Gunsmoke Kitty's Killing (1955–1975) Online

Interesting episode. Like many of the 30min B&W episodes, very unpredictable plot. May be the only time that Killy kills anyone. Altho clearly in self-defense, she's very upset about doing it, which is a more realistic reaction than could be expected in most Westerns of the era. Matt comforts her with a hug, also a rare scene in Gunsmoke! One great scene occurs when Chester brings a cup of coffee to the prisoner and the two start talking about food. The prisoner offers that he rarely eats anything, maybe just a bit of bread. The very concept of "not eating" is so alien to Chester that with a big smile (and probably some drool on his lips) he starts describing a typical meal he likes to eat: "fried chicken, mashed potatoes with that kind of speckledy gravy, pickled beets with the corn on the cob and the butter oozing up out of it and real hot biscuits that's just a little bit burnt on the bottom so they're nice and crusty with the honey...", then the mealtime refrain gets interrupted by Matt's entrance!

Gotta love Chester!

The two things that make this episode of "Gunsmoke" memorable are guest star Abraham Sofaer and Marian Clark's story that John Meston adapted about a revenge-driven individual who shows up late one night in Dodge City and insists Chester lock him up so he won't kill a man. Jeremiah Leech (Abraham Sofaer of "Chism") claims that he will kill Ollie Radford (John Pickard of "True Grit") unless Chester locks him up. Chester accommodates him, and the following morning Leech expresses his grateful appreciation for letting him cool off in jail. Meantime, we learn that Jeremiah harbors a grudge against Radford because Radford was once married to his daughter. Unfortunately, the daughter died giving birth. As it turns out, Radford has come to town at Doc Adams' request so he can supervise the birth of his baby with his second wife. Earlier, Leech assured Matt (James Arness) that he would leave town. After he learns that Radford is in town, Leech decides to ignore Marshal Dillon's warning about leaving town at midnight. He learns about Radford's presence when he overhears Chester (Dennis Weaver) telling Miss Kitty (Amanda Blake) about Radford's wife. The eavesdropping Leech approaches Miss Kitty and orders her to take him to the boarding house where the Radfords are staying. Miss Kitty cannot resist because Leech brandishes a derringer and threatens to kill her if she refuses to lead him to the boarding house. Sagacious Kitty takes him on a backwards route through the edge of town until he becomes disgruntled with her obvious tactics. They wind up in an abandoned house and a struggle ensues after Kitty manages to disarm Leech. During the struggle, Kitty kills Leech. "Kitty's Killing" constitutes one of those rare "Gunsmoke" episodes. Kitty demonstrates that she can handle herself capably enough in a perilous predicament without Marshal Dillon' support. Bug-eyed Burmese-Jewish actor Abraham Sofaer delivers a strong performance that you won't soon forget. Literally speaking, he is the kind of commanding actor that you cannot take her eyes off, and his vocal delivery is attention getting. Future "Love Story" and "Tobruk" director Arthur Hiller helmed this episode.

The Jewish-Burmese actor Abraham Sofaer was one of the most distinctive figures of the time. He's perfectly cast here as the slightly loopy Jeremiah Leach. With his Shakespearean voice and commanding bearing, he cuts a figure much bigger than his actual 5'9". So we worry when he leads Kitty by gunpoint to wreak revenge on a former son-in-law by killing his new wife. Amanda Blake also shows why she was not miscast as a strong woman among strong men.

It's an average show for the series, which also means it is several cuts above other westerns of the time. There's some suspense as Leach leads Kitty down the darkened alley. Then too, as another reviewer observes, Chester's down-home description of a "speckeldy gravy" lunch is not to be missed. In fact, Dennis Weaver's Chester remains one of the great original characters of American TV.

Abraham Sofaer plays a strange wild-eyed man named Jeremiah Leech that comes into the Marshal's office and demands to be locked up in order to prevent a killing. Matt listens to Jeremiah say that he intends Ollie Radford. Matt opts for safety and locks him up for the night.

We learn later that Ollie use to be married to Jeremiah's daughter but she died giving birth and Jeremiah blames Ollie for the death. Ollie just happens to be in town due to his new wife is having a baby. Ollie does not want a repeat of what happen to his first wife so they are in town to be close to a doctor. They are staying at Ma Smalley's house awaiting the birth.

When Jeremiah overhears that Ollie is at Smalley's boarding house, he forces Kitty, at gun point, to take him to the house. It appears that Jeremiah is set on killing Ollie at any cost.

An interesting show that went by exceptionally quick. There was little time to give much of a back story so the entire episode seemed rush. Sofaer was well placed as the bizarre man that wanted to murder and Amanda Blake, looking ever so beautiful, was given a lot of screen time in this show which always makes for a better watch. Even with the rush program the results were still entertaining. Good show.

**SPOILERS** Yup, nutcake Jeremiah Leech is permanently half cocked, and has the misfortune to misjudge our Miss Kitty. She's used to handling herself in tough situations, and, cool under pressure, she clobbers Leech (who is crazier than three bed bugs), and disarms him. He then further misjudges things by deciding to fight her for the gun, a four barrel derringer. It's a good fight, but our sweet Kitty manages to shoot him. If anyone else noticed, Matt heard the shots (BOTH of them), and had to know that they were several long seconds apart. I'm not going to blame fair Kitty if she sped things along by putting a second pill in old Leech. I mean, he WAS trying to kill her, wan't he? A good, quick, end to a leaky crackpot. I think if I was Matt, I'd get her the gun for a memento and self-protection against future threats; Case Dismissed.

Two little things, There was a high wheel (Penny Farthing) bike leaning against some feed bags when they were discussing Leech (not available until about the 1880's), and the father-to-be said they were from Cimmeron. That's actually Oklahoma; quite a distance from Dodge.