When wealthy Wil Donvan's daughter and cowboy Yankton fall in love with each other, the young woman's classy European born mother wants to put a stop to the romance.When wealthy Wil Donvan's daughter and cowboy Yankton fall in love with each other, the young woman's classy European born mother wants to put a stop to the romance.When wealthy Wil Donvan's daughter and cowboy Yankton fall in love with each other, the young woman's classy European born mother wants to put a stop to the romance.
Bennie E. Dobbins
- Cowboy #2
- (as Bennie Dobbins)
Bert Madrid
- Barfly
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writers
- Jim Byrnes
- Norman MacDonnell(uncredited)
- John Meston(uncredited)
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
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Featured review
Clever Romance Keeps Audience Guessing
A drifter identified only as "Yankton" makes a stop in Dodge City. He loses everything he has in a card game in the Long Branch Saloon to a wealthy local rancher named Will Donavan. Kitty Russell agrees to allow the young man to help clean the Long Branch to make some money.
Donavan is regarded as the most powerful cattle baron in the Dodge area. He lives on his ranch with his wife, Henrietta, and his daughter, Emma. Henrietta feels trapped in a life on a ranch in rural Kansas. She longs for a more cultured existence than is possible in her current circumstances. This is important, as it impacts her relationship with both Will and Emma.
When Yankton, who is a very handsome man, becomes aware that Will Donavan has a daughter close to his age, he immediately begins to pursue a relationship with the young woman. Yankton's motivations are suspect by many, including the viewer, because Emma is not a traditional beauty.
Henrietta is particularly opposed to any sort of romance between Yankton and Emma. The precise reason for Henrietta's attempts to prevent the relationship from developing go far beyond Yankton's meager financial prospects, as the viewer will learn as the story progresses.
Actress Nancy Olson stands out among an extraordinarily strong cast as the character Henrietta Donavan. This is Olson's single Gunsmoke appearance. She was an often overlooked, underrated actress. She was nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her performance in the classic film Sunset Blvd. She briefly stepped away from acting in the mid-1950s when her first two children were born, and her once promising acting career suffered as a result. However, she had told others she was not necessarily interested in devoting her life to an acting career. As the years passed, she appeared sporadically in television dramas. She all but retired from acting by the mid-1980s, except for a few small roles.
Forrest Tucker makes the last of his six different Gunsmoke appearances as the rancher Will Donavan. This is a more subdued role for Tucker than his previous appearances as Sergeant Emmett Holly. This performance is more akin to Tucker's role in the Season 11 episode "The Storm."
James Stacy of Lancer series fame returns for the first time since Season 13's two-part "Vengeance!" episodes. His sly smile and deceptively aloof nature is ideal for the Yankton character in this story.
This is the only participation in a Gunsmoke episode for Pamela Payton-Wright, who plays the Emma Donavan character in this story. Payton-Wright's acting career was not extensive. She did play the character Louisa Catherine Adams in the PBS mini-series The Adams Chronicles. Her last acting job was as the character Addie Cramer in the soap opera One Life to Live.
As Gunsmoke moved toward the end of seventeen seasons, an increasing number of the scripts lacked much in the way of any connection to the Gunsmoke world. Some, as in this case, take place in Dodge City and therefore involve many of the regular characters and the familiar townspeople. However, none of those people play a vital role in the story.
With that said, the clever Jim Byrnes script and outstanding performances by the guest stars make this one of the better episodes of the season, notwithstanding any minor criticisms.
Donavan is regarded as the most powerful cattle baron in the Dodge area. He lives on his ranch with his wife, Henrietta, and his daughter, Emma. Henrietta feels trapped in a life on a ranch in rural Kansas. She longs for a more cultured existence than is possible in her current circumstances. This is important, as it impacts her relationship with both Will and Emma.
When Yankton, who is a very handsome man, becomes aware that Will Donavan has a daughter close to his age, he immediately begins to pursue a relationship with the young woman. Yankton's motivations are suspect by many, including the viewer, because Emma is not a traditional beauty.
Henrietta is particularly opposed to any sort of romance between Yankton and Emma. The precise reason for Henrietta's attempts to prevent the relationship from developing go far beyond Yankton's meager financial prospects, as the viewer will learn as the story progresses.
Actress Nancy Olson stands out among an extraordinarily strong cast as the character Henrietta Donavan. This is Olson's single Gunsmoke appearance. She was an often overlooked, underrated actress. She was nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her performance in the classic film Sunset Blvd. She briefly stepped away from acting in the mid-1950s when her first two children were born, and her once promising acting career suffered as a result. However, she had told others she was not necessarily interested in devoting her life to an acting career. As the years passed, she appeared sporadically in television dramas. She all but retired from acting by the mid-1980s, except for a few small roles.
Forrest Tucker makes the last of his six different Gunsmoke appearances as the rancher Will Donavan. This is a more subdued role for Tucker than his previous appearances as Sergeant Emmett Holly. This performance is more akin to Tucker's role in the Season 11 episode "The Storm."
James Stacy of Lancer series fame returns for the first time since Season 13's two-part "Vengeance!" episodes. His sly smile and deceptively aloof nature is ideal for the Yankton character in this story.
This is the only participation in a Gunsmoke episode for Pamela Payton-Wright, who plays the Emma Donavan character in this story. Payton-Wright's acting career was not extensive. She did play the character Louisa Catherine Adams in the PBS mini-series The Adams Chronicles. Her last acting job was as the character Addie Cramer in the soap opera One Life to Live.
As Gunsmoke moved toward the end of seventeen seasons, an increasing number of the scripts lacked much in the way of any connection to the Gunsmoke world. Some, as in this case, take place in Dodge City and therefore involve many of the regular characters and the familiar townspeople. However, none of those people play a vital role in the story.
With that said, the clever Jim Byrnes script and outstanding performances by the guest stars make this one of the better episodes of the season, notwithstanding any minor criticisms.
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- wdavidreynolds
- Aug 25, 2021
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