5 reviews
The fine acting and well written script makes for a nice episode.
The story involves a stubborn father that believes his son is needed more on the farm than attending school. The father, Oliver Harker (John Vernon), forces his son, Tommy, to work the farm rather than read books. In fact, when Oliver finds Tommy reading a book from school- he throws the book in the fire and tells him that reading is over.
However, Tommy returns to the school only to have his father interrupt the classroom and drag his son out of school. On the way out Oliver knocks the schoolteacher, Henry Decory (Allen Garfield), to the ground in front of all the students. Mr Decory files a assault warrant on Mr. Harker and the matter of school attendance goes to court.
The citizens of Dodge are not too happy with a Eastern schoolteacher coming into town thinking he knows what is right for all children. They feel like he is taking away the father's ability to raise his son as he sees fit. With the court hearing taking place, the Judge will give flexibility as the schoolteacher tries to show the real reason for school attendance.
This is a very well written script. With the fine script and the great acting this show held the interest of the viewer the entire time. You do have to overlook the way the court hearing took place since the court allowed the trial to go well over the charge of assault, something that would not happen in a real courtroom. But for TV sake we over look this small detail and concentrate on the overall story. And the story was a good watch.
However, Tommy returns to the school only to have his father interrupt the classroom and drag his son out of school. On the way out Oliver knocks the schoolteacher, Henry Decory (Allen Garfield), to the ground in front of all the students. Mr Decory files a assault warrant on Mr. Harker and the matter of school attendance goes to court.
The citizens of Dodge are not too happy with a Eastern schoolteacher coming into town thinking he knows what is right for all children. They feel like he is taking away the father's ability to raise his son as he sees fit. With the court hearing taking place, the Judge will give flexibility as the schoolteacher tries to show the real reason for school attendance.
This is a very well written script. With the fine script and the great acting this show held the interest of the viewer the entire time. You do have to overlook the way the court hearing took place since the court allowed the trial to go well over the charge of assault, something that would not happen in a real courtroom. But for TV sake we over look this small detail and concentrate on the overall story. And the story was a good watch.
A truly relevant episode
This episode stands on its own as well written and acted. But, in a far more significant manner, it stands more relevant today than when it first aired back in 1975. At the time, the episode made strong overtures to the infamous Nazi book burning with the reference to Berlin, Germany in the classroom after the father burned a book. At the time, that was among the more poignant examples from recent history on the evils of rejecting education.
Sadly though, this episode is more relevant today due to the erosion of education in many public school systems throughout America, combined with an increase in people devaluing education in their lives and the lives of their children. Such a concept was most alien in 1975, but the story certainly hearkened back to a time when public education was devalued.
The central point is that academic excellence can reside in all people of all backgrounds, and that reality was driven home powerfully in this episode. Consequently, this story should be aired far more often than it is, simply as a means to draw peoples' attentions to the need to raise the vital importance of education throughout all of American society.
Regardless of whether education is denied through a tyranny of the state, a tyranny of misguided parents, or perhaps most tragically of all, a tyranny of one's on self, education denied or ignored remains every bit as tragic to our entire society.
Sadly though, this episode is more relevant today due to the erosion of education in many public school systems throughout America, combined with an increase in people devaluing education in their lives and the lives of their children. Such a concept was most alien in 1975, but the story certainly hearkened back to a time when public education was devalued.
The central point is that academic excellence can reside in all people of all backgrounds, and that reality was driven home powerfully in this episode. Consequently, this story should be aired far more often than it is, simply as a means to draw peoples' attentions to the need to raise the vital importance of education throughout all of American society.
Regardless of whether education is denied through a tyranny of the state, a tyranny of misguided parents, or perhaps most tragically of all, a tyranny of one's on self, education denied or ignored remains every bit as tragic to our entire society.
- kenstallings-65346
- Jul 21, 2018
- Permalink
A Teacher Attempts to Educate an Entire Community
Oliver Harker is a struggling farmer that lives near Dodge City. His children, Tommy and Sallie, attend the Dodge City school. Tommy is an exceptionally gifted student, but his father wants Tommy to work on the farm. When an incident occurs where a fox kills some chickens because Tommy was distracted while reading "The Iliad," Oliver considers Tommy's education too distracting and decides he no longer needs to attend school. Furthermore, he orders Tommy to stop any educational pursuits, including reading books.
Henry Decory is the teacher at the Dodge City school, and he attempts to appeal to Oliver's sense of reason to allow Tommy to continue attending school. Mr. Decory even volunteers to tutor Tommy at night, but Oliver insists Tommy has enough knowledge to be a farmer and requires no additional education.
Tommy chooses to defy his father and returns to the school. Oliver goes to the school and begins to forcibly remove Tommy from the classroom. When Mr. Decory tries to intervene, Harker hits the teacher. As a result, Mr. Decory files charges against Harker for assault with the intention of making the need for education the focus of the subsequent trial.
Allen Garfield was an accomplished actor by the time he made this appearance on Gunsmoke as Henry Decory. He played a key role in Francis Ford Coppola's The Conversation. Around the same time he appeared in this Gunsmoke episode, he played the character Barnett in Robert Altman's Nashville. He only made this one Gunsmoke appearance.
Lance Kerwin portrays young Tommy Harker in his only Gunsmoke role. Kerwin was a popular child actor in the 1970s, but drug and alcohol problems plagued him in his twenties. More recently he says he has found sobriety through religion.
Actor John Vernon joins Garfield and Kerwin as a one-time Gunsmoke guest with this performance as the stern Oliver Harker. Vernon played the mayor of San Francisco in Dirty Harry and Captain Fletcher in The Outlaw Josey Wales, both starring Clint Eastwood. He played the iconic character Dean Vernon Wormer in National Lampoon's Animal House.
Diane Shalet portrays Ami Harker, Oliver's wife and Tommy's mother. This is her second and final Gunsmoke appearance. Karen Obediear makes her only Gunsmoke appearance as young Salli Harker.
George DiCenzo (credited as George Di Cenzo) returns to Gunsmoke as the attorney who defends Oliver Harker, Mr. Bruce. DiCenzo's other appearance in the series was as a lecherous drifter in Season 19's "Susan Was Evil."
A couple of longtime recurring characters make their last appearances in the series with this episode. Charles Wagenheim plays the Dodge resident Halligan, and Herb Vigran plays Judge Brooker for the last time. Since the episode is set in Dodge with courtroom scenes, several actors make their final appearances in uncredited roles.
This episode marks the final series installment where Milburn Stone's Doc Adams character plays a significant role. While Doc appears in some of the final episodes, the character will not be as pivotal again as he is here.
Victor French handles the direction again for this episode. Jim Byrnes provides another stellar script.
This story was rightfully recognized with the National Education Award. It is the best episode of Season 20, and one of the most remarkable in the twenty-year run of the series. The acting is -- again -- outstanding by everyone involved.
The "villains" in this story are ideas. The idea that a father has authority over his family, even to the point of brutally beating one or more of the family members and interfering with their desire to learn. The idea of willful ignorance in the face of educational opportunities. Mr. Decory tries to make the point that the farmers can benefit from the knowledge afforded by education. For example, Harker's farm has not produced as well in recent years, and Harker admits he has never heard of techniques like crop rotation.
The obvious references to Nazi Germany and the burning of books can be seen as a warning that such ideas are not isolated to any particular culture. Authoritarians tend to fear ideas, and it is just as true in 2021 as it was in the 1870s or the 1930s.
It is worth noting that Matt Dillon sides with the "wrong" side of the issue by telling Mr. Decory he should mind his own business. (From a legal standpoint, the Marshal is correct, but it is interesting this issue puts Doc Adams and Matt at odds with one another.) Additionally, Matt seems to disappear as this episode moves toward a conclusion.
(Side note: Of course, Nathan Burke loudly states his opposition to Mr. Decory's assertions. Why is it that Burke is almost ALWAYS wrong about everything? The character is as deliberately unlikable as any non-villain in television history.)
The "Fires of Ignorance" is Gunsmoke at its best, and this late series episode should not be missed.
Henry Decory is the teacher at the Dodge City school, and he attempts to appeal to Oliver's sense of reason to allow Tommy to continue attending school. Mr. Decory even volunteers to tutor Tommy at night, but Oliver insists Tommy has enough knowledge to be a farmer and requires no additional education.
Tommy chooses to defy his father and returns to the school. Oliver goes to the school and begins to forcibly remove Tommy from the classroom. When Mr. Decory tries to intervene, Harker hits the teacher. As a result, Mr. Decory files charges against Harker for assault with the intention of making the need for education the focus of the subsequent trial.
Allen Garfield was an accomplished actor by the time he made this appearance on Gunsmoke as Henry Decory. He played a key role in Francis Ford Coppola's The Conversation. Around the same time he appeared in this Gunsmoke episode, he played the character Barnett in Robert Altman's Nashville. He only made this one Gunsmoke appearance.
Lance Kerwin portrays young Tommy Harker in his only Gunsmoke role. Kerwin was a popular child actor in the 1970s, but drug and alcohol problems plagued him in his twenties. More recently he says he has found sobriety through religion.
Actor John Vernon joins Garfield and Kerwin as a one-time Gunsmoke guest with this performance as the stern Oliver Harker. Vernon played the mayor of San Francisco in Dirty Harry and Captain Fletcher in The Outlaw Josey Wales, both starring Clint Eastwood. He played the iconic character Dean Vernon Wormer in National Lampoon's Animal House.
Diane Shalet portrays Ami Harker, Oliver's wife and Tommy's mother. This is her second and final Gunsmoke appearance. Karen Obediear makes her only Gunsmoke appearance as young Salli Harker.
George DiCenzo (credited as George Di Cenzo) returns to Gunsmoke as the attorney who defends Oliver Harker, Mr. Bruce. DiCenzo's other appearance in the series was as a lecherous drifter in Season 19's "Susan Was Evil."
A couple of longtime recurring characters make their last appearances in the series with this episode. Charles Wagenheim plays the Dodge resident Halligan, and Herb Vigran plays Judge Brooker for the last time. Since the episode is set in Dodge with courtroom scenes, several actors make their final appearances in uncredited roles.
This episode marks the final series installment where Milburn Stone's Doc Adams character plays a significant role. While Doc appears in some of the final episodes, the character will not be as pivotal again as he is here.
Victor French handles the direction again for this episode. Jim Byrnes provides another stellar script.
This story was rightfully recognized with the National Education Award. It is the best episode of Season 20, and one of the most remarkable in the twenty-year run of the series. The acting is -- again -- outstanding by everyone involved.
The "villains" in this story are ideas. The idea that a father has authority over his family, even to the point of brutally beating one or more of the family members and interfering with their desire to learn. The idea of willful ignorance in the face of educational opportunities. Mr. Decory tries to make the point that the farmers can benefit from the knowledge afforded by education. For example, Harker's farm has not produced as well in recent years, and Harker admits he has never heard of techniques like crop rotation.
The obvious references to Nazi Germany and the burning of books can be seen as a warning that such ideas are not isolated to any particular culture. Authoritarians tend to fear ideas, and it is just as true in 2021 as it was in the 1870s or the 1930s.
It is worth noting that Matt Dillon sides with the "wrong" side of the issue by telling Mr. Decory he should mind his own business. (From a legal standpoint, the Marshal is correct, but it is interesting this issue puts Doc Adams and Matt at odds with one another.) Additionally, Matt seems to disappear as this episode moves toward a conclusion.
(Side note: Of course, Nathan Burke loudly states his opposition to Mr. Decory's assertions. Why is it that Burke is almost ALWAYS wrong about everything? The character is as deliberately unlikable as any non-villain in television history.)
The "Fires of Ignorance" is Gunsmoke at its best, and this late series episode should not be missed.
- wdavidreynolds
- Nov 12, 2021
- Permalink
Education in Dodge City
This episode in the final year of the series was very well written with strong acting. Doc plays a strong roll as does teacher. This is an excellent episode. It is well worth the time to sit back and enjoy a great episode of Gunsmoke.
- martinxperry-14868
- Apr 8, 2018
- Permalink
School-V-Working the farm
This is one of the better written episodes. Allen Garfield co-stars as a school teacher in Dodge City. A father of two, boy and girl, insists that it is best for his som ends his school days early. The boy can read and write and that is all he needs, as his dad sees it. The boy still has a burning desire to learn. Despite Garfields pleas, the father will not budge. A visit to Marshal Dillon is of no help. The entire question winds up is a court room where Garfield argues for education. Garfield puts on a very strong argument in his role as teacher. Doc also stands with the teacher who is assulted by four men the night before the jury trial begins.
This is a very good episode and Allen Garfield really nails his role. Take an hour to watch this episode, it is well worth the time
This is a very good episode and Allen Garfield really nails his role. Take an hour to watch this episode, it is well worth the time
- martinxperry-14868
- Jun 26, 2018
- Permalink