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.
