Gunsmoke: Return to Dodge (1987)

Yesterday was the 60th anniversary of the premiere of "Gunsmoke", so I watched "Return to Dodge". Is this TV movie as bad as some people say it is? No. It's worse.The story can be briefly summarized as "A lot of people are out to kill Matt, and a few to help him." That's it."Kill Matt" was not an uncommon story line, and several excellent episodes were built around it ("The Jailer", "Matt Dillon Must Die"). These episodes worked, because they had dramatic elements that took the story beyond whether Matt would live or die. This is important, students, because... "We know Matt isn't going to die!""Return to Dodge" has all the dramatic punch of a thrice-used tea-bag. In addition to the requisite clips from series episodes, most of the story has people running around and shooting at each other, and little else.It only gets involving in the last five minutes, when Matt has his final confrontation with Will Mannon, in which Kitty plays an important role. (Kitty never took **** from anybody, while remaining "feminine".) It's the only satisfying part of the story, and you have to wait one hour and 55 minutes for it to arrive.Attention must be paid to the horrible makeup and costuming. Kitty often looks as if she just crept out of the crypt. And it seems some unattractive animal attached itself to Matt's head and died there. * (He wears his hat through most of the second half, likely after seeing a rough cut of the first half.)I don't understand reviewers' objections to Matt being a trapper. He's fundamentally a loner, unable to commit himself to close relationships -- especially with women.Ken Curtis didn't appear in "Return to Dodge", supposedly because he was offered less than Amanda Blake. This is probably true, but I wouldn't be surprised if he'd read the script (little more than a rehash of "Mannon") and decided to avoid contact with this turkey.Given that the production team (including a writer and director who'd worked many years on the series) presumably had more than a decade to work on this story, its abject failure is startling.* Mountain men, plainsmen, etc, often wore their hair long. Matt's "do" bears zero resemblance to how such long hair actually looked (qv, Custer and Hickok).

"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!!

I agree with others who have said the Earl Holliman character just didn't fit with the rest of the movie. As for Matt's mountain man look, I think there are many episodes in the series that suggest that if he hadn't become a U.S. marshal, he would have become a mountain man / trapper. But for any Gunsmoke fan, I think it was very special seeing Matt and Kitty back together one last time. Since Kitty wasn't in the last season of the regular TV series, this episode provided some closure to one of the longest screen romances of all time. I think the final scene with Matt and Kitty stayed true to the tone set by the TV series.

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?