Gunsmoke: Return to Dodge (1987)

Very disappointing...

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

This last Gunsmoke movie returns to Dodge City where Matt Dillon has to face once again someone from his past when he was marshal there. Steve Forrest who is one sick puppy of a villain has been released from prison and is looking for Dillon whom he shot before, but who was caught anyway.This film with flashback scenes from a Gunsmoke episode from 1969 gives us the background of the story. Obviously someone was inspired by the Star Trek film The Wrath Of Khan. For good measure the blame is thrown on another old time convict Earl Holliman when Forrest shoots the warden after his release. James Arness is trailing him for most of the film with the non-help of shavetail army lieutenant Ken Olandt who has his orders to bring Holliman in. Olandt is quite good in his role, brave and loyal, but a bit of a jerk.James Arness looking craggy which befits his role as the retired marshal. The flashback sequences give a real time feel to this film because it is real time.The confrontation scene is well staged and unforgettable. In fact both of them, the one with Holliman and Arness standing off some bounty hunters and the one with Forrest. The one with Holliman is borrowed straight out of Ride The High Country.One very fitting coda to the life and career of Matt Dillon.

"Gunsmoke" was one of my favorite westerns growing up, I was very excited when the 1987 reunion movie "Return to Gunsmoke" was made.Unfortunately I wished they had brought back all or most of the regulars that were still living. Ken Curtis, Burt Reynolds, Dennis Weaver, and Roger Ewing were in this if they only had a cameo appearance. Another reviewer wrote that James Arness acted more like his "Zeb Macahan" character than "Matt Dillon", and the ex-Marshal would have definitely "NOT" became a mountain man?? They should have open the movie with Matt & Kitty married and living peacefully on a ranch, with Matt a rancher/cattle buyer.Newly O'Brien as the new doctor of Dodge,since "Milburn Stone" (God Bless Him)"Doc Adams" has passed away. In the original series Newly was being trained by "Doc" in many of the latter year episodes.The Marshal should have been Claude Atkins, Glen Corbett, or even Alex Cord,they looked the part of a Lawman. "Mannon" character was superb, for him to be released from prison and go after Matt & Kitty. This would have turned by rating of 6 to a 10!!

It was interesting to see another Gunsmoke chapter.However,with a few changes this could have been a joy to watch.The storyline itself is very good.The poor set lighting (particularly on night and interior shots) is way too dark and makes viewing a chore.The Long Branch scenes really suffer due to this problem.In 20 years of the TV series the production quality was excellent.This made for TV movie looks amateurish due to the dim lighting. James Arness needed drastic makeup help.He looked like someone out of a horror film rather than the clean cut Matt Dillon we knew for 20 years.The Dillon character would not have changed his grooming habits at his age. With better lighting,makeup and camera angles Amanda Blake would have benefited as well. Where the production really missed was in casting.The character Earl Holiman played (Matt's friend) should have been cast with Ken Curtis as Fester Haggen.This would have made the entire story and movie more satisfying.That character's motivation would have been stronger and we the audience deserved as many familiar Gunsmoke regulars as were still living (if Curtis absolutely refused to appear then Dennis Weaver as Chester Goode should have been cast as the friend.Why were Ted Jordan and Tom Brown excluded also?) Steve Forrest as Mannon did the best acting whether in flashback or present.He was a real scene stealer. I agree with the IMDb review that Miss Kitty deserved more than she got at the end from Matt in the final scene. This could have been a much.much better movie.Why wasn't it?

This made-for-TV movie picks up the "Gunsmoke" characters after Matt Dillon has retired and Miss Kitty has moved to New Orleans. Perhaps this is a miscalculation since these characters, taken past their usual milieu, seem a bit adrift, like figures in a wax museum which is being modernized. (James Arness' hair and make-up sometimes border on the grotesque.) However, fans of the show will probably enjoy this indulgence since it has in its cast a number of welcome faces and it makes effective use of flashback clips from a January 20, 1969 episode of "Gunsmoke" which featured Steve Forrest.Forrest plays a murderous character named Mannon who's first seen stripped to the waist, bound to a wooden post, and receiving a 24-lash punishment with a whip. One wonders what he'd done to warrant such a punishment on his very last day in prison but the reasons for it are never explained. One also wonders why the prison warden cuts short the punishment since Mannon is such a evil character and probably deserves whatever punishment comes his way. The whipping itself, however, is unconvincingly staged with the camera in front of Forrest and the flogger behind him. It's clear the whip is too short to actually strike Forrest's back. He simply jerks and winces whenever he hears the whip crack.One must admire Forrest for doing this bare-chest scene at the advanced age of 62, (he looks pretty good!), and it should be pointed out that he must set a record for the time elapsed between beefcake-bondage scenes. In MGM's 1954 "Prisoner of War", at the age of 29, Forrest -- stripped to a pair of snug-fitting undershorts -- endured a sweaty crucifixion-with-ropes ordeal which marked a highpoint in screen sadomasochism.