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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 8.7/10

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 1 - Snap Decision
    8.2/10(266 votes)

    #1 - Snap Decision

    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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  2. Gunsmoke Season 12 Episode 2 - The Goldtakers
    7.5/10(238 votes)

    #2 - The Goldtakers

    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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  3. Gunsmoke Season 12 Episode 3 - The Jailer
    8.7/10(747 votes)

    #3 - The Jailer

    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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  4. Gunsmoke Season 12 Episode 4 - The Mission
    7.9/10(223 votes)

    #4 - The Mission

    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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  5. Gunsmoke Season 12 Episode 5 - The Good People
    8.3/10(205 votes)

    #5 - The Good People

    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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  6. Gunsmoke Season 12 Episode 6 - Gunfighter, R.I.P.
    8.7/10(308 votes)

    #6 - Gunfighter, R.I.P.

    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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  7. Gunsmoke Season 12 Episode 7 - The Wrong Man
    7.5/10(206 votes)

    #7 - The Wrong Man

    S12:E7

    Hootie Kyle is a poor but honest farmer whose credit has run out. Matt Dillon and Festus lend him some money, then he gets swindled out of it in a poker game. Later Hootie gets circumstantially framed for the murder of the card shark who swindled him.

    Director:Robert Totten
    Writer:Unknown

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  8. Gunsmoke Season 12 Episode 8 - The Whispering Tree
    8.0/10(240 votes)

    #8 - The Whispering Tree

    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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  9. Gunsmoke Season 12 Episode 9 - The Well
    7.8/10(219 votes)

    #9 - The Well

    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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  10. Gunsmoke Season 12 Episode 10 - Stage Stop
    8.0/10(234 votes)

    #10 - Stage Stop

    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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  11. Gunsmoke Season 12 Episode 11 - The Newcomers
    7.7/10(209 votes)

    #11 - The Newcomers

    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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  12. Gunsmoke Season 12 Episode 12 - Quaker Girl
    7.4/10(227 votes)

    #12 - Quaker Girl

    S12:E12

    The identity of a criminal is confused with that of deputy marshal Thad, when a Quaker party rescues the pair from a do-or-die fight.

    Director:Bernard L. Kowalski
    Writer:Unknown

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  13. Gunsmoke Season 12 Episode 13 - The Moonstone
    7.8/10(224 votes)

    #13 - The Moonstone

    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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  14. Gunsmoke Season 12 Episode 14 - Champion of the World
    6.9/10(204 votes)

    #14 - Champion of the World

    S12:E14

    Bull Bannock (Alan Hale), retired heavyweight champion of the world, attempts to make a home for himself in Dodge City, and tries to buy Miss Kitty's Longbranch Saloon.

    Director:Marc Daniels
    Writer:Unknown

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  15. Gunsmoke Season 12 Episode 15 - The Hanging
    7.7/10(203 votes)

    #15 - The Hanging

    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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  16. Gunsmoke Season 12 Episode 16 - Saturday Night
    8.1/10(200 votes)

    #16 - Saturday Night

    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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  17. Gunsmoke Season 12 Episode 17 - Mad Dog
    7.9/10(212 votes)

    #17 - Mad Dog

    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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  18. Gunsmoke Season 12 Episode 18 - Muley
    7.8/10(219 votes)

    #18 - Muley

    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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  19. Gunsmoke Season 12 Episode 19 - Mail Drop
    7.3/10(185 votes)

    #19 - Mail Drop

    S12:E19

    A boy (Eddie Hodges) comes to Dodge City in search of his father only to learn that he is a wanted criminal.

    Director:Robert Totten
    Writer:Unknown

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  20. Gunsmoke Season 12 Episode 20 - Old Friend
    7.7/10(196 votes)

    #20 - Old Friend

    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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  21. Gunsmoke Season 12 Episode 21 - Fandango
    8.1/10(236 votes)

    #21 - Fandango

    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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  22. Gunsmoke Season 12 Episode 22 - The Returning
    8.1/10(200 votes)

    #22 - The Returning

    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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  23. Gunsmoke Season 12 Episode 23 - The Lure
    7.9/10(190 votes)

    #23 - The Lure

    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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  24. Gunsmoke Season 12 Episode 24 - Noose of Gold
    8.1/10(191 votes)

    #24 - Noose of Gold

    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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  25. Gunsmoke Season 12 Episode 25 - The Favor
    8.3/10(200 votes)

    #25 - The Favor

    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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Season 12 Ratings Summary

"Snap Decision" is the best rated episode of "Gunsmoke" season 12. It scored 8.2/10 based on 266 votes. Directed by Mark Rydell and written by Unknown, it aired on 9/17/1966. This episode is rated 0.7 points higher than the second-best, "The Goldtakers".