|
Picking up where the previous volume left off, Gunsmoke - The Second Season, Volume 2 brings us the final nineteen episodes from the series’ second-year run on network television in another 3-disc set. James Arness, the huge, gigantic walking skyscraper of a man, returns as Matt Dillon, U.S. Marshal along with good ol’ Dennis Weaver (as the gimp-legged Chester Goode) and series regulars Amanda Blake (as Kitty Russell), and Milburn Stone (as the ornery Dr. Galen ‘Doc’ Adams).
You know, sometimes you have to wonder how Marshal Dillon put up with the same shit on a daily basis. If it were me in his place, I would have appointed myself dictator within the first couple of years and turned Dodge into a totalitarian state. Chester would be my Herman Goering… and Doc my Evil Spock with a beard. As for Miss Kitty… yeah, she would definitely be my Eva Braun (actually, she might make a better Evil Spock that Doc Adams).
 First of all, everybody would have to turn in their weapons and anyone who carried one would be executed by being fed to the pigs (I don’t think I could get any lions in the Old West, but pigs would do fine). All business owners would have to pay me 25% of their earnings (any more than that would be uncivilized: I’m not that evil, after all). The church at the end of town would have to go. In its place, a very large casino/brothel would be erected. High rollers. Cheap drinks. Fixed games. Hell, Bugsy Siegel wouldn’t have shit on me, brudder!
So anyway, this half of Gunsmoke finds the good Marshal Dillon up against more 50s TV western drama, with guest stars including Russell Johnson (of Gilligan’s Island fame), Karen Sharpe, Ned Glass, John Hoyt, Michael Pate, Andrew Duggen, Harold J. Stone, Strother Martin, and Denver Pyle (who appeared in fourteen episodes of the series from 1956-1973 playing various characters).
 Presentation
CBS/Paramount brings us the last 19 Episodes of the iconic television series’ Second Season, housed onto three discs. Much like the previous Gunsmoke releases, the video quality here is rather nice despite there being a fair amount of minor debris and grain (which is to be expected since it’s a fifty-year-old television show). All of the episodes are presented in their broadcast order and presented in the original Standard format of 1.33:1. The only Audio option is an English Mono Stereo track and the discs are Closed Captioned.
 Extras
Much like the last release, the only Special Features included with this set are several of the original Sponsor Spots which first premiered during the initial network airings, most of which have not been seen on television since then.
It’s always a blast to see those vintage cigarette commercials depicting big-name TV stars of the time proudly boasting a product like L&M. Ah, the days when nobody seemed to realize that smoking was bad for you… before the mass lawsuits against big tobacco and lobbyists. There is also the required “It’s a commercial from yesteryear - we don’t encourage smoking!” disclaimer that CBS and Paramount’s lawyers threw in.
A couple of Promo Trailers are also included on Disc One.
The Bottom Line
Like westerns? Like TV? Like seeing people get shot? Look, there’s a reason Gunsmoke lasted for twenty years.
|
