User Reviews

The opening scene has a couple of buffalo hunters insulting a settler's Indian wife. The disagreement leads to the two men shooting the settler. But then from a nearby creek bed comes a shirtless young man with an ax who makes quick work of one. He strangles the other with his bare hands. It turns out the young man is Quint (Burt Reynolds), the son of the settler and his Indian wife. When his father dies of his wounds Quint takes his mother back to her people - the Comanche - and asks the chief if he can become a warrior among the Comanche himself. His training takes three years. Quint wants this because he has blind hatred for the white man who have always menaced and killed his people and now killed his own father.

Three years later Quint is in a Comanche war party that has a couple of buffalo hunters surrounded. Matt Dillon hears the commotion and helps the hunters ward off the party, but one Indian is badly injured and yet keeps on fighting. That man would be Quint. The hunters are all killed, so Matt takes Quint back to Dodge to be patched up by Doc Adams. The townspeople of course object to this and want to lynch Quint. Matt holds off all would be lynchers AND gives Quint a rifle to help him get back to his people. He hopes all of this will bring Quint around. Later, when back with his tribe, Quint is told to kill a white farmer who has been captured and who is tied up and helpless in a tent. How will Quint handle this key moment in his life? Watch and find out.

This episode was written by the great John Meston, probably because Quint is to be a recurring member of the cast and so the script that introduced him was important. Reynolds gives a great performance that is a reflection of things to come, but there are things about this story that don't make sense. For one, Quint was an admitted killer when Matt captured him. You can understand him wanting his wounds tended, but setting Quint free with a rifle so he can go back to his tribe and maybe back to killing is taking a big chance, even for compassionate progressive Matt Dillon.

It's also a bit much for Quint to have an about face in his feelings towards the white man just for the way Dillon treated him for a very short period of time. Having a white dad, Quint must have met individual white men who were kind and fair.

You might look around in the last few Gunsmokes and notice that there is a definite missing person that Dillon has oddly not noticed - Chester. This is about the time that Dennis Weaver began making noises about wanting to leave Gunsmoke for better things and bigger parts before he actually does that in early 1964. Quint is probably an attempt to add a character in the event Weaver should turn in his resignation.

Growing up in the 60s I recall watching the color Gunsmoke episodes frequently, my grandparents were huge fans of the series and I have many memories of watching the show with them. Over the years I had heard that Burt Reynolds was once a regular cast member, and although I never saw him in the role of Quint Asper I knew him from his series Dan August and of course, his film roles.

Encore westerns changed all that, and I was finally able to see Reynolds in the role that made him a star. It was well deserved, Reynolds was just great in the role. His easy going style fit the series exceptionally well and it's not hard to see why he was so popular.

This is the episode that started it all, Reynolds plays half-Comanche Quint Asper, whose father is murdered by a couple of scummy characters searching for gold to steal. Quint takes them both out, but he harbors a hated for all white men and follows his mother back to the Comanches, where he joins them to serve this hatred. Three years later he's injured in a raid and Dillon saves him.

Through his interactions with Quint, Dillon gradually begins to get through to the young man that all white men are not evil murderers, and by episode's end we have a new regular cast member when Quint realizes his life of revenge no longer appeals to him and he comes back to Dodge. The story also deals with the prejudice he encounters, which would continue to be a thread throughout his years on the series.

And so begins one of the best eras of the series, where Burt Reynolds was a welcome and capable member of the ensemble. Some of the best episodes of the run came during Reynolds' tenure with the series, and his eventual pairing with Ken Curtis' Festus Haggin resulted in more than a few unforgettable stories.

A solid episode and a great introduction to new cast member Burt Reynolds.

This episode I do not remember watching growing up in the 50s and 60s. Gunsmoke was a regular show watched at the house. This episode explains how Quint enters the Gunsmoke episodes.

I hope to see again as many of the cast are remembered from other Gunsmoke episodes as well as other Western TV shows and movies. Looking at the cast members, there are 3, I did not catch. Hopefully it will air again soon.

If you are a fan of Gunsmoke this a must watch episode as it explains a lot about some comments made by Quint played by Burt Reynolds on Gunsmoke.

I began watching Gunsmoke reruns about 6 years ago but somehow missed this one. It's a landmark since it introduces a key new character and, not obviously, indicates Dennis Weaver is on his way out by his absence. Plus, this episode is very entertaining, well written, and directed.

A lot happens plotwise with the Quint character introduced and explained, and eased into living in Dodge. Burt Reynolds, often shirtless, is clearly catnip to the female audience--including my wife. He does a great acting job and is clearly pretty athletic. If memory serves, Burt remains on the show for seasons 8, 9, and 10 during which period Festus arrives and Chester gradually leaves, all landmarks in the history of the show. Watch for the episode where Quint, Festus, and Chester all appear, I think in season 10. That only happens once or twice. As noted under trivia Quint/Burt appears in 50 episodes over three seasons. He's not on every show but is on frequently and is a good character, representative of the very real need to include minorities, especially native Americans.