Matt and Chester head to the town of Elkader to arrest a man for murder, a man who shot Matt in the shoulder in a drunken fog.
But they have a problem. There is a marshal there, Joe Phy, who has the reputation of being a gunslinger, and he runs a tight ship. It is so tight that their wanted guy would never actually come into town.
Matt notices some "tells" that make him believe that the marshal is a phony, so he gets one of the town drunks - who isn't drunk at the time - to call Phy out, to make him draw. As suspected, he is a fake and backs down. Once Phy is exposed though, the saloon turns into one of those drunken brawls in which people could get shot or at least bludgeoned. Matt can't expose himself as a marshal and stop the brawl or else the wanted murderer will not stop at Elkader.
Matt has a talk with Phy and it turns out he just always wanted to be a lawman, so he went west from Ohio and claimed he was one and people believed him. He turns out to have the best of intentions and a childlike demeanor.
In the end, Matt gets his man, and as he leaves Elkader with his one lawless prisoner, he wonders "What exactly have I done here?", as Phy's absence as lawman will mean that Elkader will have many more crimes and many more criminals than if he had just left things be. This is a rare case of Marshal Matt Dillon not thinking things completely through.
Paul Richards is great as the brave "lawman" called out and turning yellow as a result. Nobody could sweat and go pale like he did. Morey Amsterdam as the drunk put up to calling out Phy as a fraud is unrecognizable as his makeup has him looking quite scruffy. I didn't know who he was at all until I saw the credits.
And three days after this episode first aired I was born. Happy almost birthday to me.
But they have a problem. There is a marshal there, Joe Phy, who has the reputation of being a gunslinger, and he runs a tight ship. It is so tight that their wanted guy would never actually come into town.
Matt notices some "tells" that make him believe that the marshal is a phony, so he gets one of the town drunks - who isn't drunk at the time - to call Phy out, to make him draw. As suspected, he is a fake and backs down. Once Phy is exposed though, the saloon turns into one of those drunken brawls in which people could get shot or at least bludgeoned. Matt can't expose himself as a marshal and stop the brawl or else the wanted murderer will not stop at Elkader.
Matt has a talk with Phy and it turns out he just always wanted to be a lawman, so he went west from Ohio and claimed he was one and people believed him. He turns out to have the best of intentions and a childlike demeanor.
In the end, Matt gets his man, and as he leaves Elkader with his one lawless prisoner, he wonders "What exactly have I done here?", as Phy's absence as lawman will mean that Elkader will have many more crimes and many more criminals than if he had just left things be. This is a rare case of Marshal Matt Dillon not thinking things completely through.
Paul Richards is great as the brave "lawman" called out and turning yellow as a result. Nobody could sweat and go pale like he did. Morey Amsterdam as the drunk put up to calling out Phy as a fraud is unrecognizable as his makeup has him looking quite scruffy. I didn't know who he was at all until I saw the credits.
And three days after this episode first aired I was born. Happy almost birthday to me.