User Reviews

Emmett Egan comes to Dodge and advises Marshal Dillon that he is looking to becomes Marshal of Dodge and will even give Matt some money to quit, we as viewers know that this is not going to end well for Egan. But Matt wants to teach Egan a lesson so he agrees to let Egan follow him around for a week and then if Egan wants the job he can have the Marshal's badge.

Egan believes that the job is constantly full of excitement but the first day all they do is sit around. When a old sod-buster comes in to town for his yearly fling, he rides down front street shooting his gun in the air. Egan wants to know why Matt did not arrest him. When a saloon girl gets scratch by a bullet from her boyfriends gun, Egan wants to know why they did not pursue the man.

This continues until Matt lets Egan handle a situation by himself. Egan's thought of being marshal could drastically change.

A nice story that was well written and well performed. Even though it was a predictable show it was interesting to the end. Good watch

A former Army Major named Emmett Egan visits Marshal Matt Dillon and informs Matt he wants Matt's job. Egan is convinced that his former experience in the army qualifies him to be a U. S. Marshal, and the War Department has approved him for such a job. After he makes his pitch to Matt, Marshal Dillon agrees to hand his job over to the Major -- but only after Egan follows him around town for a week to see what the job entails. If Major Egan still wants the job at the end of the week, Matt will let him have it.

This is one of the more sprawling early episodes. It features a relatively large cast, and it packs a lot of material into the thirty-minute format.

Herbert Rudley appears for the second and final time in a Gunsmoke episode. He portrays Major Egan. In his other role in the earlier Season 2 story "No Indians," he portrayed an inexperienced Army captain. Rudley guested in many television shows in the 1950s and '60s. His earlier work tended to be dramatic roles in both films and television. In the 1960s, he gravitated more toward comedy roles with parts in series like The Beverly Hillbillies, Leave It to Beaver, and a recurring role as Herb Hubbard in the series The Mothers-In-Law.

Former NFL player Walter Barnes appears in the opening scene as a blacksmith named O'Dell who is shoeing Matt's horse -- and mistreating the horse in the process. Chester is there, but he dismisses O'Dell's behavior as occasional orneriness. This is the first of three Gunsmoke appearances for Barnes.

Alex Sharp is one of those actors that appeared in numerous small and uncredited roles in both films and television shows. He appeared in twenty different Gunsmoke episodes, but the roles were often so small it takes an astute observer to recognize him. He plays Jeff Willoughby, a local resident who gets into some trouble with one of the women from the Long Branch Saloon.

Kelly Thordsen makes his first Gunsmoke appearance as Wilson Willoughby. Thordsen is a familiar actor in many westerns and dramas of the period. Following this appearance, Thordsen played the character Colorado Charlie in several episodes of the series Yancy Derringer. During his extensive acting career, Thordsen appeared in four Gunsmoke episodes.

This episode includes a few noteworthy, short appearances. Ned Glass makes his third appearance of the season as a rowdy drunk named Mr. Phipps. Kirby Smith makes his only appearance as Sam Botkin, the owner of Botkin's Bank. The Botkin character was played by several different actors over the years. George Selk makes another of his many appearances as livery stable owner Moss Grimmick.

June Carter, one of the famous Carter Family country singers, appears in her first credited acting role as Clarise, the Long Branch Saloon employee involved in an incident with Jeff Willoughby. Carter was the daughter of Maybelle Carter and married singer Johnny Cash several years after this appearance.

This is the final Gunsmoke screenplay written by the team of David Victor and Herbert Little, Jr. Eleven of their thirteen screenplays for the series were filmed in Season 1. They went on to write for The Rifleman series. Victor would continue writing and producing several additional series during a prolific Hollywood career.

This unique story provides a fascinating look into Matt Dillon's professional life, and I like how the John Meston story avoids painting a picture of an exciting, action-filled existence. Major Egan is certainly disappointed to find the job is often dull and boring. It is also interesting to see the nuances of Marshal Dillon's job -- when force should be used and when restraint is needed.

Note: There is a rare scene inside the Texas Trail saloon in this episode. This is one of the saloons in Dodge City that competes with the Long Branch. It was frequently mentioned in the radio program because Kitty Russell worked there on occasion. (The radio version of Kitty Russell leaves little doubt that she was a prostitute that worked the different saloons in Dodge.)

Good offbeat episode. Stiff-backed, ex-major Egan (Rudley) comes to town thinking his command army experience qualifies him to become marshal. So he tells Matt, who doesn't quite know how to handle this weird situation. Anyway, Matt goes along, telling Egan to follow him around for a week and see if he still wants the job after he's got a good look at it.

One highlight is Chester's amusing facial reactions to having screwed up in front of Matt. There's been nobody quite like Weaver's Chester before or since. Also, I like the way the script emphasizes how boring Matt's job usually is. Of course, it doesn't stay boring, while Matt shows there's a lot more to the job than a fast gun. All in all, it's an unusual, well thought-out screenplay. (In passing-- that's June Carter Cash of Johnny Cash fame playing Clarice, the wounded dance hall girl.)

I gave this an 8 because of the brief appearance by a very young June Carter. June Carter always impressed me as an actress and though she has less than five minutes in this episode she gives it her all in the time allotted.

I was disappointed in the choice of actor Herbert Rudley to portray the ex-Army martinet who wishes to replace Matt as town marshal. Rudley is better suited as stuffed-shirt types - bankers, outraged elected officials- not the gun-toting wanna-be marshal.

The ending of this episode felt rushed and it seemed more like a plot for The Andy Griffith Show than the noirish-Western series that the half-hour episodes of Gunsmoke often were.

There's plenty to wonder about in this show, including the way in which Dillon handles potentially violent confrontations.

Seems to me that..in these early episodes at least.... Matt often had a very short fuse and was prone to threatening violence with very little provocation. Here, though, the plot requires that he take an easy-going, almost passive stance when facing confrontation. We all expect, of course, that Herbert Rudley is the typical "by-the-book" disciplinarian, and will see the error of his ways by the end. But that's not QUITE the way things happen here, which is why this show is rather unique.

I've always like Rudley, who projects a solid, authoritarian presence in his first scene in the stable. BUY HERE'S MY QUESTION: Why did the script set him up as the kind of guy who could immediately turn the drunk, violent blacksmith into a purring kittey just by walking into the place and issuing an order?? He obviously projects a no-nonsense kind of authority.

WHY, THEN...in his subsequent scenes of confrontation....even wearing a BADGE...did the thugs ignore, mock and threaten him, thus necessitating Matt to save the day? That final scene in the bar was well-written and staged, but CONFUSING AS HECK when compared to the opening stable scene. It's as if Meston changed his mind midway through the script, but the opening scene had already been filmed.

Anyway, it's still a good show. Anyone who has any thoughts on my question, send 'em along; maybe I missed something. LR.