S10.E32

Bad Lady from Brookline

Name: Bad Lady from Brookline
Genre: Western
Released: 1965-05-01
Duration: 1 h
Rating: 5.6
Cast: James Arness, Milburn Stone, Amanda Blake

Episode aired May 1, 1965
TV-PG
1h

IMDb RATING

5.6/10

280

YOUR RATING

Betty Hutton and Glenn Strange in Gunsmoke (1955)

Western

Just arriving in Dodge, Molly McConnell looks for her husband. When she finds out he's been killed, and Dillon is responsible, she wonders why he didn't tell her in the first place and sets ... Read allJust arriving in Dodge, Molly McConnell looks for her husband. When she finds out he's been killed, and Dillon is responsible, she wonders why he didn't tell her in the first place and sets out to learn how to shoot so she can kill him.Just arriving in Dodge, Molly McConnell looks for her husband. When she finds out he's been killed, and Dillon is responsible, she wonders why he didn't tell her in the first place and sets out to learn how to shoot so she can kill him.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

5.6/10

280

YOUR RATING

24User reviews

See production info at IMDbPro

Photos

User reviews24

5.6280

Featured reviews

2beckmitch

Not Worth Watching

I've only seen a handful of bad episodes of Gunsmoke and this has to be the worst. Slow and not enough Matt Dillon, Festus or Doc. Just wasn't a very good episode, an hour I'll never get back.

3maskers-87126

God awful

It is amazing how often these fading acttess with formerly successful careers come on shows like Gunsmoke an are just beyond terrible. Betty Hutton was so dreadful,in this show she was embarrasing. The entire cast must habe felt akward aboit this performnce and sad for her. Why did they run this? One of the worst ever.

3tonycollums

Bomb not bombshell

This is one of the worst Gunsmoke episodes ever. The character Molly is loud and annoying. Singing was awful. I can't get over other reviewers calling her a bombshell. She's hardly that. Molly is hardly a character to carry the bulk of this episode.

3starmmjaid

Really bad!

I agree with most of the other reviewers. Bette Hutton is terrible in this episode! Yes, she's treating this like it's Macbeth. Yes, she is way over the top, without internalizing the part at all. However, part of the problem is her breathless inability to fluently deliver the lines. She frequently delivers short lines in two sections, thus calling attention to the other flaws. Lung problems? Nerves? Dentures? All three? Now her singing. Like her acting, Ms. Hutton forces her voice, and that's why it didn't hold up. Yes, her frenetic singing is also bad. I was never much of a Hutton fan. I saw all this coming, I guess. Energy is good, but it can't compensate when that's all there is. It should be PART of a total package, not all of it. I've looked at and listened to old vocal performances from Ms. Hutton. She had a nice voice, and she had the ability to deliver a song well, but she pushed and yelled until iher voice couldn't take it. No one's could. It's a shame. You'll never hear her hold a note very long in this episode, that's for sure. Did no one give her advice early on? Did no one explain that less is often more?

5cujorocky

Did you know

Edit

Trivia
In newspapers of the time, this episode got more publicity than usual because it was to be part of Hutton's return to acting after a four-year absence. Hutton had a dwindling fan base at the time and had already experienced failure on CBS television with the short-lived Desilu sitcom Goldie in 1959-1960, after which she took a sabbatical. Several articles were written about this guest appearance, including Hutton revealing that Amanda Blake was "very mean" to her on the first day and the next day Blake did not even show up to the set. Another article was an interview with Blake where she said she did not approve of episodes with major guest stars like Hutton and Jean Arthur because she felt audiences watched Gunsmoke for the main characters. Publicity revealed that this episode was originally scheduled to be broadcast on Saturday, April 24, 1965. However, NBC then countered by scheduling a showing of Hutton's Annie Get Your Gun (1950) in the same time spot. At the last minute, CBS moved this episode to one week later, May 1, 1965.

Goofs
Betty Hutton sang songs that had not been written. Frankie and Johnny wasn't written until 1904 and She'll Be Comin' Round the Mountain in 1899. Little Brown Jug was accurate for the time. It was written in 1869.