User Reviews

Marshal Jim Crown is saddled with a most disagreeable task in this Cimarron Strip episode. He has to bring in army sergeant Richard Boone who csn't get used to a more civilized west.

Boone has gone and killed a man in a drunken spree. Before there was a fatality the army had kind of protected him with their military punishments. But it's gone beyond that now.

Boone gives one hellraising performance in a part that calls for just that. In fact this was one excellent guest cast that also includes Morgan Woodward, Ed Flanders, and Robert Duvall.

But it's Boone you will remember. That last fight with Stuart Whitman is unforgettable.

The show's guest star this week is Richard Boone and it appears as if Boone is trying to imitate Bluto from "Popeye" more than anything else. His part is very poorly written and Marshall Crown is inexplicably weak and ineffectual...so much so that it's a really bad episode.

The show begins with the death of one of the Cavalry soldiers at the nearby fort. Sgt. Disher (Boone) and a few of his men come to town to stage an impromptu wake...where they get drunk, rowdy and violent. Amazingly, the Marshall not only doesn't stop this nuttiness but he joins them. Later, as a result of Marshall being an idiot, things get really out of hand and they nearly burn down the undertaker's shop...though they sure tried! FINALLY, the Marshall takes the Sergeant and his men into custody and takes them to the fort.

So far, the episode made little sense but what happened next caused my wife to start yelling at the TV! The Sergeant soon arrives BACK in town and is ready for more drinking and violence...even though he must have escaped from the fort to do this. Instead of just arresting him, the Marshall first proposes a drinking contest (huh?!!) and then has a 'fun' fist fight with the guy! It's all supposed to be fun and games and in no way is the Marshall trying to arrest Sgt. Disher! Does any of this make any sense?! No! Later, not surprisingly, things get much worse because the Marshall was such a wienie and it ends horribly.

An important thing for main characters of TV shows is consistency. However, Marshall Crown often seems in favor of law and order in SOME episodes and in a few other is impotent as a lawman. Didn't anyone connected to the show notice this? Apparently not. As a result, we have a truly annoying and badly written and overacted episode that isn't worthy of most of the previous episodes.