Sam Rickers shot a man dead in the back to try and claim a $1,000 reward, but it turns out that the dead man was never wanted by the law.Sam Rickers shot a man dead in the back to try and claim a $1,000 reward, but it turns out that the dead man was never wanted by the law.Sam Rickers shot a man dead in the back to try and claim a $1,000 reward, but it turns out that the dead man was never wanted by the law.
Catherine McLeod
- Letty Rickers
- (as Catherine McCleod)
Chick Hannan
- Passerby
- (uncredited)
Charles King
- Man Getting off Stage
- (uncredited)
Bert Rumsey
- Bartender
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writers
- John Meston(uncredited)
- Norman MacDonnell(uncredited)
- Charles Marquis Warren(uncredited)
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaSam and Letty Rickers were also married in real life. Don Keefer and Catherine McLeod.
Featured review
Fatal Mistakes
"A no good, wife-beating, reward-huntin' bum" (according to Chester Goode) named Sam Rickers brings a dead man into Dodge City. Rickers killed the man thinking he was an outlaw named Bob Holbert.
Chester and Rickers take the body to Doc Adams. Rickers goes back to his farm, and Doc determines the dead body was a man shot to death. When Matt Dillon arrives back in town, he visits Doc's office and discovers the dead man is not Bob Holbert.
When Matt and Chester visit the Rickers farm, Sam tells them he killed Holbert in self-defense. Letty Rickers, Holbert's obviously abused wife, confirms Sam's story. Marshal Dillon suspects Rickers is lying, but there is not much he can do legally.
The identity of the dead man is a mystery until a man named Catlin arrives in town on the stagecoach. He sees the wanted poster for Holbert, but he also notices the picture on the poster is of his partner, Jake Haney. Catlin visits Marshal Dillon's office to tell him the picture on the poster is of his partner. Matt must tell Catlin that Jake Haney was shot to death and was just buried on Boot Hill. Catlin is furious and swears to kill the person responsible for his partner's death.
Don Keefer plays the Sam Rickers character in this story. This is Keefer's first guest appearance on Gunsmoke. He would return for another nine episodes with his final appearance in Season 19. Classic television fans may remember Keefer as the character Dan Hollis in the terrifying classic The Twilight Zone episode "It's a Good Life" where he gets drunk and belligerent before young Anthony Fremont turns him into a jack-in-the-box.
Catherine McLeod (credited as Catherine McCleod) portrays Letty Rickers in the first of two appearances in the series. McLeod and Keefer were married in real life,
Robert Griffin plays Catlin in this story. Griffin appeared again in the series during Season 5. A veteran character actor, he often played sheriffs, policemen, and judges in b-films and television shows. Griffin was an unfortunate victim of lung cancer in 1960 when he was only 58 years old.
The premise of this story is solid, but, as it is said, the devil is in the details. The story begins with a killing that does not hold up to scrutiny. How and why did Rickers recognize the man he thought was Bob Holbert? The Rickers live far enough outside Dodge that neither Chester nor Doc know who they are. So how is it that Sam Rickers is so familiar with a face on a wanted poster he has presumably rarely seen that he instantly recognizes a stranger riding up to his house as the man on the poster?
Most wanted posters did not include the alleged outlaw's picture, and even when they did, the pictures were not high-quality photographs. Even an experienced lawman or bounty hunter would have trouble recognizing someone from a wanted poster alone. However, Ricker, a poor farmer, not only recognizes the man from a poster, he recognizes him from some distance as he approaches his farmhouse on horseback.
And how is it that Haney's picture ended up on a wanted poster for Holbert? According to Catlin, Haney was an upstanding citizen.
The viewer is supposed to accept the fact that a man whose picture was mistakenly printed on a wanted poster just happens to stop at a farm in a remote area on the prairie, and the resident of the farm just happens to instantly recognizes the man from a distance and hatches a plan to shoot him to death.
John Meston often painted ugly pictures of life on the prairie with his stories, and those pictures often included spousal abuse. Although one theme of this story is the actions of Sam Rickers regarding the shooting of Haney, the more impacting story is the abuse Letty has endured at the hands of her despicable husband.
Chester and Rickers take the body to Doc Adams. Rickers goes back to his farm, and Doc determines the dead body was a man shot to death. When Matt Dillon arrives back in town, he visits Doc's office and discovers the dead man is not Bob Holbert.
When Matt and Chester visit the Rickers farm, Sam tells them he killed Holbert in self-defense. Letty Rickers, Holbert's obviously abused wife, confirms Sam's story. Marshal Dillon suspects Rickers is lying, but there is not much he can do legally.
The identity of the dead man is a mystery until a man named Catlin arrives in town on the stagecoach. He sees the wanted poster for Holbert, but he also notices the picture on the poster is of his partner, Jake Haney. Catlin visits Marshal Dillon's office to tell him the picture on the poster is of his partner. Matt must tell Catlin that Jake Haney was shot to death and was just buried on Boot Hill. Catlin is furious and swears to kill the person responsible for his partner's death.
Don Keefer plays the Sam Rickers character in this story. This is Keefer's first guest appearance on Gunsmoke. He would return for another nine episodes with his final appearance in Season 19. Classic television fans may remember Keefer as the character Dan Hollis in the terrifying classic The Twilight Zone episode "It's a Good Life" where he gets drunk and belligerent before young Anthony Fremont turns him into a jack-in-the-box.
Catherine McLeod (credited as Catherine McCleod) portrays Letty Rickers in the first of two appearances in the series. McLeod and Keefer were married in real life,
Robert Griffin plays Catlin in this story. Griffin appeared again in the series during Season 5. A veteran character actor, he often played sheriffs, policemen, and judges in b-films and television shows. Griffin was an unfortunate victim of lung cancer in 1960 when he was only 58 years old.
The premise of this story is solid, but, as it is said, the devil is in the details. The story begins with a killing that does not hold up to scrutiny. How and why did Rickers recognize the man he thought was Bob Holbert? The Rickers live far enough outside Dodge that neither Chester nor Doc know who they are. So how is it that Sam Rickers is so familiar with a face on a wanted poster he has presumably rarely seen that he instantly recognizes a stranger riding up to his house as the man on the poster?
Most wanted posters did not include the alleged outlaw's picture, and even when they did, the pictures were not high-quality photographs. Even an experienced lawman or bounty hunter would have trouble recognizing someone from a wanted poster alone. However, Ricker, a poor farmer, not only recognizes the man from a poster, he recognizes him from some distance as he approaches his farmhouse on horseback.
And how is it that Haney's picture ended up on a wanted poster for Holbert? According to Catlin, Haney was an upstanding citizen.
The viewer is supposed to accept the fact that a man whose picture was mistakenly printed on a wanted poster just happens to stop at a farm in a remote area on the prairie, and the resident of the farm just happens to instantly recognizes the man from a distance and hatches a plan to shoot him to death.
John Meston often painted ugly pictures of life on the prairie with his stories, and those pictures often included spousal abuse. Although one theme of this story is the actions of Sam Rickers regarding the shooting of Haney, the more impacting story is the abuse Letty has endured at the hands of her despicable husband.
helpful•50
- wdavidreynolds
- Jan 4, 2022
Details
- Runtime30 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1
- 4:3
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