EPISODE: A Matter of Circumstances
Reviewed by Wrangler
Episode 360, Season 11, Originally aired April 19, 1970
Guest Stars: Ted Gehring, Vincent Van Patten
Written by B W Sandefur,
Directed by William F Claxton
This episode deals mostly with visual effects with limited dialogue. It was almost a one-man show which highlighted the tremendous acting abilities of Michael Landon. The premise of the story is: what would happen if you were alone at the ranch house, trampled by a horse and had to fight to stay alive? It makes a very strong point as to what someone would do in order to survive. In this episode Joe has to decide if he could mentally or physically handle losing his arm in order to survive his wounds.
The beginning, if you are lucky enough to have the uncut version, sets the scene very well. There is a storm brewing and Hoss, Pa and Hop Sing are getting ready to leave the ranch house. Hop Sing is going to take care of one of his cousins and Ben and Hoss are heading out to the cattle drive. Joe hands off the reins of Chubb and Buck to Hoss and Pa and assures them he will be out to the camp the next day as soon as the cook he hired shows up. Hop Sing leaves with a "you be good boy, Little Joe" which is cute considering Joe isn't exactly the seventeen year old that he was when the show started. Michael Landon was approximately thirty-four years old when he filmed this episode. Anyway, I digress. Pa and Hoss leave and Joe heads into the barn to calm the horses.
Inside of the barn Joe is trying his best to calm a miscellaneous horse—one we haven't been introduced to in the past. Anyway, just as he is taking the animal to its stall the lightening and thunder cause the horse to go nutso. Joe is caught unaware, and finds himself thrown to the straw covered floor. It's then that we get to see a very brutal assault of horse's hooves. Joe's right leg takes the main blows, showing how it was broken. Joe's left arm is trampled as well. We don't find out the severity of that injury until the next day.
From this point on Joe falls an awful lot. He pulls himself up to the stall and then tumbles due to his injuries. It's then that he begins pulling himself along the floor trying to make his way over towards the barn window. He does an excellent job at looking mangled from this point on. Proving yet again, that no-one can suffer like Little Joe (aka ML). He finally makes it over to this cabinet on the barn wall where he knows there is pain killer inside (we won't even ask how he knew this -- after some 100 plus injuries no doubt Pa stocked the whole barn and house with the stuff). When he can't get the door to the cabinet opened, he slams his right fist into it, breaking through the wood. (Remember he can't use his dominant left hand as it is mangled) We see him get the bottle of pain killer and then he slinks down onto some grain sacks and opens it up to take a swig. Yes, he is wearing his gloves. After a few good jolts of the stuff we see a close up of those beautiful hazel eyes, and from the camera point of view we can tell Joe is getting very wasted. Everything is blurry. He reaches for the near-by table and then passes out.
A brief Pa, Hoss and Candy scene comes in here where they just talk about the storm coming and how it has scattered the cows.
Back to Joe---There appears to be a leaking board in the roof of the barn and the raindrops come down as if in slow motion falling on Joe's head. This might have been the reason he awoke after his impromptu binge earlier. He uses the push broom to unhook the lantern above him on a hook. Then he lights it with matches (which were conveniently left on the table -- but fortunately didn't get water soaked from above said leaky roof). Next we see him grab one of the chairs and flings it hard against the floor to smash it into pieces. Then he grabs some rawhide and we cut away again.
Pa and Hoss and Candy laying on bedrolls. Hoss is complaining saying how cold it is and how Joe should be there instead. He said Joe likes the cold so much that he would go barefooted in the Blue Northern. Ben mentions it sounds like sour grapes to him. That's when Hoss says he wishes he was there at home waiting for the cook. He would have a warm fire and a hot toddy and would be laughing like a puppy eating burrs. (It took a million times on the first VCR I owned to figure out that was what Hoss actually said. Puppy eating burrs? Think about it, in a strange way it does make sense. I thought he was saying puppy eating birds - but that wasn't the case.).
Next scene, we see that Joe has used the smashed chair and raw hide in order to get ready to set his much busted right leg. You can see the pain on his face as he slides his boot into the stall railing getting ready to kick at the boards to complete the set. The only thing I never understood is why the heck Joe didn't scream when he did this? He just like half-heartedly cries and gives a weak moan (but someone told me the censors thought it was a bit much--so may have been cut). I would be screaming my bloody head off! But--maybe he was worried about that nutso horse -- and he remembered how loud noises set it off??
Now we have a scene that is to tell us what is keeping the cook and his son so long. The son wakes the father in the back of their wagon -- the man obviously had tied one on the previous night. There is dialogue here, but nothing worthwhile. Just that -- let's get to the ranch house before we miss them. (Blah blah blah okay.)
Now we are back to Joe who is sleeping somewhat peacefully, horse blanket keeping him warm; we see how he has completed the set to his leg. Through the barn window we see the wagon pull up in the background. Joe is too out of it to hear. The cook tells his son to check the barn as no- one in the house comes out. The kid only takes two steps inside the barn, so he misses the passed out battered guy lying on the other side. So, they head out to try to catch up with the herd. Once the wagon starts to leave Joe starts to come around. He sees Cochise the wonder horse in the barn, though she/he is all blurry. Part might be due to his intoxication, part the fever he is surely running from his injuries. He somehow pulls himself up with the push broom and makes his way to Cochise, pulls the horse out of its stall using his mouth to hold the reins (yuck) but as he tries to get onto the horse he realizes that there's no way he can do it. You can't really tell at this point if Joe is laughing or crying. Sounds like both. He pats the horse's hindquarters and sends it out of the barn (this is when he left the imprint of his blood on the horse, which comes into play later on)
Now, I know I can't give you all an exact play by play of the rest of this episode, so I will try to hit the high points from here out. The camera angles that William F Claxton uses are super, they really help to show how much pain and anguish Joe is in. To me, if you didn't know any better you would swear that this one was directed by ML. It is that good. I think he must have done a lot of studying Claxton over the years. We see Joe making his way to the house, and watch his shadow move along with him. Very effective to show the immense effort it took the injured man/boy. Once he makes it inside the house that's when we start to see and hear the best ML had to offer in this role. He makes it over to Pa's brandy after checking out the grandfather clock to see how long he's been out of it. (The clock chimes 12 times--that's a clue) Joe heads for Pa's brandy, all the while using the broom as a crutch. He makes it to the dining room and pulls open the drawer to the break-front (or whatever the heck it was called) He just tosses down like two handfuls of napkins. Then he slinks down next to it and begins the task of checking out his arm. This is where it gets interesting. At this point we were more concerned with that nasty leg break. Nope, the worst is yet to come. Using his teeth he pulls off his gloves and then the green jacket (which is in bad shape) and then rips his sleeve and we see the huge swollen gross cut in his left arm. It is already multicolored.
Now you have to look real good -- this is something I missed originally. Joe waves away something with the napkin---it's a fly! Yeah--a real fly! (They must have taken its wings off or weighed down its little feet – ‘cause it stays on his arm until Joe does this.) This is to prove that the infection is in the wound. And anyone who looked up gangrene after watching this episode (raise your hands --you know you did!) knows that it is caused from things you would find in a barn yard. Rusty things, and disease from the waste of animals. That's all I am gonna say about it. But it was NOT good that a fly was on the wound!
Joe pours the brandy down his mouth and then onto the wound. Again we don't get a great yell, just a whimper. He wraps up his wound after muttering the famous line (check this out when he is tearing the napkin with his teeth) "Isn't this one hell of a day?" AH HA! MADE IT PAST THE CENSORS --WHAT A GUY!
Cook scene -- they are heading to the cow camp -- who cares? Get back to Joe!
Clock in foreground chimes four times. We see Joe laying half under the dining room table and half against the breakfront. He hears the bells and says "four o'clock and all is well". Then he decides he is cold, makes his way over to hearth where he finds the wood box is empty. "That'll teach you not to bring in the wood at night." See? Still has the sarcasm despite all odds.
OOPs! I was supposed to be hitting just the highlights. Okay Hoss catches up with cook, wants to know where Joe is, and they kinda lie in order to keep their job. Hoss doesn't worry; he wants his grub, dadgum it! So they go to the cow camp. Later when the cook is dishing out the stuff and the question comes up as to why Joe hasn't made it in yet, Ben said that he assumed Joe went back into town to get another cook figuring the first one wouldn't show. That's how we explain the lack of concern. It was a dumb assumption -- Pa should know you can't leave that kid alone or something's gonna attack him!
Now here is the fun stuff, we see Joe struggle to bring in wood -- that is after the sad scene where he hears a bell outside and thinks it's the wagon to rescue him. Instead it's a bell that's mounted on one of the front timbers. When he discovers this, you can't tell if he's laughing or crying. Maybe both? But, he gets the stove going, and we see the famous butcher block table with a big ginsu knife. This is foreshadowing. Joe has cut a hunk of meat to make a steak. I think he should have stuck with bread--or a sandwich. He gets the pan going and pushes around the steak and then we see the flames from the stove dancing in his eyes. This is perhaps the greatest close-up of ML that we get in 14 years. I mean you can see his pores. Yes, there is make-up to show he has a good owie on his cheek from the horse, but as far as his eyes, this close up is dramatic. He starts to faint and falls against the pans on the shelf next to the doorway to the dining room. When he gets back up, he slowly makes it to the kitchen sink (the Ponderosa has indoor plumbing -- Hop Sing was the man!) Anyway, he just makes it to the pump when he falls.
When Joe comes around, we see a close up of his hand. Well, it looks like Hoss' hand, as it is most massive! It is swollen and gray looking. Joe holds it up in front of him and you see the fear again, it's enough to almost make him forget he has a broken leg too! He runs, hops, skips out of the kitchen, knocking over the dining room chair as he zooms. He gets to Pa's study and throws around books out of his bookcase until he finds the medical book. Joe falls down towards Ben's desk and starts to read (I believe it's by moon glow--don't see the lamp) and we have excerpts of what Joe is reading flash onto the screen. Amputation -- or as Joe says "am--pu--ta--tat--tion" -- the kid is wigged out now! He looks up gangrene and then goes to the front of the book to learn how amputation is done. The kid keeps seeing "surely die", "Hesitate surely die" so he heads into the kitchen.
We see Joe thumbing through the book at the kitchen table. He is getting even punchier, as his fever must have taken over where his brains left off. One wonders how he thought he could use his right hand and make an accurate cut of his left arm? All he knows is he's gonna do like the book said and makes a poultice of tea and tobacco to help ease the pain of his gangrenous arm. It's then we see Hop Sing's lovely canister set, the tea one in the foreground then Joe is sipping out of the bottle -- which may be sherry or may be rot gut, I could never tell. He starts talking to himself about how he's not going to blame the mare for being afraid of the lightening, then he laughs and says maybe he could blame the lightening? Then he goes on to say this is a good book -- it tells everything you need to know -- wish it would tell why the disease runs a course more severely or much quicker in some cases. (He's now at the point where he feels there is no way out. No way help will come in time to save his life, and the only way he will live is to do as the book says and to amputate his left arm.) Then he starts to look around at the mess he has made of the kitchen and says "Wait till Hop Sing sees this kitchen! Oh man--I can hear him now, shouting out in Chinese!" That's when it finally gets him, and he begins to cry and he whispers "Please God, I don't want to die!" OY ----Even as a fifteen year old when this scene was first aired, I lost it on that scene. Mike ruled, end of story.
Not quite -- Joe kinda decides to keep the poultice on throughout the night and figures to do the chopping in the morning. Now finally, it's morning, and since Joe didn't show up, Ben has the notion that something might have happened to him. (Dare I say DUH?) So he and Hoss tell Candy they will see him later and head back to see what's up at the ranch house.
Now we see Joe, he looks pretty dadgum wasted, and weak, and yucky. He sticks this poker thingy into the stove burner to heat it. We are presuming that was to sear the open end of the cut, should he decide to chop his arm off. He is heating it and then he stands and we see him staggering towards the cutting block. You also see the cleaver (ginsu) very well, and if you notice the angle of it --it changes later.
Next scene---Pa and Hoss arrive at the ranch house. After they dismount, they notice that Cochise is just out in the yard area grazing by itself. They both know Joe would not leave his precious horse loose like that and walk over to it. Pa notices dried blood on Cochise and looks at Hoss and gives him that sign (using his eyebrows as ONLY LG could!) to go check out the barn while he goes in to the ranchhouse. Hoss walks into the barn, and it looks like he is a bit spooked by the way he heads in there real slow like.
Pa enters the house -- he sees Joe's gunbelt lying on the credenza. Then he sees the overturned chair. Then he sees the green jacket across the table on the floor. He hurries over to it, and picks it up and notices the gashes in the sleeve. Now at this point, we have to assume that Pa saw the pans that Joe knocked over the previous night when he passed out. Cause what would make him rush into the kitchen at that point -- other than seeing the pots and pans all over?
Pa rushes into the kitchen and we just get a short shot of Joe spread out on the kitchen floor face down. We also can kinda see the butcher block and the ginsu if you look good. Pa kneels down next to him and says "Joe!" Okay--that was done as a big ploy to make us all think that the kid really cut off his dadgum arm. Come on -- we knew that wouldn't happen. Even Cameron Mitchell had trouble playing a one armed man---and there wasn't much of a future in it as the Fugitive was then off the air.
But, I digress. Hold on, this is the end. We see Joe lying in his bed, his arm is at his side and is wrapped up in tons of white bandages. We never see Joe's leg, but assume he did a good enough set in the barn and it's okey dokey. Then we get the cute Pa/ Doc Martin scene. "Joe's diagnosis was correct though a bit premature. Amputation is a harsh remedy. Fortunately due to the infection, he didn't have the strength to do it. He's young and strong, it'll take awhile but he'll be fine. You know making a decision like that is sometimes harder than just letting go. He's quite a boy," Doc says and shakes Ben's hand. Ben looks like he is tearing up at this point so we move to Hoss. "You'll do just about anything to get out of a round up won't you?" Hoss says, but is a bit misty eyed too. Ben looks like he is holding back tears, and we see Joe, who smiles and then closes his eyes, happy to be in his own bed and have both arms and both legs still.
I have always considered this episode as being the driving force behind all the hurt Joe stories. Whoever said I was a mangler, forgot to check out this B W Sandefur character! I mean, the kid's leg was busted in at least two places. Then you give him gangrene on top of it! And, to make matters worse---the kid is given the mistaken notion that he needs to lob his arm off. Eesh --overkill? No --excellence in television! I remember the papers coming out the day after this episode aired, and they all said that it was a one man show and there was talk of an Emmy for ML. Well, that didn't happen, but it is one of the finest episodes IMO, as ML had to lead the show with only facial expressions and some groans. Without dialogue you are left with only your acting abilities to carry the show, and he did it perfectly. He once said he considered himself a mediocre actor, well, he must have never watched this episode! A Matter of Circumstance is a Bonanza classic.
Ps---I didn't learn this until last year, but the original scene in the kitchen called for a great Pa/Joe scene in which Joe sobs to his father that he couldn't cut his arm off because that poker thingy fell into the fire. I wish they had stuck to that original version in a way. BUT, I can see why they reworked it so as to give us all heart palpitations! I mean, for just one brief second you thought—well -- no you didn't---but he was face down -- and the ginsu WAS moved on that block and all!