Old Fool

I just caught some of this episode today...I had seen it before. A few years ago I saw an episode where Amanda Blake appeared to be drunk while saying her lines. Every time I watch an episode I wonder if this will be the one. I just saw part of the scene today where Kitty is talking with Doc, and I think this is the scene. I got the distinct feeling that she was kind of drunk, and slurring her words a bit. Anyone else notice this? In many episodes Kitty swigs down beer with Matt, Chester, and Doc. And it looks like real beer. Another thing...how did they keep the beer cold back then? In the cellar?

An outstanding episode with a plot twist at the end. Yet another look at life on the frontier, with this installment having Marshall Dillon playing marriage counselor.

Several fine reviews already in place, all I have to add is that when you see Buddy Ebsen playing farmer Hannibal Bass you will swear the producers of The Beverly Hillbillies saw this episode and cast Ebsen as backwoods hillbilly Jed Clampett.

But you'd be wrong. In fact the show runners saw Ebsen play the estranged Texas husband of Audrey Hepburn in the heartwarming film Breakfast at Tiffany's. I guess Buddy Ebsen was just great at playing such country bumpkin roles. :>

Good frontier farm episode. Plain-face Della works hard with husband Hannibal on successful prairie farm. Trouble is seductive widow Elsie moves in close by. She and son, however, aren't making a go of it. So Elsie needs a man and guess who she bats her eyes at. Still, Della isn't a sod-buster's wife for nothing.

Fine turn by Hope Summers as dutiful wife, along with Buddy Ebsen who looks grizzled enough for The Beverly Hillbillies (1962-1971). Some good realistic touches, such as the Bass's farm that even has a hog wallow. Got to admit I haven't seen many of those on TV. And get a load of Linda Watkin's prairie Cleopatra who's about as subtle as a cover from Victoria's Secret. Nonetheless, it's a strong screenplay from ace writer John Meston, who specialized in that neglected part of traditional westerns— the lives of ordinary women.

I am not sure if this episode was a proper Christmas episode (aired on Dec.24th 1960) but I guess when the episode is over some will feel better for watching.

The story centers around an aging married couple that has been together for thirty years. Hannibal and Della Bass started with nothing and now have a nice farm outside of Dodge. One afternoon Dunc Hedgepeth tries to steal a pig. Instead of calling the law, Della gets Hannibal to take the teenager home and tell his folks.

When Hannibal gets to the house the only other person is a widow woman Elise Hedgepeth, the mother of Dunc. When Dunc tells his mother what a nice farm Hannibal has- she set her claws into taking the man away from Della and making him hers. But Della is not going to stand back and take losing her man to any vamp.

With such a great list of actors this episode is everything expected. Buddy Ebsen, along with Hope Summers, provide us with an older couple living on the prairie and making a home out of nothing. Linda Watkins is nice playing the smooth talking woman set on getting the Bass farm to fulfill her dream of having money. A nice script that was entertaining to watch with a properly titled episode.

... and it says nothing specifically about Christmas, but there is not much in the way of the darkness of the human soul going on here, which goes down easy on Christmas Eve 1960.

The episode starts with Doc and Kitty discussing how somebody named Bass prevented Doc from going fishing. Kitty finds that ironic and that is all that is said about it there.

Then the scene changes to the farm of Hannibal and Della Bass, an older couple that has been together thirty years. They hear a commotion, Hannibal gets his gun and finds a teenager trying to steal one of his pigs. He takes him back to his mother's farm and finds the boy's mother, Elsie, to be a very charming attractive widow and their farm small and in disrepair. Hannibal dresses up and brings Elsie some of his livestock. They spend more and more time together until Hannibal has essentially left Della for Elsie. Della tries getting rid of the other woman the old fashioned way - she points a rifle and fires it - not at her - but near her. Elsie apparently has no shame about the situation. Elsie taunts Della before she takes to gun play and afterward Elsie goes into Dodge and gets a warrant for Della's arrest for attempted murder.

This is how Matt Dillon gets pulled into the situation. When he learns the actual circumstances he decides to get Elsie and Hannibal and bring them to the Bass farm for everybody to talk this out. Meanwhile, Della realizes that Elsie just wants Hannibal so she can have his prosperous farm, that she really doesn't care for Hannibal himself, and she comes up with a drastic but wise way to get Elsie to show her true feelings.

How does this work out? I'd say very humorously. Watch and find out.