Gunsmoke

Gunsmoke

1955
Gunsmoke
Gunsmoke

Gunsmoke

8.1 | TV-G | en | Drama

Gunsmoke is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman MacDonnell and writer John Meston. The stories take place in and around Dodge City, Kansas, during the settlement of the American West. The central character is lawman Marshal Matt Dillon, played by William Conrad on radio and James Arness on television.

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Seasons & Episodes

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EP24  The Sharecroppers
Mar. 31,1975
The Sharecroppers

A comedy of errors puts Festus behind a plow, farming for a family of shiftless sharecroppers.

EP23  Manolo
Mar. 17,1975
Manolo

Manolo (Robert Urich)is a Basque youth who is not recognized as a man in the eyes of his people because he refuses to fight his father Alejo (Nehemiah Persoff), a traditional Basque custom to prove one's manhood.

EP22  The Busters
Mar. 10,1975
The Busters

Two bronco busters try to raise money for a ranch in Montana, only to have the dream ruined when one of them gets a death threatening head injury when thrown off by a wild stallion.

EP21  I Have Promises to Keep
Mar. 03,1975
I Have Promises to Keep

Festus is caught in the middle when an Eastern preacher (David Wayne) wants to build a church for the Indians and the townspeople to share, but by all of whom that are filled with prejudice.

EP20  Hard Labor
Feb. 24,1975
Hard Labor

Matt Dillon is sentenced to life imprisonment of hard labor for shooting a fugitive in the town of Bedrock.

EP19  Brides and Grooms
Feb. 10,1975
Brides and Grooms

Farmer Jed Hackett (Harry Morgan) decides it's time for his three sons marry the women they brought back from Dodge City.

EP18  The Angry Land
Feb. 03,1975
The Angry Land

Matt takes a young orphan Bessie Sutherland after her parents were killed on the prairie, to live with her Aunt Rachel. Rachel tells Matt that because of the devastating experiences that she has had, does not want to take in her niece, besides she wants to sell her land.

EP17  The Fires of Ignorance
Jan. 27,1975
The Fires of Ignorance

Henry Decory is a schoolteacher who makes a strong statement for compulsory education for frontier children as a stubborn father feels that books and education are a waste of time and tries to keep his son Tommy out of school.

EP16  Larkin
Jan. 20,1975
Larkin

Newly finds himself in a strange alliance with a professional killer as he tries to return to Dodge City with his prisoner (Jaeckel) before they are both killed by a trio of bounty hunters.

EP15  The Hiders
Jan. 13,1975
The Hiders

A farmer comes by and asks Sharp where is cow is, Matt tells the milk cow owner that he has no proof to arrest ""the hiders."" The farmer wants to go after them himself. Matt tells the men that will leave Dodge if anyone else complains. Dink escapes from Carp after being hurt, Festus finds Dink and treats his wounds. Dink tells Festus he likes waking up in the morning, Martha warns Dink to watch for Carp. Carp asks Dink to help kill Festus.

EP14  The Squaw
Jan. 06,1975
The Squaw

Fleeing from both Matt Dillon and his double-crossed partners, outlaw Gristy Calhoun discovers that his survival in the badlands depends on an Indian woman.

EP13  The Colonel
Dec. 16,1974
The Colonel

Lee J. Cobb and his daughter Julie Cobb appear together for the first time when Cobb guest-stars as a once-proud military officer who is suddenly faced with a painful and unplanned reunion with his daughter.

EP12  Island in the Desert (2)
Dec. 09,1974
Island in the Desert (2)

While Matt and Newly hunt for Festus, Ben Snow and Festus attempt to haul his gold out of the desert.

EP11  Island in the Desert (1)
Dec. 02,1974
Island in the Desert (1)

Festus, in the desert hunting escaped killer Gard Dixon is wounded by the outlaw. He is found by Ben Snow, a half-crazy hermit who has been living in the desert with his gold for many years.

EP10  In Performance of Duty
Nov. 18,1974
In Performance of Duty

Matt is frustrated by Judge Kendall's insistence that the letter of the law be maintained, which could result in Emmett Kaysinger and his boys, all known outlaws, be set free unless there is solid evidence to hold them for a double murder and robbery they committed.

EP9  The Tarnished Badge
Nov. 11,1974
The Tarnished Badge

Matt's friend, Sheriff Harker runs his town ruthlessly, punishing anyone disobeying him.

EP8  The Fourth Victim
Nov. 04,1974
The Fourth Victim

A series of seemingly random killings have the citizens of Dodge City in near panic, but Dillon believes they are part of a pattern in which Doc is slated to be the next target.

EP7  The Iron Men
Oct. 21,1974
The Iron Men

Matt and former lawman now turned alcoholic, Chauncey Demon go up against land baron Carl Ryker.

EP6  The Wiving
Oct. 14,1974
The Wiving

Jed Hockett(Harry Morgan), a farmer, orders his three boys to go to town and return with prospective brides.

EP5  Thirty a Month and Found
Oct. 07,1974
Thirty a Month and Found

Matt houses a drunk Will & Friends in the jail they go looking for $300 that they think Bill took. Matt thinks it was a misunderstanding. Will doesn't want to tell Matt that they shot Curly Wills (They buried him before going to Dodge. Doak stops to see his girlfriend and says marriage will need to wait, as Will & Quincy leaves without Doak Quincy and the storekeepers are shot.

EP4  The Guns of Cibola Blanca (2)
Sep. 30,1974
The Guns of Cibola Blanca (2)

Matt, Festus and Newly attempt to rescue Doc and Lyla from Shindrow's camp.

EP3  The Guns of Cibola Blanca (1)
Sep. 23,1974
The Guns of Cibola Blanca (1)

Doc and fellow stage passenger, Lyla are captured by renegade comancheros.

EP2  Town in Chains
Sep. 16,1974
Town in Chains

A group of bandits attempt to rob a town while masquerading as soldiers.

EP1  Matt Dillon Must Die
Sep. 09,1974
Matt Dillon Must Die

A mountain family in an attempt to avenge the death of one of their own capture Matt.

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8.1 | TV-G | en | Drama , Western , Action & Adventure | More Info
Released: 1955-09-10 | Released Producted By: CBS , Filmaster Productions Country: United States of America Budget: 0 Revenue: 0 Official Website:
Synopsis

Gunsmoke is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman MacDonnell and writer John Meston. The stories take place in and around Dodge City, Kansas, during the settlement of the American West. The central character is lawman Marshal Matt Dillon, played by William Conrad on radio and James Arness on television.

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The tv show is currently not available onine

Cast

James Arness , Amanda Blake , Ken Curtis

Director

Philip Leacock

Producted By

CBS , Filmaster Productions

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Reviews

Tthomaskyte This programme was way ahead of its time in being the first TV western made for adults. I recently saw one episode on Youtube which was thought-provoking. A father ashamed of the way his cowardly, murderer son is begging him to stave off his execution, actually tricks the son into behaving like a man as he stands on the gallows. The degree of thought that went into the scripts encouraged good actors to accept guest roles. Together with the performances from a strong regular cast, James Arness, Dennis Weaver, Amanda Blake, Milburn Stone, Ken Curtis and Burt Reynolds, this made Gunsmoke a rare quality programme of the time.
rbseaking1 I watch this on the Encore westerns channel and I must say I love it as much today as I did when I first saw it. Thankfully there are like 20 seasons of episodes for them to run. This is absolutely the best of the 50's and 60's westerns and that's quite a feat considering there were quite a few good ones including Rawhide, The Virginian, Bonanza, Have Gun Will travel, Wagon Train etc. Dillon wasn't an angel, he was conflicted at times, but he was wise and had integrity knowing what's right and wrong. He didn't hesitate to deal out some frontier justice to people who deserved it so he was no Gene Autry. The cast of characters was always good but I must admit I've always found Chester kind of annoying.
John T. Ryan MANY OF THE best TV series from all of the time periods of Video History are oft consigned to the pigeon hole of mediocrity. This type of classification is neither fair, nor very accurate; owing its exaggerated importance to what could be only described as fallacious argumentative premises to begin with.THE MAIN CULPRITS in this case would seem to be our reliance on often less than spectacular memories and a natural inclination to write off any TV Series, which has had both longevity and popularity. Remembering that old adage that, "Familiarity breeds contempt."* WHAT IS CALLED for,and not exactly being coincidental, is a reviewing of as many episodes as is possible; with the object being to attempt to approach such a project without any prejudices, neither Pro or con. Thanks to the existence of such cable entities as NICK AT NIGHT, its video sibling TV LAND and local stations such as Chicago's WMETV (Channel 23) and sister ship, METOO (Channel 48), viewing the episodes is available several times each day.RECENTLY, WE HAVE taken time to revisit the folks in Dodge City, and make an honest attempt to look at each episode thorough 'new' eyes; putting any or all previously formulated attitudes about the stories on the back burners of mind and memory.AVAILABLE FOR OUR inspection, were episodes from all seasons. In addition to what has become much more familiar full hour long, color episodes, we were able to take in so many of the old half hour b & w installments from the earlier seasons. Possessing a brand new opening* with a combination of undistinguished theme music and unspectacular fade-in type of graphics, these 1/2 hours were rechristen ed MARSHALL DILLON before their initial season in syndicated reruns.WHEN WATCHED EN MASSE considered in total, the differences between the products of the various seasons become evident; the earlier stories being far more more unabashedly violent. The more recent entries displaying much less in the area of gunfights, fisticuffs and general mayhem per reel of film exposed. We've heard an explanation recently by the way of an interview on a PBS series. The now retired Marshall of Dodge said that there was an anti-violence crusade in progress fro the U.S. Senate. Consequently, the story lines were shackled with quotas of those very essentials that make a western a western.**ALL OF THAT being out of the way, we can now move on to what is it that made GUNSMOKE the perennial ratings block buster that it was for some two decades.IN ORDER TO state it plainly, we need just two words; cast and characterization. The production team knew that the key to success lie in having characters on the screen who would receive enough empathy from the 'characters' in the audience This would require a reasonable high dosage of realism and plain old fashioned authenticity; which of course, GUNSMOKE did posses.STEP TWO IN the formula for success requires the assembly of a stock company of thespians (that's Actors, to you Schultz) to create the best characterizations for those characters in the story for whom we will care. In the case of series such as GUNSMOKE, BONANZA or today's LAW & ORDER, this would also mean that the roster would undergo a considerably serious degree of metamorphosis; in that in the cast would undergo many changes over the normal course of an exceptionally long run.IN THE CASE of today's honoree, GUNSMOKE, its continued popularity over the the many seasons is in no way due to fine character development by a very talented stock company; who did their damnedest in giving us folks who we really identified with and truly cared forAND, WHILE WE are on the subject, we want to mention those very talented group of actors who made all of those seasons. We had people such as:Marshall Matt Dillon (James Arness), Kitty Russell (Amanda Blake), Doc Adams (Milburn Stone), Chester Goode (Denis Weaver), Ken Curtis (Festus Haggen), Buck Taylor (Newly O'Brien), Glenn Strange (Sam the Bartender), Burt Reynolds (Quint Asper, town blacksmith), and many more.COLLECTIVELY AND INDIVIDUALLY, these folks were responsible for our identification with an affection for Matt, Kitty, Doc, Chester, Sam, Festus, Newly, Quint, etc., etc., etc.NOTE: * The series truly hit the ground running; as it had been a popular Radio Series on the CBS Radio Network. It featured: William Conrad (Matt), Howard McNear Doc), Parley Baer (Chester).NOTE: ** Much in the same way as other Radio to TV Series such as THE LONE RANGER, many of the early GUNSMOKEs were adaptations of radio scripts.
trulykeyless There was a song titled "Mister Grillon" published in the mid-fifties which featured the voices of Chester, Marshall Dillon, and Kittie. It was something of a comical charactorization of the three. While Marshall Grillon and Kittie sit drinking in the Longbranch, billin and cooin with each other, a frantic and increasingly frustrated Chester is sent clomping repeatedly in and out of the saloon to check on Doc who has been shot through the neck with an arrow by Indians that are attacking the town. The frenzied state of Chester reaches a pinnacle as the inebriated Marshall Grillon and Kittie, in a final effort to get rid of the pestering Chester, send him to find out on which side of the neck Doc has been hit. The record was a 45 rpm single and I don't recall what was on the flip side. Has anyone else heard it? Please let me know.DL