Comanches Is Soft

I have always been a big Gunsmoke fan. My least favorite episodes were those that featured children and some of the "comedic" episodes.

I feel this is an exception. The duo of Burt Reynolds and Ken Curtis provide plenty of entertainment in this episode. Burt really shows his comedic abilities.

I hope everyone can enjoy this for what it is -- silly but fun.

This episode with Quint (Burt Reynolds) and Festus (Ken Curtis) is one of my favorites, due to the interaction between the two. Light on drama but perfect on comedy. Quint plays the perfect straight-man to Festus's "golly Bill," hillbilly timing. The classic line/title comes at a perfect time.

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.

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.

The character of Festus changed a bit from this, one of his early appearances. He is more obnoxious here and I prefer what he became, more courageous, a bit less obnoxious, yet still a pain in the gluteus maximus to Doc. The humor is pretty broad here but Quint opens up a bit more than usual and the interplay with Festus works. If this had been real life, Festus would either be dead or in the hospital, but it says a lot about both actors that they succeeds here as a mild comedy duo. There are a few things said in fun near the end of the episode that could be offensive to women's groups, especially what a woman herself says regarding physical abuse. Some native Americans might be offended at times throughout, but it was still the era of the traditional Western and pretty much traditional everything, so wisecracks should be laughed off, given the relationship of the characters involved. Kathleen Nolan is here as the object of both men's affections, playing a more outgoing version of her character Kate McCoy from ABC's The Real McCoys show, which Nolan had left in 1962 after a contract dispute with Desilu Productions. Loved her on the McCoys and I like her here. Overall, a good episode that leans on the humorous side and shows some of Burt's flair for comedy.