A Hat

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

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.

An amazingly well written script combines with a strong ensemble cast to create a rare quality portrayal.

Though his lack of dialogue almost rendered Gene Evans as a bit player, the entire episode is founded upon his character of Clint Sorils, a hardscrabble mountain man who's bark is so tough that it hides almost entirely a heart of gold.

There is a particularly poignant scene where Kitty is attending Sorils' bedside and in a state of delirium, Sorils speaks out to his long departed wife. In that exchange, Kitty becomes quite emotional at the raw beauty of the words he speaks to her, projecting them to the woman he loved and lived with, mistakenly thinking she was by his side.

That scene by itself cements the excellence of this episode, but it accompanies many other fine acts. It also proves again that an actor can take few words and scenes and turn them into a memorable tour-de-force. And as fine an actor as Amanda Blake truly was, it didn't take much acting on her part to summon the emotional response the scene demanded.

Gene Evans was essential to play this role, as he completely owns the physical chops to play such a rugged man, who's immense size and strength is exceeded only by his character and compassion. Ultimately, the episode boils down to men of character standing up to men of weakness and amorality.

The writing and the acting take this episode to a level of quality rarely seen in theater. This script could be portrayed in a movie, on a summer theater stage, or on television, and be equally appreciated for its depth. It's a must watch episode.

I am not sure that this episode had any poetic value but I am sure that the story was entertaining to watch. It begins in a town out side Dodge while Clint Sorils is trying to eat. In the other bar room a ranch owner, Red Conniston, and his cowhands are having a wild drunken time. Soril is trying to ignore the rowdy bunch until a stray bullet goes through the wall and then through his hat. Now the large man is upset.

Soril goes next door demanding money for his hat. With Red in a far drunken state, Clint knocks the crap out of him. From behind a man shoot Soril in the back. Soril spins around and is able to shoot and kill the man which happens to be one of the twin sons of Red. Clint leaves heading toward Dodge.

Now the remaining son, Jed Conniston, is set to revenge the death of his twin brother. He wants to be the first person that is given the chance of killing Clint before the rest of the cowhands ride into Dodge. With the townsfolk wanting Clint out of town it will be up to Matt to protect the rights of the man that is gravely injured plus also protect the town from Red's cowhands.

A very well written script that produce an entertaining watch for viewers. Gene Evans was excellent as the larger than life Clint Sorils and Chill Wills always seems to do well in any western part. There was one aspect of the show that seemed out of place as there was a lawyer called Martin Brewer, that was played by the fine actor HM Wynant. The part seemed odd right from the start and even more weird and unnecessary at the conclusion. The story and acting was strong enough to counter-act any problems to make for an entertaining watch.

My chief criticism of the Western genre is that it focused on the Classical Period (1866-1905) almost to the exclusion of the Archaic Period (1820-1865). That earlier age was typefied by mountain men, trappers, and various solitary types who ventured into the wilds of the West to ply their lonesome trade and to escape their fellow man. Naturally, conflicts with the Indians accompanied this burgeoning trade and the US military soon intervened to protect it.

We rarely see tales about this period. However, in Gunsmoke we do occasionaly glimpse older men who lived the prime of their lives in the Archaic West, and it is always fascinating to watch and listen to them.

Coincidentally, in this episode Gene Evans plays a character (Clint Sorils) who is very similar to Chill Wills' character Abe Blocker from an eponymous episode of 1962. Both are herculean, solitary mountain men who are out of place in the more settled West of the 1870s. Both had intimate romantic relationships with squaws. And both were mystics. Abe Blocker's touching soliloque about his life with his squaw just before he dies prefigures Sorils' phantasmagoric recollection of his squaw as he lies on his bed near death.

Philosophical, mystical, poetic and perhaps a bit mannered, but all the same, very interesting stuff.