User Reviews

It is time for cattle herds to arrive in Dodge City, which means the bank will have extra money on hand. A man named Talbot is one of three outlaws planning to rob the Dodge City bank. Talbot rides into the town and poses as a cattle buyer named Willis. This gives him the opportunity to case the bank and plan the robbery.

Talbot's destiny crosses with that of a woman named Katherine Snider. He first encounters Mrs. Snider on the farm she shares with her husband, Eli. Later, he accidentally bumps into her as she leaves the store in Dodge with an armload of packages. He helps the woman gather the packages. Eli has been inside the Long Branch Saloon drinking and losing money in a card game. When another patron informs Eli his wife is talking with another man in front of the store, Eli is enraged. He threatens Talbot, who knocks him to the ground and starts to walk away. Eli grabs a rifle and cocks the lever. Talbot spins around, draws his pistol, and fires, killing Eli.

Festus Haggen takes Talbot into custody. Matt Dillon investigates the shooting and finds it was self-defense. Even Katherine tells the Marshal the situation was entirely the results of her husband's actions.

Now a widow, Katherine is informed her husband had mortgaged their farm and has left her with nothing. She talks Bull into giving her a job "serving drinks" at the Bulls Head Saloon. (In 1973, television westerns still could not portray women who worked in saloons as sex workers.) Katherine is clearly not suited for such work and does not even make it through the first night before Bull fires her.

Talbot initially pities Katherine, but the pair soon begin to fall in love. He invites Katherine to run away with him, but when she discovers he is an outlaw and not a cattle buyer, she refuses. Talbot wants out of the robbery attempt so he and Katherine can be together.

Anthony Zerbe returns to Gunsmoke for the third and final time. He plays the Talbot character in this story. His performance stands out in this episode, as it does in the other two episodes in which he appeared. Zerbe often played villains, but he was talented enough to play more nuanced characters, as he does in this story.

Salome Jens also plays her last Gunsmoke part in this story. She portrays Katherine Snider. In real life, Zerbe is married to Salome's sister, Arnette Jens. As of this writing, the couple has been married for almost 60 years. Jens also appeared in the Captain Sligo episode from Season 16.

This episode marks the final participation in a Gunsmoke episode by Robert Totten. Totten -- with his impressive beard -- plays Eli Snider in this story. Totten appeared as an actor in seven other episodes of the series, and he directed twenty-five episodes between 1966 and 1971.

Several other actors that frequented television shows around the time this episode was filmed appear in smaller parts in this story. Peter Jason (Deadwood, Walter Hill and John Carpenter films) and Bill Williams (husband of Barbara Hale, who played Della Street in the original Perry Mason series, and father to actor William Katt) play Pope and Red, Talbot's aspiring partners in crime. Ken Swofford and Robert Donner portray a couple of drunken patrons of the Bulls Head Saloon. Chanin Hale makes an appearance in a scene as one of Kitty Russell's employees.

Many of the familiar Gunsmoke townspeople characters make appearances in this episode, too. Charles Wagenheim appears as Halligan. Howard Culver plays the hotel clerk Howie. Charles Macauley appears for the second and final time as the bank employee named Dofeny. Victor Izay portrays Bull.

Katherine was Eli's "mail order bride." She traveled west to marry Eli after corresponding with him. She tells Talbot she was drawn to Eli through his kind and gentle correspondence, but she found the man to be much different than the man she thought she was marrying. This may well have been a common occurrence during this time of western expansion.

Katherine finds the opposite in Talbot. He is a man surrounded with danger, but he possesses the true compassion and kindness her husband lacked.

The penultimate episode of Season 18 is one of the better installments of the season, although it is another of those stories where the regular stars are not particularly important to the story. The performances by Zerbe and Jens and the subtle, intelligent script by Jim Byrnes make viewing this story a joy.