Gee, this sounds like a great part for Curtis. Having watched some of the Gunsmoke episodes with Dennis Weaver and without his guileless, wistful character of Chester, I am convinced that Ken Curtis made a terrific villain but an unlikely deputy to Marshal Dillon. I must confess that I liked Ken Curtis fine when he was a singer in the '40s with Tommy Dorsey and as a member of The Sons of the Pioneers, but find Ken sort of insufferable as an actor--though in a strange way I admire his ability to go dark and dirty .movieman1957 wrote:This morning's "Gunsmoke" was kind of creepy. There is Ken Curtis not playing Festus. He plays a man who takes up with a married woman and even has time to kill someone along the way before meeting up with his demise. What is even stranger is it looked like he wore the same boots and spurs he wore later when he did play Festus.
In the period of The Searchers, I thought that Curtis was perfectly cast as a totally vile, smiling and obsequious, snake-like sidewinder in his efforts to win Vera Miles hand, at least in my admittedly prejudiced pov. In an alternate script for The Searchers that I'd like to believe existed, Curtis is also captured by the Comanches, and they kill him just to make him stop singing and smiling so darn much. I also root for The Killer Shrews and The Giant Gila Monster whenever I see those monster movies Curtis appeared in during the late '50s.
I'm not sure which is worse: Ken Curtis in his cleaned up slick mode or Ken Curtis in his smelly saddle tramp mode. I've tried to see some of the episodes when he was a central figure in Gunsmoke, but I rarely am able to last throughout the hour, especially if Festus has any long speeches.
"Creepy" is the perfect word for Ken Curtis. Sorry, Gunsmoke aficionados. I'll try to be more positive (less facetious and more serious) next time I post.
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