My title says it all. Dancing? Cyd Charisse was great, as usual but the others behaved as drunks. Gotta be one of Gene Kelly's worst films Though nominated for the Oscar Best Writing, Story and Screenplay, ooh, must have been a bad year.
Reviews
37 Reviews
The Ogallala Aquifer runs near Dodge
5 April 2021
At the time of this story - 1890's - would be within 10's of feet below the surface near Doge and easily reached. The Arkansas river is just south of Dodge as well and is not likely to have run dry. The episode is based on nonsense.
The Great Train Robbery
(1978)
OK story cripled by loud, inappropriate music
8 March 2021
The music background in the film is just plain horrible. It's loud, noisy, inappropriate nonsense. It completely destroys the film. Thank goodness for the mute button - one of the greatest inventions of all time - if watching this on TV.
OK episode with some inconsistencies
2 March 2021
Warning: Spoilers
Other reviewers have covered this episode pretty well. However, there are some strange inconsistencies.
Matt finds the runaway horse out in the prairie, but not Cale, the rider. He then brings the horse back to it's owner without searching for Cale. Kind of a waste of time to find what happened to Cale
When Matt finally locates Cale, he doesn't tie his horse to a bush or tree, this during a furious wind storm. There are plenty of bushes around, but the horse runs away. I can't remember Matt ever not tying up his horse in a like circumstance.
Third, after Matt finds the injured Cale and later during a rain storm, they are protected with a water proof tarp. Where did that come from - Matt's horse disappeared with his belongings?
Matt finds the runaway horse out in the prairie, but not Cale, the rider. He then brings the horse back to it's owner without searching for Cale. Kind of a waste of time to find what happened to Cale
When Matt finally locates Cale, he doesn't tie his horse to a bush or tree, this during a furious wind storm. There are plenty of bushes around, but the horse runs away. I can't remember Matt ever not tying up his horse in a like circumstance.
Third, after Matt finds the injured Cale and later during a rain storm, they are protected with a water proof tarp. Where did that come from - Matt's horse disappeared with his belongings?
I strongly agree with the other reviewers, but ....
26 February 2021
Warning: Spoilers
This is one of the best episodes in the series.
Allowing young Creed to be hanged thinking he would not suffer death certainly was a startling ending. However, he never realized that he was a jerk and become a mature individual and understand that his arrogance is what got him into trouble. But then, the last minutes of the episode and ending wouldn't have been so startling.
Did Dal die like a man? I'm not so sure, considering what he thought would happen. Were the Major's actions for his self interest to make him look good to others by having a brave son?
Allowing young Creed to be hanged thinking he would not suffer death certainly was a startling ending. However, he never realized that he was a jerk and become a mature individual and understand that his arrogance is what got him into trouble. But then, the last minutes of the episode and ending wouldn't have been so startling.
Did Dal die like a man? I'm not so sure, considering what he thought would happen. Were the Major's actions for his self interest to make him look good to others by having a brave son?
Not to be confused with Ep. 15.19
17 February 2021
Could have been done in 15 minutes
13 February 2021
Much of this episode had the boy's mother ranting and raving about him leaving the far., He goes off to Chicago and returns, then there's more and more talk by his mother about the son not taking on the farm. Without all that talk, the episode could have been done in 15 minutes.
Doc is the star of this episode
2 February 2021
Others have written fine reviews which I agree with. Doc has the problem with a young woman he and Matt rescue from the captivity of her brutal father and brother. Doc has the problem that the girl falls in love with him.
One problem with the story is that the young girl can read. I wonder how that could be considering the primitive upbringing the father brought to the girl, considering the father considered women to be slaves to men.
One problem with the story is that the young girl can read. I wonder how that could be considering the primitive upbringing the father brought to the girl, considering the father considered women to be slaves to men.
There's also a "The Prisoner" Season 7 Episode 33
22 January 2021
Too bad I can't give it a zero!
7 January 2021
The title of this review says it all. It's worth zero! Morgan is a very good actor, though I can't say the same for the others. Did they all need the money? Harry just runs around yelling all the time is this episode. He was pretty good in MASH, but a dud here.
However...
1 January 2021
Warning: Spoilers
It seems the satchels of gold would weigh a lot more than the dirt filled ones handed to Mr. Botkin. Likewise, Botkin should have weighed the "gold", net of its bags to see what his bank was protecting. Then again, maybe there was no real guarantee of protection but his word and the great safe he claimed the bank owned. Mat's suggestion that the gold should have been stored or sold in Pueblo was revealing. Banks could transfer cash through telegraphy or the mail documents.
Did people like this actually exist?
27 December 2020
Too many Haggens
17 December 2020
Overly long
8 December 2020
Might have been ok for a half hour episode. One major obvious mistake is when the gold shipment is locked up in the jail cell, the key to the cell is hung on a peg next to the jail cells. How secure is the gold shipment?
Two stories - one slow the other a chase
7 November 2020
The slow story involves Festus involved in arguments with Doc, and just lazing about while Matt is off chasing stage robbers and one whom is a murder.
This episode shows why the mute button on the remote is one of the greatest inventions of all time with the ability to shut off Festus.
This episode shows why the mute button on the remote is one of the greatest inventions of all time with the ability to shut off Festus.
Excellent episode
2 November 2020
This episode fits more into the half-hour than many episodes do in a full hour. This episode could have been expanded to an hour with a chase across the country with more action, perhaps in a hideout, had Cando escaped.
Slow, slower, slowest...
28 October 2020
This episode might have made a decent half-hour show. The couple that found Matt and his prisoner Kelby spent most of the time arguing about which was the marshal and whether to leave both of them chained together in the back country.
It was strange that the couple and child were headed to Dodge City from the east, but didn't seem to know which way to go when they're only eight miles from Dodge. I'm assuming most travelers in those days had a compass or at least could follow the sun accounting for the seasons. Dodge City isn't too far from the Arkansas River, so one could just find that east or south east of Dodge. There would be plenty of water and maybe fish and game for sustenance along the way.
It was strange that the couple and child were headed to Dodge City from the east, but didn't seem to know which way to go when they're only eight miles from Dodge. I'm assuming most travelers in those days had a compass or at least could follow the sun accounting for the seasons. Dodge City isn't too far from the Arkansas River, so one could just find that east or south east of Dodge. There would be plenty of water and maybe fish and game for sustenance along the way.
Festus, his clan and gold
27 October 2020
Others here have given good reviews of this episode involving Festus and his relatives.
I'm not sure exactly where Festus hails from - the Ozarks, or some other hill country, but were I from southern US, I'd be embarrassed at Gunsmoke's depiction. Only once can I remember someone suggesting Festus learn to read and it was Doc who made the suggestion. Festus indicated somehow that it would be a waste of time. No one ever told him that if six year olds could learn to read he could too. Then there was the episode "Aunt Thede" thinking incorrectly that the good book "Little Women" was THE GOOD BOOK, and used it to solemnize a marriage. Matt went along with that! Maybe he considered it like a civil ceremony, but there was no marriage license, or an open marriage. There was another episode in which a young boy was denied by his father from school because he needed the boy's two hands at the farm. The farmer felt he was successful without schooling, so why should his kid need to go to school. Maybe there was no Department of Agriculture producing newsletters and other useful documents, or the necessity to calculate gains, losses and profits with the need to do calculations. There was a discussion about requiring mandatory education.
I'm not sure exactly where Festus hails from - the Ozarks, or some other hill country, but were I from southern US, I'd be embarrassed at Gunsmoke's depiction. Only once can I remember someone suggesting Festus learn to read and it was Doc who made the suggestion. Festus indicated somehow that it would be a waste of time. No one ever told him that if six year olds could learn to read he could too. Then there was the episode "Aunt Thede" thinking incorrectly that the good book "Little Women" was THE GOOD BOOK, and used it to solemnize a marriage. Matt went along with that! Maybe he considered it like a civil ceremony, but there was no marriage license, or an open marriage. There was another episode in which a young boy was denied by his father from school because he needed the boy's two hands at the farm. The farmer felt he was successful without schooling, so why should his kid need to go to school. Maybe there was no Department of Agriculture producing newsletters and other useful documents, or the necessity to calculate gains, losses and profits with the need to do calculations. There was a discussion about requiring mandatory education.
Denver to Mayberry to Fort Knox, KY
23 October 2020
Seems like a long way around the Mayberry bush. Tons of gold weigh a lot and it seems to me it would take a pretty big truck, consuming a lot of fuel besides the cars with treasury guards. About as unrealistic as it can be.
Idiot Barney
23 October 2020
Chester, the idiot
3 October 2020
Warning: Spoilers
The story is OK and has a good plot, but Chester shows his incompetence.
Early on, Chester is making coffee. He's just adding water to the residue that's two days old. Must be scrumptious. Probably could cut it with a knife.
At the end of the story Chester's guarding one of the crooks with Matt's pistol as Matt goes off to round up the rest of the gang and he basically gives the crook Matt's gun. Of course the rest of the gang ride away in the rain making it impossible to track them.
Early on, Chester is making coffee. He's just adding water to the residue that's two days old. Must be scrumptious. Probably could cut it with a knife.
At the end of the story Chester's guarding one of the crooks with Matt's pistol as Matt goes off to round up the rest of the gang and he basically gives the crook Matt's gun. Of course the rest of the gang ride away in the rain making it impossible to track them.
How primitive medicine was in the 1870's
1 October 2020
Most of Doc's skill involved dealing with physical maladies such as wounds and broken bones rather than those that involved disease such as cancer or infection. Jenner had invented vaccination for small pox in the late 1700's, but the basis of infection wasn't demonstrated by Pasteur until the 1880's. Doc did figure out that a German passed a sickness through his cooked food. Not sure if M.D. s were licensed, but there was no FDA, CDC, leading to quack doctors and medicine shows.
In this episode, doc overreacts to the presence of a quack doctor and perhaps shows poor judgement by going ballistic rather than trying to get the facts across to the local populace. He should have found out the medical credentials of the quack and publicized them.
In this episode, doc overreacts to the presence of a quack doctor and perhaps shows poor judgement by going ballistic rather than trying to get the facts across to the local populace. He should have found out the medical credentials of the quack and publicized them.
Spring locks instead of dead bolt locks
25 August 2020
I have no real life experience, but I expect most, if not all, jail cell doors have dead bolt locks instead of self locking spring locks. The joke of getting locked in a jail cell because the lock is a self locking spring lock gets pretty old. Were I in charge, the first time that happened, the lock would be changed to a dead bolt.
Real Estate brokers must be licensed
19 August 2020
In most, if not all, US states, real estate brokers need to be licensed. Thisi would include a minimum number of hours of education in a community college or university licensed to provide the education, some time working with a professional real estate broker plus passing a test. Barney couldn't just start brokering real estate, much less pass a test as dog catcher.
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