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Once again the team of writer Kathleen Hite and director Harry Harris delivers an excellent episode that transcends even Gunsmoke's usual high standards. You really feel like you are watching REAL people involved in REAL situations when Hite 'n Harris are at their best.

Kathleen Hite can always be relied upon to give the viewer some pretty interesting insights into the "fairer sex"; Kitty's opening scenes here... having hit a wall in her relationship with Matt, absolutely unyielding in her anger and frustration, absolutely unwilling to listen to reason, and determined to take it out on ALL of her menfolk friends, not just Matt....well, let's just say that, from a man's standpoint, Ms. Hite really nails it-- spot on-- and leave it at that.

So who should stumble into Kitty's life but big old, hulking (but wounded) Claude Akins. As Kitty's concern started to turn into something more...um....heated....I said to myself "Claude is either a homicidal maniac or a big, lovable teddy bear who's going to say goodbye to Kitty at the end of the show". I'm no spoiler---you'll have to watch the show yourself to see which prediction came true.

Along the way, Harris' direction keeps the actors completely true, subtle and convincing. Amanda Blake displays the full range of her acting chops and, under Harris' guidance, turns in a superb performance. Brava! And James Arness, though absent for most of the show, still manages to dominate with his powerful, yet understated authority, warmth, and goodness.

Add to it a wonderfully tuneful musical score by Van Cleave (the romantic theme of which hearkens back to the composer's gorgeous sentimental theme he wrote for Twilight Zone's "I Sing the Body Electric" earlier in '62), and you have a mightily entertaining 50 minutes of classic TV drama.

LR

With depyh,of story and real character development. K Hite always writes well for women and the producers are wise to see this and feature it. How people can still question a romantic relationship between Matt and Kitty is beyond me.me !

This was so real. There are really men out there like this, but it usually takes longer for them to show their true stripes. I loved how Ed's badness helps Kitty see how wonderful a man Matt really is. But I think Matt should have taken Kitty's statement that Ed made her feel like a woman to heart, and not continue to string her along for 20 years without so much as a single "I love you" ever uttered.

The two leads, this time Claude Akins and Amanda Blake, turn in excellent performances in this one. It was good to see Akins get a chance to shine as the charismatic handsome stranger. And Miss Kitty gets a chance to be the star of the show instead of as she puts it, one of the boys. I hadn't seen this one before and it was well worth the effort to find it.

... which is what Kitty has in the person of Matt Dillon. This episode probably has more information about the relationship between Kitty and Matt than we've had in the eight seasons of Gunsmoke so far.

The episode begins with Kitty Russell descending the stairs at the Long Branch. She's angry. Her red hair radiates through a black and white TV image she is so mad. She mounts her horse and goes out for a ride on the prairie. She returns and her mood has not improved. It turns out that she is mad because, once again, her plans with Matt have blown up in her face - He has to travel for his work and won't be able to take her to the Ford County Sociable. Matt follows her upstairs and much is revealed about their relationship. Apparently there have not only been other sociables that never were, but at least one trip the two were planning to take together. And for Matt to be so mono syllabic he says how much he regrets them not being able to do the things that they planned, but he does have a job to do. He says it well and empathetically and does not sound like Dudley Do RIght when he says it, yet Kitty is unmoved.

After Matt leaves town for his business trip, Kitty packs a bag and goes to visit friends for a few days, but on the way there finds a man who has fallen and hit his head. She takes the man to her friends' house and goes and gets Doc to tend to the man's wounds. Well it turns out this man is a wanderer but is alone in the world. He also has a great romantic way about him and is not hard on the eyes. Even sitting here in the 21st century I have to wonder - Hmm. A 30 something good looking intelligent man who has managed to NOT be taken - What's wrong?

Is there something wrong? Is Matt on the way out, at least for awhile? Will Matt return to Dodge and find a wanted poster for this guy indicating he escaped from a mental hospital and is a known lady killer? Watch and find out.

Kitty does act badly towards her friends - even to kindly Doc. Perhaps it is because none of them - Matt, Doc, Chester - consider her more than one of the guys, but then she has been spending the last eight years acting like one, and that is probably necessary if you are the owner of a saloon in a wild cowtown like Dodge City.

The photography was interesting here too, several beautiful shots of the western landscape, and the beginning of the episode with Kitty walking stiffly down the Long Branch stairs in a well done tracking shot and the end with her walking stiffly up those same stairs. Director of Photography Fleet Southcott certainly got to show off his talent here.

I think the writer here did her job well. Kathleen Hite was a good one. Once again Matt's job gets in the way of plans he and Kitty made. It got to her in the worst way this time. She was one mad woman and yet deep down I think she knew there wasn't anything he could do, short of quitting, and that just wasn't in him. Not our favorite Marshal. She meets up with an injured man who had taken a hard fall and suffered a head injury. From there on it gets interesting. On one hand he is charming and has time for Kitty but on the other he isn't so charming. He is like Jaekel and Hyde. Dangerous to go with it. He clobbers a young farmer who comes to the annual Ford County sociable just to enjoy himself that dances with Kitty. He kisses Kitty when he takes her back to the Long Branch but when he takes her out to supper Kitty invites Chester to join them and he snubs him. Kitty doesn't like it and she leaves. He gets angry because no woman walks away from him. Well, this one just did. From there things go down hill in a hurry. I won't give the end away but encourage you to watch this instead. You won't be sorry!

Kitty is justifiably angry with Matt and his aloofness, which actually lends itself to there being something between the two that's more than just friendship. For me this is about the best case you could make for the long debated is there or isn't there a legit Matt Kitty vibe. A couple in a disagreement about the amount of time they should spend together does hold water on the pro side of the Matt Kitty thing or lack thereof, however which way you lean. But just when you think that, you have the show lean in the other direction, and has Kitty warming up to someone else. One argument and Kitty is now going trolling seems a little thin, but on the other hand, Matt's never shown much affection, so who's to blame a woman? So at least for now, Kitty takes a shine to Ad Bellum, a man she meets on her getaway while she sorts things out.

Although Kitty initially sees some appeal in Ad, it turns out he's a double-edged sword, who has little self-control when it comes to his emotions. He becomes extreme to the point; he doesn't even believe Kitty should have friendships. Then turns on a dime and acts all apologetic and luvy dubby. It's not that Ad is having a hard time deciding which one to be, as he is both men.

This was one of the most realistic episodes in the GS series, as the show perfectly depicts the type of person who fits the A Bellum profile. Maybe could act as a lesson to those who encounter a person who seems overly nice and proceed with caution. Like the old saying says, "Trust, but verify." This episode may have served as the inspiration for Play Misty for Me, or Fatal Attraction. With all of the exaggerations in cinema, this one didn't need too.

The Kitty Russell character was at its best when written as what she really was, a saloon-bordello owner with a cynical, bemused outlook on the various failings and misadventures of her fellow human beings. Amanda Blake shined in episodes with that writing. But Blake was not an actress with great range and in the episodes like this one (of which there were a number of over her 19 years in the role) she just comes across as a petty, unbalanced nut job with delusions of a stable relationship with a guy who might wake up dead every day, while she runs a place where people are getting killed on a regular basis in drunken arguments. None of this is Amanda Blake's fault, she played what she was given. But it's boring to watch her woman-scorned episodes.