Another clever entry from Season 5. When Gomer announces he's on the verge of leaving the Marines to fulfill his dream of buying a gas-station back home in Mayberry, going into partnership with cousin Goober, Carter persuades the vacillating Pyle to go ahead with it, seeing this as another "perfect" opportunity to get rid of the perennial thorn-in-his-side-Marine. Carter realizes how gullible Pyle is, though, a soft-touch sucker for hard-luck stories & easy-prey for con-men, so he ends up accompanying Pyle on the bus-journey part-way. A number of mishaps involve the homeward-bound Marine's wallet-- with Carter, despite his claims to the contrary, proving a less-than-ideal guardian of his charge's life-savings. The usual good-lines & situations are featured throughout, though I won't reveal its enjoyable ending. A fine episode with but one reservation--Sgt. Carter's continual loud-bellowing is rather exhausting. Of course, this is a character-trait displayed in almost every episode but, for some reason, on this occasion, it rather wore me out. Frank Sutton always was excellent in the role, nonetheless, in expressing his frustrations over having Pyle in his unit. Although the plot has Gomer withdrawing his life-savings from the bank in cash, carrying it in his wallet on the bus, all the way to N.C., maybe a little-unrealistic, it may've been more-common in the 60's, I don't know. Seems he could've withdrawn at the Mayberry-end--but then banks weren't as nationalized in those days, I guess, though I imagine possible. Probably was necessary in order for this particular-plot to succeed. These last-season episodes, which I haven't seen in many years, operate on all-cylinders, each one strongly-clever & amusing!
2 Reviews
Vince tries hard to help Gomer...and himself
FlushingCaps4 March 2022
Warning: Spoilers
Gomer now wants to leave the Marines to go home and buy a gas station to operate with his cousin Goober. Somehow, we aren't supposed to know that Goober bought Wally's on The Andy Griffith Show well over a year ago, and even if Mayberry suddenly has two gas stations, it wouldn't seem Goober and Gomer would be wanting to operate both of them, competing with themselves, more or less.
The story Gomer tells Sgt. Carter is that the man who owns this station insists on it being a cash transaction, so he intends to withdraw his entire savings, $1600 from the bank and take a 7-day leave to spend 3 days on the bus to get across country, one day in Mayberry to conduct the transaction, then 3 more days to ride back to California. Sgt. Carter, so eager to get rid of Gomer, offered him a 10-day pass, and you'd think Gomer would be delighted to spend more than just one day back home, but no, he only wants the minimal time necessary to buy the gas station.
Gomer deals with a busybody teller (Maudie Prickett) at the bank, who hated to see him invest in a gas station "with all this talk today about electric cars" (said in 1969). I imagine a good teller would have suggested a cashier's check so there wouldn't be the risk of losing all the money on the trip, but then our whole plot would have been ruined.
All of Gomer's platoon members learn about him having a wad of money and Carter has to order them away from him, warning Gomer not to listen to their sad-sack stories about needing money. When they go after him later, Vince takes Gomer to the bus station to protect him.
I'd like to say that you can't be upset with Carter in this one. Sure, he's trying to get rid of Gomer, but also trying to help him with a big life goal-owning his own gas station, even back in his hometown, where he would surely be happy-remembering how much he liked working for Wally back on the other series.
But in trying to protect Gomer from losing his money, Vince loudly lets everyone at the bus station know how much money Gomer is carrying. The first crook to try to take it is played by Jay Novello, who was the same sort of con man when he was a semi-regular on the final season of McHale's Navy as the mayor of the Italian village where the crew was sent. Here, he wants to con Gomer with the chinchilla racket. Carter stops Gomer from going to see the little animals, telling him he'll probably hit him over the head in the parking lot and take his money. Either way, Novello was clearly a crook.
Next up was Ellen Corby as "Mother" -an old woman traveling with her son, a young man, who heard about the money and tried to pick Gomer's pocket, but Gomer moved away too quickly, so the pair decide to follow him on the bus and try again. Of course, Andy Griffith fans well remember Ellen as the con woman who sold Barney the stolen junk car in one of that series' most fondly remembered episodes. (I'll never forget when the gang is riding in Barney's new car and hear a disturbing noise, that suddenly stops as it obviously falls off the vehicle. Andy smiles and tells Barney, "Well, whatever it was, it fell off and can't hurt you anymore.")
On the bus, just before it pulls out, Vince again cautions Gomer to be real careful, chasing away a suspicious-looking man, then finding a trustworthy-looking man-the kind of man who looks like a choir director (played by Olan Soule, who was John Masters, the choir director in Mayberry on TAGS) Vince asks the man to sit beside his friend and protect him and all his money. Before Vince can leave the bus, two cops come aboard and arrest Olan, who Vince is told, "you name it, he's done it."
Now Vince is so worried Gomer will lose his money, he decides to ride with him for the first couple of stops, or so, and they have more unfortunate encounters with Ellen Corby and son.
I think there were 3 or 4 times Vince loudly broadcast how much money Gomer was carrying. He's trying so hard to protect him, but he is causing much of the trouble. Another plus to this episode is that Gomer didn't do anything stupid and was never in trouble with Carter for anything. I always thought a weakness to this series is too much repetition of Gomer fouling things up. To me, this was one of the series funniest episodes, so good I give it a 10.
The story Gomer tells Sgt. Carter is that the man who owns this station insists on it being a cash transaction, so he intends to withdraw his entire savings, $1600 from the bank and take a 7-day leave to spend 3 days on the bus to get across country, one day in Mayberry to conduct the transaction, then 3 more days to ride back to California. Sgt. Carter, so eager to get rid of Gomer, offered him a 10-day pass, and you'd think Gomer would be delighted to spend more than just one day back home, but no, he only wants the minimal time necessary to buy the gas station.
Gomer deals with a busybody teller (Maudie Prickett) at the bank, who hated to see him invest in a gas station "with all this talk today about electric cars" (said in 1969). I imagine a good teller would have suggested a cashier's check so there wouldn't be the risk of losing all the money on the trip, but then our whole plot would have been ruined.
All of Gomer's platoon members learn about him having a wad of money and Carter has to order them away from him, warning Gomer not to listen to their sad-sack stories about needing money. When they go after him later, Vince takes Gomer to the bus station to protect him.
I'd like to say that you can't be upset with Carter in this one. Sure, he's trying to get rid of Gomer, but also trying to help him with a big life goal-owning his own gas station, even back in his hometown, where he would surely be happy-remembering how much he liked working for Wally back on the other series.
But in trying to protect Gomer from losing his money, Vince loudly lets everyone at the bus station know how much money Gomer is carrying. The first crook to try to take it is played by Jay Novello, who was the same sort of con man when he was a semi-regular on the final season of McHale's Navy as the mayor of the Italian village where the crew was sent. Here, he wants to con Gomer with the chinchilla racket. Carter stops Gomer from going to see the little animals, telling him he'll probably hit him over the head in the parking lot and take his money. Either way, Novello was clearly a crook.
Next up was Ellen Corby as "Mother" -an old woman traveling with her son, a young man, who heard about the money and tried to pick Gomer's pocket, but Gomer moved away too quickly, so the pair decide to follow him on the bus and try again. Of course, Andy Griffith fans well remember Ellen as the con woman who sold Barney the stolen junk car in one of that series' most fondly remembered episodes. (I'll never forget when the gang is riding in Barney's new car and hear a disturbing noise, that suddenly stops as it obviously falls off the vehicle. Andy smiles and tells Barney, "Well, whatever it was, it fell off and can't hurt you anymore.")
On the bus, just before it pulls out, Vince again cautions Gomer to be real careful, chasing away a suspicious-looking man, then finding a trustworthy-looking man-the kind of man who looks like a choir director (played by Olan Soule, who was John Masters, the choir director in Mayberry on TAGS) Vince asks the man to sit beside his friend and protect him and all his money. Before Vince can leave the bus, two cops come aboard and arrest Olan, who Vince is told, "you name it, he's done it."
Now Vince is so worried Gomer will lose his money, he decides to ride with him for the first couple of stops, or so, and they have more unfortunate encounters with Ellen Corby and son.
I think there were 3 or 4 times Vince loudly broadcast how much money Gomer was carrying. He's trying so hard to protect him, but he is causing much of the trouble. Another plus to this episode is that Gomer didn't do anything stupid and was never in trouble with Carter for anything. I always thought a weakness to this series is too much repetition of Gomer fouling things up. To me, this was one of the series funniest episodes, so good I give it a 10.
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