Episode 26: Gunsmoke Episodes 13-15 w/ Dan Budnik

TV historian and author Dan Budnik returns to delve into episodes 13-15 of the first season of Gunsmoke.

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Dan Budnik's Books: https://www.amazon.com/s?i=stripbooks&rh=p_27%3ADaniel%2BR%2BBudnik&s=relevancerank&text=Daniel+R+Budnik&ref=dp_byline_sr_book_1

Eventually Supertrain:
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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
You are now listening to the Someone's Favorite Productions podcast network.

Speaker 2 (00:16):
Welcome back to Tumbleweeds and TV Cowboys, a classic Western
film and TV podcast. My name is Hunter. This week
we're talking about episodes thirteen through fifteen from the first
season of gun Smoke. And you know, if we're talking
about gun Smoke, that means Dan Budnick is joining me
for the discussion, and we'll get into the conversation shortly.
Before we get into it, a quick note. I was
recently a guest on Your Missing Out, a National Film

(00:37):
Registry podcast, where we discussed Lassie Come Home. A bit
different from what I normally cover here, but I had
a great time. And the show covers a wide range
of films you all selected by the National Film Registry
and including some Westerns, like they covered Ride the High
Country and recently they talked about Shane. So go check
them out there on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube, and

(00:58):
I'll put a link to their show in the episode description.
And one more thing. Starting in September or October, new
episodes will release every other week. Balancing, prep, recording, and
editing has become tougher lately, and I'd rather focus on
quality than stick to a weekly schedule. It's not ideal,
but I think it'll be a good change in the
long run. Now let's get into our discussion on Gunsmoke

(01:21):
episodes thirteen through fifteen.

Speaker 3 (01:39):
Garden Smoke starring James Arnest as Matt Dilla. Block to
You by Ellen Am. Ellen Am the modern cigarette that
gives you full exciting flavor, Pats the Miracle Tip.

Speaker 2 (01:52):
Welcome back, Dan. How's it going.

Speaker 4 (01:54):
It's going okay. Yeah, I'm ready to ready to return
to Dodge City.

Speaker 2 (01:58):
Oh yes, I am always ready to return, and I'm
happy to have you back. And this is our fifth
time covering gun Smoke. It's always a pleasure. But first,
let's talk about what you've been up to. I know
that your second Doctor Who book has been released at
this point, but do you have any other recent Blu
Ray special features you contributed or anything that could be

(02:18):
announced or anything else?

Speaker 5 (02:19):
Oh?

Speaker 4 (02:20):
Yes, the latest thing apart from there, both both the
Doctor Who books are out, which feels ah, that's a relief.
The I am myself and my friend Rob Kelly were
on a set. It's it's a it's a it's a
collection of Dan Curtis Late Night TV movies like shot
on video mystery thriller type movies. I forget the name

(02:41):
of the set. Keena Laber just announced it. We do
a commentary on a movie called Come Die with Me
with Eileen Brennan and kind of boring guy whose name
I suddenly forgot, but Rob and I we we do
the commentary. I think it's a pretty good commentary. We
we had a good time. We had a good time
on it, and I think that's oh yeah. And I

(03:04):
don't know if I said last time that I think
it's coming out very soon yet. Terror Vision is releasing
a new version of The Prior Brothers very early Shot
on video direct to video Slasher from sledge Hammer, and
they're using an archival commentary I recorded when I was
with Bleeding Skull back in twenty eleven, and including an

(03:25):
essay I've written on the history of early history of
shot on video horror in nineteen eighties. So those that's
coming out, they're both coming out soon.

Speaker 2 (03:33):
Oh, very cool. That's awesome. Yeah, I saw that. Dan
Curtis said announced I will be picking that up.

Speaker 4 (03:39):
Yeah, And it's got Amanda Reus, the Great. Amanda Reyus
is on several of the commentaries and Haidi Honecott, who
wrote a wonderful book that I'm forgetting the name of
now and Women in Horror, Women Directors in Horror, and
I'm sorry I forgot the name of it. But she's
on a commentary too, and her book is excellent. I'll
remember the title shortly. I thought I had the book
right here. I don't actually have a big book on
Western movies because we're gonna talk westerns.

Speaker 2 (04:01):
Oh, absolutely, all right, well, excellent, Well, And as always,
all of the links to follow Dan and purchase his
books and checkout event and the links to eventually Supertrain
are in the show notes, so please go check them
out if you haven't already. All Right, well, Dan, we're
getting into episode thirteen of Gun Smoke Reed Survives and

(04:22):
this is the first of fifty six episodes written by
LUs Crutchfield, and he has a story and screenplay credit,
and this episode aired on New Year's Even, nineteen fifty five,
and it's got a couple of great guest stars. Yes,
I think I think the name is Ephraim Hunt.

Speaker 4 (04:38):
I had either or Ephram.

Speaker 2 (04:41):
I think it's Ephram. Mister Hunt is good.

Speaker 4 (04:44):
I know his brother Mike. Yeah, a little Porky's reference for.

Speaker 2 (04:51):
All right well or mister Hunt, sorry about that? Is
played by John Carrodine. Yes, And of course Carrodine. He
has a pretty specta acular filmography. I mean so many
great movies over multiple decades. I mean from Stage Coach
to The Howling and so many great movies in between.
But he was in two episodes of gun Smoke, and

(05:12):
he guest starred in quite a few other Western series.
I know he was in Bonanza, The Rifleman in Cheyenne.
And then there's Lola Albright who plays Lucy Hunt, and
I'm not familiar with her, except I've seen her in
a movie, a wild movie called Lord Love a Duck.
Are you familiar with that movie?

Speaker 4 (05:32):
I you know what, I know the title, but I've
never seen it.

Speaker 2 (05:36):
Oh Dan, There there is an insane scene between Tuesday
Weld and Max Showalter that you it has to be
seen to be believed. I don't know how else to
describe it, except she is trying on sweaters and saying
what the color is, and he is reacting to them.

(05:57):
And if you only heard the audio, you would feel
like this must be from a dirty movie. It is
so strange. But you definitely look it up on YouTube.
You just searched like Lord Love a Duck Sweaterstein. I
think it will pop up. Okay, it is wild.

Speaker 4 (06:15):
Yeah, that's that's one of those titles that I know.
And I've heard the phrase youse, lord love a Duck.
I don't know who uses that phrase, but I feel
like I've heard it on multiplications.

Speaker 2 (06:25):
But yeah, And she was also in quite a few
other Western TV shows as a guest star. But the
final guest star is James Drewy. Yes, and he plays
booth Rider and this is a very early role for
him and he was just twenty one years old when
this was released. And this is the first of four

(06:46):
episodes of gun Smoke he appeared in. And he of
course would later lead his own Western series, The Virginian
and which you and I are going to talk about eventually.

Speaker 4 (06:54):
Eventually, Yes, yes, And he keeps.

Speaker 2 (06:58):
Coming up on the podcast, so at this point listeners
know I'm a big fan. Yeah, but yeah, but that's
it for the guest stars. So so Dan, can you
tell us what this episode is about?

Speaker 4 (07:08):
Sure? I was going to say eventually The Virginian. It's
like eventually super Trained. Eventually you'll talk about the Virginia.
So this is the basic premise of this is you
have a young lady named Lucy, Lucy Hunt who's married
to I'm ephrom Hunt, Mister Hunts played by John Carrodin
John Carrodane's Uphraim is said to me, he's very he's

(07:30):
very uh the very very Christian, very very pious. He
owns a nice, heized farm. He's got a lot of money.
Lucy was first, I guess she first came in a dodge.
She was at the saloon where Miss Kittie works and
she met e f from mister Hunt. They got married,
and when the episode began, Lucy shows up in in
in in Matt's the Sheriff's office and says he's trying

(07:52):
to kill me. He's crazy. So he is, so Matt
kind of keeps an eye out and then and he's like,
I'm not you know, he's not one hundre percent sure
what's going on. And Miss Kitty introduced him to Booth Ryder,
who is uh James Drury, who is the who is
sort of a hired hand at the farm. And we
basically learned very quickly that Lucy and Booth are having

(08:14):
a little something and uh Booth and uh mister Hunt
get into a bit of a tussle and mister Hunt
is killed and we learned that uh uh Lucy is
maybe not as innocent as we thought she was, and
uh Booth goes on the run for a while, but

(08:36):
he eventually returns, and things don't go great for people
in general. I'm just gonna stop it there. That's that's
that's the kind of I was. I suddenly realized I
was going to say what the ending was, but yeah,
it's not. You know, it ain't a happy ending.

Speaker 2 (08:49):
It's basically, oh yeah, no, well, what did you think
of this episode?

Speaker 4 (08:54):
You know what I I It's it's kind of a
weird episode because.

Speaker 6 (08:58):
It's it almost it's it's it's it's one of those
where sort of you could have almost done it without
it being like a gunsmoke episode, like you could have
had like Lucy show up and talk to a sheriff,
because it's basically Lucy goes to the sheriff and says
he's trying to kill me, and that sets things in
motion because now Matt is like, I'm gonna keep an

(09:20):
eye out, but turns out that Lucy's full of crap,
and she's just trying to get Matt like worried that
something is going to happen, and she's trying to convince
Booth to kill her husband and stuff like that so
she can God given everything away, trying to get control
of the his estate and stuff like that, and it's
it's kind of an odd episode.

Speaker 4 (09:37):
Where Matt and and the gang well Chester kind of
show up just a little late all the time for
everything to happen, and they're sort of like it's it's
it's one of those kind of weird episodes where it's
almost like I just want to say, there are quite
a few like wagon trains and things were like the

(09:58):
main characters almost like a you know, like a love boat,
you know, where like the main characters are you know
on the boat. You know our main, our main, you know,
our purser, our captain, our stuff like that. You know,
like they're not always involved in the stories happening, but
they sort of meet up with the stories at certain
points while the actual stories and that's kind of what

(10:20):
this is like. It's like it's the story of of
of of the Hunts and Booth and this sort of
kind of a love triangle but not really a love
triangle because mister Hunt doesn't really seem to care that much,
and the chicanery that Lucy pulls off and uh and
Matt just happens to kind of wander in every once

(10:40):
in a while. Yeah, because because it's it's a short episode,
and because we only see like, I think we see
mister Hunt twice, and we see like Lucy twice, and
we see Booth twice, there's never a I never really
got a feeling for their characters apart from what they
tell us. The characters are apart from what you know, uh,

(11:04):
apart you know, you see Booth and he looks like
you know, he said, he's a bit of a he's
a young guy. He's a bit of a bit of
a green horn, but and he's he's very easily taken
in by this young wealthy woman. You know. Then then
you get mister Hunt, who they say is very pious
and everything like that, but I don't actually see that
during his scenes. I mean, he says a few things,
but I can say a few things too that are

(11:26):
very bibly. That doesn't make me pious, And and you
just sort of it's it's kind of weird because it's
it's it's almost like it's it's almost like a like
like like the characters are like they're not real characters.
They're sort of stand ins for like here is the
conniving person, here is the innocent who commits a murder,

(11:50):
and here is the the wiser old man who doesn't
realize what's happening right underneath his nose. And it's like
they're not real characters. They're just sort of and they're
not quite ciphers. They're a little bit more there in
between characters and ciphers, and they're sort of like, oh,
this character is that, this character is that, this characters
that they're gonna do this, and the there's there's only
one moment at the very end that I felt like

(12:12):
where it was kind of like, oh, I didn't expect that,
but everything that helped that else that happens is kind
of exactly when I knew what was going to happen.
Is exactly what I thought was going to happen. It's
kind of too bad because then that means, like I said,
Matt can't really do anything, Yeah, and he doesn't really
do anything, and that's not and here here's I think
at the end of the day. How many episodes of
Gunsmoke are there over like four hundred, Right, it doesn't matter.

(12:35):
It doesn't matter that we have an episode like this,
because this is a story of Dodge City almost more
than it's it's gun Smoke. If if Gun Smoke is
about Dodge City, then this is a story of Dodge City.
If it's about Matt Dillon, then this is a disappointing episode.
But as a character study of a couple in Dodge
City who go askew, it's it's not bad. I didn't

(13:00):
love it, but I I think it's one of those
things that it's if you look at the whole picture,
the whole show, the whole the whole show in front
of you, it's it's a nice little like I said,
it's a nice little character. But it's a nice little chapter.
But as an episode, it's it's just okay. I felt
it was like I said, it's the character is a

(13:21):
little underwritten, and Matt doesn't really have anything to do.
I mean, he does come into the end and have
a bit of a shootout with Booth, but it's not
much of a shootout. Yeah, and and so so it's
kind of it's it's not a it was It's not
a boring episode. It's not an uninteresting episode. It's just
an episode that you get to the end and kind
of like, Okay, what do you got next? Kind of episode.

Speaker 2 (13:42):
Yeah, I I I thought that it was pretty good.
I U. I know one thing, I I was pretty
surprised by the way Lucy is treated, especially in the
opening scene by Matt Chester. He brings her up, saying
that she's in town, and you can tell by the
way Chester is talking about her that Matt and Lucy
have some kind of history together. And I don't know

(14:03):
if she, you know, broke his heart or what happened.

Speaker 4 (14:06):
But oh, there you go. There's They're perfect. I was
gonna say, I'm sorry not to interrupt, but there maybe
that comes back later on two hundred episodes from now
will get Lucy's sister will show up and she'll have
letters that Matt wrote or something that you know, or
something like that.

Speaker 2 (14:21):
Oh, that would be tremendous.

Speaker 4 (14:25):
I'm sorry interrupted you with your critique.

Speaker 2 (14:27):
Oh, no problem, yeah, but but yeah, but but Lucy
was a dancehall girl, and so is Kitty obviously, But
for some reason, it seems like Matt is judging Lucy
for having you been that, and he doesn't judge Kitty
at all, even though the job is the same, like

(14:47):
as far as we understand it. So I did you
feel that way, Dan, did you feel like he was
like kind of harshly judging Lucy? You know?

Speaker 4 (14:57):
I felt that a bit. I uh, yeah, it's it's
I I'm it's just funny. The sort of the thought
I had when I when I felt that was I thought, yeah,
I wonder sort of what what Matt thinks of, like
like Kitty who goes there and she makes her living
doing that, and someone else like like like like Lucy

(15:17):
who kind of comes into town, meets a rich guy
and then goes away. Maybe he's yeah, maybe he maybe
he liked Lucy and was jealous of mister Hunt or
I don't know, but yeah, I did feel that a bit,
and I I did it never really quite or I
didn't feel it really quite goes back to that. So
in the end, I was kind of like, I don't
I don't know what to think of having thought that, Oh, well.

Speaker 2 (15:40):
Maybe he's more judging her for being a gold digger. Possibly, yeah,
something like that. But I did think that aspect of
the story was interesting. I thought Lola Albright was decent.
Is Lucy Her character is pretty different in the radio version,
and I actually can't decide which is best for the story.
But in the radio version, she makes this situation between

(16:00):
her and mister Hunt seem much more urgent. She says
something like, if you don't listen to me, the next
murder you'll be investigating will be mine. Oh excuse me, sorry,
I guess talking about murder gave me a nervous cough.

(16:23):
But and she doesn't treat him like they used to
be lovers or like they had some kind of history
like she does in the TV version. Okay, And then
although towards the end, you know she there is kind
of the same thing where she says she tells him
like booth Rider means nothing to her, and she and
Matt could be together. Yes, But in the radio version,

(16:43):
when Matt asked Kitty about Lucy, she tells him that
Lucy's as hard as a nail and she'll use anyone
to get what she wants. And in the TV version
she says she never really got to know her. Yeah,
And so I I really can't decide what's better because
her personality is just so different. But maybe being more

(17:05):
like subtly manipulative is better like she is in the
TV show. But I'm really not sure, but yeah, but
I do. Overall, I like the story. I thought James
Drewy was was very good, especially in the final scene.

Speaker 4 (17:20):
Yes he's yeah.

Speaker 2 (17:21):
And John Carrodine, I mean, he's always fun to watch.
We did have one line that I thought was very
amusing when Matt Dylan asked him how's Lucy doing, and
he says her health is excellent, her state of grace
is less certain. There's just something about that line. I
absolutely love it. It makes me want to put more

(17:43):
thought into answering that kind of question.

Speaker 4 (17:45):
Yes, yeah, yes, exactly. He does do that one thing
when he has when when they asked from Michelle who
did this? And then he's only got like thirty words
before he dies, but he just goes off on a tangent.
Just give us two words, Just give us one word,
Just give us one word as to who did it.
I'd like to dg it.

Speaker 2 (18:08):
Yeah. Now, there is one shot that I wanted to
bring up that I thought was really strange, and it's
this shot of Doc at the long Branch and the
camera zooms in on him, and I don't know much
about like zoom whins is you know from this era,
but it's zooming in and the image is becoming more
and more grainy, and then the camera pulls back like

(18:31):
rather like hap hat hazardly and pans over to Matt,
who's just walked in, and it's very sloppy, like I
don't know if you notice that.

Speaker 4 (18:39):
I don't when was that you? If you talked for
I got the episode playing, maybe I can find it.
Is it?

Speaker 2 (18:45):
It's right before Matt talks to Kitty about.

Speaker 4 (18:49):
I'm in the vicinity. I'm in the vicinity. There we go,
and I know this is great stuff. Everyone enjoyed this.
Oh here we are, here, we are so uh so
there's the oh yeah yeah, the camera is I'm sorry
everyone here, I'm just I'm just backing up a little
so so oh yeah, oh yeah. There we get to dissolve.
We dissolve from very skinny John Carrotine to Dock and

(19:10):
the camera is I think it's tracking in yeah maybe,
so It's tough to tell because it only goes for
a couple of seconds and then it goes real fast
back and then yeah, wow, that was strange.

Speaker 2 (19:23):
It's almost like the director was like, all right, return
to one, like back to one or something.

Speaker 4 (19:27):
You almost wonder if there was meant to be a
cut in there or something like maybe maybe it would
cut from the dock looking to them, a cut of
them walking in, and then it would have and then
and then it would cut to the long shot where
you could see everything. But instead the entity just left
the whole thing in. So you're not supposed to leave
that in. You're supposed to cut that middle out and
put another shot in there. Ah, that was weird. Yeah,

(19:48):
it is.

Speaker 2 (19:49):
A very strange shot. But but yeah, it is, like
you said, it's a pretty like predictable episode. But I
did enjoy it overall. I really enjoyed seeing uh, you know,
James Drewy in such an early role. But uh, yeah,
I mean, do you have any other thoughts on this one?

Speaker 4 (20:08):
I like, well, I do, like ye at the moment
where he after mister Hunt is killed and he goes
and talks to Lucy and basically says, you know, like
he's like like like like Colombo at his boldest or
if you've ever seen the Newer show on TV, Elsbeth,
she does this a lot too, where she knows who
the killer is and she'll go up to them and
basically say it, and she's just he basically says to Lucy,

(20:32):
Matt basically says to Lucy, you know, yeah, I know
you did this. I can't prove it. You're scot free. Yeah,
go enjoy your money, enjoy your life. And she's like,
whatever are you talking about, Matt, And he's like, yeah, whatever, Yeah,
you got And he's like he's like, you played me,
you got me, Yep, you get you got me. You
walked right in there, and yep. And I do like

(20:53):
that because that's sort of, as I said to it's
it's it's Matt kind of failing to help anybody. And
when you learn at the at the very end, even
when you think Lucy might be safe in the end,
and that and that Booth has his final little twister
rooney moment and you're like, oh, okay, well let me

(21:14):
just let me just stare up. Oh I have the
state of Grace A line written out here. There's a
good line. Yeah. Oh gosh, yeah, lots of lots of
lots of uh because of even because of his money.
Oh I uh what about the title.

Speaker 2 (21:30):
Yes, so the Reed survives. So is that in reference
to like the I can't remember what the line is about,
Like John Cardy says something about how, yeah, men are
like a tree or something like that, and a woman
is like a read they can break. Is that right?

Speaker 4 (21:47):
I think so yes. I to be honest, I think
when I heard it, I was like, Oh, that's interesting,
and then it didn't occur to me until later that Oh,
I think that was referencing the title, but I never
went back, so that's my problem. But I think that's
what is he was making. I think a biblical reference. Yeah,
but that but it's I mean, it's a it's a
great title because you you uh, because it wasn't until

(22:10):
the second time through when I looked at the title
and I was like, and my my first thought was, actually, oh, no,
I've been watching the wrong episode. No one survived, you know,
read survives. What is that about? I'm looking for someone
named Reid and and and so I was like, no,
this is it. This is Read Survives, And yeah, there was.
I do like that when they do fun stuff like
that with the title. But yeah, I mean the truth,

(22:32):
I do like the that that, yeah, mister Hunt has
a big jug of apple jack. Yeah, that was it's
have some apple jacket. I think I want to say
it'll cool you off. I don't know if it'll do that,
but I guess, I guess give it a try.

Speaker 6 (22:48):
I don't know.

Speaker 4 (22:50):
Yeah, it's it's Yeah, it's it's. It's kind of one
of those episodes where it's I feel like the sort
of the the deeper we get into it when it
was it's an episode like this where the main characters
don't do much and it's the secondary characters. Once I've
sort of said what I need to say about the
secondary characters, I don't have a ton to say apart
from if you're watching the show and you get to

(23:12):
this episode, watch it, enjoy it, figure out what the
title means, you'll figure it out faster than I did.
And like I said, you'll see some great, great actors
doing their thing, and and you could see basically sort
of Matt get played and kind of lose in the end.
Sort of yeah, but but but overall, yeah, it's it's. Yeah.

(23:32):
It's one of those one of those episodes where there
there isn't a lot to say because I think it
is very straightforward and the and I'm I'm trying not
to give away with that final little twister moment is
right at that it's not a huge moment, but it's
just like when you when you get to it, you're like, oh,
so I'm not gonna I'm not gonna say it, but yeah,
but overall it's a it's watch it be good, watch it. Yeah,

(23:56):
watch come on.

Speaker 2 (23:58):
I think overall it's it's it's it's pretty entertaining and
worth watching.

Speaker 4 (24:02):
Yeah, definitely, And for the cast, just see if you
love Virginia, you gotta watch the young James Dreary.

Speaker 2 (24:07):
Absolutely So all right, well we're moving on to episode fourteen,
which is titled Professor Luke Bone. And this was based
on a story by John Meston and was written by
David Victor and I think it's Herbert Little Junior. And
they wrote thirteen episodes of gun Smoke and ten more

(24:28):
of their episodes are from this season. And Dan, this
will spoil my thoughts on this episode, but when I
saw this, when I saw that, I got a little nervous.
But we'll get more into that. Of course, I will
just mention the guest stars. Go ahead.

Speaker 4 (24:45):
Oh, I was gonna say, would you like to give
your thoughts first. Then after I do, after I do
break it up a little, I can. Yeah, well why not?
Why not? I'll hear a plot breakdown. Yeah, I'm sorry,
So you were I'm sorry you were saying. The casts
the cat.

Speaker 2 (24:57):
Yeah. So there are a couple of guest stars. So
John Bit plays the Professor and Struther Martin is. This
is the first of eleven episodes he would appear in,
and I'm sure, I'm sure listeners are familiar with him.
He's in a ton of Westerns. And I want to
mention just one more person from the cast. It's Gloria
Castillo and she plays Missus Ringle. She's only in one scene,

(25:21):
but she played Ruby in the Night of the Hunter,
which is one of my all time favorite movies. I
adore that movie.

Speaker 4 (25:28):
Yeah, that's wonderful, wonderful.

Speaker 2 (25:30):
All right, Well, well Dan, Yeah, let's hear what this
episode is about.

Speaker 4 (25:35):
Professor Lutbone. So Doc is as helping a young couple
who have a baby that's very sick and he's able
to bring the back. I guess the baby was having
trouble breathing and he had he had he had provided
some sort of diet or something and he can't figure
out what's wrong, and they realize and he realizes what's
wrong when the couple basically say, well, we saw that

(25:58):
that that professor who's who's down in Dodge City Pedlin
a curative, and he said it would help our baby.
So we've been, you know, adding that to what you've
been doing. And Doc's like, oh no. So he storms
back to Die City and Professor Lubone he's one of
those traveling medicine man type things, and it's just it's

(26:19):
him and a guy playing a banjo and he I
think you want to say, he plays O Susannah on
the banjo. I forget exactly what he plays, but and
he sits there and he does he does a spiel.
He's got the he's got the glass bottles with like
the Professor Lutbone curative and this will fix you up.
You drink this, it'll take care of anything. And no
da da da da, And and of course Doc is

(26:40):
not convinced. Chester, though, is very thrilled about it and
is gonna give a little I gonna go up there
and talk about it, but Matt won't let him. I
think it's sort of like, you know, come out Chester
where the law you can't go promoting stuff like this.
And the doc wants loot thrown out, Professor bone thrown
out of town. And there's a moment a professor. A

(27:01):
guy comes up to Professor Bonden says, well, my dad's
really sick and he can't get out of bed. What
if I give this to him? Well, I give him
take three models and have him drink this. Well, I
don't know if that's going to work. He's very stubborn. Well,
I'll come on down and talk to him. And uh,
and and and Doc is really cheesed off because that
means the professor is now like basically pretending to be

(27:24):
a doctor rather than just like, uh, because apparently I
guess you could sell this crap and you're you're okay,
but if you if you try to administer it as
if you were a doctor, you you can be in trouble.
And and he and and Doc knows that that this
baby was hurt by it, and and and and so

(27:46):
Matt kind of goes to visit the professor in the
night and says, you know what, you know, I'm you
know that thanks for stopping by, but maybe it's the
time he took it off, and it turns out the
professor is so excited to be in Die City that
he's going to open a store, to which Matt says, don't, don't, please, don't.
And then basically it kind of goes on and things

(28:06):
get worse because we learn we learned that there is
a special ingredient in the Professor's curative, which is what
made Chester so happy. And it all sort of ends
with the gentleman who spoke about his dad earlier, coming
into town with a gun to take care of the
shyster professor and his curative, which may not be as

(28:29):
curativity as he proclaims it to be. But that's it.
It's basically about a shyster medicine man who wants to
open up open up a shop, and die City, possibly
through the detriment of the health of everybody.

Speaker 2 (28:44):
All right, Dan, that was a tremendous synopsis. Yeah, well, yeah,
I can go first. I did not enjoy this episode.
I guess the only things I enjoyed about this episode
was is I I enjoyed you seeing Doc's character in
this and I felt like Doc's character sometimes at times

(29:09):
watching this, especially in regards to his feelings for the Professor. Yeah,
and it was. It was fun to see Struther Martin
in an early role. Now I do wonder if censorship
is a factor in this episode, because I think it
could have been more interesting if someone was addicted to
the elixir. Now, I like you because obviously Chester takes

(29:33):
it and he's not, you know, sick at all.

Speaker 4 (29:36):
But yeah, that's that's I love that moment where Matt says,
you know, you had Chester up there and Gon gonna
talk all about how great it was, there's nothing wrong
with him, and he's like, yes, I know. I that
was a little yeah, a little shady on my part.

Speaker 2 (29:52):
But if he had continued to take it and it
was hard for him to stop, that maybe could have
been a little more interesting. And I actually didn't get
to finish the radio episode, but I know in the
radio episode it was Kitty who was taking it, not Chester. Oh,
and I wish I could have finished it. I do

(30:13):
want because I think in the radio they would explore
something like addiction. They're way more likely to than they
would on the TV show, I think. But I just
didn't have time to finish it. But yeah, I couldn't
stand the professor. Okay, one thing we need to figure
out after we finished going through this season is we

(30:33):
need to look at all the episodes that are average
or below average and see how many of them have
characters with beards. Oh yeah, because it's weird that all
these episodes have that in common. But for whatever reason,
especially obviously, fake beards are all a part of that

(30:53):
episodes that I don't enjoy.

Speaker 4 (30:57):
I think if the.

Speaker 2 (30:58):
Professor were less of a caricature and a little more real,
maybe that could have helped, Like, like if you could
have believed him when he said that he knows he
uses shady means to get people to buy this, but
if he was, like, but you haven't seen the results,
and like how lives have changed, Like like if he

(31:18):
had kind of sold that a little more, maybe he
would have been less annoying. Yeah, but it's just so
obvious that he's a con man and no one should
ever have believed anything that he says. But uh, but yeah, well,
I don't know what are your what are your thoughts
on the episode?

Speaker 4 (31:36):
The episode has one of my favorite moments I've seen
in the show so far, and that's the very final
scene when Bone and his servant are leaving and there
do the people burn down his thing? Or do they
does he? I was a little confused about what happened.

(31:56):
His tent cart thing is destroyed.

Speaker 2 (31:59):
I think he burns it down himself.

Speaker 4 (32:01):
I think I think he does it himself. Yeah, because
he he he doesn't feel he wants to sort of
start over. And there's just a lovely and unfortunate I
didn't write down like the lines or anything like that,
but there was just a great moment where you know,
it's like and where Matt says, well, you know, you
go out there, you'll find something else, you know, And
it's the middle of the night. You know, they don't

(32:22):
all they've got. It's just the two these two guys
with like just the bags, you know, on their backs
kind of thing, just literally wandering out into the desert
or whatever. I don't know how they're gonna, they gonna
they're gonna be dead the next morning. But it's just
just you know, Matt says, you know you'll find it,
You'll find something else to do, you know, And and
I think, uh, and and Professor Bowe says something along

(32:46):
the lines of it. I don't know why I did
to write it down, and I should have. It's it's
a very end. He says something like, well, you know what,
you know what, Marshall, There's going to come a time
when when even Dodge City is so full up and
changed that they're not even going to have room for
someone like you. And you're gonna have You're gonna you're
gonna end up like me, you know, just just out wandering.
And Matt says, and that day will be the happiest

(33:07):
day of my life. But until then I have to
watch over Dodge City because of people like you. Oh
yeah that, And the doc just gives him a quick
look like son of a bitch, pardon my French, and
then they just start walking. But it's funny because, like
I had problems with the episode, but that moment I
was like, there you go. That's why I love that.

(33:30):
That's why I love the end. Now I didn't love
the episode, That's why I love that moment. Just just
what he what he just the thought that and he's right,
there will be a time when Dodge City is is
a city. I mean, well, I don't know where's dodge
It's in Kansas. Is there is still Dodge City? Is
that still a place? But now a city or I
don't know, is it I don't know. I don't know either,

(33:53):
And but but I like the thought that sort of
the premonition of, you know, like there will be a
time when this will be so built up that you know,
there'll be no room for you anymore. There'll be just
so much city here, there'll be nothing for you.

Speaker 2 (34:07):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (34:07):
And I like the fact that Matt, you know, Matt
is as good of a man as he is and
as good as what Marshall is he is, part of
him is thinking like, oh, I can't wait the day
when I don't have to monitor all you creeps all
the time and watch people I love being shot down
in the street and such. You know, that'll be great.
And just his just just that moment and he just

(34:29):
kind of right at the end until then I gotta
keep I gotta watch dog City to keep people, keep
him safe for people like you. And there's actually it's funny.
There's like a quick cut, like a one second cut
of the professor just giving him a huh kind of
look and then it cuts back to the lawns. But
that that's that moment is worth the episode. Because the
episode overall confused me because he's clearly, like you said,

(34:55):
he's clearly a charlatan. I don't understand why the fact
that the doctor and the town basically comes in and says,
your curative almost killed the baby doesn't hold more weight.
I don't understand how he's gonna set up a store
for I mean, it's it seems to me like what
you do with something like this is you come into town,

(35:16):
you put on a big show, you sell everything you can.
You leave because you've sold them crap, and they're they're
gonna get sick from it, and some people, some people
might get better. Like Chester. He was sick in the
first place, but but he Chester's feeling no pain.

Speaker 6 (35:32):
You know.

Speaker 4 (35:32):
I'm sure there were other people there that were. You know,
it would perk them up and make them feel better
kind of thing. But but you know, it's like, how
long do you stay in town when you know you're
coming into town? Like like like Robert Preston the music Man,
he didn't open a fake music shop afterwards, you know,
in the town there he did his bit, like with

(35:53):
the monorail and margin, you know, you put in the monorail,
then you get the hell out of there. Yeah, you
don't stick. It's just so weird to be like, he's
gonna open up shop. Why what will that accomplish? I mean,
you're going to open a shop and in a day,
well less than a day, someone shows up with a gun.
You know, how is that? It's just so weird because

(36:13):
I thought, I mean, maybe this is how it worked
back then, but just it doesn't seem a viable business
model to me. And like you said, the doc the professor,
I'm sorry, is so clearly full of bologney that the
if it had been set maybe in one evening or something,

(36:36):
you know, and and maybe like and everyone's getting really
excited and having and maybe like a lot of like
these medicine show type things I've seen, like like in
the Harold Lloyd movie The Kid Brother, one of my
favorite movies, something like this comes into town where Harold
is put in a temporary sheriff, and it's the medicine
guy selling his curative. It's a strong man doing all

(36:57):
sorts of feats and things, and it's the leading lady
dancing around and being cute, and so it's like it's
like a little show they put on and part of
it is selling the medicine and they show up, they
do the show, they go to the next town. So
so it's sort of like, I feel like the basis
of this episode is it's kind of based in a
that doesn't seem right to me, and it never convinces

(37:20):
me that it is right. And so I sat there
kind of the whole time going Okay, let's just let's
just wrap it up. Let's wrap it up. Okay, keep
it moving, keep it moving. Okay, we got it. And
then it gets the final scene. I thought, Okay, I
really like that. But overall overall, I wouldn't say this,
like you said, it might be a Beard thing, but
this is this is I don't, I don't. I don't

(37:40):
think this is a very good episode. A little below average.

Speaker 2 (37:45):
Definitely, Yeah, it was. It was definitely. It was definitely
a challenging episode. Yeah, and yeah, like I said, I
do think if it had been treated as an addiction story,
it would have been more interesting, or I think if
the results of the curative were more spectacular, like if

(38:09):
if if Matt had talked to Chester at the beginning
and Chester had been like Matt, I don't have a
limp anymore.

Speaker 4 (38:15):
Or oh yeah, that.

Speaker 2 (38:18):
Would have been a little more interesting, but of.

Speaker 4 (38:20):
A miracle or some sort had occurred, yes, that convinced
him to stay there, rather than immediately starting off with
you almost killed a baby, so I'll stay here. Yeah, yeah,
you're right.

Speaker 2 (38:31):
Yeah, yeah I think but yeah, I really think we
should move on.

Speaker 4 (38:36):
I was gonna say, yeah, I'm just gonna give you
one more. I just just checking checking my notes. Don't
don't Yeah, I have right here, just Matt's line, don't
do it? Yeah, Yeah, that's yeah, it's it's yeah, it's
it's it's a tricky episode because they're not all going
to work right. Something that's gonna be wrong. I just
I just feel like the basis of it is it's
based in a not incorrect, but just based in a

(39:01):
situation's like what that doesn't make sense? And then it
never corrects itself and you just sit there the whole
time going, okay, whatever, why are they allowing this? This?

Speaker 1 (39:09):
This?

Speaker 4 (39:10):
It seems like mad? Isn't Matt is mad? Is it
being a very good Marshall if he can't do something
about this guy or sooner?

Speaker 1 (39:19):
So?

Speaker 2 (39:20):
Yeah, and Doc even accuses him of being a law
man in this in this episode. Yeah, oh well, but yeah,
like you said they can't all be winners, and this
one is just a huge loser. But let's move on
because we have episode fifteen, and this one is titled

(39:43):
No Handcuffs, and this is from a story by John
Meston and from a screenplay by Les Crutchfield, who wrote
Reid Survives. And it's got a couple of guest stars.
It has Vic Perrin, And I know I talked about
him previously. He was in a Randolph Scott movie that

(40:03):
I talked about on the podcast. But he was in
a ton of shows and movies. And this is the
first of five Gunsmoke episodes he was in. And he
plays Hank in this episode, and then mort Mills plays
Break and this is the first of six episodes he
was in. And he was in a ton of Western
TV shows and he was in some movies. He was

(40:24):
actually he plays the police officer that pulls over Janet
Lee's character in Psycho.

Speaker 4 (40:29):
Oh wow, yeah, oh yeah wow yeah?

Speaker 2 (40:32):
But Dan, what did you actually? We should do the
synopsis first? What is this episode about?

Speaker 4 (40:39):
This episode, well, I will say what it seems to
be about in the first forty seconds. Is it seems
to be about a man on a horse following another
guy inside a sound stage that has western buildings in it. Yes,
because there's a shot forty seconds in where and it's funny.
If you don't look up, it looks great, but if
you look at the sky, it's it's basically a guy

(41:00):
is walking along sort of the sidewalks of I guess
they're sidewalks, right, I know, they're just they're just in
front of the buildings.

Speaker 2 (41:08):
Yeah, that's what I would call them.

Speaker 4 (41:10):
Yeah, and there's a guy following them, him on a
horse very closely. And like I said, you go forty
seconds in and look up and you will see, huh,
those aren't stars. That is a ceiling and that is
a studio somewhere or other, which I'm imagining in nineteen
fifty six on smaller TVs in the definition of the time,

(41:33):
the line, number of lines and things the TV's had
at the time, which I don't think. I don't the
TVs don't have lines now like they did back then.
I'm not going to go into the television definition here
I can. I'm not going to. But I feel like
people would this would have been dark. It would have
been dark up there. People would have been able to
see it, but because we're watching a DVD, all I

(41:55):
can see is the tops of all the I mean
there's like there's one building that he's about to walk
in front, were like the top halfs of the windows
are cut off. Yes, yeah, over on the left hand.
And here's the thing at the end of the day.
Like I said, I don't think people would have noticed
it when it aired, so I'm gonna let it ride.
But I just I just happened to notice it right
now as I was looking at So it's basically, one

(42:17):
guy is following another guy and the guy in the
horse is going to shoot this this other guy. When
when Matt kind of shows up and turns out the
guy in the horses some sort of deputy sheriff from
the town of Mingo, which is which is I guess
some distance away, and uh this this deputy is there

(42:37):
to bring this guy back. The guy a guy by
the name of I want to say, Hank, Yes, but
I could be wrong. Yes, Hank. Hank was accused of
killing a guy back in Mingo by the sheriff, and
the deputy is there to bring him back. But the
thing is, Hank basically tells a story that the sheriff
in that town is awful, and he sort of rules

(42:59):
the town with a iron fist, and you can't do anything.
He kind of controls everything, and he like he'll there's
a good chance that the sheriff committed the killing and
just chose Hank as like the escapegoat for it. And
so Matt basically says, well, you know, I can't really
do anything. You have to go. You know, the deputy
he's got the warrant for your arrest. Well, I didn't

(43:21):
bring a warrant, Oh okay. So he puts Hank in
a cell and sends the deputy guy to go back
to get the warrant, but the deputy actually stays in
town and fools Chester, who I guess has some facial
recognition problems, into leaving the cell, and so he grabs Hank,
and Hank and the deputy guy getting a fight. The

(43:42):
deputy guy's knocked down. Hank goes on the run, and
Matt and Chester basically chase him from a distance to
the town of Mingo and countering people along the way
who have met up with him, and he seems to
Hank seems to be getting more and more desperate as
he's approaching Mingo. Actually I would say that why isn't
to go the other way? But but as and and

(44:04):
then so and eventually at the end of the episode,
they arrive in Mingo, and they learn the fate of Hank,
and they meet this sheriff and and it's sort of
as they're approaching Mingo, they hear more and more about
how terrible the town is and how terrible the sheriff is,
and it sounds more and more like Hank is probably
correct in what he's saying. And there's something something not

(44:24):
great going out in the town of Mingo. And and
I can't stop saying the word Mingo, so I'll just
stop right there Mingo.

Speaker 2 (44:33):
All right, Well, what did you think of this episode?

Speaker 4 (44:36):
You know what, I think if this episode was an
hour long episode, I really would have loved it. But
I think they packed too much into it because one
of the things throughout it for me is the is
you know, they keep saying, well, the sheriff is like
this the sheriff, but then when you see the sheriff
in the end, he doesn't really do anything. You know,
it's like it's it's sort of like it's it's almost

(44:58):
like you know John Chardine's character where they're like, oh,
he's so he's so pious, he's so he's so preaching
all the time, but then when we see him, he's
not really like that. Yeah he peece, but but this
and I just it's funny. The the episode moves very quickly,
and I like sort of as they they draw closer

(45:19):
to I like the like when they're they're they're traveling
through the middle of nowhere, and suddenly they're shooting, and
they sneak up behind a guy and Mets like, you know,
you know, you know, put your gun down, and the
guy turns and turns the gun on Matt and says, oh,
you're not the guy that was shooting at me. And
he says, there's this other guy. This little guy came through.
He shot at me, took my horse. And then they
stop in this this house with this lady in it,

(45:41):
and and Hank's hiding in the house, and there are
all these and then they find Hank's body and and
in the in the in the jail, and they're they're
all these little It's it's kind of a weird, like
I almost feel like we're watching like an edited version
of an hour long episode because because once once Hey

(46:01):
beats the deputy and takes off, it's sort of like
things go like very quickly, and not not in a
bad way, because I enjoyed it, but I almost I
almost wish that I I kind of wish that we
would have spent I mean, I appreciate where Matt's coming from,
like if he hears it another law man has gone bad,
he's gonna help take him down. But I would have

(46:24):
loved to have seen maybe a little more of the
town itself. Like they say it's pretty bad. I guess
it is, but we just hear about it a lot.
We don't actually see it happen, and so so it's
kind of it's kind of a weird episode where I
felt like, I'm gonna after you give your opinion, I'm
gonna say the reason why. Even though I think I

(46:44):
wish it had been longer, I don't think I'd have
watched it if it was longer, And I'll say why
in a little bit. But overall, I mean, it's a
it's a it's a it's a it's a fast moving episode.
I I like the fact that I like the way
it starts. I like this sort of sort of Matt
sort of dealing with Okay, you know, how do I
how do I deal with this this guy, this deputy

(47:05):
from this other place but doesn't have the the the
the warrants, okay, you know, And and I like their
their journey to Mingo, but it all does feel a
bit it feel it feels a bit like like like
it Yeah, it feels like it was like a fifty
minute episode and they cut half of it out. That's
the way I feel about it. And so it's so
it's entertaining to watch, but I also feel like I missed,

(47:29):
Like I feel like there could have been more development
of almost everything in it, which isn't a bad thing.
I'd rather have an episode that moves quickly than one
that just drags. But at the same time, at the
same time, I did feel when it got to the
end that, like I said, the like the final scene

(47:50):
with the sheriff is more based on hearsay from his
trip than actual proof of what's happening. People telling him,
oh he did this, he did that, oh he did that,
he did that, And he shows up and takes the
sheriff down. You're like, maybe we could talk to him
for a few minutes or something. You just you just
so it was a it is I certainly liked a

(48:11):
lot more than the previous one. Yes, and maybe maybe
a little bit more than Reed Survives. But but but
but again also it just it just feels like, yeah,
like I said, for about the first six seven eight minutes,
it's going along nicely, and then sudden that the last
like second halfish or so just goes a bit too.
It like it goes fast, that it slows down, then

(48:32):
it goes and it just it just it felt weirdly
paced to me. Again, not a bad thing, just the thing.

Speaker 2 (48:38):
Yeah, I did like this episode. I do agree that
it is sort of rushed, but I I I thought
the opening scene was was was was pretty fun. Even
though it is a little you're seeing it on DVD
like on a big screen, it is you know, so
clearly get set.

Speaker 4 (48:56):
But I did.

Speaker 2 (48:56):
I did like it, and I felt like they were
trying something that they hadn't really done before previously.

Speaker 4 (49:02):
Yes, and this is just sculpe to it. Yeah, there's
a scope to it. Yes, that is it in the
other episodes.

Speaker 2 (49:08):
Yeah, yeah, and this is jumping ahead. But I did
like the ending, and I think the town that they
end up in, Mingo is I have no idea how
far away they are from Dodge, and I think you
mentioned that I'm assuming it's far, but it does feel
like a border town or something.

Speaker 4 (49:26):
Oh, yes, yes, And I did think that that.

Speaker 2 (49:28):
Was kind of fun to see Matt and Chester in
a different environment, even though that doesn't really factor into
how the final scene plays out. But now, one thing,
the name of the saloon at the end is the
Golden Nugget. Great name, I uh if somebody is opening
a saloon ay time soon, the Golden Nugget is a

(49:48):
is a great a great uh, great one to go for. Yes,
I also like I do enjoy when Matt and Chester
get out of Dodge. It's good to see some exteriors
and kind of have less stage bound you have scenes. Yeah,
I did that just like that adds so much to

(50:09):
the production value of the show, I think, and I
do think this episode in particular is a little bit darker,
Like I think there's more scenes at night, which I
did think it kind of gave it a different a
little bit of a different atmosphere. Although you read Survives
might have had quite a few night scenes as well.
Not now I think about it, and I think it's

(50:33):
interesting to have a villain who really has like what
two minutes of screen time, but he's he's built up
through dialogue. And I actually thought that that was a
little bit. I don't think we've really seen anything quite
like that yet so far. No, And I did think
that they built him up pretty well as this corrupt

(50:54):
law man and that you know, everyone in the town fears.

Speaker 4 (50:59):
And I.

Speaker 2 (51:00):
Yeah, and in general, I like the supporting characters and
the performances. I don't really have any complaints outside of it.
I do agree it maybe is a little bit rushed.
I don't know what I would cut.

Speaker 4 (51:12):
Maybe the man who is shot, Yeah, like this frostbitten horse.

Speaker 2 (51:18):
Yeah, I almost would have just rather had just more
time of Matt and Chester talking riding horses or something.
But yeah, and I did not listen to the radio episode.
This was another episode I just couldn't. I couldn't find
the time to work that one in. But but overall

(51:39):
I thought it was pretty pretty solid.

Speaker 4 (51:42):
Yeah, I think I'm sort of wondering if if it
had been more, if they had done like a two
parter where they devoted maybe a little more time to
just having these little vignettes with people sort of on
the road kind of because I almost feel because they
have two of them, and I thought they should have
had a third. It's always nice to grouping in threes.

(52:04):
I just had a third seed where they meet someone else,
maybe a small wagon train though with a family in
it or something. Oh, this crazy guy went by and
he took our horses or something like that. It's a yeah,
it's I do want to ask, did I am?

Speaker 6 (52:20):
I am?

Speaker 1 (52:20):
I was?

Speaker 4 (52:22):
Was I going nuts? Like when when Matt says to
the deputy guy, go back there, get your arrest warrant,
come back, and then he leaves the next morning and
then Chester's in the sheriff's office and then he hears yelling.
He goes outside and there's the deputy guy there saying, oh,
go down, there's some crazy he's happening. And Chester immediately
runs away so the deputy can go in there and

(52:45):
get Hank. I thought, Chester, you see that's the guy, right?
Did I miss something like? Why? Like what he shouldn't
be looking at Hey, you're the guy that's supposed to
be you know, half a day do mingo, half a day,
half a data Mingo. That's a spaghetti western. We never

(53:06):
got really Frank o'neiro in half a Data Mingo. But
but I I there was that moment where I watched
it and thought, because the moment Matt leaves and leaves
Chester in charge, you think, oh boy, this is gonna
this is gonna go great. It's yeah, it's it's a

(53:27):
it's all. I'll tell you my my theory as to
why I wouldn't have watched it if it was a
longer episode, because because some time ago I think it was.
I think maybe it's an after an episode of Bronc.
Maybe on my my podcast that Makes Your Supertrain. I
think we watched an episode. I think maybe it's another
show I know Luke and there were a couple episodes

(53:48):
like this which I covered with Amanda as they do
that This happened a lot in the seventies and especially
it seemed to happen like every once a month in Cannon,
where Cannon or someone they will go to, you know,
like we need you to come to this town investigate
the murder of this person or this person's gone missing
or something like that, and they get to the town

(54:08):
and immediately upon driving they'll get pulled over and the
deput go, what are you doing in town? Well, I'm
just here. Oh, you're investigating the murder of the you
know the I don't know. I'm trying to think of
a good last name, Donovan. I know they're oh, you're
here investigating the murder of the Donovan girl. Well, if
I were you, I'd turn around and drive out of

(54:31):
town because the sheriff doesn't lack people like you or
or you know, are the or mister Smelman who who
runs the town doesn't like people like you in town
or something, and so, so it's one of those episodes
where they go to a small town. Usually it's a
desert type town, and there's like either a law enforcement

(54:52):
person or a judge or like the rich family that
started the town. They have like an iron fist over
the town and they control the town, and and UH
and Canon or whoever has to work around them to
try to solve the case. And for some reason a
few months ago, I got so sick of that plot
line I put I put a moratorium on it on

(55:14):
Eventual super Trade. Unfortunately I can't control what we watch
on Eventual Supertrade. So there's been at least one episode
since then that has had that plot, but this is
basically an early version of that, but without all of
the you know, him arriving in town. They're saying, Marshall,
you're gonna want to leave. When the sheriff finds out
you're here, he's going to put you in ja. He

(55:35):
doesn't care who you are, He's you know, something like that.
And I do kind of like that. Through the whole time,
I'm thinking, is it going to be like that? Is
it good? And luckily it's not. Matt shows up. He
whoops the sheriffs behind and takes them and arrests him.

Speaker 1 (55:48):
But but it is.

Speaker 4 (55:49):
It is basically that sort of thing. It's there's an
awful town ruled by the iron fice of someone awful,
and our hero, our detective Ore whoever, has to go
in there and do save the if you want to say,
a particularly egregious example of it, the two hour Canon
TV movie, the sort of pilot for the show, is
a version of that, and it just, oh my god,

(56:11):
it's only ninety minutes without commercials, but it feels like
it goes out for about four hours. And I do
quite like Canon most of the time.

Speaker 2 (56:18):
Yeah, like that was just like that.

Speaker 4 (56:21):
That plotline comes up a lot on that. If you see,
if an episode begins with him driving through the desert,
that's what the storyline is going to be. And so
when the moment the guy said, I can't go back
because the sheriff rules of town, and he picked me in,
and I thought, oh no, please, not in nineteen fifty six.
Oh no, Luckily it's not quite that. But it's almost that.

(56:43):
And if it were an hour long, and like say,
the last fifteen twenty minutes were in the town, i'd
path so, yeah, so this is actually a this is
actually a personal choice, you know. And also the other
and I would say the other storyline, I have a
moratory amount or our story set in Europe around the

(57:06):
late nineteenth early twentieth century, set in like country or
or sort of in this country, or sort of secluded
boarding schools for girls or something terrible. For some reason,
those drive me up the wall. I don't know why
I liked them at one point. Then it's a few
years ago. I saw a few in quick succession, and
at the end of watching School of Death, I said,

(57:29):
no more. So the two things. So those are the
two plot lines. If you see a plot line like that,
think of me fondly because I won't be watching it.
But so, but this this gun so luckily, like I said,
jackknife around it sort of it does something. It it's
it Actually, the funny the more I think about it,
the more I don't really know what the episode is

(57:49):
up to. I mean, because it's like so much of
it is about like the aftermath of what Hank has done.
But then when they get to the town, Hank's dead.
It's like, why so much of the episode evolved revolving
around Hank who It's the more I think about it,
the stranger the episode is, so maybe I'll stop thinking

(58:10):
about him.

Speaker 2 (58:11):
Yeah, And there is one thing that is kind of
weird with this episode is Hank. Oh no, he doesn't
kill Break. Yeah, so Break Survivor he thinks he does,
He thinks he does, and then he says, well, since
I've now that I have killed somebody, I am going
back to Mingo to kill the sheriff. Yeah, now that
I've all now that I actually am the killer, I'm

(58:32):
going to go kill again, which is kind of a
weird motivation for somebody who's never worn a gun and
is just trying to get away.

Speaker 4 (58:40):
Yes, and if he really thinks, I mean he hits
he hits that deputy guy like kind of softly, like
three times around the head and neck, if he really thinks,
like and my first thought was, is he made of jello?
How did he kill him?

Speaker 6 (58:54):
What?

Speaker 1 (58:55):
You know?

Speaker 4 (58:55):
What is going on there? How did that?

Speaker 2 (58:57):
But he's not dead?

Speaker 4 (58:59):
Yeah, he just And I thought, boy, Hank's gonna be
if if Hank thinks, given someone light slaps around the
neck three or four times is gonna kill them, he
is gonna be in trouble when he comes up against
the sheriff, you son of her? How come he's not dying?
But it's funny, It's it's a weird episode because the
more I think about it, it is a weird episode,

(59:22):
isn't it? Like why don't they just like, I don't know,
it is a weird. I'm just gonna leave that that.
I'd love to know what the what the thought process
was behind it, you know, because instead of building up
the bad guy, you're spending all the time building up
this one guy who just gets killed.

Speaker 6 (59:41):
You know.

Speaker 4 (59:41):
It's like, you know, it's like that detective in the
movie The Stepfather spoiler who spends the whole movie tracking
down the stepfather, and then spoiler gets killed immediately upon
finding the stepfather at the end of the movie, and
you're like, what spoiler again if you haven't seen the movie, everyone,
but it's an old movie, it's a but And he's like,

(01:00:04):
as you can tell from that, he's not actually the
big character in the movie, but he is part of it.
But it's sort of like that. You watch it and
you go huh, And like when they find Hank's dead body,
do you know you don't see it. You just they
pull like the blanket off his face and they kind
of grimace and then put it back and you're like, yeah,
who is that? And then this strange I love that
strange old guy? Yeah, I liked him too.

Speaker 3 (01:00:25):
What what was he?

Speaker 4 (01:00:26):
Was he real? Was he like a spirit or something?

Speaker 1 (01:00:29):
Like?

Speaker 4 (01:00:29):
It was so weird. He's such a weird I mean,
it's funny. The more I think about this episode, the
more I love it because it's so weird. I'm this
is my favorite. Yeah, and I love the title too.
No handcuffs sure, yeah, okay, okay that makes more sense
than Reed Survives, but kind of not too much more,

(01:00:49):
I guess but that doesn't bet But I don't know.
But okay, so this is my favorite. I'm gonna stop
at that. Yeah, it's a great episode, really, Tom, Tom marks, Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:01:01):
It's it's weird. This is definitely one. The more we
talk about it, the more I kind of realize how
strange it is. But yeah, it's it's funny because I
when watching it, I I I'm not overthinking it while
I'm watching it. Mostly I'm just kind of like, you know,

(01:01:22):
entertained by it, especially the first time around and then
this but this is the first episode we're talking about.
It has just made the episode way more unusual.

Speaker 4 (01:01:34):
Think about it, think about it, think you think about
the structure of things, think about the pre like the
pre the previous episode, just how kind of so straightforward
that was. You're like, oh God, just get out of
here and think about how weird this is.

Speaker 1 (01:01:48):
It is.

Speaker 2 (01:01:49):
It's very strange. But yeah, I don't uh, I don't know.
Do you have any any other thoughts it? Should we
re review this one down the line?

Speaker 4 (01:02:01):
I feel like maybe let's say that, maybe how about
like at the end or like maybe like around episode
thirty or something, let's revisit No, handcuffs. Let's see what
we think about it. Maybe because maybe I've done another
one like this. Maybe this isn't like a maybe this
is something the show did it like because it almost
becomes like a road movie for about ten minutes. Yeah,

(01:02:21):
and it's so but it's so weird. But why why
does it become a road mo go to the town,
Wait the sheriff.

Speaker 2 (01:02:28):
It's a road movie that's way more about the destination
than the journey.

Speaker 4 (01:02:33):
Yes, exactly, thats it?

Speaker 3 (01:02:37):
So weird? Wow?

Speaker 4 (01:02:40):
Yeah, oh gosh, I feel like we should re review
this episode. Yeah, we'll do that. Put that on the list.
We're reviewing this one.

Speaker 2 (01:02:47):
Okay, maybe we'll do that instead of our fan fiction
that we were going to read epis, we'll just re review.

Speaker 4 (01:02:55):
That's a good idea. That's that's a podcast in itself.
Chester Chronicles.

Speaker 6 (01:03:03):
You know.

Speaker 2 (01:03:03):
At some point, of course, what we are just going
getting into the first season of a series that has
is it twenty seasons?

Speaker 4 (01:03:11):
Twenty seasons? Yeah, yeah, and then like three or four
follow up movies or so.

Speaker 2 (01:03:16):
So yeah, maybe at some point we should watch some
later some episodes from later seasons, because this is still
pretty early in everything. In everything, for TV. So it
would be interesting now because I think and I talked

(01:03:36):
about this the last time we talked about gun Smoke.
But I like randomly watched the first episode from season seven,
which is the first season, when the show went to
an hour long, and I was like, Wow, this is amazing,
Like I love that episode. And so I'm wondering if
it just took a season or two to kind of

(01:03:58):
you know, find it's footing and become, you know, of
a more solid series.

Speaker 4 (01:04:01):
I know, ratings wise, it did. It wasn't until like
the second or third season that the ratings really went
through the roof Oh okay and stayed there. But I know,
I know, like, yeah, the first season, the ratings I
think are fairly average or maybe even slightly below average.
But yeah, that would be interesting to just sort of
maybe do a you know, maybe first hour long, first

(01:04:24):
one in color, first one of the last season. Yeah,
something like that. Yeah, I mean, because if you think
about it too, I mean, how crazy that is, right?
I mean this is nineteen fifty six, and the last
regular new episode aired what like April or May of
nineteen seventy five.

Speaker 2 (01:04:41):
Yeah, it was definitely seventy five.

Speaker 4 (01:04:42):
Halfway halfway into the run of All in the Family.
You know, we landed on the moon and our space
program was pretty much done. You know, it's just like
just Nixon Watergate, Disco was on the horizon, you know.
Can you imagine that this is nineteen fifty six when
teens are first discovering that they could go out and
do stuff, and when the show ends, like Funk is

(01:05:06):
here at Disco is about to take it, you know. Yeah, hippies,
Oh my gosh, it's it's it's crazy. Wow.

Speaker 2 (01:05:14):
Yeah, there's one episode that we should definitely cover.

Speaker 3 (01:05:17):
Uh.

Speaker 4 (01:05:18):
I don't know when.

Speaker 2 (01:05:19):
It's from maybe the mid to late sixties, but Buddy
Ebsen is the main guest star. Oh, that might be
a good one. And it's like a really well received,
kind of acclaimed episodes, and that might be a good one.
But yeah, maybe at some point, Yeah, we should bounce
around and just that the later seasons.

Speaker 4 (01:05:40):
Yeah, like yeah, like I said, yeah, one season from
the first one, it's an hour one in color. Maybe
one from the last season or two or something like,
like at the point when almost all the other westerns
except like Bonanza are gone, the rural shows are gone,
and it's all about the Jeffersons and Sanford Son and
maud and all all in the family, Mary Tyler, all

(01:06:00):
this stuff like that and gun smoke now no longer
looks like sort of one of the pinnacles of television.
It now looks really but still popular, but really out
of place as it sort of right, Oh, it's interesting, Yeah,
I like.

Speaker 2 (01:06:17):
It all right, Well, well, Dan, I think this is
it unless we want, yes, unless you have any other thoughts.
On no handcuffs, No, no.

Speaker 4 (01:06:27):
I'm good, I'm good on no handcuffs. Yeah, it's a
watch it everyone, watch it is it? Is it as
screwy as I made it out to be in this
fast fifteen minutes of my rambling. I don't know, I
don't know.

Speaker 2 (01:06:39):
Yeah, it might it might not be. And maybe it's
just because maybe we're just getting tired. We might be
so tired, so maybe our thoughts are starting to get
a little a little funny.

Speaker 4 (01:06:49):
But but yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:06:50):
Overall, though this batch of episodes was, it was. It
was not our greatest batch of episodes, but at least
thirteen and fifteen we're pretty watchable. The middle episode was lousy. Yeah,
but what do you what are you going to do?

Speaker 5 (01:07:04):
There?

Speaker 2 (01:07:05):
Thirty nine of these. You can't. It's going to with
your best effort every week that you just can't. I can't. No, no,
all right, well Dan.

Speaker 4 (01:07:15):
Yeah, may I may I recommend two Western ethings?

Speaker 3 (01:07:18):
Oh?

Speaker 2 (01:07:18):
Absolutely?

Speaker 4 (01:07:19):
Oh now one of them? Now, no, I I this
is just me. I've recently started watching the hop Along
Cassidy films. Oh okay, and there are what there's like
sixty of them, sixty six of them. I think they
were maybe between what is it, nineteen thirty five and
nineteen forty eight, I think, because I know when we
did our TV Western history, hop Along is pretty much

(01:07:42):
where it sort of starts, yes, and actually got the
wonderful set. It's sort of like a mill Creek type
set that has all sixty six on there. Okay, No,
of course, the of course the discs aren't labeled, and
the movies are all out of order, so trying to
watch them in order it could be a pain in
the behind. But but I'm watching the first four or
five of them, and they're quite charming. He's he I

(01:08:04):
like him quite a bit, and they're they're pretty darn
entertaining films in at all about an hour, So I
I like to recommend if someone wants to give a
try hop along Cassidy the sixties, and you can find
lists of like, uh, you know, the films in order.
I don't need well, I don't know that you need
to watch him in order, but like early on, he's

(01:08:25):
very specifically at like in the Virginian and he's very
specifically working at a ranch with the same sort of people.
So I think maybe there is some sort of order
to it. But but I do want to recommend that.
And I also would like to recommend I recently got
a set of three they're not quite books, they're more
like bindered books. There it's it's it's this three set

(01:08:46):
of books called B Western Movie Reviews by a gentleman
named Boyd B O Y D Majors M A G. E.
R S. And it's three volumes, and I don't know,
I think it's something like, oh, it's quite a few.
It's it's hundreds of reviews of B movie westerns from

(01:09:07):
the thirties and forties. And I mean this is just
like this is there. It's you can go if you
in Google like B movie B Western movie Reviews, and
then that name I spelled out boy Major's you'll find
you'll find him online. He's he sells them himself. And
there's just this really wonderful in depth broken up by stars, okay,
and then you know, like there's a hop Along Cassidy

(01:09:29):
thing which has reviews of all sixty six in the movies,
and then you know, I think like four to five star,
four star ratings up to four star ratings, going all
the way there from like garbage cans to four stars
kind of ratings, and he really liked. And it's wonderful
because there's so many if you like B movies, B
movie westerns, like it's crazy. I think that someone sat

(01:09:51):
down and I would have loved to have done this,
but I'm glad he did and he just reviewed them.
And there's so many reviews and it's good stuff too.
They're not just like you know, they're not like this
movie's fun, you should watch it, it's got cowboys. No,
they're more they're more in depth than that. You could
tell he loves the movies and he loves talking about him.
There are lots of facts about the making of the
movies too, but good, good critical reviews too. I think

(01:10:13):
so so I bought all three volumes that I've been
reading and I'm enjoying them and discovering a lot of
a lot of B movie Westerns and things that I
hadn't seen before. So I recommend that a great a
great set, and it's it's there are some other great
Western movie books. There's what is it Michael Pitts's Western Movies,
which is this huge book that's got all sorts of stuff,

(01:10:35):
but this is specifically B movies from the thirties and
the forties into the I think the early fifties, and
it's really entertaining. So just a recommendation, Oh, that sounds awesome.

Speaker 2 (01:10:46):
Yeah. I think at some point Will Dotson and I
are going to do another episode where we cover some
John Wayne B movies from the fifties, fun the fifties,
from the thirties.

Speaker 4 (01:10:57):
And if you do, if you do, haunted goal them
in Okay.

Speaker 2 (01:11:02):
Yeah, So so that would be kind of a good
resource to have because I think so he made, I mean,
John Wayne's in a ton of B Westerns from the thirties.
So it would be nice to have some kind of
guidance or some like some recommendations before because last time
I just chose what I watched, just randomly. I didn't

(01:11:22):
even really know much about them outside of them being
B movies from the thirties, So yeah, that would be
kind of nice to be able to make a little
more informed choice for.

Speaker 4 (01:11:33):
There are so many of them. Yeah, yeah, nice. It's
nice to have somewhere where you can actually sit and
sort of consolidate, well, someone else's thoughts. Someone else consolidated
their thoughts and you can access them. But yeah, it's
a good it's a good sect. I recommend them highly.
They're they're well there. I was just gonna say they're
a little pricey. They're actually not, because there's so much
information in them. Uh that that I uh that, I

(01:11:56):
think it's worth it.

Speaker 2 (01:11:57):
So all right, very cool, all right, Dan, Well, yeah,
as always, this was absolutely tremendous. Thanks thanks again for
coming on.

Speaker 4 (01:12:08):
Of course, I hope you enjoyed this episode.

Speaker 2 (01:12:14):
I had a great time talking with Dan about these
episodes of gun Smoke and he'll be back again next
month and we'll cover episode sixteen through eighteen. Next week.
Will Donson is returning as we continue to make our
way through John Wayne's Western filmography. This one might be
a slightly controversial choice. We're covering Allegheny Uprising. It's controversial
because it takes place in Pennsylvania, which isn't in the West.

(01:12:35):
But I think it'll be a fun discussion and it'll
be great to have Will back on the show until then.
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