A despondent widower goes to work on a farm for two sisters, each of whom finds him fascinating in her own way.A despondent widower goes to work on a farm for two sisters, each of whom finds him fascinating in her own way.A despondent widower goes to work on a farm for two sisters, each of whom finds him fascinating in her own way.
Albert Cavens
- Townsman
- (uncredited)
Mathew McCue
- Barfly
- (uncredited)
Fred McDougall
- Townsman on Horseback
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writers
- Kathleen Hite
- Norman MacDonnell(uncredited)
- John Meston(uncredited)
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe date of the events of this story is August 1878, based on the tombstone for Mary Sievers, who was mentioned as having died 4 months ago. April 1878 is on the tombstone.
Featured review
An Ugly Story
James Broderick is Pete Sievers, a man who is grieving the death of his wife. He finds solace in drinking. One night while he is drunk, he accidentally burns his house to the ground. He makes his way back to Dodge City where he attempts to get more whiskey. He has no money, and when the bartender throws him out of the saloon, Chester comes to his rescue.
All of these events are enough to make Sievers realize he needs to change his trajectory in life. Mr. Botkin hires him to work at the Dodge City Bank, but Sievers isn't especially happy doing clerical work.
Along comes Nell Shuler. Nell lives with her younger sister, Leah, on a farm outside Dodge. They have lived there all their lives, and find themselves alone after their parents die. At first, we see Nell as a "prim-and-proper" woman who is an overbearing guardian to Leah. Leah, on the other hand, has what Nell calls "the wanderlust." She is lonely, unhappy, sexually frustrated, and trapped on the farm by her older sister. It becomes increasingly apparent as the story goes on that there are some extremely deep-rooted issues at play with Nell beyond what we see initially.
Nell realizes she and Leah cannot properly care for the farm. She approaches Pete Sievers and offers him a job tending to the farm, which Sievers gladly accepts. This establishes the primary plot of this story, as both women want to impose their respective wills on Sievers, but he is only interested in the work. He has no interest in romance from either of the Shuler sisters.
Kathleen Hite had a penchant for creating seemingly hopeless characters that become mired in tragedy and cannot escape. Pete Sievers is such a character. To a lesser degree, so are Nell and Leah.
There is a scene early in the episode where Kitty and Doc are sitting in the saloon more or less gossiping about Pete Sievers while the despondent widower drinks at the bar. Kitty then meets Nell behind the Long Branch (because a proper woman would not want to be seen inside a saloon, or meeting with a saloon owner), and spends a few minutes essentially ridiculing Nell. It is easy to forgive Kitty, because Nell matches Kitty's sarcasm with holier-than-thou condescension, but this entire section of the episode is rather unpleasant.
All of this to say, this is an ugly story in many respects. It plods along much of the time, and it wallows in misery.
The veteran actor (and father of Matthew Broderick) James Broderick is good enough at playing the miserable Pete Sievers character. Nancy Wickwire is positively creepy as Nell Shuler. Jennifer Billingsley, who appeared on the soap opera General Hospital around the same time this episode was made, is the younger Shuler sister. Incidentally, Billingsley, who appeared in numerous television shows and drive-in type movies in the 1960s and '70s would eventually star with Burt Reynolds in the film White Lightning.
All of these events are enough to make Sievers realize he needs to change his trajectory in life. Mr. Botkin hires him to work at the Dodge City Bank, but Sievers isn't especially happy doing clerical work.
Along comes Nell Shuler. Nell lives with her younger sister, Leah, on a farm outside Dodge. They have lived there all their lives, and find themselves alone after their parents die. At first, we see Nell as a "prim-and-proper" woman who is an overbearing guardian to Leah. Leah, on the other hand, has what Nell calls "the wanderlust." She is lonely, unhappy, sexually frustrated, and trapped on the farm by her older sister. It becomes increasingly apparent as the story goes on that there are some extremely deep-rooted issues at play with Nell beyond what we see initially.
Nell realizes she and Leah cannot properly care for the farm. She approaches Pete Sievers and offers him a job tending to the farm, which Sievers gladly accepts. This establishes the primary plot of this story, as both women want to impose their respective wills on Sievers, but he is only interested in the work. He has no interest in romance from either of the Shuler sisters.
Kathleen Hite had a penchant for creating seemingly hopeless characters that become mired in tragedy and cannot escape. Pete Sievers is such a character. To a lesser degree, so are Nell and Leah.
There is a scene early in the episode where Kitty and Doc are sitting in the saloon more or less gossiping about Pete Sievers while the despondent widower drinks at the bar. Kitty then meets Nell behind the Long Branch (because a proper woman would not want to be seen inside a saloon, or meeting with a saloon owner), and spends a few minutes essentially ridiculing Nell. It is easy to forgive Kitty, because Nell matches Kitty's sarcasm with holier-than-thou condescension, but this entire section of the episode is rather unpleasant.
All of this to say, this is an ugly story in many respects. It plods along much of the time, and it wallows in misery.
The veteran actor (and father of Matthew Broderick) James Broderick is good enough at playing the miserable Pete Sievers character. Nancy Wickwire is positively creepy as Nell Shuler. Jennifer Billingsley, who appeared on the soap opera General Hospital around the same time this episode was made, is the younger Shuler sister. Incidentally, Billingsley, who appeared in numerous television shows and drive-in type movies in the 1960s and '70s would eventually star with Burt Reynolds in the film White Lightning.
helpful•132
- wdavidreynolds
- Nov 6, 2020
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Filming locations
- Stage 3, CBS Studio Center - 4024 Radford Avenue, Studio City, Los Angeles, California, USA(Dodge City Western Street)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime1 hour
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1
- 4:3
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