This episode has a few entertaining moments thanks to the repartee between Doc Adams, Matt Dillon, and Chester, together in any combination.Doc Adams tells the most unique story he ever told, about the time he almost got married.
The main story is totally forgettable. Timothy Carey plays a psychotic thug named Tiller Evans. Carey, 6'4" tall, was almost as tall as James Arness. Carey gets slapped around by Arness after Carey is caught beating one of the girls from the Longbranch Saloon.
Carey was on Gunsmoke twice, and also guested on several other westerns like Big Valley, Rawhide, The Virginian, and Cimarron Strip. Carey was Italian, and he always reminds me of John Turturro. Their faces are very similar.
Tiller Evans (Carey) considers Boni (played by Virgnia Baker) as his gal. Marcus France (played by Jack Cassidy) is the joker in the deck here. Cassidy comes into town and gets a job at the Longbranch as a card dealer. Cassidy is a nice guy (a Gentleman), and he immediately sweeps Boni off her feet. They become inseparable, but Cassidy has a secret that keeps him from marrying Boni.
In real life, Cassidy was married to actress Shirley Jones, and his two sons David Cassidy and Shaun Cassidy, both became teenage idols in the 1970s. Cassidy died in 1976 at the age of 49. He accidentally fell asleep smoking a cigarette, and started a fire in his apartment and was burned to death.
The secret of Marcus France (Cassidy) has been done before on Gunsmoke and many other TV shows and movies.