User Reviews

For an episode that was lacking for the first twenty minutes, the ending to this show was perhaps the most surprised that I have been in a very long time. In fact this is one of those shows that you want to watch a second time since you missed the clues that was as stealthy as any in a good mystery.

The story centers around the mild and meek Pezzy Nellar and his outspoken wife Cora. They have a small spread outside Dodge and being harassed by this land hungry rancher, Burke Reese, who wants to buy them out. When they refuse to sell, Burke and his son cause havoc around the Nellar's farm. They burn his hen house and shoot up his property. When Marshal Dillon get wind of the problems he visits Pezzy only to find him wimping down to prosecute the Reese's.

It appears that the Burke and his son will eventually run off Pezzy and Cora or someone will get killed. And with Pezzy not wanting to do anything about the trouble, Matt is helpless to intervene.

The story to this point is perhaps not the most exciting plot a viewer can picture. However, the last few minutes of the episode makes up for any lost thrill the viewer may experience during the program. Harry Townes is again great at playing a humble type farmer plus they have teamed him up with a fiery mate in the form of Alice Backes as his wife. An unusual incident makes this ending worth watching. Great show.

Sleeper episode that sort of sneaks up on you, much like the deceptively mild-mannered Pezzi. He and wife Cora are homesteading a little spread outside Dodge. The trouble is land-grabber Harry Swoger and his worthless son want to chase him off so the land baron can expand. They shoot up the house and burn down the chicken coup. Most men would be fired up for revenge, but not Pezzi. He refuses to act, saying he has no proof even though the perpetrators are obvious.

Story is by Les Cructhfield and it's a good one, with a fine surprise ending. Two points of note. Matt baits Swoger mercilessly, trying to egg him into a gunfight, which seems most un-lawman like. Also, Alice Backes as Cora really cuts loose on Swoger when Pezzi does nothing. I expect that passage was a contribution from scripter John Meston, again showing his penchant for strong women. One other point-- it's never made clear what Pezzi's near-pacifism is grounded in, whether it's religion or simply a matter of character.

Harry Townes, who usually plays a wimpy weasel or some other type of cowardly character, is here as Pezzi, the "mild as milk" husband of Cora (played by Alice Backes a WWII veteran of the WAVES), a feisty lady who loves him dearly even though he is gutless.

A couple of neighbor bullies (played by big Harry Swoger and Alan Reed Jr. as his son), allegedly bushwhacked another neighbor in order to buy his land from the widow. Now Swoger & son want to buy Townes' ranch at a rock bottom price. They have been coming by at night and shooting up Townes' home, but Townes is not worried about it. As he says, "when the wind blows, a cow turns its tail to the wind."

Dillon and Chester come by to help Townes, but Townes refuses to press charges. Dillon is so disgusted by Townes that he turns down an offer of coffee and they get back on their horses and leave.

Later Dillon confronts Harry Swoger and his son, and tries to shame them into a gunfight, but they refuse to honor the challenge. At that point Dillon tells Doc, Miss Kitty, and Chester that all he can do now is wait to attend Townes' funeral.

Finally the problem is resolved by blind luck. Townes acts like it was part of his master plan, but nobody can count on anybody riding into a clothesline. It is a freak accident, but everyone would rather think that Townes is some kind of an evil genius, rather than the dumb coward that he really is.

One observation is that Marshal Dillon posts the wanted poster for Johnny Red outside the Marshal's Office, and in the previous episode, Johnny Red was killed. Also in the previous episode, Dillon discovered the three year old wanted poster was no longer valid. Doc Adams had the best moments of the episode, where he cut down Chester's coffee making skills, like he often does. The best part of this episode was a few minutes of Doc Adams.

This episode again features crisp, funny, realistic, sarcastic dialogue between Doc, Chester and Matt, plus Matt really letting the Swogers know how sleazy they are in no uncertain terms, and clever comments from Pezzi in describing the surprise resolution! To me, the sharp dialogue really makes these black & white Gunsmokes stand out from the western crowd!

(*Pezzy Neller quote*) - "I warn you, Burke, you can ride clear of my land from now on."

Pezzy and Cora Neller are simple homesteaders who enjoy working their farm which is located just a few miles outside of Dodge.

Big, bloated bully, Burke Reese (and his son, Harlow) make some seriously violent efforts to get the Nellers to move off of their land so that they can take over and build a ranch.

Marshal Dillon offers Pezzy his help, but, it seems that Pezzy has his own plans in mind to get rid of Burke.