User Reviews

It's remarkable that the ruthlessness of the gambler Tobin, who starts the killin' in this violent episode early on, is soon to be FAR OVERSHADOWED by a young, gangly, wimpy, nerdy kid with wire-rimmed glasses who's actually a violent, cold-blooded psychopath (and Andrew Prine plays both sides of the character very well).

Once this off-beat concept sets in, the episode becomes a somewhat routine but unpleasant series of murders n' mayhem that frustrates the heck out of Matt and Chester, since they can't produce any hardcore evidence against the killer.

And when Matt finally gets back into town at night, things between the psycho Sippy and Tobin take care of themselves pretty quickly, leaving Matt to grumble about the time he's wasted pursuing the killer. All-in-all, a not very compelling way to end the show.

Overall, I felt that more involvement, pacing and intensity was needed from director McGlaglen...one obvious example being the unconvincing tap on the head (w/ a pistol butt) with which Sippy kills the big, brawny stable owner.

THREE INTERESTING NOTES:

A.) This episode features a LARGE assortment of smaller speaking roles-- all of them men except the female bonnet customer in the general store.

B.) This episode was filmed during the time when guest star Andrew Prine was extricating himself from his serious relationship with starlet Karyn Kupcinet (the daughter of famous Chicago columnist Irv Kupcinet). As many know, Ms. Kupcinet was murdered shortly after the JFK assassination in late November, '63--and Prine was the prime suspect for a while.

C.) I checked the credentials of actor George Wallace, who plays the relatively small role of Tobin, the gambler. Wallace was "Commando Cody" in the "Radar Men From the Moon" serial-- the helmeted guy with the jet-propulsion backpack who flies very convincingly through the air. And then-- astoundingly--- Wallace was plucked from the cast of "Forbidden Planet" and became a big Broadway musical star for a spell, before returning to film and TV work. The fascinating things you can learn by just watching old TV series is just amazing. LR

The episode begins as two men ride up to a creek to water their horses. When one of the guys gets off his horse the other man named Hans Tobin shoots him. Seems the guy owed him money from a poker game and Tobin got it by taking his life. Later a young man weighing about 100 pounds and wire framed glasses, Elmo Sippy, comes up on the injured man. The man tells him that Tobin shot him and asked for help. However Sippy rides off refusing to help the injured man.

In Dodge Sippy gets into a card game and owes $25 dollar. the man Sippy owes the money is none other than Tobin. Sippy's life is in danger and he must come up with the $25 at any cost. He steals the money from the general store's cash box and cannot believe how easy it was to steal the money. Later the clerk realizes the money missing and talks to Marshal Dillon and the suspect is Sippy.

Sippy finding he can get a months pay for stealing thinks it's an easy way to make money. So now he goes around Kansas steal and then killing what seems just for fun. And after getting away with robbing and killing at a stage stop, Sippy is on his way back to Dodge to show them how to gamble.

He is back at the table with Tobin but only this time Sippy will not be paying back his loss gambling debt. He will take it to another level.

Even though near the end the story was getting weak- it did hold the interest enough that the viewer will care what was going to happen to Sippy. A lot of violence in this show but one that was entertaining enough to be a good watch.

The opening scene has an outlaw shooting a person for no real reason in a remote area. He leaves him to die. But he is still alive when Elmo Sippy comes by, but Elmo can't be bothered to help the man, and he dies. This is to establish that Elmo really has no conscience, but he hasn't had the opportunity to become a criminal. That is about to change.

In Dodge City, Elmo gambles and loses to the outlaw who shot the man he came across. The outlaw says he will kill Elmo if he doesn't come up with the money that he owes him. Elmo finds it easy to steal money from the general store's cash register when the owner is not looking. It's easy because the guy has no moral core.

This causes Elmo to go on a crime spree, robbing and shooting people in isolated situations, leaving no witnesses. Meanwhile, Matt has lots of anecdotal evidence that Elmo is responsible for the crime spree, but no evidence. He seems to find the entire thing hard to believe since Elmo has such a mild outward demeanor. But "nice" does not mean "kind".

Later, Elmo comes back to Dodge City to gamble once again with the outlaw whose demands caused him to go down a dark path in the first place. The end is ironic to say the least.

Matt suspects Elmo, trails Elmo, but ultimately has no proof because there was no such thing as forensics at that time. Today, if you zero in on the correct suspect, forensics can usually provide the proof.

Perhaps "monster" would be more accurate.

John Meston was the principal writer of both the radio and TV series, penning 183 (44%) of the former, and 196 (30%) of the latter. That 30% is misleading, as he wrote only during the first ten years of the TV series. His contribution is almost 53% of those scripts. *

"Gunsmoke" was intended to dramatize "the violence that followed men west", and Meston didn't stint on the nasty stuff. It's generally believed that the social anonymity of the unsettled territories and the general lack of law enforcement attracted people who couldn't get along in "good" society. Such people have major roles in many Meston stories.

You'd expect someone named Elmo Sippy to be a wussy milquetoast, and he looks like one -- tall and lanky, with wire-rimmed glasses. But he's not Tickle Me Elmo. He's a total psychopath, lying, stealing, and murdering without a shred of conscience or remorse, an id monster let loose on the prairie.

Andrew Prine absolutely nails the character -- completely empty-headed, driven only by the moment's impulse. He is incapable of making long-term plans to better himself (legally or illegally).

Sippy's attire is odd. He's a cowhand, but dresses in ordinary clothes. And he wears glasses, something I've never seen a cowhand wear in /any/ Western, traditional or contemporary. (At the very least, he would have been taunted by other hands.) I could waste space offering theories, but there's no question Sippy's near-sightedness is intended to represent something unnatural, even repulsive, about him.

Though "Easy Come" doesn't show up in any "best of" lists, I've given it ten stars because (like "Saturday Night") it's nihilistic, and Elmo Sippy is the worst of all "Gunsmoke" villains.

* A substantial percentage were rewrites of radio scripts. But, still...

This was one of the better hour long episodes of Gunsmoke. Andrew Prine plays a soulless thief and murderer and is chilling especially because he doesn't look the part being skinny and wearing tiny spectacles. This is one of those episodes that I have seen numerous times and enjoy it every time. Prine is very engaging with that callous attitude. Highly recommend this one although I usually prefer the half hour episodes way more but this hour long episode moves along very fast.

Elmo Sippy is an unconventional cowboy: funny name, tall, skinny, and he wears glasses. He does not care for typical cowboy work, and his moral compass is more than a little off. John Meston apparently loved creating these characters, because there are a number of amoral, Sippy-like characters in the Gunsmoke oeuvre.

This episode is a basic cat-and-mouse scenario, where Sippy runs around committing an increasingly terrible series of crimes, while Marshal Dillon and Chester Goode follow his trail of carnage, usually showing up just too late to help. What's more, Sippy is just clever enough (or lucky enough) to avoid leaving any kind of definitive incriminating evidence behind.

This episode leaves me wondering how often this kind of activity might have actually occurred in the Old West, where people sometimes lived in remote areas distant from any town, and law enforcement was sometimes virtually non-existent.

The ending isn't too surprising, but Matt Dillon's conclusion about the events is, which ultimately makes this an unconventional episode.

Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of this episode is the veritable treasure trove of character actors involved. Andrew Prine is perfect as Elmo Sippy -- just quirky enough to play the offbeat character. Carl Reindel, who appeared in two earlier episodes of Gunsmoke as a character named Cale, plays Emmett Calhoun, Sippy's short-lived, naïve partner. George Wallace of Commander Cody fame plays Ham Tobin, a gambler that consistently bests Sippy. Chubby Johnson is an unfortunate victim as a kindly man who is unlucky enough to have Sippy stop at his home. There are other recognizable, veteran character actor faces, including Orville Sherman, Charlie Briggs, Sam Edwards, Shug Fisher, and Dave Willock.

Prine's performance as the narcissistic Elmo Sippy carries this episode. The character begins as an amiable, oddball cowboy who foolishly gambles away his money. As the episode evolves, Sippy quickly progresses from petty thief to cold-blooded murderer. The character is one of the more memorable single episode characters in the series.

Two things I never liked about Gunsmoke was that Matt Dillon would often give all kinds of reasons for not arresting people. Back in the 1870s, it seemed unlikely to me that any Lawman would be using the finer points of the law to justify NOT arresting people. In most Westerns, the lawmen work off their instincts and facts, and leave the Judging to the Judges. Also, the legal theories Dillon was referring to often reflected the 1950s/1960s and not the 1870s.

Second thing I never liked is that because of Dillon's legal philosophy, in many episodes the villains/killers stay one or more steps ahead of Dillon and he always shows up after the body count is being tallied. I liked Gunsmoke, but Matt Dillon had a terrible record for preventing crime or at least stopping it from spreading.

In this episode, if he had arrested Sippy when he was informed that Sippy stole the $25 from the General Store, then 4 murders would have been avoided. Instead, as often happened, Dillon decided not to jail Sippy based on his personal opinion of what the Judge would do.

This episode showcases the acting of Andrew Prine, since he is the star and gets to show what he can do playing a generic innocent guy who realizes that he has no conscience, and then learns to enjoy stealing and killing. Like many episodes when there was a guest star, it is all about Andrew Prine. Chester and Marshal Dillon are reduced to supporting characters.

Doc Adams has a fair amount of screen time talking to Ms. Kitty, Chester, and Marshal Dillon, and that is always a plus for me. Often it was Doc Adams and his discussions with other characters that would raise an average episode to a better level. I always enjoyed his acting style.