Gunsmoke was my favorite TV show growing up in the '60s and '70s. And always will be because of larger-than life James Arness. He was such a great man playing a great character in a lovable yet exceedingly dangerous Dodge City town. God Bless and take care of his soul and the entire crew who have gone to Heaven.
@@jameswhelan4636 ... you are so right. it's on daily (3-4 episodes about noon time, and again in the late evenings) on INSP, the inspirational station if it's available in your area. I records, n, watch Gunsmoke daily. I also can get it throughout the week on TvLand station too.
@@fergusmallon1337 I still listen to it on the old time radio shows they have on YT. Enjoy the tv shows but prefer the radio versions as I fall asleep.
Gunsmoke was one of the best Western ever on TV and then we have all this junk on TV like reality shows and all that crap bring back the old good Weston TV program we needed more than ever
I love this. In today's movies/TV people are shooting fully auto and can't hit anything. With Matt, one shot equals one kill. Plus, Matt resented killing.
That is so telling. He had a job to do, but he did not like the killing required. In those days it often came down to kill or be killed. It was a really tough life. Just to take a bath required a hurculean effort. We take running water, indoor plumbing, cars, airplanes, modern medicine for granted. Yes, iindeed, those pioneers in their covered wagons were tough, they had to be in order not to perish on the open plains. I am in awe of the men and women that traveled in those covered wagons over dangerous terrain, while trying to reach their destination alive.
This show lasted for twenty years on TV. It left a legacy that will last forever. I recently did see the movies he made post gunsmoke. He soldered on through the pain, war injuries and everything life throw at him. In this man lived the soul of a true plainsman, mountain man, and pioneer. Through it all he "kept on keeping on" as a very good friend of mine from Louisiana said. There really is nothing else to do. You get to living. The alternative is not very pleasant.
@@aimeekubik8803 Good point. You say it was a really tough life and I agree. But here is something to chew on: in the 20 years we were in Afghanistan 2,400 plus soldiers died there. In the SAME period 2,100 plus police officers were killed in the line of duty here in the USA.
Ben Pringle, the old rancher who set the whole thing up is played by John Marley. He also played Jack Woltz in The Godfather, the studio head who awoke with a horse's head next to him.
Michael Kendall there was an attempt a few years back. Brad Pitt was selected to play Mat Dillon. Fortunately it fell through. Around the same time there was a similar attempt to re-do the Big Valley with Lee Majors playing the role of the father, Tom Barkley, and being killed early in the film. It also fell through.
Some shows should never be repeated. How can they possibly do the show justice! There is only one James Arness, Amanda Blake, Milburn Stone, Ken Curtis.
All of what you said plus a remake would be saturated with the pc culture. The West wasn't pc then like today's world and it shouldn't be made to look so.
I'll tell you another thing, Marshall: Johnny Fontaine never gets in that war picture. You tell your boss, I ain't no bandleader... yeah, I heard that story.
They all lose something when they go to color. James arness was advancing in age. He had war injuries and much pain from arthritis. That he was able to smile and create so much in his life, is a testement to his stellar character. His parents were magnificent to bring up such excellent children as he and his brother Peter.
@Jon Smyth hey why directed at me. My husband was a proud veteran, high rank army officer. He did Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, wherever they sent him he went. He is dead now and buried with his brothers in the national cemetery. Different times now than the past. We cannot stand divided, and we cannot storm the capital our very set of democracy, we cannot. I honor those that fought and, sometimes died, so I could have a Life. I do. James arness was in the world war two conflict. He had war wounds that lasted all throughout his life. He was a real life hero. One person that interviewed him said "it is difficult to know where Matt Dillon leaves off and James arness begins." I believe James arness brought much of his real self into the character of Matt Dillon, one and the same. We are going to need a lot if Matt Dillon's going into the future. The clouds of war are forming.
This was the TV depiction of the Historical event where Law Enforcement Officers learned to kick the gun away from the suspect and handcuff His hands behind His back . . . . . even if they are dead.
But don't you worry none; ever time ole' Jack got gunned down, he'd just git up an' show up in the next episode, yesser. Seems like when Matt would shoot him, he'd just turn the other cheek... err, at least the other eye.
Gunsmoke is on every day with 4 to 5 episodes on ISPN channel. Also full length movies about Matt Dillon as he got older. Matt was shot chasing killer in nearby state.. bullet hit head. Found unconscious by widowed white ranch owner. She took him home. When he awoke he had amnesia. Did not know name or where from. He got better after a few months. They fell in. Love. Finally he slept with her one night. A drifter. Stopped at ranch recognizing Matt. He told him who he was and that he was a Marshall of Dodge City. Matt remembered slow and left to go back to Dodge City. All was fine for 18 years but then the lady traveled to Dodge City to ask Matt for help. He had not seen her for the 19 years. Her daughter had been kidnapped and she asked Matt to track and find her. Matt went and found the girl, Beth. Fought. And killed kidnappers. He returned her to her mother's ranch and found she was his own daughter. Kitty had taken up with a gun toting gambler who took over Dodge City. Matt left for good and returned to the ranch and his daughter when her mother died. Matt became wealthy cattle man on the ranch with , daughter ,... Beth, she had huge wedding but an older Matt Dillon was arrested in middle of the reception by federal Marshall's. He had been framed so Matt went peaceably but was allowed to track down real criminals that framed him. Thus the first length movie number one. Turned into full length movie number two. Then full length movie 3 when as much older retired Matt Dillon, Kitty sent for him. To clean up Dodge City from the criminal gambler who had a Hold on Dodve City and on Kitty. He went , cleaned up corrupt Dodge City , killed ganbler gunman.....and very cooly said goodbye to an older harsh looking Kitty for good. Returning to his cattle ranch a state away, his daughter, son inaw and grandchikd.....watch the Matt Dillon movies of. " after Gunsmoke". Probably on you tube. They finish the story of Gunsmoke, Matt Dillon, and Kitty. Covers Matt ( James Arness) life over 30 years.....great movie trilogy.
Which sidekick did y’all like Better ... Festus or Chester ? I liked Festus better they were both cheapskates..🤣 but Chester was more of crybaby..🤣🤣🤣. I liked the way Doc use to give both of them a hard time . 😂
The best part of this episode was early on when Bruce Dern and Warren Oates were going at it, threatening each other. Dern wanted a fight so bad but Oates was smart enough not to take him on.
The old black and white episodes (1955-66) were of better quality and had better scripts than the later ones that are seen on MeTV and others today. The problem with later Gunsmokes is Matt is not in as much and in some cases hardly seen at all. I remember this one. Bruce Dern is also a gunman but gets knifed instead. As of Dec 2020, Nehemiah Persoff is still alive and is now 101.
@@COLETHORN10 Bruce Dern and Warren Oates, were co stars on the ABC TV series " Stoney Burke ",for the 1962-1963 season about rodeo cowboys. The title role was played by the late "Hawaii Five-O" actor Jack Lord. Bruce Dern played E.J Stocker and Warren Oates played Ves Paiinter , Stoney Burke 's rodeo friends. I await your reply.
Gun Smoke was #1..I liked the Virginan and the Big Valley too. For a little guy Audie Murphy in his movies was pretty good too. A real WW2 hero he was.
Matt, the ideal model for men to aspire to in life. I try to be just some of him, but, my gun hand is somewhat slow at 76;y/o. BUt if Matt Dillion was to be at the undertakers, I think he’s been shot about once every other episode, he’d look like a 6-6 tall pack of scar tissue. I do love Gunsmoke and I am grateful for these reruns. We get about 4;hours daily. “Ole Scudder!”
● ● I, too, think Gunsmoke is one of the best TV shows of all time. But, "Matt Dillon" wasn't the "ideal" role model. Think about how many times he backhanded/punched some guy merely because he didn't like what the person said. Even "back then", Americans had the right of free speech. Nobody, including a U.S. Marshall, had the legal right to hit someone because of what they said.
One of the gunmen was Lee Van Cleef and another was Sheb Wooley who played Pete Nolan in “Rawhide”. Wooley also sang the hit song “Purple People Eater”.
One funny tidbit at 3:01 he calls his grandson Thad Ewing. The man who played Thad - a different character _ was named Roger Ewing. Roger Ewing had just started playing Thad Greenwood on the series so they combined the 2 names. Kinda odd.
Gun was too low and he fumbled. Interesting that the Marshal's Colt which has a 71/2-inch barrel was not thonged down. No way he could draw and fire so fast with a free-swinging holster and a gun that size
Just a bit of trivia... James Arness and Peter Graves (Mission: Impossible original tv show and first Airplane movie with Leslie Nielsen, among others ) were brothers. James was older. The original spelling of their name was Aurness. I bet their get togethers during late 60s and early 70s were a lot of fun!
I liked that one too. A like a little love story were the beautiful Barbara Lord falls in love with Matt and takes care of him as he almost died from a arrow in the chest. Then she died from a gun shot from a crazy man at the end. She is still alive in real life now at 83. Another actor I really liked to was was Anne Burton.
I wish westerns like gunsmoke and the rifle man were still in production but with new characters that were old and to play as the originals. Man how I wish westerns still rule the country but now we have cruddy movies and shows... I want to someday live like the old west
@@BeachsideHank The SWORD OF the SPIRIT!.. we do not war against FLESH AND BLOOD" .. btw" Obidens". Handelers" Are gonna start W.W.3 .. time to get SAVED" .. please google ROMANS 10V9. 10 .. (Its true..later than you Think") .. GOD BLESS "
At the very end - as Matt Dillon returns to his Marshal's office duties and Festus helps the casualty to Doc Adams, the bystanders disperse (one broom man sweeps the boardwalk) - we see no dead body sprawled in the dirt - Dodge City's stray dogs and vultures display their ample efficiency.
@@deckgun31 Good eyes, the corpse is lofted on their shoulders? a man behind carries his hat and pistol? and seems to be taken into a doorway past the barber pole? hope he doesn't become the meat portion in tomorrows bowls of chili.
There are a few good shows on tv. Not many...but a few. The one I'm totally addicted to is... THE MAN IN THE HIGH CASTLE. (An alternate world where NAZI Germany and Japan won WWII) Awesome show. Check it out.
What a perfect look at our world in 2020... The real evil stays behind the scenes, like the cowards they are, and pay others to do their dirty work. That's the way they have always done things.
I used to live in Mankato, Minnesota and taught in the SW - in Jeffers, Minnesota. Minnesota has sure changed these days and the change isn't good, eh!
At 3:26, our wounded gunman goes for a pistol laying openly on the ground ; but at 3:48, we see a dozen bystander's legs, no one in Dodge City has any presence of mind? (Festus Haggin, let's be safe and secure the crime scene.)
