Gunsmoke: To the Last Man
Gunsmoke: To the Last Man is a 1992 American Western television film starring James Arness as retired Marshal Matt Dillon. It was directed by Jerry Jameson and based upon the long-running American TV series Gunsmoke. It was preceded by Gunsmoke: Return to Dodge, and Gunsmoke: The Last Apache. Subsequent television films are Gunsmoke: The Long Ride, and Gunsmoke: One Man's Justice.
Plot
The film is set in Arizona, sometime after events of the prior television movie, Gunsmoke: The Last Apache, which included the surrender of Apache Chief Geronimo on September 4, 1886. This places it in the latter half of the Pleasant Valley War, a family feud between the Tewksbury and Graham clans, which also involved vigilante ranchers, cowboys, sheepmen, gunmen, lawmen, and innocent civilians that ultimately killed scores of people over a ten-year span.Matt is now a cattle rancher in the Dragoon Mountains northeast of Tombstone along with his daughter Beth, whose mother "Mike" has just died. After the funeral, Matt has an altercation with the villainous Tommy Graham. Having been beaten down, Tommy murders Charlie Tewksbury and rustles Matt's cattle for revenge.
Against her protests, Matt puts Beth on the train to Philadelphia to respect Mike's wish for her to complete a college education. Matt then tracks Tommy Graham's band north towards the Tonto Basin, the area south of Payson, Arizona, where the Pleasant Valley War had its origin.
Along the way, Matt encounters an old acquaintance, Colonel Tucker. Unbeknownst to Matt, Tucker is now the leader of a vigilante faction called the Committee of 50, which carries out lynchings of suspected cattle rustlers and other undesirables. Matt cuts three such innocent victims down from a tree, and hauls them to Payson to report the murders to Sheriff Abel Rose.
Meanwhile, Beth gets off the train and heads out to find Matt. Ranch hand Will McCall and Beth then get caught up in the range war.