User Reviews

I always appreciate an opportunity to hear Ken Curtis sing, using his "real" voice. Ken was one of the great popular male singers of the past 100 years. Don't take my word: check out his big-band, Western, and radio credits yer'self.

In this episode, Mr. Curtis sings a verse (unaccompanied) of "Shall We Gather at the River" during the funeral scene early on. Other than that and the welcome presence of actor Patrick Knowles, there's not much to recommend here. It's an OK 50 minutes.

I was glad that one of the "Twin" brothers got blown away very early in the show, since viewers were spared what would probably have been a whole mess of scenes with doubles, and maybe even split-screen effects to create the illusion of TWO Lee Kinsolvings (I'll resist the temptation to quip "ONE is quite enough").

The brief shot of Jess (or was it Jay?) in the background early on is SO unconvincing; the body-double is built NOTHING like Lee K. So thank goodness there was no more of that to sit through.

Kinsolving was one of those "angry young mean" who came out of the Actors Studio in the 50's, and I never quite understood his appeal, since everything I've seen him in has featured a rather bland, unremarkable performance. His early career onstage must have been another matter, since he won awards and high critical praise.

Oh, well. LR.

It was an good story and I've seen the episode a couple of time now. However, the performance by the actor who played the twins was atrocious. The acting by this man was painful to watch. My bf and I comment on it each time we watch the episode. I've read that he received a GG nomination for a movie he was in and I can't fathom that. I understand that he died very young and that is sad. No disrespect to his memory it was just a cringe performance.

Lee Kinsolving plays two different characters in this tale that contains hints of the Cain and Abel story from the Bible. Jess and Jay Bartell are twin brothers and the sons of Sam Bartell. The Bartells own and operate the "Bartell Feed & Fuel" store in Dodge City. Sam is in poor health, and Jess manages the store.

Jess is in love with a woman named Nancy. He has been making plans to buy a farm, marry Nancy, and begin a life together with her.

Unfortunately, Jess is murdered one night while he is working alone at the store. Nancy had seen a man smoking a pipe talking to Jess in the store the night he was shot. The stranger quickly becomes the prime suspect in the shooting.

After Jess is buried, Jay assumes the role of managing the business. Jay is not the congenial manager Jess was, and he does not have the knack for business Jess did. Jay is impetuous and quick-tempered.

Nancy is heartbroken by the loss of Jess, of course, but Jay is in love with Nancy, too, and wants to take the place of Jess in her life. While Nancy definitely was in love with Jess, she isn't so quick to simply let Jay replace him -- with good reason. While the two young men were twins, they had very different personalities.

As the story progresses, the truth is revealed, but it isn't a big surprise.

Kinsolving's work here is notable, and his biography is noteworthy. He was a student of method acting, and was considered an up-and-coming heartthrob type in Hollywood similar to James Dean. He often played volatile characters with a tendency toward emotional outbursts, or "dark and troubled souls." He was nominated for a Golden Globe award for his performance in the William Inge film The Dark at the Top of the Stairs in 1960. He followed that performance by appearing with William Shatner in a somewhat provocative film titled The Explosive Generation in 1961.

After those parts, Kinsolving moved to television roles. His work was impressive in pretty much everything he did, but his role in this episode of Gunsmoke would be his last. He was unhappy with the roles he was offered, and decided to retire from acting in 1966.

There have been several rumors about Kinsolving and the motivations behind his career decisions. He was romantically linked to Tuesday Weld and Candace Bergen. He was married briefly to a model. After he left acting, he owned a bar and restaurant, operated art galleries, and spent a lot of time sailing. He developed a mysterious respiratory illness and died suddenly at the young age of 36 in 1974.

Paul Fix plays the part of Sam Bartell. Fix was a common face in both television and films, but was perhaps best known for playing Sheriff Micah Torrance in The Rifleman. Incidently, Lee Kinsolving made a memorable appearance in an episode of The Rifleman as another troubled young man.

Other than Kinsolving's performance, there isn't much about this episode to warrant a recommendation. Matt Dillon is naturally involved since a murder has taken place in Dodge. Festus Haggen is involved in the story, but his part here seems oddly out of place and doesn't serve much purpose.

This unfortunate story is played well by the actors involved making for a watch that is a sad tale of a family situation. After watching and taking sometime to digest then entire program, I found this to be a episode that was almost Shakespearean in nature.

Two brothers Jess and Jay Bartell have been running their father's feed and seed store since their widower father has been in poor health. Even though everyone in town had called the twins 'two peas in a pod' there was a notable different in the two for the people that knew them. Jess was the hard worker and management person while Jay was more of the dreamer. It will be difficult for their father to take when Jess is killed working late at the store after what appeared to be a robbery.

There is a suspect as Festus and Jess's girlfriend Nancy had seen a older gentleman with a mustache and smoking a pipe talking to Jess before the murder. But no one in town knew who the man's name nor anything about him.

But when the gentleman, Agus MacIntosh, returns we learn that he was selling a house to Jess so that he could marry Nancy and move away leaving Jay to run the business. But when Jay decides that he now wants to buy the house for Nancy, it begins a spiral downfall that will leave the entire situation unpleasant for the entire cast.

A very sad tale that plays out right before us. We, as viewers, know that it was only a story script to a show but if felt more real than we ever wanted. A good watch.

After the first couple of minutes, you know the whole story and it is just a matter of sitting through it. Lee Kinsolving always reminds me of Robert Walker, Jr. (1940 - 2017), or Jim Hutton (1934-1979). They were all young in 1964 when this episode was filmed.

Lee Kinsolving plays twin brothers. One brother is considered smarter than the other one. The less favored brother is envious, and also lusts for his twin's fiancee. Predictable things happen, and the rest of the story is about twin two trying to cover up the murder of twin one.

Lee Kinsolving is kind of obnoxious and pushy. He even gets testy with his own father, played by Paul Fix of The Rifleman fame. Paul Fix plays his usual kind and gentle character, and it was nice to see him on Gunsmoke, though he is wasted here, because his part is very small.

The girlfriend that both brothers are in love with has no personality at all. She is played by Donna Anderson, who had 14 acting credits during the 25 years that she was active. Killing anyone for her made it seem even worse, but Marshal Dillon did not unleash the power of his pistol to bring down twin two. The ending was under-whelming. Overall this was a dud episode that had a lot of talk and no action.