Bad Lady from Brookline

Betty Hutton may be the worst actress ever to film an episode in this venerable cowboy-era series. No line is too insignificant for her to deliver with over-the-top emoting. NO line. Other reviewers suggest the episode was meant to be comical, but in the hands of a skilled actress, it could have been as good as anything in the series.

Upside: The stark comparison illustrated how talented and professional the fine regular cast and guest star (Claude Aikens) really were. That they provided solid, believable performances in the face of the border-line hysteria offered by Ms Hutton earns them all the respect they deserve.

Molly McConnell comes into Dodge City with her young son on the stagecoach to meet her husband, Calvin. She soon discovers her husband is dead, and when she learns he was killed in a gunfight, she wants revenge. Marshal Dillon tries to shield her from the truth that her husband was killed during a shootout while trying to steal cattle, which only complicates matters.

Sy Sherne was Calvin's partner. From what little we know about Sherne, he has lived much of his life on the fringes of the law but managed to stay out of prison. He lies and tells Molly the Marshal murdered her husband. (No one is sure who killed McConnell, but he was part of the group that was engaged in a gunfight with the Marshal and the posse he was leading. Since both sides were firing at the other, it is not possible to make a precise determination with late 1800s technology.) Molly, who refuses to accept her husband was an outlaw or even carried a gun, then decides she must avenge her husband's death by killing Matt. She purchases a gun and begins learning to use it with Sherne's help.

Meanwhile, Molly needs a job. Kitty Russell agrees to give her a job performing at the Long Branch Saloon, and her act proves to be quite popular with the saloon crowd.

Many of these events take place while the Marshal is out of town, which gives Molly time to gain some basic shooting and gun-handling skills. Of course, the story reaches its climax when Matt returns from his trip.

As other reviewers have noted, this episode is not one of Gunsmoke's better installments. Betty Hutton, who plays Molly McConnell, joins a list of notable Season 10 guest stars, which includes Theodore Bikel, Eileen Heckart, and Jean Arthur. By this point, Hutton's acting career was pretty much over. She had a reputation for being difficult and demanding. In fact, Amanda Blake clashed with Hutton during filming and reportedly refused to come on set during one day the episode was in production.

Hutton's performance here is an absolute disaster. She constantly overacts and her exaggerated, breathy delivery of each line is annoying. The musical numbers are awful -- although they were clearly intended to be entertaining -- and serve no purpose other than to kill time in an episode that lacks substance.

At least part of the blame for Hutton's performance should probably rest with the director, Michael O'Herlihy. O'Herlihy directed two other Gunsmoke episodes during Season 10, and both were far superior to this stinker. He directed many television shows over the years, and was clearly a capable director. It is difficult to think any director viewed Hutton's performance and found it acceptable. Maybe there wasn't much O'Herlihy could do about the situation.

If Hutton's performance wasn't bad enough, Matt Dillon's stubborn refusal to tell Molly what happened when her husband was killed is frustratingly unnecessary. If the Marshal had properly explained the circumstances of Mr. McConnell's death when he and Molly first met, the resulting actions could have been avoided. Instead, Dillon only tells Molly her husband was shot by accident and then refuses to offer any additional explanation.

This episode is one of two written by prolific television writer Gustave Field. His other entry is another poorly written Season 11 entry, "Sweet Billy, Singer of Songs."

The familiar character actor Claude Akins fills the Sy Sherne role. His performance here is good enough, but I personally found it difficult to accept that any man would be as attracted to Hutton's character as he was in this episode.

The best part of this episode is the last line uttered by James Arness. Not only is it funny and appropriate, it signals the end of this poor story.

Molly McConnell exits the stage in Dodge with her young son looking to meet up with her husband. As she asks around to find his whereabouts, she learns he has been shot and killed. Enemy of Matt, Sy Sherne tells Molly it was Matt who did the shooting. Although Matt was with the posse when he was shot, it wasn't his shot that killed him, but he allows Molly to believe it just so she doesn't try and go looking up anyone else.

The plot starts to take the path of the typical revenge story, where the surviving party refuses to take into account, the deceased initiated the shooting. Sort of a boring start to the show, but right about then it breaks off into a far more interesting story line. Molly talks to Kitty at the Long Branch and tells her she thinks she can sing. Kitty gives her a chance, but Molly's style is all wrong for saloon patrons. In a fine Kitty moment, she helps to reinvent Molly's persona which transforms her into a real show stopper. She knocks em dead with her voice and performance.

The show has a first rate human interest story going on, with down on her luck recently widowed, not cut out for the old west, young woman finding a way to make good by discovering talent she only remotely suspected she had. Great idea for a script, except one thing, it veered from that path and careened headlong back into the revenge story, in a tragic waste of a potentially great story. From there we get utter silliness, with Molly going from nightclub singer, to gunslinger under the tutelage of Sy.

I didn't much buy into Betty Hutton's acting performance for the show, however I did like here singing, albeit was lip synched. On top of that her performance during the songs is where she was right at home, confident and assured, in addition to really working the crowed. She sizzled in those scenes. That's what made this such a frustrating episode, the show's creators had the goods if they would have just realized they were right in front of them. Could have been a story of a triumph of the human spirit but chose instead an inane and recycled plot. Another thing is, the western genre could always have used a greater input from stories about females. They had one in their hands right here, and let it slip away.

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.

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.