S1.E26

Hack Prine

Episode aired May 12, 1956
TV-G
30m

IMDb RATING

YOUR RATING

James Arness and Leo Gordon in Gunsmoke (1955)

Far from Dodge and without a horse Matt Dillon still manages to bring in Lee Timble...a man wanted for murder. Lee's brother Dolph swears that he'll get him out. Meanwhile, an old friend of ... Read allFar from Dodge and without a horse Matt Dillon still manages to bring in Lee Timble...a man wanted for murder. Lee's brother Dolph swears that he'll get him out. Meanwhile, an old friend of Dillon's, Hack Prine, has arrived in Dodge to take a job. Happy to see each other they rem... Read allFar from Dodge and without a horse Matt Dillon still manages to bring in Lee Timble...a man wanted for murder. Lee's brother Dolph swears that he'll get him out. Meanwhile, an old friend of Dillon's, Hack Prine, has arrived in Dodge to take a job. Happy to see each other they reminisce about old times both unaware that the job Hack is in Dodge for is killing Dillon.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

8.4/10

265

YOUR RATING

7User reviews

See production info at IMDbPro

Photos12

+ 6

Top cast18

Edit

James Arness

Matt Dillon

Dennis Weaver

Chester

Milburn Stone

Amanda Blake

Kitty

Leo Gordon

Hack Prine

George D. Wallace

Dolph Timble
(as George Wallace)

Hal Baylor

Lee Timble

Wally Cassell

Oley

Larry J. Blake

Conspirator
(uncredited)

Jimmie Booth

Shotgun Rider
(uncredited)

George Huggins

Townsman
(uncredited)

Ray Jones

Townsman
(uncredited)

Paul Keast

Conspirator
(uncredited)

Kermit Maynard

Barfly
(uncredited)

Tyler McVey

Conspirator
(uncredited)

Tex Palmer

Stage Driver
(uncredited)

John Powers

Townsman
(uncredited)

Jack Tornek

Bartender
(uncredited)

Storyline

Edit

Did you know

Edit

Trivia
In this episode, the 26th shown but actually the pilot, the usual settings in Dodge are not the same as the ones we knew for 20 years. Matt's Marshal's office has the following noticeable differences; the side wall has a window instead of a door. The desk is a high roll-top instead of flat (and against the cell wall instead of angled towards the front door), there is no potbelly stove, the safe is against the front wall instead of the side wall and the outer door and outside front of the office are also different.Miss Kitty's Long Branch Saloon is a totally different building inside and out. The Dodge House is also a different building.

Goofs
When Lee Timble discovers his canteen is empty, he asks Matt Dillon, "What about yours?" When Dillon answers "Empty too, Lee", his lip movements don't match the words, which sound dubbed in.

Quotes
[first lines]
[while Matt Dillon walks through Boot Hill cemetery outside Dodge City, Kansas, the audience hears his thoughts]
Matt Dillon: Out here I remind myself how violence ends. Buried in the rim of a nation, the edge of a wild frontier. Some of these Boot Hill men are the victims of aimless slaughter. The rest, I killed myself. I'm a lawman, United States Marshall. The law comes hard to the frontier. Men like these didn't want it. And more men, still alive, there in Dodge City, they don't want it. They're the drifters, the killers, and the spoilers. And they have to be met. It's a chancy job; makes a man watchful and a little lonely. But somebody has to do it.
[Dillon walks back to Dodge City]

Soundtracks
The Old Trail
by Rex Koury and Glenn Spencer
Aspen Fair Music, Incorporated (ASCAP)

User reviews7

Review

Featured review

Some Reunions are not a Celebration

Premise is one that would appear in many guises over the years. The variation here is a thoughtful one that generates some interesting ambiguities. An old friend Hack Prine (the redoubtable Leo Gordon) from Matt's roistering days turns up in Dodge. The two have a friendly talk in Matt's office. But that night Hack gives Matt a malevolent stare when Hack shows up at Kitty's with a man who has sworn vengeance on the marshal for jailing his brother. Now, it looks like the two old friends will have a showdown.

The plot generates some suspense from the conflict between the two expert gunmen. Prine may be a killer, but he does have a sense of ethics as Matt knows. The moral high point comes when Matt has to make a decision now that he knows all the facts. It's a stern decision and one I'm guessing most would not agree with. The action climax itself is suitably ambiguous, leaving Matt with deeply mixed feelings as he walks away. On a minor note-- Amanda Blake's poorly performed single scene is one of her very few over a span of many years.