Very cool to see William Redfield, famous as Harding from "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest", as a young actor here (remarkably Mr. Redfield was diagnosed with leukemia during filming by the actor who played the psychiatrist in that film - who was a real-life physician , and he died from that disease shortly after). Despite the trivial trivia goofs detailed here, this was a good watch, full of the drama that made my Sicilian gramma shake her fist at the TV and shout "Sonnamabich"! These shows were written to emote, and it's satisfying to see the ne'er do wells get theirs while poor Matt, suffering as he was, has the divine intervention that makes for good drama.
9 Reviews
Matt must of had 'Lime' disease.
kfo949424 September 2013
Well it really is not a disease but Matt has been chasing two bothers Joe and Red Lime across the prairie after they shot and killed two people during a robbery. Since Matt has not had sleep in days he breaks out in a fever before capturing the two bandits. He does get close enough to fire a shot that actually strikes Red before Matt has to turn around and head back to Dodge. When Red dies from the gunshot wound, Joe Lime vows to kill Marshal Dillon to revenge his brother's death.
Back in Dodge, Matt returns with a high fever. Doc gives him some medicine to help him sleep while Chester is watching over him. Chester decides to clean Matt's gun removing all his bullets. While Chester is playing around with the pistol, a young boy comes in the office advising Chester that Doc needs him to help set a broken leg. Chester goes over to Doc's office without reloading the gun.
Later, Joe Lime comes riding into Dodge. He tells the stable owner to go get Matt and meet him in the stable. A sick Marshal Dillon puts on his empty gun to go meet the killer.
A very well written script that was entertaining to watch. The acting was nice and some humorous banter between Doc and Chester. The show had a nice twist that was different from the norm which is always great to see in the series. Good watch.
Back in Dodge, Matt returns with a high fever. Doc gives him some medicine to help him sleep while Chester is watching over him. Chester decides to clean Matt's gun removing all his bullets. While Chester is playing around with the pistol, a young boy comes in the office advising Chester that Doc needs him to help set a broken leg. Chester goes over to Doc's office without reloading the gun.
Later, Joe Lime comes riding into Dodge. He tells the stable owner to go get Matt and meet him in the stable. A sick Marshal Dillon puts on his empty gun to go meet the killer.
A very well written script that was entertaining to watch. The acting was nice and some humorous banter between Doc and Chester. The show had a nice twist that was different from the norm which is always great to see in the series. Good watch.
Chester's incompetence comes through
csmith-9961510 June 2020
Gotta say it one more time... Chester WAS NOT a deputy. He "worked " for Marshall Dillon and in more than one instance he proved himself incompetent. In this episode although he once again messed things up, fate was waiting to take an ironic twist. Good watch
Two wrongs make a right
AlsExGal5 September 2022
Warning: Spoilers
On the whole, this is an oddly constructed little episode of Gunsmoke, although the individual parts of it seem conventional enough.
Matt is on the trail of the murderous brothers Joe and Red Lime. These guys are penny wise and pound foolish when it comes to crime on top of everything else. They shot and killed two people because they would not open a safe or give them the combination. One of the guys did not even know the combination. So these two Rhodes scholars have murdered two people and STILL have a locked safe with which they can do nothing. They are now on the run.
Matt gets close enough to them to shoot Red Lime. He later dies of his wound and his brother swears vengeance against the marshal. Now this would normally be just another stupid move by this goofball thief and murderer. Why not just run? Why go back to Matt's home territory? But Marshal Dillon has turned around and headed back to Dodge City, suffering from a fever and extreme exhaustion. He lays down in his office and is practically unconscious. Doc says he just needs some rest.
In the meantime, Chester, trying to be helpful, empties the Marshal's gun and cleans it, but neglects to reload the gun. Meanwhile Joe Lime continues his run as the world's dumbest criminal. He returns to Dodge in plain view of everyone and tells the owner of the stable to get Matt Dillon. That he'll be inside waiting to kill him. If Matt were his normal healthy self this would be a laughable situation. But Matt is practically delirious. He stumbles to his feet, grabs his gun, and goes out to get Joe Lime. He grabs his empty gun that is.
Joe Lime shoots wildly at Dillon, who does not once try to fire his own weapon. Matt probably figures this guy will shoot until out of bullets and then he'll have him alive. He figures right. Joe surrenders, but then things go blurry for the marshal who is, after all, a pretty sick man. He drops his gun, and Joe Lime grabs the gun, telling Dillon how he intends to shoot him slowly. I have no idea how he plans to control the laws of physics since he seems to be too dumb to understand them, but I digress.
But then Joe pulls the trigger the first time and - click. Funny how his disposition changes. Matt proceeds to try and beat some sense into Joe - good luck with that - as he takes him down and under control using his fists.
I'm not sure what this episode was trying to say. Chester for sure meant no harm. And he wasn't necessarily being stupid if you remember he was told by Doc that Matt would be "out" for two or three days. Matt was saved by his own economy of gunplay AND by Chester not reloading his gun. Is this just a tale of two wrongs - or maybe several - of Matt insisting he meet Joe Lime when he was obviously too ill, the wrongly unloaded gun, and a very dumb criminal? Or was Gunsmoke trying to say something on the gun control front? How the body count would have been even higher if there had been more shots fired? Gun control was just becoming an issue at this time, and how unconventional to broach the subject in a western.
This is the first episode of Gunsmoke I've felt obligated to spoil in order to make my point, but I felt I had to do so to thoroughly discuss matters. It's one of my favorite episodes so far, although from its rating others don't really share my opinion.
Matt is on the trail of the murderous brothers Joe and Red Lime. These guys are penny wise and pound foolish when it comes to crime on top of everything else. They shot and killed two people because they would not open a safe or give them the combination. One of the guys did not even know the combination. So these two Rhodes scholars have murdered two people and STILL have a locked safe with which they can do nothing. They are now on the run.
Matt gets close enough to them to shoot Red Lime. He later dies of his wound and his brother swears vengeance against the marshal. Now this would normally be just another stupid move by this goofball thief and murderer. Why not just run? Why go back to Matt's home territory? But Marshal Dillon has turned around and headed back to Dodge City, suffering from a fever and extreme exhaustion. He lays down in his office and is practically unconscious. Doc says he just needs some rest.
In the meantime, Chester, trying to be helpful, empties the Marshal's gun and cleans it, but neglects to reload the gun. Meanwhile Joe Lime continues his run as the world's dumbest criminal. He returns to Dodge in plain view of everyone and tells the owner of the stable to get Matt Dillon. That he'll be inside waiting to kill him. If Matt were his normal healthy self this would be a laughable situation. But Matt is practically delirious. He stumbles to his feet, grabs his gun, and goes out to get Joe Lime. He grabs his empty gun that is.
Joe Lime shoots wildly at Dillon, who does not once try to fire his own weapon. Matt probably figures this guy will shoot until out of bullets and then he'll have him alive. He figures right. Joe surrenders, but then things go blurry for the marshal who is, after all, a pretty sick man. He drops his gun, and Joe Lime grabs the gun, telling Dillon how he intends to shoot him slowly. I have no idea how he plans to control the laws of physics since he seems to be too dumb to understand them, but I digress.
But then Joe pulls the trigger the first time and - click. Funny how his disposition changes. Matt proceeds to try and beat some sense into Joe - good luck with that - as he takes him down and under control using his fists.
I'm not sure what this episode was trying to say. Chester for sure meant no harm. And he wasn't necessarily being stupid if you remember he was told by Doc that Matt would be "out" for two or three days. Matt was saved by his own economy of gunplay AND by Chester not reloading his gun. Is this just a tale of two wrongs - or maybe several - of Matt insisting he meet Joe Lime when he was obviously too ill, the wrongly unloaded gun, and a very dumb criminal? Or was Gunsmoke trying to say something on the gun control front? How the body count would have been even higher if there had been more shots fired? Gun control was just becoming an issue at this time, and how unconventional to broach the subject in a western.
This is the first episode of Gunsmoke I've felt obligated to spoil in order to make my point, but I felt I had to do so to thoroughly discuss matters. It's one of my favorite episodes so far, although from its rating others don't really share my opinion.
Chester isn't perfect
darextrodinare13 June 2022
What?
darbski10 November 2017
Warning: Spoilers
**SPOILERS**I always love it when some complete dirtbag thinks that they have some kind of "Honor" they have to defend, or "Pay Somebody Back" for ridding the planet of a little scum. kfo9494 pretty much gave you the education on what happened. Here's a little more.
It was real nice of Chester to clean and lube Matt's Colt. What might be worth considering is the unwritten law that sez "Keep your Mitts off my guns". Okay, so Doc "needed" Chet to help him set a guy's leg? It takes about thirty seconds to reload a Colt Peacemaker. I think that Doc coulda waited a little while.
What's also very nice is that Joe so kindly donated his Colt to Chet (while he's waiting to go up to Hays to get his neck stretched), so he could practice loading it up; just to see how long it takes.
It was real nice of Chester to clean and lube Matt's Colt. What might be worth considering is the unwritten law that sez "Keep your Mitts off my guns". Okay, so Doc "needed" Chet to help him set a guy's leg? It takes about thirty seconds to reload a Colt Peacemaker. I think that Doc coulda waited a little while.
What's also very nice is that Joe so kindly donated his Colt to Chet (while he's waiting to go up to Hays to get his neck stretched), so he could practice loading it up; just to see how long it takes.
Chester Blows It Again
Johnny_West21 April 2020
Another episode featuring Chester fumbling the ball when it matters. I often wondered why Matt Dillon did not get a better deputy?
The story is that a couple of hoods kill two innocent people for nothing. They are so dumb that they killed the owner of the unnamed saloon before he opened the safe. Then they kill the swamper too. Dillon goes after them, and off-camera, shoots one of them (Lew Brown), and he dies.
His brother, Joe Lime, decides to get revenge. Joe Lime was played by William Redfield, in his only Gunsmoke appearance. Redfield's most famous role was as Danny DeVito's card-playing pal on "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest."
In the meantime, Dillon returns to Dodge, but he is very sick with fever. Doc treats him, and Chester is left behind to keep an eye on Dillon. Chester wants to be useful, so he cleans Dillon's gun, then he forgets to reload it. Chester does a great job of acting like a brainless incompetent. He was a master of the dumb moronic look.
The rest of the story plays out when Dillon is called to battle Joe Lime, but he is taking the empty gun. Now it was also dumb of Dillon that he did not check his gun. When Dillon points an empty gun at Redfield, it is cosmic zeitgeist saves Matt Dillon from Chester's incompetence.
The story is that a couple of hoods kill two innocent people for nothing. They are so dumb that they killed the owner of the unnamed saloon before he opened the safe. Then they kill the swamper too. Dillon goes after them, and off-camera, shoots one of them (Lew Brown), and he dies.
His brother, Joe Lime, decides to get revenge. Joe Lime was played by William Redfield, in his only Gunsmoke appearance. Redfield's most famous role was as Danny DeVito's card-playing pal on "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest."
In the meantime, Dillon returns to Dodge, but he is very sick with fever. Doc treats him, and Chester is left behind to keep an eye on Dillon. Chester wants to be useful, so he cleans Dillon's gun, then he forgets to reload it. Chester does a great job of acting like a brainless incompetent. He was a master of the dumb moronic look.
The rest of the story plays out when Dillon is called to battle Joe Lime, but he is taking the empty gun. Now it was also dumb of Dillon that he did not check his gun. When Dillon points an empty gun at Redfield, it is cosmic zeitgeist saves Matt Dillon from Chester's incompetence.
Couldn't get past, well, one thing
Cuppajoe2go25 March 2022
I usually enjoy the episodes involving smart bad guys. This isn't one of them. Other reviewers gave the details here so I'll just jump to my biggest beef in this story. Why in the world woud Joe Lime tell the stable owner to fetch Dillon back to the stable and to tell him he wants to kill him? Smh.
Not one of the best
LukeCoolHand13 February 2023
Warning: Spoilers
This is one of the poorest episodes of the older half hour versions. Matt is stricken with some type of fever and all he wants to do is get some sleep. Later a man comes to town to avenge the killing of his brother that Matt killed. While Matt sleeps in the office, Chester cleans Matt's gun and removes the bullets. Later Kitty tells Matt the man is waiting in the stables for him and Matt goes there to face him not realizing his gun is not loaded, Chester knows that and takes forever to get from the office to the stables but Matt gets the drop on the man and the man doesn't know the gun is not loaded. All ends well after that but the entire episode was rather dull and not up the usual good standard of the series.
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