User Reviews

In this episode we have a interesting set of characters that makes for an entertaining show. Plus we get a story that was more from a 'Twilight Zone' episode than a 'Gunsmoke' program.

It begins as Matt is very suspicious about the death of as local man named Packy Roundtree. An unlikely Parson is performing the burial on boot hill when Marshal opens the coffin only to find a box of rocks. Someone has faked the death of Packy and Marshal Dillon is set to find out why.

It gets even more weird when Jed Crooder appears in town advising that he is also looking for Packy as they use to be partners. When the Parson tells the Marshal about a man he met named Preston Hawkins, the story starts to be more clear. Matt and Chester will have some riding to do in order to find Packy Roundtree.

This episode introduced some of the most interesting characters we have seen in a long time. From the so-called Parson with his devoted wife, to a beaded old man with a fetish on dynamite- the characters were very well developed. With a unique opening of the episode to the strange ending this was entertaining from beginning to end.

Average entry, at best. Opening scene on Boot Hill generates some interest as coffin readied for burial is discovered to contain only rocks. Where is Packy Roundtree, the supposed deceased, and why has the parson (the ubiquitous Vaughn Taylor) gone along with the scheme of a false burial. Action picks up when a roughneck, Cruder, is implicated in the scheme.

This fourth season included a reduced role for head writer John Meston who had been key to the show's dramatic success. Here, the plot gimmick is a good one, but writer Les Crutchfield has trouble building the suspense from the opening scene. Thus we get a pretty lame comedy scene from Chester and assayer Howard McNear that is more foolish than funny. Unexpected ending almost redeems the slack middle, suggesting that gimmicks rather than structure is Crutchfield's strong suit. Also, notice the clumsy transition from location shots to a poorly-done set as Dillon and Chester chase Cruder to the mine. Exterior sets blemished more than just a few Westerns, both big and little, of this period.

(*Doc Adams to Marshal Dillon quote*) - "I'm curios to hear what you have to say about this."

"Box O' Rocks" is kind of an odd (but entertaining) episode from TV's "Gunsmoke".

It contains a few surprising plot twists as Marshal Dillon investigates that reason behind the coffin that is filled with rocks.

Really lame episode with a lot of bad guest acting. It starts with a parson officiating over the funeral of a coffin full of rocks. The guest coffin is for some marginal character named Packy. Why there were around 15 people at the funeral is really bad writing. Matt Dillon never explains how he heard about it, considering that there is no Dodge City newspaper with an obituary section.

In fact, while the cast is occasionally seen reading a newspaper, and there is an office for a newspaper that is occasionally seen, I do not recall ever seeing a newspaper writer or editor from the Dodge City newspaper have any speaking roles.

So Dillon gets the bright idea of sending Chester to take the rocks to the assayer, Howard McNear. McNear does his goofy Floyd the Barber routine (from the Andy Griffith Show) when Chester asks him if he analyzed the rocks. What a bizarre scene that was. McNear was on Gunsmoke six times.

Next they go visit the fraudulent Parson, played by Vaughn Taylor, who was a guest actor on Gunsmoke only three times. He is very dishonest. His big ugly wife (played by Gertrude Flynn, who was on Gunsmoke three times), keeps insisting that "my husband never lies." It takes a good beating from the villain, Crooder, to get the Parson to visit the Marshal and tell the truth.

Crooder is played by Larry J. Blake, a totally forgettable actor. I never recalled this guy, but he was on Gunsmoke seven times, and he had 267 acting credits, so he was on a lot of TV shows in that era. Crooder is looking for Packy, and after he beats up the Parson, he knows where Packy is.

Packy is played by another forgettable actor, William Fawcett, who plays the cranky old miner. Packy is afraid Crooder put some kind of hex on him, and he has been running away from Crooder for years. Now why would Crooder be following some dirty old bum?

At some point a lot of smoke comes out of a hole on the side of a sierra. Supposedly that is the entrance to a mine shaft. It seems like the only reason this bad episode was put together, was so that there could be a "mine explosion" at the end. "Let's blow up a mine shaft. Now we need a story to get us there for the big explosion." The big explosion was pretty lame, just a lot of smoke. All around, this episode was a miss.