Matt and Doc come to the rescue of a farm wife and daughter who essentially are kept as prisoners by the farmer and his son.Matt and Doc come to the rescue of a farm wife and daughter who essentially are kept as prisoners by the farmer and his son.Matt and Doc come to the rescue of a farm wife and daughter who essentially are kept as prisoners by the farmer and his son.
Photos
Jimmie Booth
- Townsman
- (uncredited)
John Breen
- Townsman
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writers
- Jack Curtis
- Norman MacDonnell(uncredited)
- John Meston(uncredited)
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaOriginally produced as the final show of the seventh season.
- SoundtracksRed River Valley
(uncredited)
Traditional
Saloon music
Featured review
Two Contrasting Stories in One
The previous Season 8 episode, "Phoebe Strunk," involved a family of extremely disturbing psychopaths. In this episode, we get to meet the Dorf family. Claude Dorf is a cruel monster that lives somewhere reasonably close to Dodge City. Claude is a misanthrope. He considers Dodge City a "scum-filled town." He has signs posted warning others to stay off his land. He considers his family members possessions he can cruelly dominate as he wants.
When Claude, his son Clem, and Claude's wife visit Dodge, Mrs. Dorf (we never learn her first name, which highlights the dominance Claude exerts over her) manages to get a message to Doc Adams that she needs his help. Marshal Dillon and Doc ride out to the Dorf farm and discover Claude has locked his daughter Althea in the cellar for having the temerity to read a book. By the time Doc gets to Althea, she is in very poor health and in danger of dying. Over a threatening, protesting Claude, Doc and Matt take Althea to Dodge where Doc can care for her.
Althea Dorf is a surprisingly gentle, lovely soul given the horrible circumstances she has apparently endured in life. Doc can see this unique beauty among some of the darkness he normally encounters and begins to take a special interest in the woman. He clearly sees Althea as a daughter figure. Unfortunately, Althea interprets Doc's interest as romantic love.
Thus, we have two stories embedded within this episode. There is Althea's gentle, misguided interest in Doc contrasted with the domineering cruelty of Claude Dorf who cannot tolerate the idea of his daughter existing outside his control.
There is a lot to like about this episode. We normally see Doc as a salty curmudgeon, but we occasionally get glimpses of Doc's softer side, as is the case here. We also get to spend some time in Dodge with some of the townspeople. (Oddly, neither Chester nor Quint are seen in this episode.) However, I think this episode falls just short of greatness. Primarily, I don't think Elen Willard is particularly good at eliciting the kind of pity for Althea we should feel. I found her character a bit annoying, while thinking I should have felt more of Doc's fatherly compassion for her. (On the other hand, Linda Watkins is effective at making us pity Mrs. Dorf.)
Robert Middleton as Claude and Hampton Fancher as Clem are both familiar faces that often played heavies during this time, and they are sufficiently nasty here. Their characters are also stupid and arrogant, two traits that often seem to afflict the "bad guys" appearing on Gunsmoke.
When Claude, his son Clem, and Claude's wife visit Dodge, Mrs. Dorf (we never learn her first name, which highlights the dominance Claude exerts over her) manages to get a message to Doc Adams that she needs his help. Marshal Dillon and Doc ride out to the Dorf farm and discover Claude has locked his daughter Althea in the cellar for having the temerity to read a book. By the time Doc gets to Althea, she is in very poor health and in danger of dying. Over a threatening, protesting Claude, Doc and Matt take Althea to Dodge where Doc can care for her.
Althea Dorf is a surprisingly gentle, lovely soul given the horrible circumstances she has apparently endured in life. Doc can see this unique beauty among some of the darkness he normally encounters and begins to take a special interest in the woman. He clearly sees Althea as a daughter figure. Unfortunately, Althea interprets Doc's interest as romantic love.
Thus, we have two stories embedded within this episode. There is Althea's gentle, misguided interest in Doc contrasted with the domineering cruelty of Claude Dorf who cannot tolerate the idea of his daughter existing outside his control.
There is a lot to like about this episode. We normally see Doc as a salty curmudgeon, but we occasionally get glimpses of Doc's softer side, as is the case here. We also get to spend some time in Dodge with some of the townspeople. (Oddly, neither Chester nor Quint are seen in this episode.) However, I think this episode falls just short of greatness. Primarily, I don't think Elen Willard is particularly good at eliciting the kind of pity for Althea we should feel. I found her character a bit annoying, while thinking I should have felt more of Doc's fatherly compassion for her. (On the other hand, Linda Watkins is effective at making us pity Mrs. Dorf.)
Robert Middleton as Claude and Hampton Fancher as Clem are both familiar faces that often played heavies during this time, and they are sufficiently nasty here. Their characters are also stupid and arrogant, two traits that often seem to afflict the "bad guys" appearing on Gunsmoke.
helpful•94
- wdavidreynolds
- Sep 28, 2020
Details
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- Country of origin
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- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime1 hour
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1
- 4:3
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