Gunsmoke: To the Last Man (1992)

James Arness once again reprises his role as Matt Dillon, a former lawman now turned rancher who’s just buried the mother of his only child.

More trouble is brewing. A group of young ruffians have just killed two of his hands and rustled 100 of his cattle.

Matt sets out in pursuit of the guilty and soon finds himself embroiled in the Pleasant Valley War between the Tewksburys and the Grahams.

Fearful for her dad’s life, Beth Dillon (Amy Stock-Poynton) hops off a train taking her to college and trails her father, with ranch hand Will McCall in tow.

They find themselves in a valley where lynchings are common place thanks to vigilantes led by Col. Tucker (Pat Hingle) and his sons.

And since Tucker helped Sheriff Abel Rose (Morgan Woodward) win his badge in an election, the lawman’s unwilling to stop those lynchings.

Matt just wants his cattle and the men responsible for killing his ranch hands, including young Rusty Dover.

Then his daughter and Will happen to stop by a Tewksbury farm at just the wrong time, and find their own lives endangered.

Review:

The third of five “Gunsmoke” movies, the first of which aired in 1987, more than a dozen years after the show concluded its 20-year run on TV (1955 to 1975).

This film continues a storyline started in the second, when Matt discovered he fathered a daughter named Beth during a brief romance with ranchwoman Mike Yardner.

Mike’s been claimed by the fever at the start of this film, but Amy Stock-Poynton is back as Beth; she’d also return for the final two Gunsmoke films.

This is also the first in the series that didn’t have its roots in an episode of the TV series. But it’s as action-packed as the first two, with James Arness still fearless though now well into his 60s.

Jim Beaver interjects some humor into the proceedings as a deputy who doesn’t know quite what to do with all the corpses that start showing up in town once the Dillons arrive.

And if Pat Hingle isn’t all that convincing as the villain of the piece, Jason Lively (as Rusty) is likeable as a young man who’s strayed onto the outlaw path, as is Matt Mulhern as the ranchhand involved in a blossoming romance with Beth.

Directed by:
Jerry Jameson

Cast:
James Arness … Matt Dillon
Pat Hingle … Col. Tucker
Amy Stock-Poynton … Beth Dillon
Matt Mulhern … Will McCall
Jason Lively … Rusty Dover
Joseph Bottoms … Tommy Graham
Morgan Woodward … Sheriff Abel Rose
Mills Watson … The Horse Trader
James Booth … Zach, the preacheer
Amanda Wyss … Lizzie Tewksbury
Herman Poppe … John Tewksbury
Ken Swofford … Charlie Tewksbury
Jim Beaver … Deputy Will Rudd
Ed Adams … Billy Wilson
Don Collier … Sheriff of Tombstone

Runtime: 91 min.

Memorable lines:

Matt Dillon, after Mike Yardner’s death: “You know, Beth, it’s alright to cry.”
Beth, daughter of Matt and Mike: “She never cried.”

Townsman: “(Deputy) Will (Rudd), ain’t you gonna arrest him or something?”
Deputy Rudd: “That man (Dillon) rode into town trailing three corpses. He’s just accounted for two more. And it ain’t even noon yet. You arrest him.”

Rusty Dover, as Matt ties him to a saddle horn to take him back to Tombstone: “This ain’t dignified.”
Matt, having already killed two of Rusty’s friends: “Neither is lying in the sawdust on a saloon floor.”

Rusty Dover: “My daddy ran me off. Said I’d hang. Maybe I will. But I’ll spit in the eye of the man who does it.”

Rusty, watching Beth and Will herd cattle: “They sweet on each other?”
Matt Dillon: “I don’t know. That what it look like to you?”
Rusty: “I’d at least say they’re working themselves up to it.”

Matt Dillon: “I spent a lot of time wearing a badge because I believed in the law. I still do.”
Beth Dillon: “But you’re not the law anymore.”
Matt Dillon: “I’m a man, Beth. That means I gotta live with myself.”

Col. Tucker, about a man he had hanged: “That boy had bad habits. Hangin’s a sure cure.”

Jim Beaver as Deputy Will Rudd, shocked when Matt Dillon and three corpses arrive in town in Gunsmoke: To The Last Man (1992)