Gunsmoke (TV Series) Trafton (1971) User Reviews

Victor French puts on a fine performance in this episode.

[kfo9494 · 9/10 · 26 December 2012]

Trafton (Victor French) is a nasty cold-blooded killer that has killed many men just for profit. He goes into a Mexican town's church and steals all the crosses and goblets off the alter. When a priest comes into the room, Trafton kills him. The priest is also wearing a gold cross and as he bends down to steal the cross, the priest tells Trafton that he forgives him. The priest also makes a cross mark with his own blood on Trafton's forehead. And we the viewers know that something has changed inside Trafton that bloody day in the church. Oh, he does not become a saint but we can all tell something inside him, even for a brief moment, has changed.

Trafton makes his way to Dodge where he wants to see a woman named Tereese Farrell. When Tereese spots him at the window we know it will not be a happy reunion. Seems that Trafton had sexually assaulted Ms Farrell some time back and she never wanted to see him again. Another point is that nine months after the assault her daughter Marie was born.

But it appears that Trafton is all through with running. Trafton is there not for anymore problems but to ask forgiveness. He knows his life and agrees that his must pay for all his wrong doing. It looks to the viewer that Trafton is getting his life in order the only way he knows. With many warrants on Trafton for many a murder and robbery it will be up to Matt and Festus to try to arrest the man. But is that in the plan for Trafton?

Victor French is excellent in this interesting episode. There were some great scenes in this show like the time Trafton is with the Dodge preacher and wants him to take the stolen goods--plus the time Trafton was with the young child telling about what he heard about her father- both great scenes. Even when the story began to get long, the next scene picked the program back up to its heights. A good watch for viewers.

An Amoral Man Experiences a Moral Awakening

[wdavidreynolds · 7/10 · 9 August 2021]

An amoral ex-con deeply scarred and hardened by the time he spent in the civil war is committed to taking whatever he can and killing anyone that stands in his way. When he and his gang attempt a robbery only to find there is nothing to steal, most of the gang rides away. Trafton does not want to leave empty-handed and targets the Roman Catholic church in the town. He steals several golden Sacred Vessels and a gold cross from the altar. When a priest enters the sanctuary and shouts at Trafton, the thief spins and fires his pistol. As Trafton is leaving the church he sees a gold cross around the dying priest's neck. Trafton goes to take the cross, and with his dying breath, the priest utters his forgiveness and makes the mark of the cross on the outlaw's forehead in blood.

Trafton is haunted by this act. He tries to sell the items he stole, but no one wants items obviously taken from a church. Presumably seeking some form of absolution for past sins, Trafton decides to go to Dodge City to visit a woman named Tereese Farrell he had sexually assaulted years earlier. The assault resulted in Tereese becoming pregnant. She now has an eleven-year-old daughter named Maria. Tereese was shamed and shunned in the town where she was raped because she was unmarried and pregnant. She moves to Dodge and opens a dressmaking shop.

The outlaw is aware Maria is his daughter. He seeks forgiveness and possibly some kind of redemption for what he did to Tereese. Tereese understandably wants nothing to do with a man that violated her. She has lived in fear all those years since the rape and now her worst nightmare has come true with Trafton finding her.

The part of Trafton is played by Victor French in one of the better acting jobs of his career. French refused to play villains later in his career as he worked closely with Michael Landon on his series Highway to Heaven. He was also a highly respected acting teacher. This is one of his eighteen different Gunsmoke appearances.

Actress Sharon Acker portrays Tereese Farrell in her only Gunsmoke guest-star role. Acker was a talented actress. After her role in the 1967 John Boorman film Point Blank, she was considered a promising future film star, but her film career never fully materialized. She appeared in numerous television dramas throughout the 1970s and 1980s.

This episode marks the first Gunsmoke role for Patti Cohoon. She often appeared in child parts throughout the 1970s. Like many child actors, roles were scarce as she grew into adulthood. Cohoon returned for five additional episodes over the next three seasons.

There are some notable smaller parts in this story. Paul Stevens has a few scenes as Reverend English, the pastor of the Dodge City church. Stevens would return in larger parts in Seasons 18 and 19.

"Queen of the Bs" Marie Windsor appears as a woman that encounters Trafton in a saloon. Mike Mazurki plays the bartender in the saloon.

Manuel Padilla, Jr. Makes his final Gunsmoke appearance in a great scene with Victor French.

"Trafton" is another of those stories that has almost nothing to do with the Gunsmoke world, other than part of the story takes place inside Dodge City. The Matt Dillon character is asked to investigate the incident in New Mexico where the church Trafton robbed and murdered the priest was located. His pursuit of Trafton leads him back to Dodge. Ken Curtis is primarily relegated to comic relief in a couple of scenes where Festus Haggen is trying to tell a joke no one thinks is funny. Ted Jordan's Nathan Burke character has about as much screen time as any of the regular characters.

The transformation of the Trafton character from an amoral character to someone who is suddenly haunted by his past actions is a fascinating character study. The performances and the writing make this episode worthwhile.

decidedly different

[grizzledgeezer · 9/10 · 19 September 2013]

"Trafton" is the sort of quirky episode uncommon in the post-Meston era. Victor French gives a fine performance, one I didn't think him capable of. He is, unfortunately, best-remembered for his roles in two slices of Landon tripe, "Little House on the Prairie" and "Highway to Heaven", the sorts of shows where good actors go to die. The ironically named Ron Bishop takes a chance -- and largely succeeds -- with a story that's likely to leave the audience as confused as Trafton. When Trafton fatally wounds a priest, who forgives him, there's a stirring of moral sense in Trafton's brutal soul. The rest of the story shows Trafton trying to come to grips with it. In my view, he fails, and dies having progressed only a little. (A story needn't have a neatly tied-up ending.) This is seen when he forgives Matt for killing him. He surely doesn't understand the nature of forgiveness, and is merely copying the priest. ** Emphatically worth seeing. * The forgiving is so quick and perfunctory that it carries almost no dramatic weight. Shame, shame, Mr McEveety. ** I would have had him hold out his hand tentatively and say "...forgive...", for a thoroughly ambiguous conclusion.