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The Best Episodes of Gunsmoke Season 12

Every episode of Gunsmoke Season 12 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of Gunsmoke Season 12!

Binge this in 18h 45m•Peaking at 8.8/10

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

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Episode Rankings

  1. #1 Fan Favorite
    Gunsmoke Season 12 Episode 3 - The Jailer
    8.8/10(737 votes)

    S12:E3

    Six years after her husband's hanging, Ma Stone plots her revenge against Matt Dillon by first kidnapping Kitty to use as a lure and then jailing Matt to be hanged on the morning of the second day with Kitty watching as her man died.

    Director:Vincent McEveety
    Writer:Unknown

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  2. Gunsmoke Season 12 Episode 6 - Gunfighter, R.I.P.
    8.7/10(330 votes)

    S12:E6

    A gunfighter (McGavin) hired to murder Matt Dillion gets wounded while trying to save the life of an elderly Chinese man.

    Director:Mark Rydell
    Writer:Unknown

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  3. Gunsmoke Season 12 Episode 1 - Snap Decision
    8.3/10(273 votes)

    S12:E1

    Disturbed over being forced to kill a prisoner who was trying to save his life, Matt Dillion turns in his badge.

    Director:Mark Rydell
    Writer:Unknown

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  4. Gunsmoke Season 12 Episode 5 - The Good People
    8.3/10(226 votes)

    S12:E5

    A respectable rancher and his son hang an innocent man and allow a bewhiskered bounty hunter to go on trial for the murder.

    Director:Robert Totten
    Writer:Unknown

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  5. Gunsmoke Season 12 Episode 25 - The Favor
    8.3/10(214 votes)

    S12:E25

    Kitty's conscience is torn between her sense of obligation to a man (James Daly) who saved her life and her concern for the law and Marshal Matt Dillon.

    Director:Marc Daniels
    Writer:Unknown

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  6. Gunsmoke Season 12 Episode 10 - Stage Stop
    8.1/10(256 votes)

    S12:E10

    Doc Adams takes up arms to defend a gold shipment from bandits, first during a stagecoach ambush and then at a weigh station. He is aided by a blind man and a wounded man in the battle against the bandits.

    Director:Irving J. Moore
    Writer:Unknown

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  7. Gunsmoke Season 12 Episode 16 - Saturday Night
    8.1/10(217 votes)

    S12:E16

    A vengeful prisoner poses a continual threat to the life of Marshal Matt Dillon.

    Director:Robert Totten
    Writer:Unknown

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  8. Gunsmoke Season 12 Episode 21 - Fandango
    8.1/10(247 votes)

    S12:E21

    Matt Dillon tries to bring a man to justice in spite of an onslaught of an crazed vengeful lawman wishing to exact his own revenge.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  9. Gunsmoke Season 12 Episode 22 - The Returning
    8.1/10(220 votes)

    S12:E22

    After eight years as a down-on-his-luck farmer, husband & father, and reformed outlaw (Michael Ansara) tries to make ends meet by rejoinning his old gang to rob the Dodge City freight office.

    Director:Marc Daniels
    Writer:Unknown

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  10. Gunsmoke Season 12 Episode 27 - Ladies from St. Louis
    8.1/10(234 votes)

    S12:E27

    A group of Nuns traveling out West nurse the wounds of outlaw Worth Sweeney, who was injured while defending them from his partners.

    Director:Irving J. Moore
    Writer:Unknown

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  11. Gunsmoke Season 12 Episode 8 - The Whispering Tree
    8.0/10(256 votes)

    S12:E8

    After eight years in a prison for robbery a farmer returns home and hopes to find the stolen fortune he had buried under a tree.

    Director:Vincent McEveety
    Writer:Unknown

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  12. Gunsmoke Season 12 Episode 24 - Noose of Gold
    8.0/10(207 votes)

    S12:E24

    Deputy District Attorney Shephard will do anything to further his career, including having outlaw John Farron killed, instead of being able to give himself up.

    Director:Irving J. Moore
    Writer:Unknown

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  13. Gunsmoke Season 12 Episode 29 - Nitro! (2)
    8.0/10(235 votes)

    S12:E29

    Part 2: George wants to quit making the nitro, feeling that his luck is running out, but his outlaw partners won't let him.

    Director:Robert Totten
    Writer:Unknown

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  14. Gunsmoke Season 12 Episode 4 - The Mission
    7.9/10(229 votes)

    S12:E4

    Marshal Dillon is helped by an apparently friendly young runaway who later faces him as a deadly adversary.

    Director:Mark Rydell
    Writer:Unknown

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  15. Gunsmoke Season 12 Episode 23 - The Lure
    7.9/10(204 votes)

    S12:E23

    Private detectives use Kitty and the daughter (Kim Darby) of an outlaw to trap the girl's fugitive father (Stephen McNally).

    Director:Marc Daniels
    Writer:Unknown

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  16. Gunsmoke Season 12 Episode 26 - Mistaken Identity
    7.9/10(215 votes)

    S12:E26

    Outlaw Ed Carstairs trades identities with a man dying of a snakebite wound, then is suprised when the man is brought into Dodge and seems to be recovering.

    Director:Robert Totten
    Writer:Paul Savage

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  17. Gunsmoke Season 12 Episode 28 - Nitro! (1)
    7.9/10(242 votes)

    S12:E28

    Part 1: Down on his luck drifter is offered a dangerous, but profitable job of mixing nitroglycerine for outlaws who are using it to rob banks. George also falls in love with a saloon girl and begins a business venture with his earnings.

    Director:Robert Totten
    Writer:Unknown

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  18. Gunsmoke Season 12 Episode 9 - The Well
    7.8/10(232 votes)

    S12:E9

    All of Dodge City is suffering from a drought. A rainmaker (Guy Raymond) tries to put an end to it before the town's public well, their last source of water, runs dry.

    Director:Marc Daniels
    Writer:Francis M. Cockrell

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  19. Gunsmoke Season 12 Episode 13 - The Moonstone
    7.8/10(235 votes)

    S12:E13

    A young farmer's former partner-in-crime, girlfriend and slow-witted brother figure in the discovery of his forgotten past.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Paul Savage

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  20. Gunsmoke Season 12 Episode 17 - Mad Dog
    7.8/10(228 votes)

    S12:E17

    Festus Haggen is mistaken for a hired gunman and offered $300 to fight, and run out of town, the 3 sons of a man his cousin is accused of killing.

    Director:Charles R. Rondeau
    Writer:Unknown

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  21. Gunsmoke Season 12 Episode 18 - Muley
    7.8/10(234 votes)

    S12:E18

    A young gunman (Zalman King) falls for one of Kitty's saloon girls (Lane Bradbury) while waiting to kill Marshal Matt Dillon and rob the bank.

    Director:Allen Reisner
    Writer:Unknown

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  22. Gunsmoke Season 12 Episode 11 - The Newcomers
    7.7/10(220 votes)

    S12:E11

    Lars Karlgren, a Scandinavian immigrant and his teenage son Petter, find the West even wilder than they had imagined when they settle in Dodge City. Petter gets framed for a murder of a man who was picking a fight with him.

    Director:Robert Totten
    Writer:Unknown

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  23. Gunsmoke Season 12 Episode 15 - The Hanging
    7.7/10(212 votes)

    S12:E15

    To Marshal Matt Dillon and his deputies falls their grimmest task in many years-- the hanging of a ruthless gunman.

    Director:Bernard L. Kowalski
    Writer:Unknown

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  24. Gunsmoke Season 12 Episode 20 - Old Friend
    7.7/10(208 votes)

    S12:E20

    An embittered lawman (Fritz Weaver) seeks revenge against the men who destroyed his town and took away his wife.

    Director:Allen Reisner
    Writer:Unknown

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  25. Gunsmoke Season 12 Episode 2 - The Goldtakers
    7.6/10(250 votes)

    S12:E2

    A gang of thieves commandeers the Dodge City blacksmith shop to divide a gigantic bar of gold.

    Director:Vincent McEveety
    Writer:Unknown

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Season 12 Ratings Summary

"The Jailer" is the best rated episode of "Gunsmoke" season 12. It scored 8.8/10 based on 737 votes. Directed by Vincent McEveety and written by Unknown, it aired on 10/1/1966. This episode is rated 0.1 points higher than the second-best, "Gunfighter, R.I.P.".