A Hat

I'm surprised the other reviews didn't mention the fact that the twins were evidently raised apart; Ben by their father, and Jed by the boys' Native American mother.

The father only considered the son he raised, Ben, the one who was killed, to be his son.

Jed actually had more in common with Sorils than he did with his father, because Sorils had lived with a tribe, too.

One of the best episodes I have seen in a while. Doesn't drag on like a lot of the one hour episodes do. Action from start to finish and a surprise ending

A grizzled, tough frontiersman named Clint Sorils is eating a meal in the town of Spokes while a rancher named Red Conniston and his ranch hands are engaged in a bit of wild, drunken revelry in the room next door. Conniston is sitting high in a chair on top of a stack of tables firing his gun and yelling. Sorils tries to ignore the party, but when a stray bullet destroys his hat, he goes next door to demand retribution.

Everyone ignores the attempts by Sorils to get their attention, so Sorils knocks over the stack of furniture on which Conniston is precariously perched. Red is knocked unconscious, and Sorils picks up the gun Conniston was firing. Ben Conniston, Red's drunken son, draws his gun and shoots Sorils in the back. Sorils quickly spins, fires, and kills Ben. Sorils then takes Red's hat, announces he is going to Dodge City, and leaves the saloon.

Ben's twin brother, Jed, was not part of the incident in the saloon. When he learns of his brother's death, he angrily confronts his father. After learning Sorils went to Dodge, Jed follows on his own in a quest for revenge. After recovering from his injuries and regaining some measure of sobriety, Red Conniston organizes his men, and they set out for Dodge as well.

Sorils arrives in Dodge in very bad shape. Doc begins treating his wound, but he doesn't give him much chance of survival. Now Matt Dillon is faced with the prospect of trying to protect Sorils from Jed Conniston with the knowledge that Red Conniston and his large group of ranch hands are on their way to Dodge.

The situation becomes even more complicated when a man named Martin Brewer begins questioning Matt's actions in allowing Sorils to remain in Dodge City. Brewer and some of the citizens of Dodge think if they could move Sorils elsewhere, any potential danger to the town would be averted.

This episode is filled with outstanding performances. Chill Wills is Red Conniston and Gene Evans is Clint Sorils. It is easy to imagine the Conniston and Sorils characters having some level of mutual respect under different circumstances, as both characters are rugged individualists obviously accustomed to doing what they want. Wills and Evans were always good at portraying these kinds of characters. Wills makes another appearance later in Season 13's "A Noose for Dobie Price." Evans appeared in a total of ten different Gunsmoke episodes. He also appears again in Season 13's "The First People."

Tom Simcox is no stranger to Gunsmoke viewers. He appeared in eight different episodes. Here he plays both twin brothers, Ben and Jed Conniston. Robert Sorrells is likewise a familiar Gunsmoke guest, appearing here in one of his fourteen different episodes as Conniston's ranch hand named Louieville. H. M. Winant makes one of his eight Gunsmoke appearances as Martin Brewer.

This is arguably the best in a string of strong Season 13 Gunsmoke episodes. Everything about the episode is noteworthy with solid writing by Ron Bishop, taut direction by Robert Totten, and excellent performances from everyone. I especially enjoy the complexity of the main characters in this story. They are not simply one-dimensional stereotypes. Highly recommended.

"Gunsmoke" A Hat (1967)

This episode contains some of the most beautiful poetry and moving philosophy I have ever heard in a TV episode of any kind, written by Ron Bishop. Bishop wrote a number of episodes for Gunsmoke and other similar shows. The character of Sorils, gunfighter, crude and stubborn man, describes a "Divine Experience" up in the mountains. The philosophy of Gunsmoke and Ron Bishop comes through continuously, even given the "owning" philosophy of men towards women in those days. This episode has moved me like no other. I wish I could meet the writer, Ron Bishop, and thank him for imparting such a beautiful piece of wisdom and life to us all in a simple hour-long TV show. This episode is like reading a prayer book, over and over again, in five small lines. This episode shows that all men, and women, have something they hold dear in their hearts. Something. Some days. Even if it is just five small days.

Story line: Clint Sorils (Gene Evans), a gunfighter, has been shot over a stray bullet through his hat, is lying in bed with little hope of recovery. Some of the townspeople don't want him in town and send an emissary, Mr. Brewer, to tell Matt Dillon that they don't want him in town. Here is some of the dialogue (paraphrased in part):

Brewer: "Clint Sorils is a gunfighter."

Dillon: "That's probably what he will be remembered for. A lot of people probably forget that it was him and men like him that opened up this country, hunting, trapping."

But Sorils took a gun and killed a man.

In self-defense, yes...

Why jeopardize the health of a town for a crude mountain of filth like that?

Mr. Brewer, he has the legal right to be here. ...

Very simple Mr. Brewer. Just tell them he stays. In the first place, he can't be moved. We don't even know if he's going to live. In the second place, on the outside he may be a mountain of filth, inside he's a man."

Later, in the company of Miss Kitty, Sorils begins to recall his beloved squaw Amy and the finer times in his life, as a religious experience. He begins to recite a story of "five days of silence" in the mountains, with "no need" to talk, and sheep whose feet are "like prayer books" and the great happiness he felt at the time.

"Five days. I recall five days when no one talked. No need. Mountains pushing God higher. Elk. Moose low to the willow. Mountain sheep climbing and looking back, as if they had prayer books on their feet. (Hesh maomi) Don't lie. Don't quit. (wheezes) Amy. Amy. (I know you?) You couldn't die. But the hardest piece of day mo. Not you Amy. Oh Amy.

Remember our first Spring? And that meadow we has? Furs all around and that meadow. And the snows just gone now. And us lying there and all the time close swallows and even a sky fox. A girl don't need no more than that, does she? And there was a time I shot the supper grouse. The hen had chicks. I didn't know. Chicks. I always liked young-uns. Always... liked 'em. We never had no young-uns Amy. Why? A woman always will have them.

Amy. Oh Amy. You're the best squaw a man ever owned."

Chill Wills had to be one of the worst actors that was ever allowed on TV or the movies. He usually got to play a bigoted, abusive, loudmouth drunken slob in everything he ever did.

Gene Evans got to be the philosophical country cowboy in this episode. Often he played the same kind of characters as Chill Wills. If you actually listen to what he is saying, it is pretty dumb TV stuff, ripped from a hundred other Westerns.

These two opposite characters collide due to a drunken party at a saloon. The story itself is about the contrast between the two characters. Matt Dillon and Red Conniston's (Chill Wills) Indian son make the difference. It is your basic morality play.

If you like Chill Wills or Gene Evans it might be entertaining, otherwise you are waiting for the gunfight at the end.