A woman that goes by the name Honey Dare is working at the Long Branch Saloon. She is married to a cad named Hal Biggs. Biggs is a lousy gambler and verbally (and probably physically) abusive to Honey.
When Honey walks into the Long Branch Saloon for a night of work, a drunk, belligerent man named Hy Evers begins giving Honey a hard time. Fortunately, Matt Dillon is in the saloon, sees Evers's behavior and knocks him unconscious. Evers earns a night in the Dodge City jail for his bad behavior. When the Marshal releases him the next morning, he threatens to kill Matt. Dillon orders Evers to leave Dodge.
Meanwhile, a stranger named Ben Stack visits the saloon. Stack is looking for Matt Dillon. He tells Sam he is in town to shoot Matt Dillon. When Stack notices Honey, he asks if she will share a bottle of whiskey with him, and she agrees. Ben and Honey quickly become friends. Ben makes his attraction to Honey clear and warns her he is a jealous man.
Marshal Dillon has to leave town for a few hours. When he returns, Hank at Moss Grimmick's stable tells Matt a stranger in town has been asking about him and saying he is going to shoot Dillon. When the Marshal arrives at the Long Branch, he discovers Ben Stack waiting for him. Stack is an old cowboy friend he worked with in Arizona years earlier.
In the wee hours of the next morning, Stack has trouble sleeping and decides to go for a walk. While he is out, he encounters Honey and Hal apparently walking to their room at the Dodge House after Honey got off work. Ben does not realize Biggs and Honey are married, and he is not happy to see Honey with another man. Stack and Biggs have words, and Hal starts to remove his jacket to fight Ben. Ben mistakes Hal's actions as going for a gun, and Ben draws his gun and kills Hal. Honey encourages Stack to run away and subsequently tells the Marshal that a man she had never seen shot and killed Biggs. Since no one else witnessed the shooting, Stack is able to return to his hotel room undetected.
Later that day, Stack visits the Marshal's office to borrow some of Matt's tools to clean and fine tune his pistol. He volunteers to walk with Matt to the stable and leaves his disassembled gun on a table inside the office. Hy Evers, the man who threatened the Marshal earlier, is hiding inside the loft of the stable with the intention of ambushing the Marshal. Ben sees Evers in the loft, and reaches to draw his gun, only to realize the gun is not in his holster. The situation earlier is now repeated as Evers thinks Stack is going for his gun and shoots Stack, but this is enough of a diversion to give Matt time to draw his gun and kill Evers.
Stack is injured, but the shot is not fatal. Doc Adams is able to nurse Ben back to health.
Joanna Moore is Honey Dare in this story. Moore, whose entire immediate family -- father, mother, and sister -- were killed in a car accident when Moore was a child, married Ryan O'Neal in 1963, her third marriage. Their children, Tatum and Griffin, were born during their four-year marriage, which would have included the time this episode was filmed. Moore was a talented actress with a promising career at one time, but she suffered from severe mental illness and fell victim to substance abuse, which ruined her career. She was also a heavy smoker and died of lung cancer when she was only 63 years old. Moore appeared in two 30-minute Gunsmoke episodes in Season 5. This episode is her final appearance on the show.
Rory Calhoun plays Ben Stack. Calhoun had a successful career in films earlier and was a regular guest star on television shows from the late 1950s into the 1980s. This is his only Gunsmoke appearance.
Several other familiar character actors make an appearance in this episode. Dick Wessel, who played in many different movies and television shows -- often uncredited, is a character named Sol Durham that tries to get the Marshal to arrest an enemy for the murder of Hal Biggs. Shut Fisher plays Durham's enemy. John Crawford, who played recurring characters on both The Waltons and Police Woman, is Hal Biggs. Harry Bartell plays a sheriff from another town. Bartell appeared in a total of 10 Gunsmoke episodes over the run of the show. Harry Lauter plays a visitor to Dodge who is questioned by Matt about the shooting of Biggs. This was one of nine different appearances he made on Gunsmoke. Charles Maxwell, who was very familiar to any fans of television westerns, fills the Hy Evers role.
After Matt kills Evers, the dead man is the logical suspect for the shooting of Biggs, but Honey's description of the killer does not match Evers. A couple of other suspects emerge over the course of the story, but Matt rules them out, too. (Incidentally, the man Festus suggests as a suspect does not match the description Honey provided, either.)
The romance between Ben and Honey begins to grow during and subsequent to all of these events. For some reason, they decide they need to keep the romance a secret for fear that Marshal Dillon will suspect Stack in the murder of Biggs. By poorly hiding the love affair they invite suspicion.
When Matt Dillon realizes what is going on between Ben and Honey, he instantly concludes Stack must have killed Biggs. Since Stack is an old friend and was responsible for saving the Marshal's life, Matt is torn between his responsibility as a U. S. Marshal and his friendship with Ben. Matt decides the best recourse is for him to resign his position. This story includes one of the few different times the Marshal resigned over the course of the series.
Of course, every viewer knows Matt Dillon is not going to stop serving as U. S. Marshal for very long. The resolution of the dilemma is unexpected, however.
This is yet another Gunsmoke episode with a stellar cast and some questionable plot elements. Specifically in this episode, the questionable element is the leap of logic required for Matt to suspect Stack as the murderer simply because he discovers Ben and Honey are romantically involved. Furthermore, Ben and Honey think they need to hide their relationship for fear of Ben being suspected. The events do not seem to warrant the actions taken by the different characters.
Nevertheless, this is an entertaining hour of television filled with several twists and turns along the way.
When Honey walks into the Long Branch Saloon for a night of work, a drunk, belligerent man named Hy Evers begins giving Honey a hard time. Fortunately, Matt Dillon is in the saloon, sees Evers's behavior and knocks him unconscious. Evers earns a night in the Dodge City jail for his bad behavior. When the Marshal releases him the next morning, he threatens to kill Matt. Dillon orders Evers to leave Dodge.
Meanwhile, a stranger named Ben Stack visits the saloon. Stack is looking for Matt Dillon. He tells Sam he is in town to shoot Matt Dillon. When Stack notices Honey, he asks if she will share a bottle of whiskey with him, and she agrees. Ben and Honey quickly become friends. Ben makes his attraction to Honey clear and warns her he is a jealous man.
Marshal Dillon has to leave town for a few hours. When he returns, Hank at Moss Grimmick's stable tells Matt a stranger in town has been asking about him and saying he is going to shoot Dillon. When the Marshal arrives at the Long Branch, he discovers Ben Stack waiting for him. Stack is an old cowboy friend he worked with in Arizona years earlier.
In the wee hours of the next morning, Stack has trouble sleeping and decides to go for a walk. While he is out, he encounters Honey and Hal apparently walking to their room at the Dodge House after Honey got off work. Ben does not realize Biggs and Honey are married, and he is not happy to see Honey with another man. Stack and Biggs have words, and Hal starts to remove his jacket to fight Ben. Ben mistakes Hal's actions as going for a gun, and Ben draws his gun and kills Hal. Honey encourages Stack to run away and subsequently tells the Marshal that a man she had never seen shot and killed Biggs. Since no one else witnessed the shooting, Stack is able to return to his hotel room undetected.
Later that day, Stack visits the Marshal's office to borrow some of Matt's tools to clean and fine tune his pistol. He volunteers to walk with Matt to the stable and leaves his disassembled gun on a table inside the office. Hy Evers, the man who threatened the Marshal earlier, is hiding inside the loft of the stable with the intention of ambushing the Marshal. Ben sees Evers in the loft, and reaches to draw his gun, only to realize the gun is not in his holster. The situation earlier is now repeated as Evers thinks Stack is going for his gun and shoots Stack, but this is enough of a diversion to give Matt time to draw his gun and kill Evers.
Stack is injured, but the shot is not fatal. Doc Adams is able to nurse Ben back to health.
Joanna Moore is Honey Dare in this story. Moore, whose entire immediate family -- father, mother, and sister -- were killed in a car accident when Moore was a child, married Ryan O'Neal in 1963, her third marriage. Their children, Tatum and Griffin, were born during their four-year marriage, which would have included the time this episode was filmed. Moore was a talented actress with a promising career at one time, but she suffered from severe mental illness and fell victim to substance abuse, which ruined her career. She was also a heavy smoker and died of lung cancer when she was only 63 years old. Moore appeared in two 30-minute Gunsmoke episodes in Season 5. This episode is her final appearance on the show.
Rory Calhoun plays Ben Stack. Calhoun had a successful career in films earlier and was a regular guest star on television shows from the late 1950s into the 1980s. This is his only Gunsmoke appearance.
Several other familiar character actors make an appearance in this episode. Dick Wessel, who played in many different movies and television shows -- often uncredited, is a character named Sol Durham that tries to get the Marshal to arrest an enemy for the murder of Hal Biggs. Shut Fisher plays Durham's enemy. John Crawford, who played recurring characters on both The Waltons and Police Woman, is Hal Biggs. Harry Bartell plays a sheriff from another town. Bartell appeared in a total of 10 Gunsmoke episodes over the run of the show. Harry Lauter plays a visitor to Dodge who is questioned by Matt about the shooting of Biggs. This was one of nine different appearances he made on Gunsmoke. Charles Maxwell, who was very familiar to any fans of television westerns, fills the Hy Evers role.
After Matt kills Evers, the dead man is the logical suspect for the shooting of Biggs, but Honey's description of the killer does not match Evers. A couple of other suspects emerge over the course of the story, but Matt rules them out, too. (Incidentally, the man Festus suggests as a suspect does not match the description Honey provided, either.)
The romance between Ben and Honey begins to grow during and subsequent to all of these events. For some reason, they decide they need to keep the romance a secret for fear that Marshal Dillon will suspect Stack in the murder of Biggs. By poorly hiding the love affair they invite suspicion.
When Matt Dillon realizes what is going on between Ben and Honey, he instantly concludes Stack must have killed Biggs. Since Stack is an old friend and was responsible for saving the Marshal's life, Matt is torn between his responsibility as a U. S. Marshal and his friendship with Ben. Matt decides the best recourse is for him to resign his position. This story includes one of the few different times the Marshal resigned over the course of the series.
Of course, every viewer knows Matt Dillon is not going to stop serving as U. S. Marshal for very long. The resolution of the dilemma is unexpected, however.
This is yet another Gunsmoke episode with a stellar cast and some questionable plot elements. Specifically in this episode, the questionable element is the leap of logic required for Matt to suspect Stack as the murderer simply because he discovers Ben and Honey are romantically involved. Furthermore, Ben and Honey think they need to hide their relationship for fear of Ben being suspected. The events do not seem to warrant the actions taken by the different characters.
Nevertheless, this is an entertaining hour of television filled with several twists and turns along the way.
