Booth Rider is being played for a sucker by the wife of the ranch owner he works for, in the hopes that he will have to kill her husband in self defense.Booth Rider is being played for a sucker by the wife of the ranch owner he works for, in the hopes that he will have to kill her husband in self defense.Booth Rider is being played for a sucker by the wife of the ranch owner he works for, in the hopes that he will have to kill her husband in self defense.
Virginia Chapman
- Gypsy
- (as Virginia Arness)
- (credit only)
Joe Phillips
- Barfly
- (uncredited)
Bert Rumsey
- The Bartender
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writers
- Les Crutchfield
- Norman MacDonnell(uncredited)
- John Meston(uncredited)
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaVirginia Chapman is credited as a gypsy, but is not seen in this show. Fifteen shows later, in The Killer (1956), Chapman appears as the gypsy, but is uncredited. And with the outfit that Matt has on in the later show, it would appear to have been filmed for this show but not used.
Featured review
One Woman's Deadly Scheme
A wealthy older man and much younger woman named Ephraim and Lucy Hunt are married and live near Dodge City. Lucy arrives at the Marshal's office to tell Matt Dillon her husband is trying to kill her. Matt is dubious about Lucy's claims, but he agrees to investigate further.
(The opening scene includes Chester Goode telling Matt Lucy Hunt is in town. Chester questions why Lucy married Ephraim and speculates it may be for his money. Matt offers no suggestions. Lucy then walks into the office. The scene up to where Lucy walks into the office is sometimes cut in today's broadcasts to allow more commercial time.)
The Marshal pays a visit to Ephraim, and the man convinces Matt he loves his wife very deeply. He compares his wife to a fragile reed and tells Matt it is his duty to provide her protection to prevent her/the reed from being broken. This statement provides the basis for the name of the episode.
Handsome, young Booth Rider is a hired hand working on the Hunt farm. When Matt talks to Rider in the Long Branch Saloon, he tries to convince the cowboy to seek his fortunes elsewhere, but Rider refuses. Lucy uses her sex appeal to seduce Rider into killing Ephraim by telling him Ephraim has a gun and plans to kill them both. The scheme eliminates Ephraim and Rider, since the young man would be blamed for the death.
Classic television fans will remember beautiful, doe-eyed Lola Albright from her portrayal of Edie Hart, nightclub singer and Peter Gunn's love interest in the series Peter Gunn. (Albright fans should see her stunning, sultry performance in an obscure Alexander Singer film A Cold Wind in August. That film starred a couple of other Gunsmoke alum, Scott Marlowe and Joe De Santis, as well as Herschel Bernardi who played Lieutenant Jacoby in the Peter Gunn series.) This performance as Lucy Hunt is Albright's only Gunsmoke role.
The great John Carradine appears here as Ephraim Hunt. The prolific actor had already appeared in hundreds of films by the time he played this role. Carradine claimed he never made much money acting, and with the advent of television, he found steady work in the medium in roles like this that were arguably beneath his level of talent. Carradine would appear in one other Gunsmoke episode in Season 5.
Actor James Drury portrays the Booth Rider character in this story. Drury was a familiar face in westerns films and television shows before and after appearing in this episode. He would appear in another three episodes of the series, all during the thirty-minute era. The actor is best known for the starring role in the NBC series The Virginian.
This is the first television Gunsmoke story written by Les Crutchfield. Crutchfield would later create the character Festus Haggen. He continued contributing to the series until his premature death at age 50 from cancer.
A frequent plot device in the earlier Gunsmoke episodes is having a scheming woman convince a man to commit murder or do some other illegal act for her. Women are often portrayed as conniving, manipulative fortune seekers, as is the case with the Lucy Hunt character.
Again, here is an episode that was innovative television in 1955, but offers few surprises over sixty years later, because there have been countless comparable stories used in dramas since. When viewed in the proper context, this is a well-executed episode.
(The opening scene includes Chester Goode telling Matt Lucy Hunt is in town. Chester questions why Lucy married Ephraim and speculates it may be for his money. Matt offers no suggestions. Lucy then walks into the office. The scene up to where Lucy walks into the office is sometimes cut in today's broadcasts to allow more commercial time.)
The Marshal pays a visit to Ephraim, and the man convinces Matt he loves his wife very deeply. He compares his wife to a fragile reed and tells Matt it is his duty to provide her protection to prevent her/the reed from being broken. This statement provides the basis for the name of the episode.
Handsome, young Booth Rider is a hired hand working on the Hunt farm. When Matt talks to Rider in the Long Branch Saloon, he tries to convince the cowboy to seek his fortunes elsewhere, but Rider refuses. Lucy uses her sex appeal to seduce Rider into killing Ephraim by telling him Ephraim has a gun and plans to kill them both. The scheme eliminates Ephraim and Rider, since the young man would be blamed for the death.
Classic television fans will remember beautiful, doe-eyed Lola Albright from her portrayal of Edie Hart, nightclub singer and Peter Gunn's love interest in the series Peter Gunn. (Albright fans should see her stunning, sultry performance in an obscure Alexander Singer film A Cold Wind in August. That film starred a couple of other Gunsmoke alum, Scott Marlowe and Joe De Santis, as well as Herschel Bernardi who played Lieutenant Jacoby in the Peter Gunn series.) This performance as Lucy Hunt is Albright's only Gunsmoke role.
The great John Carradine appears here as Ephraim Hunt. The prolific actor had already appeared in hundreds of films by the time he played this role. Carradine claimed he never made much money acting, and with the advent of television, he found steady work in the medium in roles like this that were arguably beneath his level of talent. Carradine would appear in one other Gunsmoke episode in Season 5.
Actor James Drury portrays the Booth Rider character in this story. Drury was a familiar face in westerns films and television shows before and after appearing in this episode. He would appear in another three episodes of the series, all during the thirty-minute era. The actor is best known for the starring role in the NBC series The Virginian.
This is the first television Gunsmoke story written by Les Crutchfield. Crutchfield would later create the character Festus Haggen. He continued contributing to the series until his premature death at age 50 from cancer.
A frequent plot device in the earlier Gunsmoke episodes is having a scheming woman convince a man to commit murder or do some other illegal act for her. Women are often portrayed as conniving, manipulative fortune seekers, as is the case with the Lucy Hunt character.
Again, here is an episode that was innovative television in 1955, but offers few surprises over sixty years later, because there have been countless comparable stories used in dramas since. When viewed in the proper context, this is a well-executed episode.
helpful•20
- wdavidreynolds
- Nov 29, 2021
Details
- Runtime30 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1
- 4:3
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