User Reviews

A sheriff from Miami, Texas comes to Dodge and announces himself to Marshal Dillon. He says he will be in Dodge City a few days looking for a murderer. But he plays his cards very close to his vest. He won't show the marshal a picture of the killer because he claims that people can easily change their appearance. He doesn't even give the name of the killer. But he does like to tell tall tales about Texas - some truth mixed with legend.

In a parallel tale everybody talks about what nice people the Curtins are. They are always friendly, they are always giving invitations to dinner at their place, and they are genuinely devoted to each other. How do the stories of the Curtins and the mysterious lawman collide? Watch and find out.

Gunsmoke was surprisingly socially relevant for a TV show about the old west that grew out of a radio show about a lawman who lived on the edge. This particular show has something to say about the destructive force of greed, especially with that final shot.

It is interesting that Mrs. Curtin has no first name here. She is just "Mrs. Curtin". Played by Virginia Gregg, a frequent supporting actress in 50s, 60s, and 70s TV, she was 45 when this episode was made, and yet people keep referring to her as Curtin's "pretty little wife". Ms. Gregg looks good for her age but she is hardly credible as a young bride.

One of the frustrating things about Gunsmoke was that Matt Dillon was no Sherlock Holmes. Unlike a lot of other characters of that era, Dillon did not live by his wits. While he often survived thanks to his instincts and his judgment of the character of the people he dealt with, Dillon was not the sharpest knife in the drawer. Having Chester as a sidekick certainly did not help.

In this case, Sheriff Ab Stringer comes to town looking for somebody. Dillon gets a telegraph from the wrong city saying that Stringer is coming from Miami, Texas. Instead of checking it out, by sending a telegraph to Miami, Texas to find out who Stringer is, Dillon does nothing. So Stringer comes to town, and he shines Dillon on, and gets Dillon and Chester to search the town looking for an unknown criminal.

Stringer is played by Harp McGuire, an American actor who spent a few years in Australia doing a popular radio show there. McGuire appeared on Gunsmoke twice, and he died in 1966. Thanks to Chester, fake sheriff Stringer comes across Mrs. Clara Curtin, who is played by Virginia Gregg. Gregg had the warmth of a porcupine in most of her roles, but here she tries hard to play a loving middle-aged wife. Gregg was on Gunsmoke seven times.

Stringer follows Curtin back to her home, where Rob Curtin is watching a calf being born. Something so beautiful is about to end in tragedy thanks to the writing of John Meston. Meston could never write a happy ending. You would think that somebody could get shot in the side and survive, but no.

Stringer confronts Curtin, and recovers bank money they both robbed many years ago, that Curtin had kept hidden away. Stringer decides that because Curtin is reformed, and has a successful ranch, he is no longer trustworthy as a criminal, and must die. This had to be one of the most moronic confrontations in the history of Gunsmoke. At least the final gun-fight did not happen off-camera. As Stringer tells Dillon at the end, "It took you too long to figure it out." Thus two people died because Dillon was slacking off.

The episode begins as Marshal Dillon has received a telegram from Miami, Texas that Sheriff Ab Stringer will be arriving by stage in order to find an outlaw he has been hunting. It seems that the bank in Miami was robbed and a clerk killed by two bandits now the Sheriff has got word that one of the robbers in living in Dodge City.

Without a name on the robber, Matt is of little help to the Sheriff. But the Sheriff wants to stay in Dodge for a little time looking for the bandit that he will know by sight.

When the Sheriff is introduced to Mrs. Clara Curtin, she invites the Sheriff to come out to her and her husband, Rob Curtin, farm. The Sheriff appears to have heard that name before as he sets out following Mrs. Curtin. At the farm we will learn that some people are not whom they claim and the reason for the hidden past will be revealed.

With a nice script this episode was bound to please in many different ways. A rather simple story that was played out well by the actors in the cast. Perhaps not the most original script but was one that was enjoyable enough to produce interest to the very end.

(*Marshal Dillon quote*) - "Oh, you mean you think the man's around Dodge somewhere?"

This episode of TV's "Gunsmoke" is all about deception and pretending to be someone that you're not (in hopes of fooling the law).

The Imposter's story-line is quite involved because, as it turns out, there are two men who are not the persons that they are claiming to be.