User Reviews

John Meston was still alive when this episode aired, so he couldn't have rolled over in his grave. But one can believe he must have felt someone walking on it.

"Gunsmoke" lightened over the years, mostly from complaints about TV violence. "Like Old Times" is an example of it lightening too much, with a contrived ending that provokes a loud "Ick!".

It's the same old same-old, with a reformed criminal trying to go straight, and his being blackmailed to commit a crime. His solution to the dilemma is clever, but it leaves too many unanswered questions. How did he know Newly would stop by the Long Branch for coffee? How did he break into the bank and the jail, which were presumably locked? This is a good example of bad storytelling, where the writer simply makes things happen, without regard for logic or reality. It all ends with a happy-happy joy-joy farewell scene. It's certainly not a "Gunsmoke" high-water mark.

There's /one/ good moment, when Festus looks at a wanted poster of a bad'un, and wonders how anyone wouldn't be able to tell that such a shifty-eyed fellow was untrustworthy. The person in the poster is, of course, Ken Curtis with a full (rather than scraggly) beard.

You can safely skip this episode.

Ben Rando is a man who was once an expert safe cracker. He was arrested for breaking into the safe at the Dodge City Freight Office and sentenced to prison. Now twelve years have passed, and he has been released.

Rando regrets his past actions, especially because he was separated from Carrie Thompson, the woman he loves. Upon his release from prison, he returns to Dodge in the hopes of finding Carrie and rekindling their relationship.

The twelve years have not been kind to Carrie. When Rando last knew her, she was a lively young woman working at the Long Branch Saloon. After twelve tough years, she is now working at the Bull's Head Saloon. She has lost any hope she ever had and lives a miserable existence.

Rando still loves Carrie, and he is not deterred by the fact that Carrie is no longer a pretty, young woman full of life. Although Carrie still harbors a significant amount of anger toward Ben, she still loves him and eventually begins to trust that he wants to live a crime free future with her.

A couple of would-be criminals learn Rando has been released from prison and has settled in Dodge. They travel to the town with plans to coerce Rando into helping them rob a payroll from the bank.

Nehemiah Persoff portrays Ben Rando in this episode. This is Persoff's fifth appearance in the series. He would return once more in Season 20's "Manolo" story. Persoff could play various character types, and he is excellent as the soft-spoken Rando.

Actress Gloria DeHaven fills the role of Carrie Thompson in this story. DeHaven's acting career began when she was in her teens in the 1930s and 40s. She came from a family of entertainers and was a talented singer. Through the years, she would appear in musical films and Broadway plays. DeHaven later found success in television. This is her only Gunsmoke appearance.

Daniel J. Travanti (credited as Dan Travanty) and Charles Haid portray Aaron Barker and Lem Hargis, the two men who seek Rando's assistance in robbing the bank. Travanti and Haid would both later play starring, recurring roles in the television series Hill Street Blues.

Several familiar Dodge City residents make an appearance in this story. Roy Roberts returns as the banker Mr. Bodkin for the final time. This is one of Roberts's last acting roles, as he passed away in 1975. Actor Tom Brown appears for the last time as Ed O'Connor.

Charles Wagenheim (Halligan), Ted Jordan (Nathan Burke), and Victor Izay (Bull) appear in this episode.

Robert Brubaker also returns for one of his twenty-nine appearances in the series. He often played stagecoach drivers on Gunsmoke, and in the very early years of the show, he played the recurring stagecoach driver named Jim Buck. In this and episodes going forward, he plays the bartender in the Long Branch Saloon. When Rando asks his character about Sam Noonan, Brubaker's character (credited here only as "bartender," although Matt addresses him as "Floyd," and Brubaker appeared in subsequent episodes with that name) responds by telling Rando Sam has died. Glenn Strange had passed away shortly before this episode was filmed.

This episode features two stories that are combined, and neither is very original. The first is a love story where Rando endeavors to convince Carrie he is a changed man and worthy of her affections. This is the more original of the two stories. The second story concerns the efforts of Barker and Hargis to force Rando to help them rob the bank. This is a variation on the familiar theme where a gunfighter wants to escape the past and live a more peaceful existence. It simply replaces the gunfighter with a safe cracker.

The biggest problem with this episode is that neither story is written in a manner that is particularly compelling. This is primarily due to the television mores of the time in which the episode was produced with a deliberate emphasis on reducing violence and story resolutions that would be considered more pleasant.

Rando's actions do provide an unexpected, clever surprise, and this episode features another strong cast of actors. Unfortunately, these factors are not enough to salvage the poorly executed story.

Side note: There is a scene in this episode where Festus Haggen is handed a stack of wanted posters. Festus looks at the first poster and begins to make disparaging remarks about the appearance of the man pictured. When the camera view changes so the viewer can see the poster, the picture is obviously a drawing of Ken Curtis with a full beard. It is also noteworthy that the name of the man is Frank Eaton. Viewers may recall Season 17's penultimate episode, "Alias Festus Haggen" where Festus is mistakenly identified as an outlaw named Frank Eaton, because the outlaw looked remarkably like the deputy. (Ken Curtis played both roles.) I suspect the poster shown was created for that episode and used in this episode to perpetuate the joke.