Comanches Is Soft

Not giving away any of the details about the show, I'll say this is a great episode!

It's nice to have a break from the serious episodes every now and then and this one most definitely stomps the romance/soap operaish episodes by a mile! There are some great episodes of gunsmoke that pull away from the regular expectations of a western, such as the episodes "Caleb" and "Abe Blocker" which are dramatic episodes but are the kind of drama a man can enjoy. The occasional comedy here and there is very welcome as far as I'm concerned.

Too bad some folks pulled down the overall rating to an "8". It absolutely deserves better than an eight. I think some sourpuss folks need to lighten up a bit. It would be good for them.

I gave it a 10. Perhaps it deserves more of a nine, but I want ahead and upped it to a ten.

One of my favorite episodes. Festus is hilarious and I can see a bit of "Smokey" coming out in Quint!

It's a lovely religious/patriotic song recorded in 1950 by Ken Curtis (during his Sons of the Pioneers days), and...... well, lets just say that if you don't know Ken's legit, lyrical singing, you will be STUNNED; truly one of America's greatest popular singers of all time. (Try it on your friends: "Guess the singer"--- they won't believe it).

I was glad to hear Festus do some singing in this episode, a very charming "framing device", in which he's actually accompanied by Wilbur Hatch's wonderfully witty, bracing score (specially composed for this episode).

This episode is odd....there's TONS of fun dialogue exchanges, comic bits, inventive physical stuff, etc...but they seems to unfold at a SLOW-ish pace that makes the show feel like it's draggy and padded, when in fact it's really not. Scriptwriter Kathleen Hite never really seemed to get back in the groove of a couple of her great scripts from the 7th season, which are classics.

Luckily, there's SO MUCH good stuff between the very charming Ken Curtis and Burt Reynolds, that I'll watch this show again just to see them work together (Reynolds did a later interview in which he reveals just how much he respected and enjoyed Ken as an actor AND a person).

Lots of fun in the saloon, especially the dance/brawl scene; it's good to see big ol' Richard Reeves (and later Don Megowan) display their comic talents; both of them are very good.

There's SO MUCH packed into the plot of this 50-minute show, a real ROAD-TRIP romp for the 2 guys, along with Kathleen Nolan, whose role is cleverly written. When big Don Megowan shows up and our two heroes try to defend her honor, we find ourselves witnessing another wild and crazy episode that ALMOST becomes excessive in its goofiness (and there's also a pillow fight between Festus and Quint, plus the rough encounter with the 2 miscreant brothers, played by Dean Stanton and Rex Holman).

Then there's the final scene in Quint's blacksmith shop; I really didn't expect what happens in these final scenes, and I was left wondering if, in the long run, Hite's script and all of it's silly, 3-Stooges-like horseplay hadn't gone just a little too far. But, what the heck, it's a great change of pace and a wonderful showcase for 2 of TV's all-time greatest characters from TV's all-time greatest western. LR

PS-- If you want to hear Ken Curtis at his "legitimate" best as a singer, try the Have Gun Will Travel season 3 episode "Love's Young Dream", a really over-the-top, crude slapstick job until Ken charms the hell out of us near the end.

Of the last six episodes broadcast in Season 9, four of them have prominently featured Festus Haggen -- the newest regular character on Gunsmoke. This is another Festus story, although this one is a "buddy story" with Quint Asper and Festus.

When the episode opens, Festus is feeling "full of beans," meaning he is in an unusually goofy, rambunctious, mischievous mood. He eventually makes his way to Quint's blacksmith shop where he accidentally breaks Quint's bellows during a playful scuffle with Quint.

This sets up the premise of the story, as Quint has to travel to Wichita to get a new bellows, and Festus tags along, much to Quint's detriment.

Festus and Quint engage in a little drunken revelry in a Wichita saloon where they meet a saloon girl named Liz. Liz wants to get away from Wichita, and Quint and Festus agree to allow her to travel back to Dodge City with them.

Of course, the situation is not as straightforward as it seems on the surface. Liz flirts with both men -- as well as anyone else they encounter on the trail. There is something Quint and Festus don't know about Liz, and the revelation turns out to be a bit painful for the pair.

For better or worse -- depending on one's perspective -- the addition of the Festus Haggen character to Gunsmoke provided more opportunities for episodes that were comedic in nature. Although there were a few episodes that featured lighter fare prior to the introduction of Festus, nothing would approach some of the comedy content that would follow. This is the first of what would be many comedy-oriented stories featuring Festus in the seasons to come.

Kathleen "Kathy" Nolan plays the Liz character in this episode. Prior to her appearance here, she had starred in the comedy series The Real McCoys, although she left that series prior to the final season. Don Megowan appears here as the character Big Hardy. Megowan appeared in many television shows over the years, usually as a tough guy. Harry Dean Stanton and Rex Holman, both veteran actors, appear in this episode briefly.

I think how one feels about this episode is linked directly to how much one appreciates the Festus Haggen character. Fans of Festus generally love this story, while the Festus haters are likely to dislike this one.

Festus and Quint play off each other perfectly in this episode. The light hearted theme is a welcome break from the often Debbie-Downer stories/writing.