When a woman and Dillon's wounded prisoner fall in love, her selfish niece makes plans to turn him over to bounty hunters.When a woman and Dillon's wounded prisoner fall in love, her selfish niece makes plans to turn him over to bounty hunters.When a woman and Dillon's wounded prisoner fall in love, her selfish niece makes plans to turn him over to bounty hunters.
Photos
- Director
- Writers
- William Keys
- Norman MacDonnell(uncredited)
- John Meston(uncredited)
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe set used as the way station has been on numerous Gunsmoke episodes portraying different ranches/houses over the years. It's also been used as the part of the Barkley ranch on The Big Valley.
Featured review
A Story of Love and Karmic Justice
Matt Dillon is pursuing a bank robber named Walter Boswell. When the Marshal discovers Boswell's camp site and begins to move in, the outlaw is spooked and begins shooting. Matt returns fire and wounds Boswell. Transporting Boswell to Dodge City is not an option in his injured condition, so Matt takes him to a nearby way station.
The way station is operated by Nellie Stuart, a widow, with some help from a man named Dudley. Nellie's niece, Susan, lives with her. Susan hates the isolation of the way station. She has convinced Nellie to sell the business and move to St. Louis.
Nellie and Susan are just about to board the stagecoach for St. Louis when Matt and Boswell ride into the way station. Nellie, who already seemed reluctant to leave the way station, knows she is the only person that can help Boswell. She postpones the departure so she can treat Boswell's wounds. Susan is livid over this change in plans.
As Nellie treats Matt's prisoner, she and Boswell begin to fall in love. Of course, Susan disapproves. She begins to set a plan into motion she hopes will eliminate Boswell and allow her dreams of city life to be realized.
Kathleen Nolan portrays Nellie Stuart. Nolan only appeared in three Gunsmoke episodes over the run of the series, but they were all memorable. She first appeared in a pair of Kathleen Hite scripted stories. In Season 8's "Call Me Dodie" she plays a most determined, adolescent orphan. She appears again one season later in the lighthearted, Ken Curtis-Burt Reynolds "buddy story," "Comanches Is Soft." Fans of classic television comedies may remember Nolan as the character Kate McCoy on The Real McCoys.
Art Lund also makes his final Gunsmoke appearance in this episode. Like Nolan, it had been many years -- over ten years for Lund -- since he had appeared in the series. He plays the Walter Boswell character, a likeable character, despite being a bank robber. A genuinely repentant criminal is a rarity in the Gunsmoke world.
Katherine "Kathy" Cannon takes on the role of the selfish, scheming Susan in her only Gunsmoke appearance. At the time this episode was produced, Cannon was just beginning what would be a long acting career. She played recurring roles in the series Black Sheep Squadron, Father Murphy, and Beverly Hills 90210.
Actor James Gammon makes his second and final Gunsmoke appearance. He plays Nellie's hired hand Dudley. Dudley is infatuated with Susan, but his offers to help her are viciously rebuffed.
Perennial heavy George DiCenzo (credited as Di'Cenzo) and actor/writer/director Henry Olek play a couple of desperate incorrigibles looking for any way to make a quick buck. This is the first of two appearances in the series for each actor. Olek is particularly memorable as one of the more despicable members of the Wakefield family in Season 20's "Matt Dillon Must Die" episode.
There is not a large cast for this episode where the entire story takes place in an isolated environment, but everyone is in top form. Robert Brubaker is the only other actor. Here he plays the stagecoach driver in one of his twenty-nine Gunsmoke appearances.
The juxtaposition of the burgeoning romance between Nellie and Boswell to the scheming "the ends justifies the means" selfishness of Susan is quite entertaining. The plot line involving the niece is a bit of a throwback to earlier seasons where similar situations were more prominent and met with similar outcomes.
This story most strongly reminds me of Season 10's "The Lady" where a woman and her niece are on their way to a new life in a new city. (In "The Lady" the city is San Francisco.) When they stop in Dodge City, the aunt -- played by Eileen Heckart -- meets a man and falls in love. Like Susan in this episode, the niece in "The Lady" -- played by Katherine Ross -- attempts to disrupt the romance by eliminating her aunt's suitor. The results are astonishingly comparable to what happens in this story.
(A few questions that always come to mind about this story: 1. Susan is not a child. It seems she is old enough to go out on her own. Since she is so anxious to get away from the way station, why doesn't she just leave?
2. It seems Susan has lived with Nellie most of her life. What circumstances led to Susan living with her aunt? Are there no other relatives?
3. Was Susan truly evil? She was certainly selfish and lacking much in the way of compassion or care for anyone. She is not a pleasant person, but do we learn enough about her to determine that she is "evil?")
The way station is operated by Nellie Stuart, a widow, with some help from a man named Dudley. Nellie's niece, Susan, lives with her. Susan hates the isolation of the way station. She has convinced Nellie to sell the business and move to St. Louis.
Nellie and Susan are just about to board the stagecoach for St. Louis when Matt and Boswell ride into the way station. Nellie, who already seemed reluctant to leave the way station, knows she is the only person that can help Boswell. She postpones the departure so she can treat Boswell's wounds. Susan is livid over this change in plans.
As Nellie treats Matt's prisoner, she and Boswell begin to fall in love. Of course, Susan disapproves. She begins to set a plan into motion she hopes will eliminate Boswell and allow her dreams of city life to be realized.
Kathleen Nolan portrays Nellie Stuart. Nolan only appeared in three Gunsmoke episodes over the run of the series, but they were all memorable. She first appeared in a pair of Kathleen Hite scripted stories. In Season 8's "Call Me Dodie" she plays a most determined, adolescent orphan. She appears again one season later in the lighthearted, Ken Curtis-Burt Reynolds "buddy story," "Comanches Is Soft." Fans of classic television comedies may remember Nolan as the character Kate McCoy on The Real McCoys.
Art Lund also makes his final Gunsmoke appearance in this episode. Like Nolan, it had been many years -- over ten years for Lund -- since he had appeared in the series. He plays the Walter Boswell character, a likeable character, despite being a bank robber. A genuinely repentant criminal is a rarity in the Gunsmoke world.
Katherine "Kathy" Cannon takes on the role of the selfish, scheming Susan in her only Gunsmoke appearance. At the time this episode was produced, Cannon was just beginning what would be a long acting career. She played recurring roles in the series Black Sheep Squadron, Father Murphy, and Beverly Hills 90210.
Actor James Gammon makes his second and final Gunsmoke appearance. He plays Nellie's hired hand Dudley. Dudley is infatuated with Susan, but his offers to help her are viciously rebuffed.
Perennial heavy George DiCenzo (credited as Di'Cenzo) and actor/writer/director Henry Olek play a couple of desperate incorrigibles looking for any way to make a quick buck. This is the first of two appearances in the series for each actor. Olek is particularly memorable as one of the more despicable members of the Wakefield family in Season 20's "Matt Dillon Must Die" episode.
There is not a large cast for this episode where the entire story takes place in an isolated environment, but everyone is in top form. Robert Brubaker is the only other actor. Here he plays the stagecoach driver in one of his twenty-nine Gunsmoke appearances.
The juxtaposition of the burgeoning romance between Nellie and Boswell to the scheming "the ends justifies the means" selfishness of Susan is quite entertaining. The plot line involving the niece is a bit of a throwback to earlier seasons where similar situations were more prominent and met with similar outcomes.
This story most strongly reminds me of Season 10's "The Lady" where a woman and her niece are on their way to a new life in a new city. (In "The Lady" the city is San Francisco.) When they stop in Dodge City, the aunt -- played by Eileen Heckart -- meets a man and falls in love. Like Susan in this episode, the niece in "The Lady" -- played by Katherine Ross -- attempts to disrupt the romance by eliminating her aunt's suitor. The results are astonishingly comparable to what happens in this story.
(A few questions that always come to mind about this story: 1. Susan is not a child. It seems she is old enough to go out on her own. Since she is so anxious to get away from the way station, why doesn't she just leave?
2. It seems Susan has lived with Nellie most of her life. What circumstances led to Susan living with her aunt? Are there no other relatives?
3. Was Susan truly evil? She was certainly selfish and lacking much in the way of compassion or care for anyone. She is not a pleasant person, but do we learn enough about her to determine that she is "evil?")
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- wdavidreynolds
- Oct 11, 2021
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