User Reviews

Everyone knows about the black slave trade, but white slave trade was obscure, subordinate to the black slave trade. This Gunsmoke show is an eye opener in that regard. Gunsmoke is very good at elevating contemporary (contemporary to Matt Dillon's era) topics, such as leukemia, mental illness, and now this white trade. It gives viewers an opportunity to be there, to relate, it is an excellent inspiration for further research, as I am sure it was intended to be. On the not-so-good side, it seems that all two-hour shows are little too stretched out. "Gold Train", "The River" and now this one, they are all good examples, too much material to pack into one hour show, but not enough to pack into two or even three hours. Although the fillers (time wasters) are nice, I am anxious to get back to the show itself.

There were some loose ends at the conclusion. I wished it had been resolved a bit more. I did like the scenery. Lots of cactus everywhere.

All I can say is that the first two episodes (Part 1 and Part 2 of Women for Sale) was difficult to watch. Even though the concept was interesting, when it got to the screen it was a bore-fest. The only regular character in the entire two hour production was Matt Dillon and to be honest it was more of Matt than most can take.

The episodes beginning in a different manner as we have William Conrad (former Matt Dillon on radio) narrating the beginning of both shows. And from the narration we learn that the episodes are going to be about women, in the lawless western lands, being sold to slavery by Indians and white traders. Then for the next two hours we are engaged with four women, one being a child, being kidnapped for the slave trade. Some will be taken by the white tradesmen and other by local Indians. And now we get to see the long- and I mean long- performance as Matt Dillon tries to save the day for the women that were abducted.

The show may have been better if kept to the one hours schedule but became very long as we have two hours of mainly repeated dialog played out by both types of kidnappers.

By the end of the two hours the viewer is tired and could give less what happens in the next scenes. And by the end of the show, the crowded cast had been reduced by more than half and a few of the women rescued. This proves fruitless as the viewer lost interest in the show hours ago.

James Arness tries his best with this long script. But nothing could have saved this story from ruined. There was some good moments as James Whitmore proved to be well cast as the white slave trader but nothing else was remarkable. Season 19 does not start out well- here is for better stories and better entertainment.

NOTE- James Arness worked long on this episode. His contract called for him doing this script and then just working three days a week for the rest of the season.

Note: My rating for this episode considers both parts as a single story, although I created a separate review entry for each part. This episode is officially listed as "Women for Sale: Part 2" but in the episode, the title shown is "Women for Sale: The Conclusion."

As the second part of this two-part, season-opening episode begins, Matt Dillon, Stella Silks, and a young girl named Marcy McCloud face a group of Comanches. Fortunately, when the Comanches learn that Marshal Dillon has killed the renegade known as Blue Jacket, they consider him a friend, as Blue Jacket and his band of renegades gave the tribe a bad name.

As this story progresses, the Comancheros led by Irishman Timothy Fitzpatrick are making their way to Mexico with their collection of captive, would-be slaves they gained in trades with Blue Jacket. Once they are in Mexico, they will sell the captives, which are primarily women, as slaves. Many will be forced into a life of prostitution.

Matt Dillon is pursuing the Comancheros with the aim of catching them before they reach the border. However, trying to care for Stella and Marcy along the way proves to significantly slow the Marshal's pursuit.

This episode features another strong cast, and the subject matter is extraordinary. However, the story drags in several places with multiple long scenes of dialog where people revisit their respective pasts and motivations. Some characters shift between being almost sympathetic to various levels of depravity on a whim. And then the story abruptly ends and leaves several loose ends.

Furthermore, the historical accuracy of this episode is quite dubious. Yes, there were so-called Comancheros in the 18th and 19th centuries that were involved in a black market for assorted items primarily along the U. S.-Mexico border, but there is not much evidence of widespread white slave trade or human trafficking among the activities. That is not to say there were no occurrences of such activity, but historical records do not indicate it was anything that happened with any frequency. For that matter, most of the Comanchero activity ceased in the 1875 when the U. S. Army eliminated Comanche camps in the Texas panhandle, which significantly disrupted trade between the Comanche and the Comancheros.

As with the two-part "The River" episode that kicked off Season 18, it is clear there were significant resources invested in this episode. It is unfortunate the story content does not live up to the acting and the production values.