Gilligan's Island (TV Series) The Sweepstakes (1965) User Reviews

Will the Winner Please Show his Ticket.

[kmcelhaney005 · 7/10 · 11 December 2013]

The Exclusive Howell Private Country Club gains a member when Gilligan wins the South American Sweepstakes. But sitting around with Mr. and Mrs. Howell just isn't that much fun, so Gilligan pays for everyone's initiation and soon the Howells are inundated with members.

Understandably ticked off, Mr. Howell demands the sweepstakes ticket be revealed and Gilligan has lost it which results in every non-Howell gets thrown out.

One of the more fun episodes of the season which offers a little insight into the Howell lifestyle.

Highlights include Gilligan's over the top reaction in winning the million dollars, learning how to drink tea from Mrs. Howell, sitting with Mr. Howell who is enjoying a wonderful dream, Ginger slapping Gilligan hard...twice, the Howells unhappy at the riff-raff that has now invaded their club, especially when the Professor addresses them as "Thurston" and "Lovey" for possibly the first time ever, Gilligan recreating winning the ticket by his yelling, and the wonderful dream that Mr. Howell has which is a highlight of the episode.

Overall, this is a better-than-average episode that is a lot of fun, especially the great Jim Backus when he gets all riled up. However, his reaction to the drinks in the saloon is one for the ages.

Tidbits & Trivia - The semi-hut next to the lagoon we saw in the previous episode makes a return appearance as part of the Howell Private Country Club. However, where exactly did the chain come from that surrounds the property? Oh well, I might as well ask where Gilligan's servant outfit comes from as well.

• Bob Denver almost misses the post after Ginger tries to kiss him. He actually has to use his hand to guide him down. As per usual, Ginger turns to us and shrugs her shoulders.

• It certainly seemed that the Howells did see the sweepstakes ticket at the beginning of the episode...oh well.

• It appears that we are on the Gunsmoke set again in the dream.

• As Prospector Howell watches the Professor weigh the gold, something drops down on the right side of the screen. Clearly it's not something that was suppose to be seen, perhaps the boom mike.

• Mrs. Howell does not appear in the dream.

• Well, Gilligan's putting skills have soured since the first season episode, "Three Million Dollars More or Less".

• A pretty good audio gag on the radio is nearly missed over the talking of Mr. Howell and Gilligan. The actual winner of the sweepstakes, a Mr. Hugo Abernathy, attributed his good luck to clean living and a lifetime of gambling.

Gilligan gets his ticket punched.

[Ralphkram · 7/10 · 21 November 2017]

The Sweepstakes revisits the fun idea of the Howells having Gilligan join their billionaire class. Though it does cover familiar ground, it's one of the better offerings of the season, on a par with The Little Dictator, rich in humor, with an equally impressive dream sequence and a little heart to boot.

Gilligan is serving the Howells drinks in their exclusive club when a radio bulletin announces that he's the winner of the Argentine Sweepstakes. In a snap, the newly-minted millionaire dons a Howell blazer and gains entrance to their club. As in My Fair Gilligan, the Howells try to teach him manners and how to conduct himself as a Howell. Once again, their efforts don't quite take, and our lead gets lonely for his friends.

This time, instead of coming up with a plan to escape his new status, Gilligan gives the other castaways fifty thousand notes to join him. The snooty Howells don't take kindly to all the riff raff making their club more inclusive and demand to see Gilligan's winning ticket. He's lost it, of course, and with it goes his admittance, and Mr. Howell takes great pride in being Mr. Scrooge and kicking out the rest of the castaways.

Howell's Scrooge-ness leads to the second great dream sequence of the second season. This sequence takes place back on the Gunsmoke set. Mr. Howell stars as a grizzled prospector who, just like Gilligan, has struck it rich. His bag of gold quickly catches the attention of the town folk, who are ably played by the castaways. The Professor is a banker who writes out a deed worth a million dollars against the gold, the deed approximating Gilligan's lottery ticket. Our lead is Marshal Gilligan, who, along with saloon-keeper Ginger LaPlante, return from the dream sequence in The Sound of Quacking. The prospector dishes out fifty thousand IOU's to everyone for everything from the Marshal's protection to a shot of whiskey to a generous gift for Mary Ann, the Golden Girl of the West. His last IOU goes to the Skipper, a mustachioed cardsharp who hustles him in a game of four card monte.

Just like Gilligan, the prospector loses his million dollar deed, and the town turns on him. He is arrested by the Marshal and the Professor suggests stringing him up.

But, much like a Christmas Carol, he wakes up from his nightmare and has a Scrooge-like change of heart.

COCONOTES:

We're expected to believe the Howells yet again just happen to have a steward's outfit and a blazer that fit Gilligan to a tee.

The Professor addressing the Howells by their first names is priceless.

As usual, whenever an episode revolves around Thurston Howell, it's a solid piece of entertainment. An excellent performance by Jim Backus, once again playing Henry Higgins in the first act and only quasi succeeding in making Gilligan respectable, then dominating the dream sequence as a cross between Gabby Hayes and Mr. Magoo. His reaction to Ginger's drink is comic gold.

The bath joke, though, wears thin.

Alan Hale is a lot of fun as the cardsharp. He looks like a villain out of a silent two reeler. Love his looks into the camera.

The Howell oath of allegiance

[kevinolzak · 7/10 · 17 June 2016]

"The Sweepstakes" opens with Gilligan the steward for the Howells in their exclusive millionaires club, hearing over the radio that his ticket is the winning number for a South American sweepstakes (not Burkina Faso). With the entry fee a cool $50,000, an incredulous Gilligan is given the oath taught to Mr. Howell at SMU, Super Millionaires University: "I pledge allegiance to the spirit of money, the color for which it stands, one currency divisible by 10, with luxury and affluence to the very fortunate few!" Mr. Howell's philosophy hasn't changed, the one use for money is to make more money, while the newly wealthy millionaire wants instead to spend it (Mr. Howell: "egad, you have nothing but nightmares!"). In gifting the initiation fee to the other castaways Gilligan angers the Howells, and by losing his sweepstakes ticket gets them all ejected from the club. Mr. Howell's dream takes us back to the set of GUNSMOKE (previously seen in "The Sound of Quacking"), his gold strike assayed by the Professor, Gilligan still the Marshal, Ginger La Plante running the Last Chance saloon, Mary Ann the girl of the golden West, the Skipper a gambling card sharp.