Cotter's Girl

Marriette Hartley delivers a fantastic performance, upstaging every regular cast member in what must rank as the most delightful Gunsmoke episode ever. This is both heart warming and funny. The constant interplay between Hartley and James Arness is mesmerizing, as each cast member is allowed to just have fun on camera, and that jolliness shines through the entire episode.

The plot, such as it is, becomes unimportant as this is a human play of an innocent platonic relationship, and is as close as one will ever get to seeing James Arness play out as a father of a teenage daughter, one who by the way isn't interested in playing the role of daughter, as she is puppy lover!

Hartley was actually 23 years old when this episode was made, and yet she plays the role of innocent teen so well that one forgets how old she really was. It took an outstanding actress to pull this role off, and Hartley delivered!

I have seen this episode several times over the years, and I watched it again today on the INSP channel, for the memorable and charming performances by Marriette Hartley and the other cast members. Hartley comes across as a totally believable young woman, on the brink of adulthood, who has grown up in isolation, and has therefore retained her unfettered, childlike view of the world, not yet tainted by society's mores and rules of propriety.

Given that all of the main characters -- Matt, Doc, Kitty, and Chester -- are single, never having raised daughters, the men are all out of their element (especially Matt, with whom she has formed a special attachment), with limited experience guiding a young girl on the brink of womanhood. Through the combined efforts of Kitty, Doc, and Chester, they have some measure of success helping her learn the skills she needs, such as how to dress, eat, read and write, and conduct herself as a lady; yet it is a bittersweet experience, for Matt and Doc especially, as they come to realize that she will have to shed some of her childlike innocence, with its impetuous behaviors, as she masters self control and learns to comport herself in the ways that "gentle society" requires.

In the last scene, as Matt sees her off to live with her aunt, you can see a mixture of emotions on Matt's face, which I interpret as including pangs of regret for some of the sacrifices he had made in his life (due to the nature of his job), such as never having had the experience of raising a daughter, not being able to continue witnessing the rest of Clarey's journey into womanhood, and a measure of sadness (like doc had expressed earlier) which all parents feel at various times as their children grow up -- knowing that her days of running barefoot, splashing in the creek to bathe, sleeping in trees, speaking her mind, and demonstrating physical affection whenever she felt like it, were about to come to an end, and would become a distant memory, eventually even forgotten (as Doc had forgotten about the joy of walking in the mud in your bare feet), as she transitioned into womanhood. Maybe he even felt some guilt for the role he had played in transforming her from a pure, natural, unspoilt child to a cultured woman conforming to the rules of society.

Ir is worth watching the episode to see Clarey's interactions with other the other characters, including Doc, Kitty, Matt, Chester, the men who laughed at her in the restaurant, and the shop lady who tried to make her put on a corset!

This is the distaff version of "Old Companion", with the male heir replaced by a female. * It's comparably pointless -- the central conflict, of turning a tomboy into a young "lady", is of no particular consequence to anyone.

What saves this show (which could have been as awful as "Old Companion" -- see my review) is Mariette Hartley's performance. "Charming" doesn't begin to describe it. She's as fresh as a daisy and natural as spring water, unmannered and devoid of self-awareness. It's unlikely any other ingénue of the early '60s could have done remotely as well. One gets the feeling that the script was written with her in mind.

Recommended -- not for the story, but for the pleasure of watching Ms Hartley.

* In watching multiple seasons of various TV series, I'm surprised at how often episodes within a few weeks of each other are thematically similar or even identical. (This even happens /across/ series!) It's probably not an accident -- one writer's idea provokes an "I can do better reaction" in other writers.

This episode is very cleverly written Mariette Hartley and her execution of this character would entice carol Burnett and other comedic females to show appreciation with a nod,wink and ear tug.

Any outtakes from this episode taping would be must see.

I am very pleasantly surprised.

Don't know if she was ever teamed up with Jeanette Nolan or Jack elam--if she wasn't-- than it would have been deemed "missed opportunity for tv magic"- we are all fools if we don't revisit tv "excellence"...

Here is a nice tale of a young girl with no social skills or school learning having to be taught how to act and be like a woman. And in doing so turns Clarey, played wonderfully by Mariette Hartley, from a wild child into a woman that can turn heads east and west of the Mississippi.

The show begins as a man named Cotter picks a fight with a man named Mackle inside a bar. In fact Cotter baits him into hitting him and tells the Marshal that the fight was his own doing. He gives the Marshal a letter that contained a note and money. He asked Matt to find his daughter, Clarey, and give her the money so that she can go live with her aunt in Harrisburg. With one last drink from the bottle Cotter dies.

Since no one knew that Cotter had a daughter, Matt follows the instruction and finds the girl. Expecting to find a ten year old, instead he finds a young woman about 18 living by herself in the outback. She kills her own food, swims every morning in the creek and sleeps in trees. Marshal has to find a way to get her some social skills before taking the trip to her aunt's house.

In Dodge everyone helps out. Kitty gets her dresses, Doc makes sure she is well and Chester teaches her how to read and act in public. And if Clarey can hold onto what she has been taught- she has the makings of being one of the most beautiful women around.

In this episode the writer has taken a change from the 'shoot-um-up' shows we have seen all season. This is a sweet tale of a young girl blossoming into woman with all the excitement due such an occasion. Nothing in here is new or unexpected but with Hartley playing the lead- it comes across well on the screen.