Gunsmoke: The Long Ride (1993)

James Arness is Matt Dillon, a rancher celebrating the marriage of his daughter Beth when two strangers show up.

They claim to be deputies out looking for the killer of Braxton, owner of a rich mine in the town of Golden.

Specifically, they’re looking for Matt Dillon, who was identified by a witness as the man leaving the scene of the killing.

Dillon’s willing to return to Golden to clear his name, but soon comes to suspect something’s wrong with the deputies bringing him in.

Indeed, they’ve been hired by Braxton Jr. (Don McManus), a man determined to avenge his father’s death.

Dillon shakes the deputies and returns to Golden on his own, determined to find the real killer or killers.

Beth (Amy Stock-Poynton) and her new husband Josh Riordan show up too, willing to do anything they can to help.

In his quest for the truth, Dillon encounters a preacher turned drifter named John Parsley (James Brolin) and a reformed whore known as Uncle Jane (Ali MacGraw), both of whom lend a hand.

Review:

The fourth of five Gunsmoke TV movies. The first aired in 1987, 12 years after Gunsmoke finished its 20-year run on TV (1955-1975).

This is the weakest so far, less action-packed and more predictable than its predecessors. There’s a twist in the plot, but you can see it coming from miles away.

Meanwhile, in trying to prove his innocence, Matt gets into a deadly gun battle with a posse and his daughter breaks into a lawyer’s office, finding an incriminating piece of evidence in a heartbeat.

Amy Stock-Poynton is back for her third turn as Matt’s stubborn daughter Beth. Gone is the ranch hand she was growing fond of in the third film, replaced by new husband Josh (Christopher Bradley) here.

Arness was on the cusp of 70 when the film was released just a couple weeks shy of his birthday. And producers finally let his hair turn gray.

Directed by:
Jerry Jameson

Cast:
James Arness … Matt Dillon
James Brolin … John Parsley
Amy Stock-Poynton … Beth Riordan
Christopher Bradley … Josh Riordan
Patrick Dollaghan … Deputy Monaghan
Don McManus … Braxton Jr.
Marco Sanchez … Collie Whitebird
Ali MacGraw … Uncle Jane Merkel
Tim Choate … Sheriff Bart Meriweather
Michael Greene … Ike Berry
Stewart Moss … Dr. Strader
Jim Beaver … Traveling blacksmith
Sharon Mahoney … Amanda Southwick
Rick Dano … Skeeter Padgett
Ed Adams .. Tebbel

Runtime: 94 min.

Memorable lines:

Matt Dillon, picking up Beth’s suitcase when she arrives in town: “My gosh, what do you have in here? Rocks?”
Beth: “Your guns and ammunition.”

Jane Merkel: “Trading fair and keeping my mouth shut is how I go on living out here, didn’t I tell you?”

John Parsley, trying to hold saloon patrons at bay with his shotgun: “Eighteen buckshot in each chamber, boys, makes for an ugly and oozy cadaver.”

Deputy Monaghan: “I’m gonna face-shoot you, Dillon. I’m gonna show you how it feels.”

Matt Dillon to the sheriff of Golden: “You know, where I come from, sheriff, that badge means one thing: You either do what needs to be done, or you take it off.”

Tim Choate as Sheriff Bart Meriweather, a lawman who knows Golden is Braxton’s town in Gunsmoke: The Long Ride (1993)

Michael Greene as Mike Berry, one of Matt’s witnesses, wary of sounds in the night in Gunsmoke: The Long Ride (1993)

Marco Sanchez as Collie Whitebird, Matt Dillon’s star witness in Gunsmoke: The Long Ride (1993)

James Arness as Matt Dillon, enjoying a family celebration when trouble surfaces in Gunsmoke: The Long Ride (1993)