The Tarnished Badge

Marshal Matt Dillon has apprehended a young man named Lonnie Weeks who is wanted in a town where one of Matt's old friends, Bo Harker, is sheriff. Matt returns Lonnie to the town and is reacquainted with Harker.

At first, the reunion is friendly, but Matt soon begins noticing strange behavior among the residents of the town. Sheriff Harker has implemented strict, authoritarian rule in the town, and the citizens are intimidated.

Marshal Dillon soon realizes Harker is mentally ill, organizes the town leaders, and convinces them to fire Harker. Matt temporarily appoints Harker's protégé Deputy Barney Austin to replace Harker. Matt subsequently returns to Dodge City.

Unfortunately, everyone -- Matt, the citizens of the town, and Deputy Austin -- underestimate the extent of Harker's psychosis. Harker suffers from paranoid delusions, and he is convinced any actions he takes are justifiable. Harker's further actions will lead to an inevitable showdown with Marshal Dillon.

(Harker had already demonstrated a serious authoritarian streak and a willingness to embrace whatever cognitive dissonance was necessary to excuse his actions. It is surprising Marshal Dillon did not consider the possibility of Harker not accepting his firing willingly. He could have at least asked one of his deputies or a deputy from another area to come and assist Barney.)

Victor French returns to Gunsmoke for the seventeenth time (he would appear once more before the end of the series) as Sheriff Bo Harker. French was a frequent visitor on the Gunsmoke set, especially in Season 20 where he directed five episodes and guest starred in two.

French's career began in his twenties. His father was a stuntman, and French played several small and uncredited parts when he first started acting. Over time, his popularity grew. For many years, he was almost exclusively cast in villainous roles, but as work became more plentiful and his roles reached a point where they were often a major part of the stories, he started rejecting parts that required him to be the villain. This episode of Gunsmoke is said to be his last as a villain.

It was French's refusal to play villains that led to his long tenure with his friend Michael Landon in Little House on the Prairie and, later, Highway to Heaven. French and Landon were both heavy smokers and both died at the relatively early age of 54.

Actress Pamela McMyler had previously appeared in Season 17's "No Tomorrow" episode. She returned for this final Gunsmoke role as Jenny Blair, who is Barney Austin's fiancé.

A young Nick Nolte portrays Deputy Barney Austin in this story, which is his only Gunsmoke role. His performance as the impetuous, rebellious "Poor Man" character Tom Jordache in the miniseries Rich Man, Poor Man was still a couple of years away. It was the Tom Jordache part that established Nolte as a hot commodity in Hollywood.

The people of the town where Harker is sheriff consists of parts played by several Gunsmoke veterans. Garry Walberg makes the last of his ten appearances in the series as Toby, the bartender of the Ramrod Saloon. James "Jimmy" Lydon appears for the second and final time in this story where he plays Charlie Boggs, a store owner. Lydon's acting career extends back into the late 1930s and later included several production and writing duties. Actress Ruth McDevitt plays Charlie's mother, Gramma Boggs. McDevitt often played wise-cracking, spunky older woman characters.

Ross Elliott plays the character Conway in his third and last Gunsmoke role. Sam Edwards also plays his last Gunsmoke part in this story, his eighth in the series. He plays the character named Travis.

Eddie Firestone appears for the last of his eleven Gunsmoke episodes, including roles in two two-part episodes and "Snow Train," the only three-part episode in the series. Firestone plays the clerk of the hotel in the town where the story is set.

Finally, William Katt appears in his only Gunsmoke role as the Lonnie Weeks character. Katt, who is the son of actress Barbara Hale (Della Street on Perry Mason) and actor Bill Williams, who also appeared in a Gunsmoke episode during Season 18 ("Talbot"), would later play the lead role in the series The Greatest American Hero and played the character Paul Drake, Jr. In a series of Perry Mason made-for-television movies.

This is another story set outside Dodge City and absent any of the regular cast, except James Arness.

While stories of corrupt law enforcement officials are nothing unique in television dramas, the use of the theme here is clever. Gunsmoke viewers should be familiar with other old friends of Matt Dillon that were part of his past career in law enforcement. In fact, another of Matt's old lawman friends, Chauncy Demon, was the focus of the episode "The Iron Men" only a couple of episodes back in broadcast chronology. If movies and television shows in the Westerns genre are to be believed, lawmen of the Old West walked a fine line between ethical law enforcement and iron-fisted authoritarian rule. This story operates under the premise that Matt Dillon is on one side of that line, and Bo Harker is on the other.

Season 20 of Gunsmoke is a bit of a rollercoaster as far as quality of the episodes is concerned. Some of the stories are as bad as any in the entire series, while others are excellent. This story is entertaining, Michael O'Herlihy's direction is first rate, and the acting is stellar. A surprise at the end adds to the fun.