Matt learns there is a hired killer in Dodge City, the hired killer gives Matt a challenge to find out who paid Nate Springer to kill Matt.

Crack-Up

James Arness

Amanda Blake

Dennis Weaver

Milburn Stone

John Meston

Ted Post

Gun for Chester

Season 2

Chester believes Asa Ledbetter is out to kill him. After Chester is shot, he tells Matt Asa Ledbetter shot him. Matt worries that Chester may be working too hard on finding Asa Ledbetter. Asa Ledbetter claims Chester killed his brother.

After Harry Spencer's life is saved Matt receives a wanted poster for Joe Sharpe who robbed a bank. Matt learns that Joe and Shape left Dodge so Sharpe could try and get the reward money.

Blood Money

Doc, Chester, and Matt suspect Kitty of helping a bank robber when she invites Matt to an out of the way spot for dinner.  What they didn't know was that the bank robber was the first 'man' Kitty had ever known.

Kitty's Outlaw

Budge wants the Marshall to arrest his Pa for murder but when they get to Budge's house they get captured by Bud & his Ma so they can rob the bank.

Potato Road

Jesse comes to Dodge to kill the man who killed his Pa.

Jesse

Mavis McCloud comes to Dodge to get married. She marries Barny but Lou Staley comes looking for Mavis and wants to kill Barney and the Marshall.

Mavis McCloud

Joe Digger wants to kill the two men who tried to lynch him.

Born to Hang

A powerful landowner threatens to wipe out Dodge when his daughter falls in love with the son of his archenemy. Matt has to find a way to stop it.

Romeo

When Matt sends Chester out to handle a rowdy couple of cow pokers, Chester ends up nearly dead.  Matt is so guilt ridden he vows to find the men who did it and make them pay.

Never Pester Chester

The people of Dodge gets suspicious of Jim Cobbett (John Larch) when his second wife (Virginia Christine) vanishes just like his first (Karl Swenson appears).

Fingered

Pernell Roberts appears in this episode, as Matt tries to find a killer who robbed the stagecoach.

How to Kill a Woman

The whole town is caught up in a mystery: where does Joe Nadler get all his money---and where does he go to spend it?

Cows and Cribs

Doc kills a man who shoots his horse. The man's brother comes looking for Doc because he thinks Doc killed his brother for reward money.

Doc's Reward

An eastern dude asks Kitty if she'd like to take a midnight drive, but when she doesn't return the next day, Matt goes looking.

Kitty Lost

A hillbilly arrives in Dodge looking to continue a feud started back in the hills of Virginia.

Twelfth Night

Matt goes to Elkader after the man who shot him and runs into Joe Phy "US Marshall".

Joe Phy

Matt & Chester are taken prisoner by two buffalo hunters who are hunting buffalo in Indian territory. The hunters leave them tied to a wagon in hopes that the Indians will kill them.

Buffalo Man

The Gunner brothers rob the bank in Dodge and take Kitty hostage.

Kitty Caught

Ollie Ridgers is a free spirited man who hates towns and lives free on the prairie. His friend Jim Branch convinces Ollie to go into Dodge for a good time at Miss Kitty's saloon.

While Ollie is in town, two men kill Ollie's hogs and mule. Ollie goes after the two men thus killing one of the men.

Matt is forced to arrest his good friend Ollie for killing one of the men.

After Ollie has been found guilty of murder and sentenced to a long prison term, Ollie's friend,  (Jim Branch) kills Ollie to spare Ollie from the cruelty of being being incarcerated for the rest of his life.

Claustrophobia

Andy Tennis kills a gambler. Matt arrests him but Andy's mother breaks him out of jail.

Ma Tennis

Clifton Bunker and Samuel Spring, writers from New York, come to Dodge looking for a story. Finding none they stir up trouble to get a story.

Sunday Supplement

Hattie throws in with two men to kill her husband and then sell his ranch for the money. Yorky Kelley sees the men ride off with his father and trails them till his horse breaks a leg. On the prarie Yorky finds Marshall Dillon and asks for his help finding his Pa.

Wild West

Matt get caught in a blizzard then finds shelter in a cabin but finds more than he bargained for.

The Cabin

Nat Seiber and Polly Troyman are to be married.

When Polly's younger Brother finds out that Nat had visited another woman (Beulah)late one evening at her house, Polly's  Brother (Henry Troyman) thinks that Nat has dishonored his Sister Polly and promises to stop the wedding anyway he can.

When Nat is shot on his wedding day, everyone thinks Polly's Brother  committed the shooting.

After Matt and Chester do an investigation, Matt comes to another conclusion about the shooting of Nat Seiber.

Dirt

Hide skinner Emmett Dooley thinks he killed a man while drunk and turns himself in.

Dooley Surrenders

Jake Kaiser and some other ranchers hung Frank Tillman thinking he was a horse thief but they were wrong. Tillman's wife and son won't tell the Marshall who did it.

Joke's on Us

Tom Cassidy (a drunk) tries to kill Dan Clell (a new gambler) in town.

Bottleman

Ernie Stubblefield trying to put his past behind him changes his name to Earl Stafford and is traveling with a laughing gas show. Cloud Marsh tries the gas and gets laughed at by the town. Angry he and his brothers attack Stubblefield/Stafford.

Laughing Gas

The friends of a murdered Texan decide to take the law into their own hands.

Texas Cowboys

Amy Slatter comes to Dodge to try and get Matt to kill her because in the Dakota territory Matt had to kill her brother.

Amy's Good Deed

Someone keeps hanging people in Dodge and making it look like suicide.

Hanging Man

A woman's boyfriend causes trouble for Matt with his constant fits of jealousy.

Innocent Broad

Mr. Shaneway wants Mr. Pap at the bank to loan him $20,000 for a poker bet. When the con begins to unfold, Doc gets kidnapped.

The Big Con

Gambler Leach Fields marries Zach Morton's widow Ada thinking she knows where the money Zach stole is.

Widow's Mite

Matt arrests James Cando. Cando tells Lee Binders to break him out. In the attempt to get him out Cando tries to hang Chester.

Chester's Hanging

A secret Army payroll is stolen and two soldiers killed. The Major threatens Matt with martial law if the thieves aren't caught. Matt suspects Jenny Lane, a new girl at the Long Branch of being involved.

Carmen

Matt and Chester track Nation for a killing in Dodge. Nation kills their horses then gives himself up. They wind up having to take a stage back to Dodge. Nation recognizes a man on the stage and helps Matt prevent a robbery.

Overland Express

Marcus France, a "Gentleman Gambler" comes to Dodge and falls in love with Bonnie Damon. Tiller Evans thinks Bonnie is his girl. Matt has to keep Tiller from killing France.

The Gentleman

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.

Crack-Up

Seasons20

Season 3 Episodes39

Cast4

Crew2

Discussion

Episode Summary