I've watched this episode several times, but, this time I noticed something that really made it special. In the last minutes of the episode, before the scuffe, there is a hat rack that steals the scene. It had to have been an inside joke. It must have!
4 Reviews
Considering the year...
tomeads4420 January 2021
Just Another Abusive Hillbilly Husband
Johnny_West25 April 2020
The incredibly morbid and depressing John Meston wrote a large number of the Gunsmoke episodes until he was let go in 1965. There is rarely a happy ending, and most of the people Marshal Dillon and Chester meet on the prairie are vile, evil, vicious, and vindictive.
The prairie folks are usually stealing horses, potatoes, other food, cattle-rustling, murdering travelers, or engaged in petty feuds. In the "adult Western" genre, The Old West is a tough place to survive.
This tale is no exception. Dillon and Chester are riding out to look for Doc Adams, who has not been in town for about four or five days. They split up to cover more ground. Naturally, it is the incompetent Chester whose horse goes lame. As the dim-witted sidekick, all the bad things always happened mostly to Chester.
So now Chester is on foot, and he comes across vicious and nasty Dack, played by Charles Aidman. Aidman was on Gunsmoke five times. He had a very ugly face, and was usually playing villains, henchmen, dishonest partners, back-stabbing friends, and other lowlifes.
He is perfect in this episode, playing a totally paranoid, borderline insane, wife-abusing horse-thief. Aidman was over the top, ranting evil at his common-law wife, shaking her, pushing her, threatening to kill her, and all over a few horses that he had stolen. Since dumb Chester immediately tells Aidman that he is working for Marshal Dillon, Aidman presumes that Dillon is looking for Aidman. So after he disables Chester and ties him up, the rest of the episode is all about Aidman ranting and raving about killing Chester, threatening and beating his wife, and just going nuts. Aidman does a great job of being a nasty jerk. As an actor, Aidman put in a great performance as another Gunsmoke prairie psychopath.
Chester spends most of this episode tied-up and laying on his back, looking pathetic, as he often did. Mary Munday played Lillamae, Aidman's common-law wife. She was on Gunsmoke only this once. She is very convincing as a woman who wants to be loved, and is getting abused instead.
The only bright spot is when Matt Dillon finds Doc Adams at the home of a local rancher named Bowers (played by Harry Shannon in his only Gunsmoke appearance). Shannon had a long career in Westerns, and did a good job as the friendly neighbor who had Doc Adams over for a few days because Doc was feeling sick. The few minutes of dinner conversation between Doc Adams, Dillon, and Bowers was the highlight of this episode.
The prairie folks are usually stealing horses, potatoes, other food, cattle-rustling, murdering travelers, or engaged in petty feuds. In the "adult Western" genre, The Old West is a tough place to survive.
This tale is no exception. Dillon and Chester are riding out to look for Doc Adams, who has not been in town for about four or five days. They split up to cover more ground. Naturally, it is the incompetent Chester whose horse goes lame. As the dim-witted sidekick, all the bad things always happened mostly to Chester.
So now Chester is on foot, and he comes across vicious and nasty Dack, played by Charles Aidman. Aidman was on Gunsmoke five times. He had a very ugly face, and was usually playing villains, henchmen, dishonest partners, back-stabbing friends, and other lowlifes.
He is perfect in this episode, playing a totally paranoid, borderline insane, wife-abusing horse-thief. Aidman was over the top, ranting evil at his common-law wife, shaking her, pushing her, threatening to kill her, and all over a few horses that he had stolen. Since dumb Chester immediately tells Aidman that he is working for Marshal Dillon, Aidman presumes that Dillon is looking for Aidman. So after he disables Chester and ties him up, the rest of the episode is all about Aidman ranting and raving about killing Chester, threatening and beating his wife, and just going nuts. Aidman does a great job of being a nasty jerk. As an actor, Aidman put in a great performance as another Gunsmoke prairie psychopath.
Chester spends most of this episode tied-up and laying on his back, looking pathetic, as he often did. Mary Munday played Lillamae, Aidman's common-law wife. She was on Gunsmoke only this once. She is very convincing as a woman who wants to be loved, and is getting abused instead.
The only bright spot is when Matt Dillon finds Doc Adams at the home of a local rancher named Bowers (played by Harry Shannon in his only Gunsmoke appearance). Shannon had a long career in Westerns, and did a good job as the friendly neighbor who had Doc Adams over for a few days because Doc was feeling sick. The few minutes of dinner conversation between Doc Adams, Dillon, and Bowers was the highlight of this episode.
It felt like a repeat when viewing for the first time.
kfo949425 September 2013
Warning: Spoilers
For whatever reason, this story just did not spark the interest that others in the season have possessed. The story had high hopes but just could not get past being a rehashed plot with nearly the same tale as previous episodes.
It begins when Matt and Chester become worried about Doc not arriving at a house where he said he was going. It had been three days so Matt and Chester will ride out to see if they can find him along his plan destination.
On the trail it cuts into two paths. Matt takes one and Chester the other. Chester's horse becomes lame and he has to walk. Near a cabin Chester is captured and held by a horse thief, Dack, and his woman, Lily Mae. It becomes apparent that Dack is an abusive man and that Lily Mae is staying just hoping that he will change.
With Chester tied up and talk about him being left for dead, the only way he is going to stay alive is to talk with Lily Mae. The viewer can tell that Lily Mae wants more out of life than living with an abusive man.
There is nothing wrong with the acting nor the story. It just felt like we had seen this episode many times and it has become routine. The writer tried to change characters, having Chester as the prisoner, but it really never helped the story. The episode feels like a repeat when viewing for the first time.
It begins when Matt and Chester become worried about Doc not arriving at a house where he said he was going. It had been three days so Matt and Chester will ride out to see if they can find him along his plan destination.
On the trail it cuts into two paths. Matt takes one and Chester the other. Chester's horse becomes lame and he has to walk. Near a cabin Chester is captured and held by a horse thief, Dack, and his woman, Lily Mae. It becomes apparent that Dack is an abusive man and that Lily Mae is staying just hoping that he will change.
With Chester tied up and talk about him being left for dead, the only way he is going to stay alive is to talk with Lily Mae. The viewer can tell that Lily Mae wants more out of life than living with an abusive man.
There is nothing wrong with the acting nor the story. It just felt like we had seen this episode many times and it has become routine. The writer tried to change characters, having Chester as the prisoner, but it really never helped the story. The episode feels like a repeat when viewing for the first time.
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