Weed Pindle is among the strangest of strangers to visit Dodge City. He is a small, simple, bug-eyed, fragile-looking man from Texas who rides a burro he calls Rainbow and carries a guitar. Two hard-drinking Texas cowboy bullies named Short and Tyler are amused by the eccentric man and take him along to the saloons in Dodge City under the auspices of being Pindle's friend.
When Pindle reveals he fought for the Union in the Civil War, his drinking companions suddenly become a threat. Like many Texans, they fought for the Confederacy. They decide they are going to hang Pindle inside the Long Branch Saloon.
With Marshal Matt Dillon away for the day at Fort Dodge, Chester and some of the other townsfolk manage to stop the hanging, but the bullies are not going to give up that easily.
Pindle plays his guitar for the Long Branch patrons and employees, and they become increasingly enamored of the strange fellow. They make up money to give Weed, and Bill Pence, the man that owns the Long Branch, offers Pindle a bunk to spend the night.
When Pindle leaves the saloon to give Rainbow some water, he finds Short and Tyler waiting for him. They have painted the burro and then smash Pindle's treasured guitar. Marshal Dillon has returned by now, and he stops the two cowboys from inflicting further damage on Weed.
Pindle decides to leave Dodge, but Short and Tyler are waiting on the trail.
Aaron Spelling would eventually become a famous, prominent television producer, but in his younger years he was an aspiring actor. He plays the Weed Pindle character in this episode, which represents his only Gunsmoke appearance.
Jacques Aubuchon portrays Short, and Charles Gray fills the role of the Tyler character. Aubuchon appeared in four Gunsmoke episodes, and he is one of a select group of actors that played parts in both the first and last seasons of the series. Gray had already appeared in two previous episodes in Season 1. He played guest roles in six Gunsmoke stories.
This is the first of four episodes in the series that featured actor Duane Grey. He plays the Delmer character in this installment, although he is credited as Duane Thorsen.
Joseph Mell makes his first series appearance as the character Bill Pence, who owns the Long Branch. In a later season, Kitty Russell buys a half-interest in the saloon from Pence, and even later apparently buys out Pence completely. (Kitty assuming total ownership of the saloon is never portrayed, but the Pence character never appears beyond Season 6, and it is clear Kitty is the sole proprietor of the saloon in later episodes.)
Of the eleven episodes of Gunsmoke where Sam Peckinpah wrote the screenplay for a John Meston story, this is arguably the best.
There is a story Spelling later told about this performance. He had to audition for the Weed Pindle role. He went to the studio and auditioned with some of the cast while the people behind the production observed. After the audition, Spelling was walking across the studio lot when a man approached him and asked how Spelling thought the audition went. Spelling replied that he thought it went okay, and the man told the future producer the performance was outstanding. The man said Spelling was perfect for the Weed Pindle role. Spelling did not recognize the man from the audition, but there were several people present. He expressed surprise that the man had witnessed the audition. The man then told him he was Sam Peckinpah.
In some of the Peckinpah treatments of Meston's stories, Peckinpah only adds subtle changes and keeps the basic story the same. ("How to Die for Nothing" is a good example.) But Peckinpah significantly deviates from the original story with this screenplay. He takes Meston's story resolution and makes it his own with greater implications.
In the original story, Tyler and Short are found with their throats cut after they smash Pindle's guitar and cut off the ear of Pindle's mule. (Pindle rides an unnamed mule in the original story.) I do not want to give away the approach Peckinpah uses instead, but it is vintage Peckinpah and leaves the story with a far more ambiguous ending.
I watched Gunsmoke as a kid, but I did not see any of the half-hour episodes until I was older. These early series installments served as one of my first exposures to the genius of Sam Peckinpah. Over subsequent years, I became a huge fan of the troubled director's work. As I have watched Peckinpah's films in years since, I often think back to the brilliance of this episode.
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