It was obvious from Carl Reindel's first two appearances on Gunsmoke, as Cale, that he was being auditioned for a recurring role. Everyone in the cast builds up his quirks as somehow funny, even though Cale is a very nasty jerk.
Cale is sleeping in Nick Archer's (Joseph Hamilton) barn, when Archer catches Sterret (Robert Karnes), a former employee, stealing his horses. Sterret shoots Archer, and he falls into the barn where he sees Cale pointing a gun at him. So he shoots Cale. Cale presumes Archer is dead, and goes after Sterret, who also shoots Cale. Now he has been shot twice, and Marshal Dillon finds him in the middle of the wide-open prairie.
As soon as Dillon finds Cale, he tries to club Dillon with a piece of wood. He gets nasty when Dillon tries to help him, and when Doc Adams is trying to help him he makes nasty remarks about Doc Adams too. Doc tells Dillon "His big mouth is going to get him in more trouble."
Dillon asks Ms. Kitty to stay with the unconscious Cale when Doc goes to deliver a baby. Cale then tries to sexually assault her twice, and Cale thinks he is very funny and clever. Later he stalks her over at the Longbranch Saloon, and becomes another loser in the long line of characters that think that Ms. Kitty is going to become his woman.
Eventually, Cale and Sterret meet up again. By that time, Cale has beaten and tied up Carl Miller, the livery stable manager who gave him a job.
Cale is built up as some kind of a Steve McQueen type of character. James Arness, Milburn Stone, Amanda Blake, and Dennis Weaver all get to talk about how unusual, handsome, stubborn, etc., Cale is, while they have the look of admiration on their faces. Unfortunately for Carl Reindel, he lacks any charisma or star qualities, and he really comes off as a big mouth jerk. A few episodes later he came back again as Cale, and apparently Gunsmoke finally realized that Cale was awful, and he never returned to the show.
