These two gunfighters can kill each other, but they’ll never kill their fear and self-doubt. If the gunslingers on ‘Gunsmoke’ had tumbled onto this kind of self-awareness, Marshall Matt Dillon would have had himself a sleepy little town and Miss Kitty would have saved a fortune on broken mirrors and insurance.
Mad Dog Matthew Anderson and Lonesome Bill Whitlock have a bad-ass line of patter and astonishing psychological insight. Behind those guns are ‘two scared little boys who would rather be feared than loved’ – or so they thought. This begs the obvious question about people who hoard weapons, and ‘need’ high-capacity rounds for ‘self protection.’ Protection from what or whom – really?