THE PROGRAM

If you’ve ever had the pleasure of seeing a TV segment by the late Huell Howser, you might believe Huell’s take on any given topic might be as strange as it could get. One of his most memorable segments took place at the Bagdad Café, located in the California ghost town of Bagdad. Howser’s seemingly impromptu interview segment revealed a few colorful regulars as well as a mysterious painting of Burt Lancaster on the wall that captivated Howser’s nearly childlike wonder. The precipitating factor for doing a segment on the Bagdad Café was its use as the locale in the 1987 film of the same title. Do yourself a favor and go watch the Huell Howser segment and then come back; I guarantee, what you see there is far more sensible and grounded in reality than what this curious, independent film has to offer.

Co-written and directed by Percy Adlon, “Bagdad Café” or “Out of Rosenheim” as it was known outside the US, is the German filmmakers first English language film. Beginning with a surreal and somewhat ominous opening sequence where our film’s lead protagonist, Jasmin Münchgstettner (Marianne Sägebrecht) leaves her boorish husband for reasons unknown, before stumbling across the titular locale and its collection of colorful denizens, viewers are thrown into an in medias res, situation; we know absolutely no critical details about Jasmin nor why she chose to leave her husband, or why she’s in a small Californian desert town in the first place, nor do we know much about the people who make up the community of the Bagdad Café, which in the film, also features a small, decrepit motel. Adlon’s script seems incredibly sparse, but this disorienting sense allows us to share in Jasmin’s plight, even if she’s a stranger to us for most of the film’s runtime.

As the film progresses and we learn of the other characters, namely the café/motel’s hardworking, beleaguered owner, Brenda (C.C.H. Pounder), and a fancifully dressed, smooth-talker, Rudi Coxx (Jack Palance), we quickly discover the details are not the intention of “Bagdad Café,” it’s all about atmosphere and the raw concept of human interaction. Unfortunately, at a base level, the film’s screenplay feels very one-dimensional; the only cues that the film is more than a poorly written avant-garde exercise are the film’s exquisite, stylized cinematography and the Oscar nominated song “Calling You” that is used to great effect in a few tonal montages. The film relies almost entirely on audience inference as Jasmin and Brenda form a friendship, despite the latter’s inherent hostility. We see both women grow through their actions, not words and eventually, in the case of Jasmin, a curious relationship with Coxx sets up a third act with too much to tie-up.

The third act of the film is a real letdown as Adlon’s film trots out a few obvious clichés, including a well-meaning, but hackneyed musical number. The film does remain true to asking viewers to infer intent, right down to the final scene, which carries tremendous emotional resonance and is a shockingly bold choice. The performances ultimately come out shining brighter than any element in the film, with both actresses delivering incredibly humane performances of starkly contrasting personalities. Sägebrecht in particular does a lot of expressive acting and the change in her character’s physical appearance coincides with the evolution in her personality. From a minor historical perspective, Palance’s performance marks a departure from a long career in the Western genre, and may very well be the catalyst into his later, career defining performance in “City Slickers.”

While the film has been seemingly forgotten in time, shortly after its release it did find its way to television screens in the form of a ABC sitcom that is cringe worthy from a sheer conceptual standing. “Bagdad Café” is by no means a conventional film, nor a highly accessible one. It would be incredibly simple (and I might even say slightly justified) to claim the film is a tad self-indulgent or fixated on its quirk, but the stripped down script and visual appeal that dabbles in the surreal offer a heartfelt message of finding oneself while making honest connections to others.

THE DVD

The Video

The film’s 1.66:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer is a bit rough around the edges. Colors are overly saturated, more evident in sequences where primary color filters are used to convey specific feelings. There’s a bit of bleeding under scrutiny and overall, the clarify of the colors feel a bit on the unnatural side (whether intentional or not). There is moderate to heavy digital noise/grain from start to finish, while detail average to above average.

The Audio

The Dolby Digital English stereo soundtrack is quite clean and clear, although there’s not a tremendous amount of low-end life to the film’s aural presentation. From a balance standing, everything is well mixed and appropriately natural. One highlight is the film’s stunning theme, “Calling You” which is nicely reproduced here, perhaps better than anything else.

The Extras

None.

Final Thoughts

While the film’s technical presentation isn’t as strong as one might hope, especially for a visually intense film as this, “Bagdad Café” is still worth checking out. While definitely more avant-garde than straightforward, the film is not wholly inaccessible to an unsuspecting audience and at the very least, it plays well as a slice-of-life story enhanced by artistic flourishes. Recommended.

The Show:
The fourth season of offbeat police procedural The Mentalist continues the tradition of top quality television with a fresh take on the standard detective series. This season is somewhat darker, however, and delves deeper into the troubled psyche of California Bureau of Investigation consultant Patrick Jane (Simon Baker), and explores what he is prepared to do to capture notorious serial killer Red John.

At the end of Season Three, Jane had succeeded in killing the man he thought was Red John, shooting him dead in the food court of a mall. But now, Jane isn’t so sure that the man was in fact his age old nemesis, and others doubt as well. The rest of his CBI team is back. Lead agent Teresa Lisbon (Robin Tunney), Wayne Rigsby (Owain Yeoman), Grace Van Pelt (Amanda Righetti) and Kimball Cho (Tim Kang). They have a new boss, Agent Wainwright (Michael Rady), and are joined by intrepid FBI Agent Darcy (Catherine Dent).

There are a number of guest stars, both those returning like Malcolm McDowell as cult leader Bret Stiles and Alicia Witt as Rosalind Harker, the blind former girlfriend of Red John, and new folks like David Paymer, Ray Wise and David Naughton. The episodes continue to be strong, with most being compelling and funny, even though a couple descend into sentimentality and schmaltz. Season four is somewhat darker than previous seasons, however. It’s not so much Red John or the other killers and kidnappers that the CBI is pursuing. We expect them to be wicked and debased. It’s our erstwhile heroes that disturb us. Jane’s obsession with Red John only grows, and he begins to do things that are truly shady, such as lie under oath, plant evidence to implicate a dead man in one of Red John’s killings, and amp up his general confrontational cruelty beyond its usefulness in his investigations. Van Pelt and Cho also have story arcs that show them struggling with their inner demons. It’s all good drama, but the show is more meditative on the idea of evil, and the wickedness and stupidity that otherwise good people commit.

Watching a show like The Mentalist straight through instead of over the course of the season has advantages and disadvantages. The story sticks together much more coherently, and call backs are easier to spot, but it’s also easier to pick out the basic formula that the show operates under. Here, that formula is rather flexible, and still allows the creators to have a lot of fun and not bore the audience, but it’s still noticeable. And they are not above a few mild gaffes, such as the Cisco IP phones having blank screens, indicating that they are not plugged in to anything. But this is a trifling complaint, overall the production values are high, and the regular cast has been doing this long enough to be comfortable in their roles. This comfort shows through, with effortless performances, and plenty of intensity and pathos when needed.

Below is a list of episodes, as described in the included informational pamphlet:

Scarlet Ribbons
After shooting the man he believed to be Red John, Patrick Jane is imprisoned and must then prove that the man he shot, Timothy Carter, really was Red John.

Little Red Book
Freed from prison and reinstated as a CBI consultant, Patrick works on a new team with a no-nonsense supervising agent to learn who killed a popular personal trainer.

Pretty Red Balloon
When a client from Patrick’s past requests his “psychic expertise” in locating her missing son, Patrick butts heads with her new “spiritual advisor.”

Ring Around the Rosie
The CBI gets a new boss on the same day Patrick is convinced that a suspicious-looking man carrying a gun at a political rally is a psychopath on the brink of murder.

Blood and Sand
The CBI team investigates a body washed up on an island off the California coast. Rigsby and public defender Sarah Harrigan are dating.

Where in the World is Carmine O’Brien?
Lisbon crosses paths with her bounty hunter brother Tommy while tracking down the murderer of a police chief in a resort town.

Blinking Red Light
The victim of a ritualized murder leads the team to a blogger who has devoted his life to finding the San Joaquin killer.

Pink Tops
A murdered club girl turns out to be an undercover narcotics cop. Now the CBI team must retrace her investigation to bring her killer to justice.

The Redshirt
A retired star quarterback is believed dead following a car explosion – and Patrick wants him to play dead to help find his killer.

Fugue in Red
After a near-death experience, Patrick temporarily loses his memory and reverts to his former con-man ways.

Always Bet on Red
The CBI investigates the death of a high-end divorce attorney; the FBI questions Patrick about the reappearance of Red John.

My Bloody Valentine
While taking a prostitute in for questioning on a mob hit, Van Pelt is attacked – and haunted by memories of her late fiancé.

Red is the New Black
Patrick and the CBI investigate the murder of a disgraced clothing designer, while FBI Agent Susan Darcy continues her investigation into Red John.

At First Blush
While a jury deliberates the verdict of an adulteress on trial for murder, Patrick tries to prove she has been wrongfully accused before time runs out.

War of the Roses
Patrick has convicted killer Erica Flynn released from jail when she claims to have information the CBI needs on a murder they’re investigating.

His Thoughts Were Red Thoughts
When the head of an anti-cult activist organization is murdered, Patrick is reunited with his former nemesis Bret Stiles, charismatic cult leader of “Visualize.”

Cheap Burgundy
Patrick agrees to assist Darcy with a murder investigation despite Lisbon’s warning that Darcy’s ulterior motive is to probe him about Red John.

Ruddy Cheeks
Why kill a dead man? The CBI team looks into the murder of a wealthy salesman with terminal cancer. Meanwhile, Cho faces his demons.

Pink Champagne on Ice
While investigating a casino employee’s murder, Patrick runs into a stage magician he used to tour with as a mentalist.

Something’s Rotten in Redmund
The team investigates the murder of a popular English teacher, Cho and Summer hide their relationship from Lisbon and Rigsby gets a special delivery.

Ruby Slippers
Time wounds all heels! Patrick and the CBI try to find the killer of a young man found burned to death outside a cabaret featuring female impersonators.

So Long, and Thanks for All the Red Snapper
When a surfer is found murdered, the investigation leads to missing treasure, Lisbon’s former fiancé, and problems between Cho and Summer.

Red Rover, Red Rover
Red John celebrates the ninth anniversary of his heinous crime by sending a message to Patrick, who commemorates the day in his own fashion.

The Crimson Hat
Patrick’s beautiful new lover, Lorelei, convinces him to deliver a member of the CBI team to Red John in exchange for contact and a new life in this mind-blowing season finale.

The fourth season of The Mentalist is still going strong, albeit with a somewhat more morbid edge. This is probably necessary to keep the show fresh and entertaining, and it is certainly that. The same sly humor, likeable characters, interesting mysteries, great guest stars and solid performances make this a show to watch. Highly recommended.

The DVD

Video:
The image is presented in 1.78:1 widescreen, and looks very good. The colors are rich and bright. Of course if you are used to watching the show on a high definition television, this won’t look quite as crisp and clean, but is very good for a DVD presentation.

Sound:
The audio is Dolby digital 5.1 channel, and sounds quite good, with crisp dialogue, and entirely free of any issues. English and Portuguese audio tracks are included, along with English, Chinese, French, Portuguese, Spanish and Thai subtitles.

Extras:
As with all of the previous season, extras are rather light. For season four, there is only one, a featurette entitled CBI: Behind the Badge, clocking in at 22:59. It talks to a number of actual CBI and FBI agents, and police officers, and discusses how The Mentalist hews to and differs from the reality of police work. The main cast of the show is also interviewed, and some time is spent on discussing their characters’ personalities and approach to realism. This is fairly interesting, but it’s certain that fans of the show would like a lot more, especially commentaries. Alas, it is not so.

Final Thoughts:
In season four, The Mentalist maintains the high quality of previous seasons, delivering thrills and inventive murders to gratify the audience. It also continues its keen eyed observation of its main characters, and perhaps peers into their darker selves a bit more than in the past. Regardless, it’s an intelligent yet thoroughly enjoyable cop drama with loads of quirky humor. In short, it’s a treat. Check it out.

The Movie:

Coma, a made for TV miniseries produced by Ridley Scott and his late brother Tony Scott and directed by Mikael Salomon, is decent enough entertainment. Based on the Robin Cook book of the same name, the movie follows a medical student named Dr. Susan Wheeler (Lauren Ambrose) who has just started her residency at a hospital to train in surgery under the watchful eye of Dr. Mark Bellows (Steven Pasquale). Along for the educational ride are fellow students Dr. Geoffrey Fairweather (Joe Mazzello) and Dr. Hanna Goldberg (Natalie Knepp) but Susan becomes closer with her new roommate, Jen (Katie Kneeland), then with her fellow classmates.

Things initially seem fine but it doesn’t take Susan long to realize that a lot of the patients at this hospital wind up in a comatose state after their surgery is over. Curious as to how and why this is, she convinces Jen to snoop through some of the hospital’s records and talks Mark into helping her figure this out. When she learns of a facility called The Jefferson Institute that specializes in treating comatose patients, he agrees but his drive to get elected to the hospital’s ethics board, with some help from Dr. Agnetta Lindquist (Geena Davis), seems to be more of a priority for him. When a senior staffer named Nelson (Joe Morton) finds out that Susan has had access to information she should not have, he tries to get her kicked out of the residency program but Dr. Stark Howard (James Woods) surprisingly comes to her defense – her family’s ties to this hospital run deep. Susan isn’t going to let this go, however – she knows that something strange is afoot and intends to find out what it is, regardless of how many people may be dismaying her from continuing down that path for various reasons, the most obvious being the good of her career. When some of those she’s been in touch with turn up missing, however, things become decidedly more complicated – and then there’s the presence of a man named Peter Arno (Michael Weston), one of Lindquist’s former patients now employed as a custodian in the hospital, a strange man who shows what can only be described as a very unhealthy interest in poor Susan!

Coma falls prey to one of the key problems with ensemble cast movies and that’s that it introduces a lot of characters in a very short period of time seemingly in an attempt to show off its star power (and for a made for TV movie, this feature has got quite a bit of it – attribute that to the Scott’s collective involvement perhaps?). Despite this slightly irritating characteristic, the movie builds rather well at the beginning, balancing drama and mystery with equal parts suspense and intrigue all shot with a slick sense of composition and an eye for getting the most out of the production’s cold and clinical looking hospital locations. In this way, the feature is a bit reminiscent of Lars Von Trier’s The Kingdom though the similarities don’t go a whole lot further than that surface level. As the story plays out, however, where it should start to get lean and more tense it instead goes in a few too many different directions at once and once we hit the mid-section, the pacing slows down in an attempt to let some of the secondary characters catch up to what Susan, and through her the audience, already know.

There are moments where we’re asked to suspend our disbelief. It seems odd that Susan is the one who would pick up on the conspiracy that is afoot before anyone else around her would, and this on her first day no less. There are some editing problems here as well. As Arno closes in on Susan the film takes this plot thread and runs with it. This would all be well and good if it added to the excitement but it’s almost too much of a good thing. Genre fans and horror buffs in particular already know that a good stalking scene can be creepy when done right, this one is not. It feels like padding of the worst kind, though to Weston’s credit he’s good in the role.

For the most part, so are the rest of the cast members. Lauren Ambrose is pretty and easy to like and comes off as intelligent enough to carry the part. Steven Pasquale is also good and it’s great to see Geena Davis and James Woods show up here to add some serious screen presence to their respective supporting roles. Ellen Burstyn and Richard Dreyfuss also show up here in small roles, again, their presence is welcome and they add a bit of class to the proceedings.

With the production values as strong a they are here and the cast as able an game as they turn out to be in their respective parts, Coma should have been excellent. Instead, it’s rather good in spots, a bit boring in others, and ultimately entertaining enough to be worth seeing once. If it’s something you’ll go back to time and again, well, that’s debatable and the pacing problems and meandering threads of the occasionally tepid script sadly make the case that it seems very unlikely. The original film from 1978 with Michael Douglas and Rip Torn directed by a young Michael Crichton was, if not more realistic, at least more interesting and a lot more exciting.

The DVD:

Video:

Coma looks just fine here in 1.78.1 anamorphic widescreen. Shot on digital video, there are no issues with print damage to note and the well encoded disc shows decent detail and strong color reproduction, particularly when it comes to reds. Black levels are strong, if not reference quality and there are no serious compression issues even if a couple of artifacts pop up here and there. Aside from a little bit of line shimmer, this is otherwise a very fine looking effort as far as the picture quality goes

Sound:

The English language Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound mix (which comes with optional subtitles in English, English SDH and French) gets the job done nicely. Even if it doesn’t use the rear channels quite as often as you might want, there are some very clever directional effects used throughout the movie that help to keep you in the moment. Levels are well balanced, dialogue is crisp and clear and there are no issues with hiss or distortion to note. All in all, the movie sounds very good on DVD

Extras:

Aside from some basic menus and some previews that play before those menus load, there are no extras on this disc at all.

Final Thoughts:

Coma is well made and well acted by a pretty solid cast. It’s a fair bit more slick and polished than you might expect it to be given its made for TV roots and it’s entertaining and suspenseful enough that it’s worth a watch, even if it doesn’t really improve on what came before it by any noticeable degree. The DVD is barebones but it looks and sounds good – worth a rental if the material sounds like it’s up your alley.

Ian lives in NYC with his wife where he writes for DVD Talk, runs Rock! Shock! Pop! and has contributed to AV Maniacs. He likes NYC a lot, even if it is expensive and loud.

THE SHOW:

Back in 2006, a little movie called Ultraviolet was seen by few and enjoyed by even fewer. Kurt Wimmer’s attempt at cinematically reverse engineering a graphic novel elicited reactions that ranged from “psycho-stylized cheddar” (positive) to “gigantic flaming ball of suck” (umm…negative); and that’s just a few of my fellow reviewers on DVDTalk. Just to let you know which side of the fence I fall on, I rather enjoyed the movie despite its many shortcomings. Sure it’s more than a little silly and the plot is barely coherent but when I’m in the right mindset I’m able to appreciate it in all of its nonsensical glory. Milla Jovovich hurting goons in a futuristic setting conceived by the guy who gave us Equilibrium (a film I legitimately love)…yeah, I’m okay with that.

Clearly someone over at Madhouse agrees with me because in 2008 the esteemed anime studio created this series, Ultraviolet: Code 44, set in the same universe as Wimmer’s movie. The series only ran for 1 season, but over the course of 12 episodes it was able to tell a story with a clear beginning, middle and end. Now, I don’t want to get your hopes up if you were hoping to see an animated Milla Jovovich doing more damage with her steely gaze and even steelier blade. The series isn’t a direct sequel to the movie. It doesn’t even feature Jovovich’s character in any real capacity. It does however, extend Wimmer’s mythology in meaningful ways while taking frequent breaks for eye-popping action.

I’ve mentioned the mythology of Ultraviolet so it might be worth laying it out for the uninitiated. Wimmer’s film presented us with a future where the Hemophage virus was used to boost the abilities of soldiers. Unfortunately this virus got out into the general population where it started to show some pretty adverse side-effects. Lifespans were drastically cut short as people started to display vampire-like characteristics (if you’re wondering why vampires, you’re asking too many questions). In an ill-advised show of power, the government started rounding up the infected people and killing them. This in turn gave rise to an underground movement of the infected, now known as Phages, who wanted nothing more than to establish their own society and live free from persecution.

While Wimmer’s film ended with Milla shaking the government to its core, Code 044 picks up an undisclosed period of time later with the hunting of Phages still being the status quo. If anything, society has become ever more unstable. In a sneaky move, the government has started using clones infected with the Hemophage virus to take down prominent Phage leaders with the ultimate prize being the head honcho known as King. Our protagonist is a clone, Agent 044, who is an accomplished assassin but at the tender age of 19 is already starting to worry about how much time she has left before the virus claims her life. She may seem to lack a clear purpose in life but she always follows the orders of Daxus II, the director of the central government.

In a government mandated attack, 044 runs into Luka Bloom, a young Phage leader, whom she instantly and inexplicably falls in love with. In protecting him, she lands herself on the wrong side of the government. Now hunted by her own people as well as the Phages, 044 finds herself on the run. Her only ally is Garcia, the doctor who cared for her during her training period. If she is to ever return home and live out her remaining days in peace, she’ll have to face off against Daxus and his men. Along the way, she’ll meet a few new friends, make a ton more enemies and gain a better understanding of who she really is.

Much like the film it’s based on, Code 044 is targeting a rather specific audience. If you’re willing to put up with paper-thin characters and occasionally nonsensical plot developments, then you’ll be rewarded with a show that moves along at a brisk pace, tossing out gritty, stylized action sequences like nobody’s business. Sure, the hot and cold romance between 044 and Luka is forced and unnecessary but you might not care after she lays waste to a room full of clone soldiers. With that said, a flurry of action can’t disguise what you’re watching. This is a modest show with one simple goal: entertainment. Transcending the medium and being truly special is a lofty goal that it doesn’t even shoot for.

While there is plenty of eye-candy on display in terms of 044’s swordplay and other assorted ass-kickery, the show feels underwritten when it comes to the characters themselves. 044 herself is pretty one-dimensional and monotonous. When she’s not slashing through her enemies, she’s succumbing to mommy issues and thinking really deep thoughts. Her backstory makes her relevant but nothing about her in the present day is all that compelling. Garcia fares a little better since he’s allowed to have a sense of humor. Strangely enough, the most interesting character is Sakuza, a mysterious man who our heroine encounters on a mining planet where she’s hiding out. In just 4 episodes, he is developed into an engaging presence which is more than can be said for many of the series regulars.

Another minor misstep lies in the pacing of the show. The middle third of the show (set on the mining planet) suddenly expands in scope and turns into something epic as our heroes prepare for full-blown war. Unfortunately, the payoff turns out to be a much more scaled back affair that offers a climax with a lot less power. With that said, I still have to give kudos for the mature approach on display here. Director Osamu Dezaki achieves a consistency in tone that even Wimmer had a tough time finding in his film. Although created in a different medium than the film that it’s based on, Code 044 is an entertaining enough companion piece.

THE DVD:

Video:
The show was presented in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio with anamorphic enhancement. Each disc of the 2 disc set carried 6 episodes. Other than a few instances of banding in the early episodes, I didn’t notice too many annoying visual defects. The muted color palette successfully depicted the worn in look of the show’s futuristic setting while a touch of intentional softness played off the ultra-smooth appearance of Wimmer’s film quite nicely.

Audio:
The audio was presented in an English 5.1 Dolby Digital mix. For some reason the original Japanese audio track was omitted which would have been a nice feature for folks who don’t enjoy dubbing in their anime. With that said, the English audio mix was clear and free of obvious defects. For the most part, the front of the soundstage was favored but the rear surrounds came alive during the action scenes. Dialogue was also presented with clarity.

Extras:
There were no extras.

FINAL THOUGHTS:
As anime goes, Ultraviolet: Code 044 doesn’t aim terribly high but it has a certain appeal, especially for fans of the Kurt Wimmer film that it’s based on. Frequent and frenzied action sequences cover up flat characters and plot holes for the most part. The show also hooks into many of the intriguing elements of the source film’s mythology and successfully expands on a few that were previously unexplored. Recommended.

Gunsmoke – The Sixth Season, Volume 2 (1961) marks the end of an era. The last episode of this set, “Colorado Sheriff,” was also the very last half-hour Gunsmoke. Three-and-a-half months later, when the series returned for its seventh year, Gunsmoke had been expanded to one hour, to good and bad effect, a format maintained until its cancellation in 1975. There was a trend at this time expanding half-hour anthologies and other expensive shows into an hour format, presumably as way to cut down costs. Alfred Hitchcock Presents became The Alfred Hitchcock Hour in 1962, and The Twilight Zone expanded to an hour for its abbreviated fourth season, also during the 1962-63 season.

I haven’t seen enough of the hour Gunsmokes, especially the earliest ones, still in black and white and still co-starring Dennis Weaver, to rate them alongside the half-hour shows of seasons 1-6, but the taut Western dramas of Gunsmoke‘s early seasons are going to be hard to beat. (The hour shows will, however, thankfully provide this reviewer with something new to write about.) They far exceeded this reviewer’s expectations, with only Have Gun – Will Travel boasting a similarly high caliber of writing and, less important to its overall success but still significant, direction and acting.

I’ve sung Gunsmoke‘s praises many times already, having reviewed the first season, the the second season, volumes 1 and 2, the third seasons, volumes 1 and 2, the fourth season, volumes 1 and 2, and the fifth season, volumes 1, 2, and the sixth season, volume 1.

This volume includes the last 19 episodes of the 1960-61 season, when as the number 1 show in the Nielsen Ratings, for the fourth year running, Gunsmoke enjoyed a 37.3 rating, a figure unimaginable today. (For instance, the number 1 [scripted] show last season was NCIS, which had a 19.7 rating.) The 19 episodes are spread over three single-sided, dual-layered DVDs, and as always look great. Sponsor spots have been tossed in as an extra.

Gunsmoke was so popular during 1961-64 that CBS ran reruns of the half-hour Gunsmokes on Tuesday nights under the title “Marshal Dillon” so as not to confuse viewers with new, hour-long episodes.

As before, U.S. Marshal Matt Dillon (James Arness) and his eccentric, game-leg assistant (not deputy) Chester Goode (Dennis Weaver) are still maintaining the peace in unruly, barely-tamed Dodge City, Kansas. The various gunslingers and cattle rustlers causing Marshal Dillon no end of grief usually can be found drinking and gambling at one of the innumerable saloons. Matt’s friend Miss Kitty (Amanda Blake), formerly a (coded) prostitute, is now half-owner of the city’s finest, the Long Branch Saloon. She’s also its madam, and though the audience doesn’t get to see much of that business, it’s implied. Matt’s line of work often requires the services of cantankerous Doc Adams (Milburn Stone), another close friend of Matt, Chester, and Miss Kitty.

Writer John Meston (1914-1979) was to Gunsmoke what Rod Serling was to Twilight Zone; he penned an incredible 257 episodes of the series during its 20-year run, and that’s not counting episodes of the radio show he also wrote (though there was a lot of crossover, apparently). Two of his favorite devices are the “What’s Going On Here?” and “How’s Matt Going to Solve/Get Out of This?” structures, with Matt presented with a puzzling situation/irresolvable conflict at the beginning of the episode, and he and other characters working through the mystery which is revealed/resolved, often violently, at the end. A favorite plot Meston did myriad riffs on has cool cucumber Matt withholding judgment on an accused killer’s guilt or innocence while all of Dodge City is ready to lynch the accused. Sometimes in these shows the accused is a friend of Matt’s, like Chester, sometimes he’s a guest star, but always, even with a mountain of evidence stacked against him, Matt remains calm and just.

More and more, Gunsmoke was also fast becoming a show content to focus entire episodes on the concerns of Doc, Chester, or Kitty, while others were primarily interested in one-off characters. In “Minnie,” for instance, Doc is hotly pursued by an unrefined buffalo-skinner (prolific character actress Virginia Gregg in a plum role), allowing Chester and Matt the opportunity to tease Doc mercilessly. Conversely, Matt, Chester, and Doc are mostly on the sidelines during “Love Thy Neighbor,” with two families resolved to decimate the other. That episode, the first of four Gunsmokes directed by Dennis Weaver (three in this set), features a typically dazzling list of guest stars. This episode alone features Jeanette Nolan, Jack Elam, Harry Dean Stanton, Warren Oates, and Nora Malone.

That same episode also touts an original score by Jerry Goldsmith. Around this time, the networks were compelled to stop relying on their extensive stock music libraries and commission a certain percentage of original scores each season. The result of this is some spectacularly good television scores were written by the era’s top composers. This set features original scores by Nathan Scott, Bernard Herrmann (twice), William Lava, Jerome Moross, Fred Steiner, Van Cleave, and Leonard Rosenman, most of whom were concurrently writing scores for Twilight Zone and other CBS shows. Herrmann’s score for “Kitty Shot” is particularly haunting and impressive.

Guest stars this half-season include semi-regulars Dabbs Greer, George Selk, Clem Fuller; and Cyril Delavanti, George Kennedy (twice, and very effective in both), Charles Aidman, Harry Shannon, Suzanne Lloyd, Tom Reese, Howard Culver, Karl Swenson, James Drury, John McLiam, Chris Alcaide, Sandy Kenyon, Barney Phillips, Susan Gordon, Buck Young, Shirley O’Hara, Guy Raymond, Henry Brandon, Alan Hale Jr., Vic Perrin, John Larch, Allan “Rocky” Lane, Dawn Little Sky, Paul Langton, Patricia Smith, Cloris Leachman, and Warren J. Kemmerling.

Directors giving Gunsmoke its movie-worthy appearance primarily include Andrew V. McLaglen and Ted Post, while Alan Crosland, Jr., Gene Fowler, Jr., Gerald H. Mayer, and Byron Paul picked up the balance.

Writer John Meston is credited with writing or co-writing the 19 scripts, but some of the more interesting were chiefly or co-written by Wichita-born Kathleen Hite (1917-1989), a secretary at CBS Radio who rose through the ranks to become its first female staff writer, and who eventually penned dozens of TV Westerns and created the series Empire (1962-64), starring Richard Egan and Ryan O’Neal.

Video & Audio

Gunsmoke looks exceptionally good on DVD. Shows are a bit overly grainy (especially during the opening titles, reworked slightly for syndication) but otherwise they’re very sharp, very clean. The 19 black-and-white episodes are spread over three discs, with a total running time of about eight hours and 15 minutes. The Dolby Digital mono (English only) is clean and clear, and the shows include optional English SDH subtitles. The packaging allows viewers to read the episode descriptions inside the snap case without having to remove any of the discs.

Extra Features

Supplements this time include a modest sampling of sponsor spots.

Parting Thoughts

Those curious as I am to compare these last half-hour Gunsmokes to the hour-long shows that immediately followed won’t have to wait long. CBS DVD/Paramount have already announced Gunsmoke – The Seventh Seasons Volumes 1 and 2 for release on December 11, 2012 and February 5, 2013, respectively. In the meantime, The Sixth Season, Volume 2 comes Highly Recommended.

Stuart Galbraith IV is a Kyoto-based film historian whose work includes film history books, DVD and Blu-ray audio commentaries and special features. Visit Stuart’s Cine Blogarama here.