jayraskin

John Ford, as I recall, made a documentary war film during World War II that was so horrific and realistic, it could not be shown during the war because it would hurt the recruiting effort. Apparently, he learned from this that the best recruiting method in war films was to make war seem like manly fun. That is why he probably did this riff on Preston Sturges' "Hail the Conquering Hero" and "Miracle at Morgan's Creek." This was at the beginning of the Korean war and Ford probably wanted to help mobilize support by showing the lighter and sillier side of war.

Dan Daily, Corrine Calvett and. William Demarest steal the movie, but everybody in the cast does nicely.

There are actually some nice tense dramatic moments in the second half of the film, but the whole thing is meant to be a hilarious farce comedy and ends up being a nice forerunner to Robert Altman's "MASH," 1970. Probably watching that film will prepare you for this film. It also reminded me of Danny Kaye's. "Up in Arms," 1944.

I have to strongly disagree with the other reviewers. So far. This was one of the best episodes. There is not much "action," but I loved the interaction of the main characters with each other and the guess star Andrew Duggan.

Kitty and Chester worry about rumors when a fast-gun gambler come to town. They question Matt throughout the episode, but Matt reassures them that he's a good guy.

This episode shows the respect and love Kitty and Chester have for Matt and does it without them really speaking it out loud.

I agree that it is slow, but it is entirely enjoyable and beautifully directed by Ted Post. Nice to see the wonderful actors Andrew Duggan ("Bourbon Street Beat")and Simon Oakland ("Psycho," "The Night Stalker") .

It is unique episodes like this that made "Gunsmoke" the most beloved Western on television. Don't miss it.

This was the only episode that Harry Horner directed. He seems to have been an excellent production designer with two academy awards and one other nomination in the category, but his experience directing was very limited. He did just 19 movies and T. V. shows in his career.

This explains why the actors, especially the regulars on the show, do perhaps the worst acting of any 1st season episode. They recite their lines without much conviction. Worse, they don't behave like the characters we come to know in the first season. They are bumbling and bewildered instead of the heroic and strong characters we came to love.

I appreciate the surprise ending that Sam Peckinpah gives us, but I don't think the series would have lasted lasted 20 weeks, let along 20 years, if the lead characters had acted this silly and inconsistently in other episodes.