Gun smoke first aired on TV in 1955 and ran for 20 seasons till 1975.Color started in 1966.There was a total of 635 episodes in the 20 seasons total.. The majority were filmed in black and white..
I could be wrong, but this might be one of the few gunsmoke episodes to actually show blood, they have shootings and such in most episodes. But, usually they don't show blood, as far as in a shooting. Occasionally for a surgery with doc adams they might show blood.
At 635 episodes and 20 years you can understand why Americans loved this TV series. There were the great actors. The fantastic writers, and some top of their game directors. Gunsmoke was a wonderful Western drama. It's still as good today as it was when first aired.
The very first episode had an introduction by John Wayne in cowboy attire, leaning on hitching post. He told about being asked to play lead in the new show but turned it down...then he said he recommended his good friend James Arness for the part. He said he was certain James would do a great job and invited the audience to enjoy " the new western , " Gunsmoke". I have the episode taped. Matt Dillon dressed in shirt pants, vest and string tie. Stopped on boot hill in the beginning to tell about Dodge City...and gun fights & ending up on boot hill. Kitty had NO makeup, false eyelashes, huge hairdo, jewelry, beauty spot. Mascara, eye shadow, bright lipstick. And no satin, no Vegas Style outfit. She had more authentic simple high neckline plainer dress. Very simple combed hair short....no fancy frills. Very much more realistic for the era.
Love gunsmoke and getting to watch it every day. Even when it’s an episode I’ve seen I’ll watch it over the crap that’s on now. 68 years ago and still worth watching
Excellent. Loved this show as a child. Still do. Sad that all the actors are gone and sad I will soon be too. Glad that others will be able to see this way of life in the future.
"Pistol Whipping" as it was known was fairly common. Despite what Hollywood showed, most peace officers didn't want to be shooting up the streets every time some drunk cowboy got up in their faces and threatened them with a pistol on their hips. So, it they are in arms reach, you pop them on the head and they "usually" wake up alive in a cell with a bad headache. Same principle as the modern stun gun, which cab also (rarely) kill you accidentally.
@@eugene7518 should have surrounded him with heavily armed men using cover, same as they would today :) the story goes matt has realized the antagonist is fast but inaccurate so he has to be close to his target. matt's thinking is revealed in that scene and the viewer thinking back to prior scenes where he coaxes his opponent closer realizes it's true. matt was able to see it at the time and act, making him the superhero
@@eugene7518 1st of all, Matt Dillon was and is forever an United States Marshall, not a sheriff. 2nd he's the good guy and never draws first. Where have you been in over 100 years of Westerns
This is by far one my Favorite Shows of all time, I believe ive seen every episode 2 or 3 times over the years, its the First Western I watched as a kid in the early 1970s. Heck Matt Dillon was a hero to me (Still is) . there are two channels that bring this show, and I watch em in the afternoon, its so much better then the stuff the tv shows of today are made of for me, Im sure ill watch some today. This video was Super Cool! The characters are so young, truly a show that stands up to time. thank You I enjoyed this article.
@@davidshumski4629 He was always tough, but as you said he was fair too. He dealt out Justice with Temperance, yet still managed to uphold the law, even when it was a friend he had to deal out the law to them even if he didnt like it. fair but always diligent. Made for one great show, with all respect to the rest of the cast which completes the stories, still watching it today.
@@eugene7518 Maybe he should have thrown a flash bang grenade through his window in the middle of the night before bashing his door down and shooting him in bed, so he could go home at night. That would have been safer. I guess they're just depicting a different way of doing things back then, maybe something a little more palatable that would gain the support of an audience and the public.
I listened to Gunsmoke on the Radio every week I made my folks rush home so I could watch this episode on our Rare at the time 1 channel B&W TV I remember my "shock" at hearing the voice of Matt Dillion expecting to hear "William Conrads's deep radio voice. It was both on radio and TV a show ahead of its time. I suspect many of my views or Right and Wrong and manhood were shaped by this show.
My husband would watch Gunsmoke and I would be like ugh😭! I did not care for movies like that, until I watched an episode with my husband, and now I am ashamed to say that I have recorded close to 200 shows on DVR. Me and our daughter don't go a day without watching it, as a matter of fact, I am watching one now typing this. Marshall Dillon was a bad man, and every one on that show were great actors. I also loved how they incorporated the bible into the shows, you definitely don't see that in all the mess that is on TV today. Gunsmoke was definitely a great show!
@ Carol Don’t think you have to be ashamed tho, more of an admission, it was and is a great show because of all the reasons you read in the comments about it
@@davegreene8588 carol was using 1970's slang, "Marshall Dillon was a bad man" translation; Marshall Dillion was a brave man and didn't take any mess from anyone.
Paul The Great!!! one of his generation's best; considered by his peers to be an actor's actor. have you ever seen his series "Breaking Point"???? He and Eduard Franz were outstanding as psychiatrists on this spin-off of "Ben Casey".
So many people now a days simply don’t realize how good this show was The story lines were incredible and original like something we’ve never seen in a long time I enjoy every episode
Soon, as much time will separate us from this episode, as there was between this episode and the time in which it was set. This was 66 years ago, and 66 years before this episode it was the 1880s.
been watching it since my chilhood.now I'm older still watching.just one of the best shows.it always will be.over 65 years of seeing. GUNSMOKE.who remembers CHESTER?BEFKRE FEDTUS..
@@DanneyTanner yeah, me too ! Hoping you are safe and well in beautiful Minnesota mate. Just starting to warm up for summer here in Geraldton Western Australia. 😎👍
IMHO, the half hour Gunsmokes were outstanding, tighter, better written stories overall than the hour episodes. Could be because many were originally from the radio program.
I agree. The hour shows have more misc conversations in them that provides background info. Chester & Doc fussing, yada, yada, yada. I purchased the complete set of 20 seasons and it is amazing how tight the 1st 4 seasons were.
The half hour ones (first six seasons) were by far the best. They focused on how Matt (and occasionally the other main cast members) dealt with whatever situation it was. Many of the one hour ones shifted away from Matt onto guest characters which is ok to a certain extent but by the mid 60s there were some episodes that Matt was hardly in them at all and that's a huge turnoff to me. Matt Dillon IS Gunsmoke
This story was first aired on radio with William Conrad as Marshall the original Marshall Matt Dillon, Georgia Ellis as the original Miss Kitty and Parley Baer. as the original Chester Wesley Proudfoot, a name created by William Conrad.. For some unknown reason Chester's name was changed to Chester Goode for the later television series. This story is almost identical and in my opinion much better than the television version although who can argue with with either version being excellent. Most of the stories written were by "Gunsmioke's" creator John Mestin who also had editorial approval over the later stories written by other writers. Parley Baer on the radio show version is more sympathetic and less hostile in character than the television version. As has been often said, "Radio is the Theater of the Mind", and this episode versus the original radio version proves such is definitely the case.
I was 4 yrs old when this Series began, TV was still relatively a new "thing" back then, even controversial, but ,I watched Gunsmoke frome early episodes to the last, still do!
@@andrewkerr3836 I had to go look that up. Yes, James was Peter's older brother, Peter used the name Graves to stand apart from James in acting. And James Arness has a credit on his IMDB page from 1951 for The Thing (and then in smaller letters) From Another World. Thanks for that bit of interesting trivia. I love these old shows. I love the old Gunsmoke and Have Gun, Will Travel radio theater recordings as well. There are a couple of old radio theater apps you can download for your phone to listen to them all. I know Arness wasn't the voice, but the shows were still great and they were the basis for many of the episodes later made for TV.
@@andrewkerr3836 OUI. Family name was really Aurness. Arness was a natural blonde. His hair was dyed during the show. I also found it amusing that his eyebrows were as well. Especially in the earlier episode. Not a good look.
My mother never missed an episode of Gunsmoke but never let us watch Bonanza (We only had one small B&W TV). I loved watching the Bonanza reruns during the 70’s.
I was 6 years old and remember it like it was yesterday. You have missed or forgotten how the show was named. At the onset of the show, there were two men sitting at a poker table. One stood quickly and drew his revolver (far side) but, and you could only see their slacks and guns, the Marshall fired at the same time and hit his mark. As the Marshall stood there, the image of "gunsmoke" rose from the scene ... hence the name. It was sponsored by Carlings Black Label Beer at that time.
This aired on Saturday nights at 9:00 pm, and was an immediate hit, because of the characters. I was 5 years old and remember it very well, all the way to the 70s my uncle said I’ll be home in time to see Matt Dillon draw his gun, extremely popular.
@@davidsomerset8411 Ive seen bits and peice but not the whole thing yet.Kida ironic your name is David Somerset. My Dads name was David and he lived in Somerset Wisconsin.
This was a great series. I’ve only seen a few episodes, but I noticed that the episodes placed a good deal of emphasis on the guest cast members and their stories. That was a smart move. I suspect that it kept the series fresh. My hat’s off to the stars of the show. I had watched a documentary in which Bruce Dern had mentioned that the main cast was very supportive of the guest stars. That shows a lot of class. That must have been a huge boost when James Arness said you’re doing a great job.
I WOULD STAY AT MY GRANDPARENTS MY GRANDMOTHER LOVE GUNSMOKE!! SHE ALWAYS LAUGH AND CLAIM DOC WAS HER BOYFRIEND!! IT WAS A BIG BIG DEAL WHEN GUNSMOKE WAS COMING ON !! SWEET MEMORIES!!!
Great clip from a great show! Thank you for sharing :) Gunsmoke & my DVR is the biggest reason I keep cable LoL. I’m old now, METV has limited commercials & the DVR allows me to skip through them, although METV is available via antenna now & my new little TV is a Smart TV, so cable’s days might be numbered. I’m on their smallest package to keep the DVR to record the few series still running. Thank you again :)
Gunsmoke was one of the first "Adult Westerns", meaning it was written for adults instead of 12 year old boys. The characters actually drank beer when they were in the Saloon
Thanks for these. Granted at only 3 1/2 mins this isn't the whole show. The one thing missing is the opening of the show which has various clips of a Colt SAA 45 being fired and the black powder creating the "gunsmoke" It was only used in the first season then they switched to the street gun draw for all later shows. I remember 'cause all my family had them and we were blown away with that opening sequence. Check some of your early copies.
The guy was near sighted gunman. Killed many people but had to be close to see them. Matt figured it out. Made him stay back...not come close. Have seen this many times. I have it on tape.
I wasn’t a big fan of Gunsmoke or westerns when I was a kid, my mother’s side of the family are Cherokee. But recently I’ve gotten a kick out of watching 50’s & 60’s TV shows that occasionally had a Star Trek cast member in an episode. In so doing I’ve discovered several of the older shows had great storylines, scripts and acting, when they aren’t killing Native Americans. The older shows seem to be the best. Just FYI, Gunsmoke, Bonanza, Tales of Wells Fargo and others, including non-westerns like Perry Mason are on Oldies networks all day long every day
In this episode. The gun fighter was very fast but, extremely near sighted. Had to be within 10 feet to be able to hit the side of a barn. Matt figured it out after the first altercation when Matt was hit and spent a week or so recovering with Doc Adams
Matt pulled his gun to kill. And when he shot you well you weren't getting up. He didn't have to check his gun. He knew he'd just shot the man through the heart.
"Gunsmoke", before Marshall Dillon wore his drop- holster gunbelt, when he drew 2nd and still won and when Chester had not yet begun his sniveling whine.
The best episode of the twenty years was "The Gallows" It was one of the one hour, black and white episodes during that five year run. Matt was defeated by a justice system and a condemned man who refused his help.
