Blind Man's Bluff (23 Feb. 1963)
"Gunsmoke" Blind Man's Bluff (original title)

Billy Poe is falsely accused of murder by a dying man, and flees to another town while Matt follows him, and encounters dangerous resistance from other men who hate lawmen.

Director:

Ted Post

Writer:

John Meston

Stars:

James Arness, Milburn Stone, Amanda Blake

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
James Arness	...	Matt Dillon
Milburn Stone	...	Doc
Amanda Blake	...	Kitty
Burt Reynolds	...	Quint
Will Hutchins	...	Billy Poe
John Alderson	...	Canby
Crahan Denton	...	Walker
Judson Pratt	...	Dano
Herbert Lytton	...	Hays (as Herbert C. Lytton)
Natalie Norwick	...	Maid
Leonard Stone	...	Davey
Michael T. Mikler	...	Cowboy (as Michael Mikler)
John Rodney	...	Barkeep
Gregg Palmer	...	Wells
Darlene Fields	...	Saloon Girl

Storyline

Falsely accused of murder, a man in a three-way poker game leaves town. Matt trails him to Elkader where they have as much fun with lawman as strangers. Mugged and partially blinded, Matt gets help recovering from an unlikely source - the very man he has been chasing.

---

Genres:

Drama | Western

---

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

23 February 1963 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Arness Production Company, Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

60 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The title references a childhood game played with a blindfold.

---

Goofs

When Matt walks into the bar in Elkader, he asks how much for a beer...bar tender says "a quarter"...yet on the wall is a big picture of a mug of beer stating: Beer 10 cents.

User Reviews

In the end, the good somehow came through

Wow- after watching I do not think I have seen so many unsavory characters in all my life. Matt runs into a hornet's nest of thugs and just downright awful men. But most of the situations was downright useless to the story. But I assume that since the episode centered around a good moral man the writer felt led to add a few bad ones- and boy were they bad.

In a fairly simple plot three guys are playing poker at the Long Branch. Billy Hayes, Billy Poe and a man named Walker. After Hayes takes all of Walker's money the games breaks up. However Walker meets Hayes outside with intentions of getting his money back. Instead he kills Hayes. when Billy Poe comes outside the saloon he sees Hayes on the ground. He goes to help and all the dying man can say is 'you killed me'. Poe gets scared and takes off. When Marshal Dillon gets to the scene the dying man tells him Billy Poe killed me and then he dies.

The story seemed set but then the script turned into a bizarre world of thuggery. The first indication was in a rather simple scene when a cowboy comes up to Matt and asks if he is looking for Billy Poe because he had seen him in the town of Elkader. When Matt told him there was no reward money for the information the cowboy replied with 'I hope (Poe) shoot you'. Nice guy.

But that is only the beginning as Matt makes his way to Elkader and meets some of the fancy townsfolk in that area. The only one that would come to the aid of the Marshal was none other than Billy Poe. But because of Matt's ethics, he still has to take Poe into Dodge to stand before the Judge for murder. Unless Matt can find the third person of the poker party (Walker) looks like the innocent Billy Poe will hang.

The writer wanted a clear difference between the bad men and the innocent naive Billy Poe. Will Hutchins does a great job of making the viewer feel for the character of Poe. His actions and innocent face makes the viewer feel that they know the faultless character as if a family member. Even with the heinous characters in the show, the good somehow came through.