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<blockquote data-quote="Snarky Oracle!" data-source="post: 436337" data-attributes="member: 57984">Just rewatched &quot;The Jailer&quot; installment (although &quot;The Second Day&quot; seems the better title) which became perhaps the most famous entry in GUNSMOKE&#039;s 635 episode history, due to the guest appearance of Bette Davis. Only the third color episode of the series, &quot;Miss&quot; Davis plays Etta Stone, an embittered matriarch to her four worthless sons: Bruce Dern (only two years after playing her doomed lover in HUSH... HUSH, SWEET CHARLOTTE), Zalman King (decades before his softcore RED SHOE DIARIES excursion), Tom Skerritt (the sensitive, ineffectual one), and Robert Sorrells (the boring one whom you don&#039;t know); Julie Sommars plays Dern&#039;s wife (who&#039;s been carrying on a tasteful affair with Skerritt while Dern and his other brothers have been languishing in prison for six years after their father was hanged for murder).Tautly directed by Vincent McEveety, with an original score by Morton Stevens and a 1966 Halloweenish photographic color scheme by cinematographer Harry Stradling Jr., the story focuses on Bette Davis&#039; goal of exacting revenge (big surprise) on Marshal Dillon by having two of her sons kidnap Miss Kitty from the Long Branch saloon by night in order to lure Matt out to Davis&#039; farm so she can hang him in retribution. Reportedly (from reliable sources like Jim Arness, and casting maven Pam Polifroni -- who&#039;d recommended Bette Davis&#039; casting to incredulous producers), Amanda Blake was terrified to the point of nausea of working with Davis. (Instead, the two actresses became fast friends to the day they died, both succumbing to the sarcophagus 23 years later in 1989). Well, both Scorpio Rising, naturally.The episode totally works. With Miss Kitty getting the honors of blowing Etta Stone away (the only flaw in the final scene being Kitty&#039;s revolver seems devoid of any gunsmoke, ironically, after she fires). I also want a raven to descend on Bette Davis&#039; corpse, ensconced in funeral black, but I guess no one thought of that.&quot;The Jailer&quot; reminds us of what a good actor James Arness was, his blend of unrelenting roughness and paternal softness making Matt Dillon a more compelling hero than other tough-as-nails western actors could offer up. Amanda Blake, too, a similar mix of don&#039;t-mess-with-me resolve and the madam with-a-heart-of-gold. As the clock ticks and the duo awaits their fate.<img src="https://www.criminalelement.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/gunsmoke-the-jailer.JPG" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="width: 715px" />Four years later, in &quot;Morgan&quot; (with Steve Forrest) and his giant gatling gun spraying hot lead into Dodge City&#039;s architecture, I always want to see a gender switch with Joan Crawford in Forrest&#039;s place. But I guess they didn&#039;t think of that either.&nbsp; And lesbianic flirting wasn&#039;t allowed in TV in 1970.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Snarky Oracle!, post: 436337, member: 57984"] Just rewatched "The Jailer" installment (although "The Second Day" seems the better title) which became perhaps the most famous entry in GUNSMOKE's 635 episode history, due to the guest appearance of Bette Davis. Only the third color episode of the series, "Miss" Davis plays Etta Stone, an embittered matriarch to her four worthless sons: Bruce Dern (only two years after playing her doomed lover in HUSH... HUSH, SWEET CHARLOTTE), Zalman King (decades before his softcore RED SHOE DIARIES excursion), Tom Skerritt (the sensitive, ineffectual one), and Robert Sorrells (the boring one whom you don't know); Julie Sommars plays Dern's wife (who's been carrying on a tasteful affair with Skerritt while Dern and his other brothers have been languishing in prison for six years after their father was hanged for murder). Tautly directed by Vincent McEveety, with an original score by Morton Stevens and a 1966 Halloweenish photographic color scheme by cinematographer Harry Stradling Jr., the story focuses on Bette Davis' goal of exacting revenge (big surprise) on Marshal Dillon by having two of her sons kidnap Miss Kitty from the Long Branch saloon by night in order to lure Matt out to Davis' farm so she can hang him in retribution. Reportedly (from reliable sources like Jim Arness, and casting maven Pam Polifroni -- who'd recommended Bette Davis' casting to incredulous producers), Amanda Blake was terrified to the point of nausea of working with Davis. (Instead, the two actresses became fast friends to the day they died, both succumbing to the sarcophagus 23 years later in 1989). Well, both [B]Scorpio Rising[/B], naturally. The episode totally works. With Miss Kitty getting the honors of blowing Etta Stone away (the only flaw in the final scene being Kitty's revolver seems devoid of any gunsmoke, ironically, after she fires). I also want a raven to descend on Bette Davis' corpse, ensconced in funeral black, but I guess no one thought of that. "The Jailer" reminds us of what a good actor James Arness was, his blend of unrelenting roughness and paternal softness making Matt Dillon a more compelling hero than other tough-as-nails western actors could offer up. Amanda Blake, too, a similar mix of don't-mess-with-me resolve and the madam with-a-heart-of-gold. As the clock ticks and the duo awaits their fate. [IMG width="715px"]https://www.criminalelement.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/gunsmoke-the-jailer.JPG[/IMG] Four years later, in "Morgan" (with Steve Forrest) and his giant gatling gun spraying hot lead into Dodge City's architecture, I always want to see a gender switch with Joan Crawford in Forrest's place. But I guess they didn't think of that either. And lesbianic flirting wasn't allowed in TV in 1970. [/QUOTE]

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