Elderly gunsmith Alex Hemming (Burgess Meredith) feels redundant and unappreciated in Boonesborough, so in the dead of night he loads up his shop and strikes out for new territory. Unfortunately the new territory is Shawnee-inhabited, so Dan must retrieve smith and stock before the Shawnee up their armament game.
The human interest story tide continues to swamp Season 5, but the second straight story enlisting a noted character actor at least remains engaging, if not offering much in the way of action-adventure. Longtime cinema workhorse Meredith turned in performances from the 1930's to the mid 1990's and flourished in later life portraying the boxing trainer Mick in the early "Rocky" movies. Here, he is given a feisty-senior role, but its hardly his fault that he is less poignant in 2023 as an aging and fading frontiersman - he then enjoyed the good fortune to play feisty seniors for another quarter century. Paul Fix, Marshal Micah in "The Rifleman," is the conniving Shawnee chief playing on Meredith's insecurities to arm the tribe.
Rather unlikely that any frontier settlement would jeer at its elderly gunsmith - it was a critical trade built on experience that did not require athleticism to accomplish. The Shawnee are back as villains of the week, still holding on to Great Plains regalia and this outing looking even more ridiculous as they execute Keystone Kops antics.
Fess Parker returns to putting in full days here, but does little of note except to serve as the de facto administrator of Boonesborough's aging services.
One out-of-character violent moment comes when Meredith shoots a trapper (non-fatally) in the face, but the victim is a boorish lunkhead and the audience will likely sympathize. One can discern a couple of directions in the script; first, this might have been originally intended as a comedy episode. Second, as the first wave of Social Security retirees emerged in the late 60's and upended the national paradigm of "retire at 65, die at 67," TV started turning out more seniors-can-keep-contributing themed episodes.
But Meredith's effort aside, the direction here is uncertain, the general result is more around-the-fort filler, and there is little here that with some period amendment would not have been better suited to an "Andy Griffith Show" treatment.