.
Beginning with Season 18, the show opens with the longer opening that had been included after the establishing scene in the previous seasons. The scene with Matt riding the horse and the initial establishing scene have been eliminated.
This story begins with Marshal Matt Dillon on the run. He is shackled to a man, and he is carrying saddlebags containing $24,000, which was stolen from four banks by a notorious outlaw named Charlie Utter. Utter and his men are chasing the Marshal. The pursuers soon shoot and kill the Marshal's prisoner. Matt removes the shackles and leaves the dead man behind. Everyone is running along cliffs overlooking a river. To escape, Matt makes a daring leap from a high cliff into the water below.
Matt is able to float and swim for some time. He is found barely clinging to consciousness by two kids on a raft. On board the raft, Matt loses consciousness, and Hannah and Tuttle Kincaid -- the two youngsters -- discover the man on the raft is a U. S. Marshal. They also find the saddlebags containing the money.
Marshal Dillon soon regains consciousness. He learns Hannah and Tuttle are orphan runaways. They tell Matt about their plan to join a river pirate named Joe Snagg. Hannah is a caring, conscientious young lady, but Tuttle is more of a shrewd Huckleberry Finn type who possesses a knack for getting into trouble.
Matt and the kids finally arrive at a makeshift encampment along the banks of the river. Matt leaves the kids to watch the raft while he goes to the General Store for some supplies, but Tuttle talks Hannah into exploring the area. The place is filled with prostitutes and people running crooked gambling services, along with miners and trappers readily taking advantage of the opportunities available.
It does not take long for Tuttle and Hannah to get into all kinds of trouble as they take advantage of a woman named Paulette Duvalier who is running a dishonest roulette game. Matt finds his own problems when he stops the lynching of a trap thief named Pierre Audubon. (The viewer will soon learn Pierre and Paulette are a couple.)
While the encampment erupts into chaos, Utter and his gang arrive to add to the excitement.
The part of Charlie Utter is played by Slim Pickens. The always-memorable actor had appeared in three previous Gunsmoke episodes. This two-part episode represents his last role in the series.
Jack Elam also makes his final Gunsmoke appearance in this episode. He plays the character Pierre Audubon. Elam and Pickens would both be cast later in the television mini-series The Sacketts, which was directed by frequent Gunsmoke director and occasional actor Robert Totten.
This story features Miriam Colon, who is certainly no stranger to Gunsmoke fans. Colon plays the Paulette Duvalier character.
Clay O'Brien and Patti Cohoon (later Cohoon-Friedman) portray the two children in this story. O'Brien played the Hardy Fimps character in the film The Cowboys with John Wayne. His acting career was quite short-lived, but he has enjoyed an extremely successful career as a rodeo performer and a Team-Roping champion. O'Brien does return as a different character for a second episode in Season 19. Cohoon had appeared in two Season 17 episodes and would appear again later in Season 18 and in one Season 19 episode.
Several other smaller parts are played by actors with some history of appearing on Gunsmoke. Roger Torrey plays a trapper with the interesting name of Finn MacCool that is intent on lynching Audubon. Stunt man Jerry Gatlin makes an appearance as one of Utter's gang. Jack Perkins appears as a drunk character, something he does in several other episodes. Don Megowan portrays a gambler who becomes furious when he learns he has been cheated at the roulette wheel. Pete Kellett, who was one of the kings of uncredited roles, makes another of his whopping sixty-three Gunsmoke appearances. He plays the character known as Hodad in this story.
As is often the case with two-part episodes, this first half spends most of the time laying the foundation for the second half. The characters played by Miriam Colon and Jack Elam are introduced toward the end of the episode.
