User Reviews

I normally try to avoid spoilers, but it is not possible to write about this episode in detail without revealing some important plot details. We are approaching fifty years since the last episode of Gunsmoke aired, and I would imagine most people that read the reviews on IMDB have seen the episode at some point. (It is my sincere hope younger generations will discover and learn to appreciate the series.)

Trail boss Will Parmalee and his two trail hands Quincy and Doak Noonan are in Dodge City following a long cattle drive. They have been paid, and they have chosen to blow off some steam at the Bull's Head Saloon. The men get drunk, and they get into a fight with some railroad men. (I have often wondered if the scene is set in the Bull's Head Saloon to avoid addressing the absence of Kitty Russell at the Long Branch.)

This is not just some arbitrary, alcohol-induced brawl. The ability to transport cattle by train is more efficient and safer than herding the cattle over long distances. With the proliferation of rail westward, the need for teams of drovers that work for "thirty a month and found" is diminishing.

The drover life is the only thing Parmalee knows. He can see the handwriting on the wall, and he knows finding steady work will become increasingly difficult. The first bit of symbolism in this story involves Parmalee picking a fight with a railroad representative.

Matt Dillon puts Parmalee, Quincy, and Doak in jail so they can sober up. He releases the hungover men the next morning. The men all discover the money they had the night before is now missing. The answer may be as simple as they spent the money during their exploits. The men were carelessly spending during the revelry. But Parmalee is convinced most of the money was stolen. When he and his partners visit Bull at the saloon and demand their money, Bull argues he bears no responsibility for their loss. As the argument grows more heated, the drovers grab the cash box, Bull pulls out his rifle, and Quincy shoots Bull, which results in a minor wound to the saloon owner.

Parmalee, Quincy and Doak ride away on their horses. Matt and Festus Haggen run to the saloon and find Bull with his injury and learn the cowboys stole the cash box which contained $12. The Marshal has little interest in going after Parmalee and his men over such a small amount of money and the minor injury to Bull, but Bull wants to press charges. Matt has no choice but to pursue the trio.

This will lead to a long chain of events where Parmalee and his partners continue to make unwise decisions that lead to disastrous results.

Another outstanding cast graces this Gunsmoke episode. Gene Evans portrays Will Parmalee in what was the last of ten Gunsmoke appearances for Evans. Not every episode that featured Evans was a great episode, but his performance was always excellent.

Actor Nicholas Hammond fills the Doak Noonan part in the story. Hammond had previously appeared in a prominent role as the character Britt in the two-part episode "Women for Sale" that started Season 19. Classic television fans may remember Hammond as the character Doug Simpson in the episode of The Brady Bunch where Marcia Brady is hit in the nose with a football. Hammond's character subsequently breaks his date with Marcia after he sees her swollen, bruised nose. Hammond's most recognizable role was as Peter Parker/Spider-Man in the late 1970's television series The Amazing Spider-Man.

It is worth noting Hammond also portrayed actor/director Sam Wanamaker in Quentin Tarantino's 2019 film "One Upon a Time... In Hollywood." In that film, Hammond's character is directing an episode of the series Lancer. In real life, Wanamaker did indeed direct the first episode of the Lancer television series. Gunsmoke fans may remember a heavily bearded Wanamaker from Season 11's "Parson Comes to Town" where he stars as the mysterious character Asa Longworth who is looking for the man who killed his brother. This may be the only instance of one Gunsmoke guest star playing another Gunsmoke guest star in a film.

Another actor who played a television superhero appears in this episode. Actor Van Williams, whose most famous role was as Britt Reid/The Green Hornet in The Green Hornet series, plays Parmalee's drover partner Quincy. This is the only Gunsmoke appearance for Williams.

Character actor Ford Rainey appears in a couple of scenes in this episode as the storekeeper in the town of North Fork. Rainey was close friends with Woodrow Chambliss, who portrayed Mr. Lathrop on Gunsmoke.

Victor Izay played the character Bull, who owns the Bull's Head Saloon, in ten different Gunsmoke episodes. This is his last appearance in the series. Izay also played a bartender in one episode of Sam Peckinpah's short-lived series The Westerner. Peckinpah cast Izay in small parts in his films Ride the High Country and The Ballad of Cable Hogue.

David Brian makes his third and final Gunsmoke appearance here. He plays a rancher named Tait Cavanaugh in this story.

Actor Hal Baylor often played villains and tough guys in television dramas. He appeared in seven different Gunsmoke episodes going all the way back to Season 1's "Hack Prine." His appearance here as the railroad man who has the altercation with Parmalee in the saloon makes him one of the few actors -- and (maybe?) the only guest actor -- to appear in both the first and last seasons of Gunsmoke.

I rarely comment on other reviews, but it is warranted in this case. Another reviewer noted the similarity of this story to the debut episode of a short-lived series titled Outlaws that ran for two seasons on NBC from 1960 - 1962. The episode starred actors Gunsmoke fans would quickly recognize: Steve Forrest, Robert Culp, Warren Oates, Dub Taylor, and Howard McNear, among others.

The writer of this episode of Gunsmoke, Jim Byrnes, may very well have seen that episode of Outlaws. The similarities between this episode and the episode of the other series are uncanny.

The Outlaws story opens with the trail boss of the cowboys standing in pouring rain speaking words over the grave of a drover who was killed in a stampede. Except for the rain, the scene is almost identical to the Gunsmoke scene.

In both stories, the men are paid at the end of the cattle drive. However, in Outlaws, the trail boss, Rance Hollister, has been judiciously, sacrificially saving every penny he could for ten years and countless trail drives to purchase some land he desperately wants. The other drovers accompanying Hollister go to the saloon and get drunk, but Hollister does not allow himself such indulgences.

When Hollister goes to the bank to withdraw his money to pay for the land, he learns the bank is closed. The $4,000 he had on deposit there is gone. All the bank funds were stolen by a bank employee, and the banker is long gone. This part of the plot of the Outlaws story is different than the Gunsmoke story, but it leads to comparable results.

Understandably furious over his loss, Hollister decides he will rob a train and get the money he feels he is owed. The other trail hands admire Hollister and agree to assist -- not for personal gain -- but out of loyalty to their boss. The men are great drovers but awful thieves, and the results of their criminal endeavors are disastrous with all but one of the men -- and at least one other man not otherwise affiliated with the drovers -- dead.

The overarching themes of the two episodes from the two different series are completely different, however. The Gunsmoke story deals more with the impact of technological advancements on society. Post Civil War America was a time of great upheaval as people moved west, railway expansion offered improved efficiency, and men like Will Parmalee found their way of life obsolete. The Outlaws story focuses more on the injustice of the bank closure and the impact on Hollister.

(For a more thorough, extremely fictionalized treatment of the effects of railway expansion into the Western United States, see Sergio Leone's masterpiece Once Upon a Time in the West.)

Both Hollister and Parmalee are driven by terrible decisions and take actions that are out of character for who they are. The circumstances of both are presented in a manner that should cause the viewer to be sympathetic to their situations. In both stories, characters are seriously injured and killed because of the actions taken. In the Outlaws story, the character Billy, as portrayed by Warren Oates, is shot, and travels a long distance in serious pain. In the Gunsmoke story, it is the character Quincy who is shot and is forced to try to ride a horse in agony.

Did Jim Byrnes know about the episode of Outlaws? I would guess he did, and I would think it influenced this story on some level. Writers borrowed themes and stories from other series -- and in the case of Gunsmoke, from the same series -- all the time. This story does not rise to the level of plagiarism by any means, but the similarities seem to go beyond coincidence.

My one minor complaint with this Gunsmoke story is the way it ends. It is difficult to imagine someone choosing to die by being trampled to death by a herd of cattle. But then to make it sound as though it was somehow noble by adding the commentary at the end always makes me want to roll my eyes.

Is this the best episode of the series as some contend? Not in my opinion. James Arness and Ken Curtis are featured throughout the story, but they are relegated to reactions and observations. They are only key to the story because their pursuit keeps pushing Parmalee and his partners to continue running. The similarities to the obscure episode of Outlaws also calls the originality of the story into question. This episode is great television and highly recommended, though.

"Thirty a Month and Found" is among the rarest of the rare -- a TV episode actually worth watching more than once. (It's a shame it wasn't made into a theatrical film.) Some consider it /the best/ "Gunsmoke" episode, and I won't dispute that.

I normally don't discuss plots in any depth, but this episode needs and deserves it. It begins with a burial of a trail hand killed in a stampede. The date on the marker is 1873, * not long before most cattle would be shipped on trains, and Dodge's glory days -- and those of the trail hands -- would be over. The hands take his passing seriously, even though they knew him only a short time -- he was "one of us".

The drover is Will Parmalee (Gene Evans, in arguably his best performance). His companions are Doak Noonan, a likable greenhorn (Nicholas Hammond), and Quincy (Van Williams), Will's friend of many years' standing. We see they're basically friendly, good-hearted people. (This is consistent with the historic record of cowboys, who (at worst) were rowdy sensualists.) We like them.

Things start going wrong when Will gets into an argument with a railroad man about how much he hates the railroads and the people who run them. Will & Co. get involved in multiple fights, with Matt dragging them off to jail for their own safety.

Next morning, they find almost all their money is gone. Will -- still steamed over his recognition that their careers are nearly over, and there's nothing else for them to do -- figures they were robbed at the last saloon they attended.

They accuse the owner of shady dealings, but he tells them they went crazy and spent all their money. (He doesn't seem to be lying, but it's hard to believe they could have gone through $250 in one night.) Will doesn't believe this and takes the bar's cashbox (which turns out to contain only $12). Having known and respected Will for 20 years, Matt is unwilling to believe this small robbery (and the minor bullet wound the bar's owner received) is a serious problem, but the bar owner swears out a complaint, obliging Matt and Festus to chase after the hands.

Will, et al., decide to run for Texas, where Matt can't easily follow. Doak insists on seeing his sweetheart first, and they make a detour to her town. While Doak is romancing her, Will and Quincy try to buy supplies from a cranky shopkeeper (Ford Rainey). $12 doesn't cover what they need, and he won't sell on credit. Will decides they should simply take what they need -- and they do, with Quincy stuffing the $12 in the shopkeeper's pocket, saying (sincerely) "We'll send the rest by mail". (Matt later finds the $12 on the shopkeeper's body, and understands its significance.)

A gunfight ensues with Doak and the shopkeeper killed, and Quincy badly wounded. Will urges Quincy along, trying to convince him they'll find help. Van William's performance is notable, because Quincy isn't just in pain -- he's terribly afraid of dying. After falling from his horse, Will tries to buck him up, telling him about the nice piece of land he owns, where they'll settle down after Quincy recovers. But Quincy dies.

(Over the past few years I've lost all but one of my close friends. I can't begin to describe how this scene affects me.)

When Matt and Festus show up, Will announces he intends to die like a cowhand, riding leather. He gallops into a herd of cattle and leaps from his horse, to be trampled to death. Matt and Festus bury him next to Quincy, Festus remarking "They was about as close as two fellas could be."

"Gunsmoke" was designed to tell "the truth" about the West, and this elegiac episode -- which won the Silver Spur and Writer's Guild awards -- does it exceptionally well. Don't miss it.

* "Gunsmoke" has no coherent chronology -- other than equating one TV season to one year of "real life". (This is revealed when characters state how long they've lived in Dodge.) One of the earliest episodes (2.3, "Custer") is obviously set in 1875, yet "Thirty a Month and Found" is explicitly set in 1873.

The show opens with a trail boss speaking words over the grave of a trail hand crushed to death in a stampede. They don't know much about him, just that he was a good hand. After reaching the end of the cattle drive, the trail boss and his devoted hands retire to a saloon where they squander their wages and provoke a brawl that lands them in jail. Hard earned money is gone, and the trail hands are determined to take what they believe is theirs by stealing it. Outlaws on the run now, one of the band takes a shotgun blast to the gut from a storekeeper they bullied. They head south, where their leader has good land with water running through it. The wounded man is dying, but his dearest friend is in denial, insisting he'll pull through, but he doesn't. The lawmen trailing them are riding up now, and the show closes with words being spoken over two graves.

That's the plot summary for "Thirty a Month," the first episode of a little-known 1960-62 Western series called OUTLAWS. I suspect it was well known to Jim Byrnes, however, writer of "Thirty a Month and Found," the GUNSMOKE episode that was either an homage, remake, or rip-off of Carey Wilber's original script. Wilber is not credited as author of the original story on GUNSMOKE, so I'm fearing the latter and the worst.

The OUTLAWS episode features Steve Forrest as the trail boss turned outlaw and Robert Culp, Warren Oates, and Garry Walberg as the loyal trail hands who become accidental outlaws. The parallels are striking and exceed the possibilities of coincidence. GUNSMOKE veers from the OUTLAWS story in its heavy handed (one could argue ham-fisted) elegiac theme and by adding the ill-fated young love subplot. The two stories even share the simmering resentment towards the railroad.

Setting aside the similarities, the GUNSMOKE episode suffers its own share of shortcomings. First, in characterization. I agreed with the bartender that Marshal Dillon was letting his friendship with Will Parmalee cloud his commitment to justice. Would Matt have laughed and joked about a barroom brawl provoked by strangers who rode into Dodge and did what Parmalee, Quincy, and Doak did the night before? Matt and Festus discouraging the bartender from pursuing the case flirted with dereliction of duty (So they trashed your bar and roughed you up. They only stole twelve dollars and after all you fired at them first. Isn't this just a "misunderstanding"?). Yes, Matt and Festus dutifully hit the trail, but as we see them saunter along they make it clear their heart just isn't in the pursuit.

Meanwhile Parmalee and his hands visit the ranch of Tait Cavanaugh, another old friend of Parmalee's. The extended scene with Cavanaugh was a highlight, even though one can hear Byrnes' typewriter clacking in the background as Cavanaugh eloquently declares the decline of the Old West and details the many changes forcing old-school cattlemen like himself to compromise and adapt. His warning to his old friend that the cattle drives are coming to an end can't penetrate Parmalee's calloused and hidebound mind. Tragically, Cavanaugh's sage counsel to young Doak also falls upon deaf ears.

Was the audience supposed to sympathize with Parmalee, Quincy, and Doak? This episode was produced in the wake of popular outlaw-as-folk-hero films like BONNIE AND CLYDE and BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID. If such was the intention, it failed. Parmalee especially was unlikable, from provoking a fight with a railroad engineer to bullying the bartender and later the storekeeper. His outsized ego drove him to endanger his friends. When the storekeeper reasonably requests to see the money necessary to cover the laundry list of costly supplies, Parmalee's pride is bruised and rears up. He accuses the storekeeper of judging him, looking down his nose at him. Well, the fact was Parmalee and Quincy were indeed fully intending to steal all those supplies by vastly underpaying for them with the measly twelve dollars they stole in Dodge. A hastily made assurance that they'll mail the storekeeper the balance of the bill doesn't make it any less theft.

Parmalee's hold over Doak rivaled that of Svengali over hapless Trilby. Why would Doak prefer tramping around with a pair of aging cowpokes when he had before him the prospect of a beautiful wife and a fulfilling life? I was reminded for a fleeting moment of the 1968 Charlton Heston Western WILL PENNY, but Doak was too young to be entrenched in his ways. Perhaps the alluring (albeit empty) promise of adventure sparked the impetuous Doak to break free from the embrace of his fiancée without even saying goodbye in order to chase after Parmalee and Quincy?

Interestingly, it was actually Doak's idea to detour from Parmalee's planned path. Doak cajoled the others into visiting North Fork so he could see his fiancée. One could argue Katherine was a Siren drawing men off course to their dooms, as the outlaw band was in fact doomed when they left North Fork. I wonder too about the saloon tramp who sparked the barroom brawl that precipitated all the episode's events: Delilah, who as the story of Samson testifies, brought nothing but trouble to the man who fell under her spell.

The climax is telegraphed and was perhaps inevitable. Having Parmalee literally run over by a conveniently passing stampede as a means of indicating he was run over by a changing world that no longer had a need for him, implying that those who can't adapt to changing times will be trampled underfoot by relentless progress, hovered somewhere between the clichéd and the cornball.

The striking similarity in episode titles and stories suggests Byrnes intended this as an homage. But one without attribution? I recommend watching and weighing the original OUTLAWS episode "Thirty a Month" and deciding for yourself whether this was an homage, remake or rip-off.