User Reviews

An amoral drifter named Crego enjoys enticing people with little experience in gunfighting into a fight he knows he will win. He engineers the fights so he can either claim self-defense or leaves insufficient evidence for him to be charged with a crime. He also enjoys making his victims suffer and boasting about his exploits. In other words, Crego is a psychopath.

When Crego makes the mistake of establishing residence in Dodge City, Matt Dillon is faced with the challenge of finding some way of stopping the man within the bounds allowed by the law if possible.

Charles Bronson plays the Crego character in this episode. This was still quite early in Bronson's acting career, but he had already worked in several westerns and with a few notable directors. (Bronson had only recently changed his name from Buchinsky when he appeared in this role.)

James Nusser makes another of his not-Louie-Pheeters appearances in the opening scene of this episode. Nusser appeared seven times in the series before he started appearing as the Pheeters character.

Dabbs Greer appears for the first time in the Wilbur Jonas role as the proprietor of the General Store in Dodge. Greer appeared in eighty different episodes, but in two of those appearances, he played a character other than Wilbur Jonas.

There is an odd scene early in this episode where Chester Goode and Matt visit a fortune teller. Virginia Chapman, who was married to James Arness at the time, plays the fortune teller in a role that is not credited. The scene is odd because it has no relevance to the story. (This scene is absent from the radio version of this story, too.) The "Reed Survives" episode from earlier in the season included a credit for Virginia Chapman as "Gypsy," but she never appears in that episode. The inclusion of the scene here is puzzling. It gives the impression it was originally shot for some other purpose and used in this episode to fill time. (This scene is often removed by networks today to allow more time for advertisements.)

Matt and Chester engage in a brief, interesting conversation in the Long Branch Saloon about Crego's spurs. Chester remarks that Crego is wearing "California spurs." There were generally two types of spurs cowboys wore in the Old West. "California spurs" were larger and often more ornate. "Texas spurs" tended to be more utilitarian and heavier.

Robert Stevenson directed this episode. He had extensive experience directing films in the 1930s, '40s, and early '50s. With the increasing popularity of television, he directed several episodes of Gunsmoke and a few other television series before returning to films in the late 1950s when he started working for Walt Disney. He was nominated for Best Director by the Motion Picture Academy in 1965 for the movie Mary Poppins.

The moral dilemma presented by this episode is fascinating. Do the ends justify the means? Even if someone sworn to uphold the law thinks (or knows) they can save lives by breaking the law -- in this case murdering someone -- what are the ethical and moral implications? In this instance, there is no ambiguity. Crego admits he has killed and even boasts about it. Matt knows Crego will kill others unless he is stopped, but does that make it acceptable for Matt to murder him as he threatens to do?

There are many Gunsmoke episodes where a superb cast saves a weaker story. In this case, a compelling, though-provoking story is the highlight.

In this episode Matt is placed in a dilemma of following the rules of justice or taking matters into his own hands. Either way he knows that he must stop a man that enjoys killing. For the first time in the series Marshal Dillon using some questionable tactics trying to make Dodge and the world safer from killers like Crego.

Crego, played by Charles Bronson, is a gunslinger that tends to pick on the weak and the inexperienced. Like a shining billboard he goes around picking gunfights that he knows he will win and then claims self-defense when and where ever he kills a man. And since he does this either out on the prairie with no witnesses or in a city with many witnesses, he can always claim that he was defending himself as he prods the victim to draw.

Matt knows that Crego is a dangerous man. If something is not done then he will continue killing old men and innocent young boys. Even though Crego would never take a chance in a gunfight with someone that could actually kill him, Matt has to find a way to stop the onslaught of other victim even if it means placing himself in harms way.

Another great tale from the old west which is a pleasure to watch and relive. I found nothing wrong with the acting or the sets since I was absorbed in the story and was waiting for the next scene and action. The episode was entertaining to the very end. Good Watch.

Crego (Charles Bronson) is not so much a gunman as he is a serial killer, which is made pretty apparent in a poorly acted opening scene. He either kills by stealth or by goading less skilled gunmen into drawing contests they can't win. In short, the guy's a real menace

Bronson's role here requires he go through several mood changes that show-- all in all-- why he needed to stick to the deadpan squinty-eyed parts that became his trademark. He's simply not good at sniveling or grinning. What is notable here is how Dillon deals with the threat. If he waits to catch him in a crime, no telling how many more Crego will kill. Thus, the law is working against the public good, which makes for an interesting dilemma that Matt must work through. Consider how he does deal with it and whether his solution successfully solves the moral conundrum. Also noteworthy-- the staging of this episode strikes me as unusually poor, particularly the scene with Matt and Chester at the saloon doorway. Their close-up emphasizes the phony cardboard backdrop of Front Street, which is peripherally visible in most episodes where interiors were filmed on a sound stage. But rarely did filming make this cost-cutter so obvious.

I set up my DVD to record Charles Bronson and this was the first thing it recorded. This is good for Bronson's career as he is the head evil guy not a henchmen like in most if not all of his prior roles up to 1955. I imagine it was a pretty wild ride in 1955 but it comes across ridiculously staged even compared to Westerns a couple of years later like Lawman, and even Gunsmoke in 1957. Worth watching to see Bronson against Arness. Arness towers over Bronson (and he's not a Tom Cruise small guy). I can't say I'm totally familiar with the show like most commenting here as I only watched a few hour long episodes in my life (I watched a lot of Bonanza). They were also all with Festus, not Chester. I noticed Chester walks with a limp and doesn't carry a badge or a gun. I guess those things came along later in the series, if at all. As a newbie to early Gunsmoke, I am guessing he was wounded during the civil war and it effected his head and his leg. He played a slightly similar timid character in Orson Wells Touch of Evil. I also noticed as mentioned in another review the really fake exterior town view from inside the saloon. The production values are much lower then the color episodes later on. 6 out of 10. I'm not crazy about the writing, but its certainly action packed and great to watch Bronson as his early acting career progresses.