User Reviews

Did IMDB "reviewer" Johnny West really mean to suggest that Sofaer the ACTOR is horrid?? He was one of the best, in fact. Maybe Mr. West meant that Sofaer was playing a horrid character...and obviously doing it very well, to elicit such a strong response from the reviewer.

I remember the ending of this episode very well from its initial run in early '62. More recently, I spent considerable time tracking it down, since none of the plot summaries I found described the ending in detail.

Admittedly, the whole thing plays like a farce, and probably should have been resolved like one. Maybe that's why the ending is so bizarre and upsetting; the old jerk really didn't deserve it.

I clearly remember sitting in church the morning after first seeing this (at age 10) and the sadness and upset that it caused me. A strange show. LR

I felt a need to write a review in support of this episode, that I found rather enjoyable. Yes, it was a bit of an oddball and the writing was not the best, but the talent made it enjoyable. I mean you can't go wrong with Strother Martin and Warren Oates they can make a bad script fun and this was a light and comical episode, especially Strother & Warren as cowboys turned ranchers.

This episode was not quite as bad as some reviewers make it out to be. Although certainly not one of the best but any episode with the great Strother Martin and Warren Oates teamed together as partners cannot be all bad. You have to realize this episode was intended as a sort of dark comedy and not take it too seriously.

Ok this isn't my favorite episode but i could never pass up a show with Strother Martin and Warren Oates TOGETHER! With a little Shug Fisher thrown in! Mr Martin & Mr Oates are honestly my two favorite western actors - can't decide between them! Tbh i FF to their scenes - they were as terrific together as i expected, even better! Also i just read that this was Mr Fishers first time on Gunsmoke! Actually preferred him on the Beverly Hillbillies but always great to see him! Definitely an episode worth watching, even though the theme is pretty dumb. Lol enjoy! Umm okayy? Can't submit review, it's "too short". Didn't even know that was a thing? Ok guess i'm caught up now, bye!

I've probably seen every episode twice. This one is hands down one of the best written. Exceptional acting by great character actors tell a story about a man who has just come down from the Rocky Mountains after spending 10 years looking for gold and ultimately leaving successful. Once among people again he doesn't like what he sees and thinks that people are being lazy and not living up to their potential. I immediately thought when seeing it for the first time he was going to be like every other person who finds gold. But to my surprise it turned on a dime. The people he comes across and gives advice to find themselves agreeing with him about not living up to their expectations. Just when everyone is doing ok with their new goals the story again turns on a dime. I'm trying not to reveal too much but there's a great lesson to be learned here. Some of the best writing in Gunsmoke history.

When Harvey Easter comes from Dodge after hitting some gold in the Colorado mountains, he is set on changing people's ways to what he thinks is correct.

He takes two old cowboys and gives them land to work. But it turns out they had no idea of farming and went into crime. Easter tries to stop Louie Pheeters into not having anything to drink and causes a heart-attack. Easter then tells a woman to quit the Long Branch to start her own business which makes her very unhappy. So his advice at trying to help people have some terrible consequences.

When Harvey Easter tries to stop the sale of alcohol he nearly starts a fire that could have destroyed the entire town. Needless to say the people have had enough of Harvey Easter. They cook up a little plan to let Harvey know to quit meddling in other people affairs. But the plan goes terribly wrong.

Even with the good intentions of Mr Easter this show really went no where. Even the ending left the viewer scratching his head wondering what was the show's meaning. This episode was disappointing in many ways.

This episode of Gunsmoke featured in all-star cast of character actors in support of the horrid Abraham Sofaer, who played Harvey Easter. This was his second and last performance on Gunsmoke. In his first guest appearance, Sofaer was the horrible man who was verbally abusing Miss Kitty and shoving her around, until she killed him, in "Kitty's Killing."

This time Sofaer is verbally abusing everyone in town. What a nasty guy. John Meston wrote this vicious take on self-improvement, personal development, and the War on Poverty. All these were big issues taken from the headlines in the early 1960s. Like usual, Meston sees the dark side of people trying to help others work their way out of poverty.

Harvey Easter gets rich mining gold, and he comes to Dodge to share his wisdom with the low-income yokels. Abraham Sofaer plays him as a very verbally abusive and arrogant man who goes around humiliating people into wanting to change their lives. Then he financially backs them into businesses that are beyond their abilities.

John Meston's message seems to be that the people who need help are too dumb to benefit from it, and that those who try to help are just doing it to feel superior. Based on the Gunsmoke stories, I have to think John Meston was a pretty miserable and bitter person.

As Sofaer wrecks the lives of the people in Dodge, he crosses paths with Mary Pickett (Mercedes Shirley in her only Gunsmoke appearance), who looks beautiful until Sofaer convinces her to leave the Longbranch Saloon and start washing laundry. She does a great job of looking pathetic and miserable after she follows Sofaer's advice. Adam Williams plays her boyfriend, and he witnesses the drastic change, and later gets shot by one of Harvey Easter's failed self-improvement students.

Then Sofaer meets Strother Martin (11 appearances on Gunsmoke) and Warren Oates (10 appearances on Gunsmoke), who play a couple of trail hands that Sofaer convinces to homestead dry prairie land 20 miles out of town. Sofaer buys them a wagon and some tools, and tells them they will have to pay him back if they cannot grow any crops on the barren soil. After a month or two, they are starving to death, and turn to crime.

Sofaer locks a drunken Harry Obie (played by Shug Fisher; 27 appearances on Gunsmoke) into his shack to force him to get sober, and Fisher has a heart attack due to the stress. He brings ruin to a couple of other people, and then he tries to burn down the Lady Gay Saloon.

As a note, the Lady Gay looks like a totally different bar nearly every time it is shown in a Gunsmoke episode. Sometimes it is a nice saloon, sometimes a small but clean bar, and other times it is a dirty shack with a wooden plank as the serving bar.

So H. M. Wynant (8 appearances on Gunsmoke), veteran Western actor Roy Engel (11 appearances), Harry Bartel (10 appearances), and Louie Pheeters (James Nusser; 57 appearances on Gunsmoke), and a couple of others, decide to teach the vile Sofaer a lesson. Thus ends self-improvement and the War on Poverty in Dodge City!