He Learned About Women

Firstly this is a very strong episode for Chester and one of several from the early 60's to develop and strengthen his character, perhaps in an effort to get Dennis Weaver, who was anxious to get away from the show and prove that he could be more than just Chester. He's more of an action here, here, even jumping form a buggy with rifle in hand to fight several comancheros in defense of Miss Kitty.

What interests me is the number of comancheros. In one scene we see 10 riders approaching the camera - and this is after they've lost a couple guys. Matt Dillon is not immediately available to help Chester because he's out looking for them - on his own. How is one man- even Matt Dillon supposed to take these guys on? (Fortunately, he never finds them).

It brings up an issue I've always had with the series. Matt has three jobs - he's the town Marshal of Dodge City, breaking up fights at the Long Branch and shooting it out with bank robbers. he also acts as the Sheriff of Ford County, dealing with crimes committed in the surrounding.ranches and farms. And he's a US Marshal, who goes after fugitives and criminal gangs. And he does this with no real deputies. The real town marshal of Dodge City, Charley Bassett, had several deputies, including Wyatt Earp. The Sheriff of Ford County was Bat Masterson, who also had deputies. Earp later became a US Marshal in tombstone where he and his brothers, including Virgil who was the town Marshal, brought the cowboy gang to justice.One guy could not do all those jobs, certainly not with no deputies, any more than one guy could take on 10 comancheros.

Being Gunsmoke fans of the black and white era, and Chester fans to boot, my wife and I really enjoyed this one.

...Hollywood in the days of the studio system was an industry dominated by WASP rich whites; aided and abetted in their stigmatization of people of color by rich and powerful Jewish men such as Louis B. Mayer and Darryl Zanuck...

..the result being that such legendary characters as Charlie Chan...and all Native Americans ...were portrayed by whites (usually Italians and Greeks)...

...in this episode, the character of Solis, portrayed by veteran actor Claude Akins benefitted from Atkins being part Cherokee; with a number of Hispanics playing same...

...during his final years, Claude Akins lamented that he had never been made to feel a true member of the Hollywood community...in spite if his hundreds if film and television credits...speaking volumes as to how the major studios/production companies are STILL dominated by the blinkered waspish crowd which has been in Hollywoid since the days of "Birth of a Nation"...in 1913...

This is one of those episodes that after watching I wanted to like the show and also respond so in the review. However after watching again, my first opinion of the show was correct. A nice ending with way too much uninteresting fluff throughout the remaining parts.

Chester is capture by a gang of bandits and brought into their camp. Because Chester had killed one of their men the leader of the group decides to wait till morning (odd) to kill Chester. That is enough time for one of the women in camp, Chavela, to befriend Chester and help him escape if he agrees to take her with him. Looking at death, Chester agrees to take her.

This is where the story gets long as Chester and the woman roam around the prairie for days hoping not to be found. The viewer begins to lose interest as this part of the show seemed to drag on too long. So they throw in a small fight scene hoping to reel the viewer back into promise but the entertainment value had waned.

Even though the ending of the show was very well done by writers and cast- getting to that point was too long. Dennis Weaver was again superb as the naive Chester Goode but there was just not enough material to hold the viewers interest. Weaver saved the show enough to keep it from being an all-out dud.