The third in a series of five made for TV movies bringing back the characters from the classic and long running western series finds James Arness brining his Marshall Matt Dillon out of retirement once more.

When the movie starts, Dillon is trying his hand at cattle ranching. He doesn't have a huge herd yet but what he has he's hoping to make something from. Of course, it doesn't take long before a crew of nasty cattle rustlers do their dirty work on his herd and he finds himself an unwilling combatant in a range war.

Dillon obviously wants a peaceful resolution to this but sometimes a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do and things tend to get a little physical. To make matters worse for our favorite Marshall, his daughter Beth (Amy Stock-Poynton) is giving him grief and causing him stress.

Once again, CBS treats western fans to a well-made and fast moving Gunsmoke adventure. There's a little bit more emphasis on action in this film than in the two earlier entries but the characters are just as strong and the story just as compelling. This time out, it's Dillon who is victimized and forced into fighting back. He's not doing it on behalf of anyone else or doing it to protect anyone else except himself. It's an almost 'Peckinpahian' theme of one lone man fighting against a larger group and the gunplay, while obviously not even close to the level that Bloody Sam was working at, is a little colder and a little nastier than it is in the two earlier films in the series.

So not only have we got some great action and an interesting story, we're also privy to some exceptionally good (well, exceptionally good in comparison to most made for TV movies) cinematography. The scenery look great and the camera work captures a feel for the era – not too slick or fast moving, like the time the film is set in.

So while you can't go into this expecting to be blown away the way you could with something like The Wild Bunch or Unforgiven, (both of which focus on cowboys in their twilight years thrust into violence, much like this film), you can go in and expect a fast moving story with some great entertainment value.

Video:

This movie was originally made for TV so with that in mind, it shouldn't be surprising to find that it's presented in a fullframe presentation. For the most part, it looks pretty good too. There's some mild grain present and a little bit of edge enhancement but the color looks nice and there's a reasonably high level of detail present throughout. Once again, the quality on this release is pretty much the same as the other films in the series. All three of them look quite good.