User Reviews

An all-around good episode of Gunsmoke. Very well acted, some excitement and a dramatically compelling story line.

John Crawford was expert at playing thugs and bad men in the Old West, and he's at the top of his game here, playing amoral Loy Bishop. When Bishop's plan to collect a thousand-dollar reward for "capturing" his former friend, a wanted murderer, does not work out the way he expects, he plans to retaliate on Marshal Dillon. Bishop had shot his friend in the back and delivered the body to Dillon, who saw through his criminal plan. Part of Bishop's new plan, that of revenge, includes the participation of Rose Ellen. She is supposed to seduce and distract Dillon, who's been called to another town as a ruse to get him out of Dodge and into Bishop's clutches. Things look pretty bad for the Marshal until Rose Ellen breaks down and helps him escape. When all is said and done--it's Gunsmoke after all, and Marshal Dillon can't be killed off the show--Rose Ellen expects to be the Marshal's "woman". Again, it's Gunsmoke, and he just isn't interested in romance. So poor naive Rose Ellen is left with nothing but an offer to go to Dodge City and look for a job.

This is a very good example of how a pretty formulaic (though always engaging and well-wrought) series can occasionally touch on deeper human values and feelings. Bethel Leslie, who plays Rose Ellen, does an excellent job of conveying the character's despair and emptiness at the end. It's a convincing, "real" moment in a story that in many ways had to be contrived. Very likely, there were many decent people back in those days who ended up with little to hold onto in their lives.

It is like two shows. The first half a bounty hunter story. It is up to guest John Crawford to carry much of the first half of the ep. The character of Loy has a lot of dimension. We see him bumming around Dodge with money in pocket but unable to get a room. How this happened:obviously he has became unpopularly known in his two-night jail stay for having shot a man dead in the back.

The next half is very well done also but is why it gets less than a 10. Bethel Leslie ( an ultra-beautiful actress) is introduced as Loy's girl. She was nowhere in the first half and as a result no matter how great her part was in the second half she is very underused in this ep. This the drop from 10 to 9 stars. (The gang of Loy's obviously bought and paid for most of the non-Dodge townspeople--if you had not figured that out!)

You know this was not the most interesting show when the episode is over and you do not remember what happened in the first half of the program. It really did play out like two shows and both of the shows was lacking any entertainment value.

During the first half of the show, Loy Bishop kills his friend Jake Moseley for the reward money on Jake's head. When he gets to Dodge they cannot find a wanted poster and since Jake was shot in the back Loy is placed in jail pending more information. Behold, Chester finds old mail that was behind a barrel that contained Jake's wanted poster. So upset Loy is released from jail but still pending the reward money. Behold, Matt gets a telegram that says the reward money had been recalled and Loy will get nothing.

Now we move to the second plot of the evening when Loy decides to take over a nearby town, kill the Sheriff and send Matt a telegram saying the Sheriff needed him. So Matt takes off to see his friend Sheriff Hale. But when in town everyone acts strange and will not tell him where Sheriff Hale is located. (that should have been a warning sign) Instead Marshal Dillon goes to the telegraph office where the man advises that he did sent the telegraph but someone had a gun to his head. (That should have been another clear warning that something was VERY wrong) Instead Marshal Dillon stays in town before being captured by Loy and his men.

While tied up pending a hanging, Matt talks with a women that believes Matt is going to take her back to Dodge and be her man. So she unchains the Marshal and gives him a gun. Now Matt is going to have to shoot his way out from the outlaws and also female situation.

Never could get into either story. It was like two poor scripts combined to make one poor show. Not one of the better shows.