User Reviews

The very dependable actor Robert F Simon plays the title character, who's entire life and career is tied up in the vast land acreage that he acquired back in the days before Dodge City was even built. So there's an element of the "legendary" past (sort of) that is symbolized by a painting that hangs in the Long Branch saloon...and Jonah is definitely still living in that past.

Well-written relationship between the tough old guy (who's also prone to violence, unfortunately), his practical, "real-world" son, played by the always excellent Richard Anderson, and HIS three sons (no...that's a different show...), who are "conflicted" in their sense of family duty; do they follow Gramps in his domineering, aggressive ways, or obey their much more passive dad?

And, as always, Big Matt Dillon is hovering over all of this, dispensing his wise advice in an attempt to avoid what threatens to become a disastrous, violent situation between Jonah and his fellow homesteaders.

The show lags in its opening scenes, but ultimately regains its pace.

Again, it's an unusual story..mostly low-key and rather introspective.. that centers around the personal relationship of 3 generations of the Hutchinson guys. Nice (but brief) speech by Matt at the very end. LR.

PS--- What's with the make-up on Robert Simon in his first scene (arriving in Dodge)? Looks like the make-up dept did some sort of "age" thing on his face, highlighting the temples, cheekbones, etc, presumably to make his eyes and cheeks look more sunken. It's definitely there, but the next time we see him...on the way to his ranch driving the wagon...the weird make-up is GONE, thankfully. Somebody probably looked at the early rushes and said "what the hell is THAT supposed to be?" Cancel it!

Robert F. Simon was on Gunsmoke seven times, playing the same role of the crabby, nasty, bigoted,vile old man. He seemed to have that role trademarked as it was his bread and butter role and mostly why he was ever on any episode of any TV series.

Here he plays some lowlife that just got out of prison after 30 years because he was the mastermind of what amounted to a massacre of nesters. During that time, his only surviving son (the other four were killed in the massacre) has sold various parcels of land to the nesters.

Simon immediately degrades his only living son in front of his grandsons, and commandeers his three grandsons as his personal slaves so he can ride around bullying people. I never liked Simon, and even less this character.

The son is played by Richard Anderson, who often played gunslingers. I thought Anderson would beat up his creepy Dad (Simon) when he was disrespected, but that would have been the end of the episode. Instead, Anderson, the townspeople, and the nester neighbors take lots of verbal abuse and threats from the vicious blowhard, Robert Simon.

At the finale, Simon has set up to ambush his neighbors with the help of his three grandchildren. It just seemed like this episode kept diving lower and lower. Robert Simon was not destined to win any "Grandfather of the Year" awards. Fortunately Richard Anderson finally intervenes to straighten out his children, and Matt Dillon does the rest.

No matter how bad this episode was (thanks to Robert Simon), it is always a good day when a nasty guy gets a bullet in the guts. Sometimes there really is a light at the end of the tunnel.