Bently

That's the oddball, elegant but slightly creepy actor Gene Lyons, with his big ears and droopy eyes, NOT exactly your average gunfighter/killer. His scene in the office with Chester is probably the highlight of this VERY entertaining episode. "Well, if that doesn't beat all", says the guy with the limp after Lyons rides off.

A GREAT send-off for Chester, who somehow managed to insert himself into dangerous situations, rarely get involved in any gun play, yet still come out a winner.

A WONDERFUL script full of unexpected turns, and an excellent, sensitive performance by Jan Clayton (the original Julie Jordan in "Carousel" on Broadway, 1946).

Another top-tier episode from Gunsmoke's real "hey-day"-- the hour-long, B&W episodes ('61-65), before they went to color and things got too crazy, deranged and violent (in order to compete for viewers in the increasingly "mod" late '60's.) LR.

The accepted answer is that Ned wanted to make life easier for his widow. Maybe Ned was delirious on his deathbed--such a reason is just not rational, especially not in light of the town's mob mentality. That said fact is demonstrated in an early scene.

Thankfully, Ned's decision is not the central focus of the drama. If we do not dwell too long on the reasoning, the episode can be enjoyed for several reasons. First of all, where the widow comes to live. Second, the hired gun's big scene (and it is awful that other comments may have spoiled this). But most important, Dennis Weaver's farewell--another excellent performance as a valedictory.

I much prefer the earlier episodes of Gunsmoke. I think the series worked better in the half hour format, but let's just say I like the B&W episodes. This was a good episode, and one of the earlier ones that made it clear that the ensemble cast could carry an episode without James Arness.

He had already started to reduce his participation in the show, a tendency that would grow, and continue to the end of the series. Chester was a great character, and it was the show's good fortune that they were able to find Ken Curtis, as Festus, to take his place as the marshal's side kick.

There was much less (mainly none) attention paid to tying up loose ends in series TV in those days (this was 1964). I can't be the only one who finds the handling of Chester's disappearance frustrating at least, and an insult to the memory of the character. An episode that included a story explaining his exit would have been not just appropriate, but probably wildly popular (during sweeps maybe?).

I enjoyed this episode where we get to see a more serious side of Chester.

It's a shame that we finally get to see him do some good detective work and all his friends think he's crazy. Then he rides off never to be seen or spoken of again.

A mystery to be solved! Not to give too many spoilers, but this episode is a good one. I've seen it many times, and it never gets old. Marshall Dillon would be real proud of Chester as he single handily breaks a murder case which has a twist. He catches a real scoundrel. In an alternate reality, I like to think Chester made the right decision to leave Dodge and move to Californ-I-A with his guitar and strike it big as a successful singing cowboy.

Some of his compositions include: "Run Rabbit Run" & "Pack Up My Bag to Californ-I-A".

He later changed his identity to Chester McCloud, LOL. Bentley.