Gunsmoke (TV Series) Uncle Finney (1968) User Reviews

Merry Florene and the nephews are back in town- something's up

[kfo9494 · 8/10 · 5 April 2013]

Merry Florene and her nephews are back into town and set for mayhem as the two nephews, Roland Daniel and Elbert Moses plan on renting a place in Dodge and digging a tunnel to the freight office and reap rewards. But in order to get enough money to lease a building, they first bring in 103 year old Uncle Finney that has a $50 price on his head.

So Mr Bodkin has let them lease a building across the street from the freight office as the two mountain men open a saloon as a front for digging. Of course things do not go as planned and with Matt out-of-town Festus is slow on the obvious problems the two nephews are making. But things really go to pot when the nephews finally make it into the office and two other people are breaking into the safe that they were after. At first they appear to be the hero's of the town as they are holding the bandits at gun point when the townsfolk arrive.

But with some help from Merry Florene, Festus is able to realize that the two men had different plans. Festus give them a chance to get out of town before he throws them in jail. But what about Uncle Finney?

An actual funny episode. Oh, it is not the best episode you will watch but it does hold the interest of the viewer enough for a good show. This is an full comedy so nothing in this show is serious. With that attitude you will enjoy the show.

Lighthearted, Mildly Amusing

[wdavidreynolds · 7/10 · 8 May 2021]

I was a kid when Gunsmoke originally aired on CBS. My father was a tremendous fan of the show, and I can remember watching it. Most of my memories involve watching it on Monday nights, after it moved into that time slot following the cancelation at the end of Season 12 and the subsequent resurrection. "Uncle Finney" is one of the episodes I can remember seeing when it first aired, probably because it was a more humorous story than most.

I am not sure who among the Gunsmoke production and writing team arrived at the idea to focus on Merry Florene's family of mostly degenerates as comic characters. We first met them in Season 13's "Hill Girl" episode where Newly O'Brien brings Merry Florene to Dodge City with disastrous results. In the earlier episode, Merry Florene's half-brothers, Elbert Moses and Roland Daniel, are introduced as sinister characters. They abuse Merry Florene, and they wreak havoc in Dodge City before they are arrested.

In this story, Elbert Moses and Roland Daniel have been released from the County Work Farm for "good behavin'," and show up in Dodge City with their Uncle Finney in tow. The brothers are turning their 103-year-old uncle (who will soon turn 104) over to the authorities for the $50 reward offered because the man stole a horse at some point in the past. Matt Dillon has gone to Abilene and left Festus in charge.

Of course, Elbert Moses and Roland Daniel have plans for the $50 reward. They intend to open a saloon in a long-vacant building in Dodge that happens to be located across from the Freight Office. They can supply the saloon with liquor they made. However, the saloon is designed to serve as a front for their more nefarious plan of digging a tunnel under the street in order to rob the Freight Office.

A major aspect of the comedic bent of this episode involves Matt Dillon being away and Festus Haggen acting as the primary law enforcement in the town. Throughout Gunsmoke history, Festus is sometimes portrayed as deceptively shrewd, but at other times the situation calls for him to be more of an in-over-his-head, bumbling deputy. This story requires him to lean more toward the latter type of character, although he remains rightfully suspicious of the intentions of the brothers throughout the tale.

Merry Florene soon arrives in town looking for her half-brothers, because Uncle Finney has gone missing from their home in the hills, and she has a good idea Elbert Moses and Roland Daniel are involved. (One wonders why Merry Florene would return to the hills to live after the incidents in the earlier episode. It is never explained.) The more treacherous aspects of the brothers' personalities from the earlier episode are essentially forgotten in this story. They still do not mind a little larceny, but they are less inclined to engage in assault, battery, and even murder now.

Victor French appears for the last time in the Roland Daniel part. Of course, French would appear in -- and even direct -- several more Gunsmoke episodes before it left the air. Anthony James also reprises his role as Elbert Moses. Lane Bradbury is Merry Florene once again. This is the second of four episodes that features the Merry Florene and Elbert Moses characters. They return later in Season 14's "Gold Town" episode.

Since this episode takes place inside Dodge City, we see a few of the residents: Roy Roberts as Mr. Bodkin, Monte Hale as a Bank Teller, James Nusser as Louie Pheeters, and Ted Jordan as Nathan Burke. Steve Raines, another frequent Gunsmoke guest - although his characters were not usually residents of the town - also makes an appearance as a wagon driver.

Although it certainly is not among the best Gunsmoke offers, this episode succeeds as a light-hearted, mildly amusing story. The acting is once again particularly good.

a comic episode that's actually funny

[grizzledgeezer · 7/10 · 1 September 2015]

"Gunsmoke" and "comedy" do not mix well. Given the show's overall high dramatic quality and general "darkness", a comic episode usually seems quite out of place. * Most of the comic episodes (that is, those //intended// to be comic) are clumsy and forced. This one works fairly well.

The title character is played by Burt Mustin, who started acting on television in 1951, at the age of 67. (I remember him best from "Date with the Angels", where he insisted his son call him "MISTER father!".) Here he resembles Walter Brennan suffering from some chronic wasting disease. (The character is supposed to be celebrating his 104th birthday in a few days.)

Merry Florene's larcenous brothers are back to their old tricks, planning to rob the freight office by tunneling under the street. (This is one of the rare "later" episodes in which we see (what looks like) the outdoor set originally used for Dodge.) The situation is sufficiently amusing, lending itself to a modest "twist" ending, that it doesn't seem unduly forced. The only sour note is Merry continually allowing her brothers to abuse and confuse her.

Not a "great" episode, but hardly a waste of time.

* In lousy series, such as "Bonanza" and "The Big Valley", there'is much less of a jarring discrepancy.

More Hillbilly Comedy

[Johnny_West · 3/10 · 22 January 2023]

Anthony James and Victor French are back as a couple of alcoholic lowlifes that pass for comic characters in the last years of Gunsmoke. The pretty Lane Bradbury is back as their sister. James and French have a plan to turn in their uncle for an old $50 reward so they can use the money to open a sleazy bar where they sell bootleg liquour.

Victor French later went on to work on Little House on the Prairie and Highway to Heaven with his best friend Michael Landon. I never liked his acting on Gunsmoke, because it seemed like he was always either a drunken thug, a drunken henchman, a drunken farmer, or some other lowlife character who did very little except act like a nasty drunk. I never got it, and never liked it.

Anthony James was a lifetime thug and henchman. He spent his career as a lackey and got beaten up in a few Clint Eastwood movies. His acting skills were nothing special. He did get to be the main villain once that I know of, in a Hunter TV episode.

So you get a comedy about alcoholics taking advantage of a mentally defective deputy. I saw this as a kid, and I never thought it was funny, just sad and boring.

Matt Dillon is busy not working on the show in this episode, as he is out of town. Towards the last years of Gunsmoke, the writers decided that spoofing the Old West for comedy was a great idea. Bonanza had been doing comedy Western episodes (usually with Hoss as the lead) for years. Now Gunsmoke was doing it with dimwitted Festus as the lead. These episodes all harken back to Barney Fife and the Andy Griffith Show.

Unfortunately, since Festus had started out as a hardcore cowboy, and a tough deputy, every time the writers used Festus as the village idiot, it just degraded his original character.