The Best Episodes of Gunsmoke Season 4

Episode Rankings

1. #1 Fan Favorite
   

   7.9/10(239 votes)

   #1 - Matt for Murder

   S4:E19/13/1958

   Matt resigns as Marshall after Tom Samples accuses Matt of killing an innocent man;however, Doc and Matt's old friend Wild Bill Hickok come up with a plan that might clear Matt of this erroneous charge of murder.

   Director:Richard Whorf

   Writer:John Meston

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   Director:Richard Whorf

   Writer:John Meston
2. 

   7.8/10(224 votes)

   #2 - The Patsy

   S4:E29/20/1958

   Matt doubts the veracity of Long Branch hostess Holly Fanshaw's claim that she saw trail drover Fly Hoyt murder young Dave Thorp. His suspicions increase further when Hoyt voluntarily returns to Dodge in order to clear his name.

   Director:Richard Whorf

   Writer:John Meston

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   Director:Richard Whorf

   Writer:John Meston
3. 

   7.7/10(209 votes)

   #3 - Gunsmuggler

   S4:E39/27/1958

   Matt believes white smugglers supplied the guns that a band of Pawnee used to attack local ranchers.

   Director:Richard Whorf

   Writer:John Meston

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   Director:Richard Whorf

   Writer:John Meston
4. 

   8.1/10(222 votes)

   #4 - Monopoly

   S4:E410/4/1958

   Two murders result when an unscrupulous Eastern businessman named Ivy hires a psychotic killer to help him establish undisputed control of Dodge City's freight shipment business.

   Director:Unknown

   Writer:Unknown

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   Director:Unknown

   Writer:Unknown
5. 

   8.1/10(234 votes)

   #5 - Letter of the Law

   S4:E510/11/1958

   A rich landowner seizes the chance to get a little more acreage when he discovers that a homesteader has failed to file the paperwork to make his quarter section his own.

   Director:Richard Whorf

   Writer:John Meston

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   Director:Richard Whorf

   Writer:John Meston
6. 

   7.6/10(223 votes)

   #6 - Thoroughbreds

   S4:E610/18/1958

   Matt and Chester, out of water while riding back to Dodge, come upon a man with two fine horses who is not very trusting. When they meet him later in Dodge, he is much different: friendly and spending money freely.

   Director:Unknown

   Writer:Unknown

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   Director:Unknown

   Writer:Unknown
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7. 

   7.7/10(220 votes)

   #7 - Stage Hold-Up

   S4:E710/25/1958

   A stagecoach on which Matt and Chester are riding is robbed and another passenger is murdered. Matt utilizes a ruse to incriminate the thieves when a "cowboy" appears and offers to show him where one of the thieves may be buried.

   Director:Ted Post

   Writer:Unknown

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   Director:Ted Post

   Writer:Unknown
8. 

   8.2/10(267 votes)

   #8 - Lost Rifle

   S4:E811/1/1958

   Matt refuses to arrest his friend Ben Tiple without more evidence, when the man he has been feuding with is found shot in the back.

   Director:Richard Whorf

   Writer:Unknown

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   Director:Richard Whorf

   Writer:Unknown
9. 

   7.7/10(228 votes)

   #9 - Land Deal

   S4:E911/8/1958

   When a stranger leading some immigrants planning on settling outside of Dodge wants Matt to give him a badge to avert trouble, Matt gets suspicious and rides out to their camp to see what is really up.

   Director:Ted Post

   Writer:Unknown

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   Director:Ted Post

   Writer:Unknown
10. 

    7.3/10(210 votes)

    #10 - Lynching Man

    S4:E1011/15/1958

    After mild-mannered Hank Blenis is "lynched" by the two men who stole his horse, self-righteous Charlie Drain decides to take the law into his own hands and is led tragically astray by the culprits.

    Director:Richard Whorf

    Writer:Unknown

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    Director:Richard Whorf

    Writer:Unknown
11. 

    7.9/10(228 votes)

    #11 - How to Kill a Friend

    S4:E1111/22/1958

    Two gamblers find Matt incorruptible and attempt to intimidate him by hiring gunman Toque Morlan. The two are ironically unaware that Morlan was Matt's close friend until a long-ago attack by a mob left Morlan scarred and harboring a bitter grudge against lawmen.

    Director:Richard Whorf

    Writer:Unknown

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    Director:Richard Whorf

    Writer:Unknown
12. 

    8.1/10(223 votes)

    #12 - Grass

    S4:E1211/29/1958

    White men pretending to be Indians attack greenhorn Harry Pope at night, and he kills one of them. Now the dead man's friends want revenge.

    Director:Richard Whorf

    Writer:Unknown

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    Director:Richard Whorf

    Writer:Unknown
13. 

    7.7/10(212 votes)

    #13 - The Cast

    S4:E1312/6/1958

    When Doc arrives too late to save his patient, her husband, a good friend of Matt's, blames Doc for her death.

    Director:Jesse Hibbs

    Writer:John Meston

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    Director:Jesse Hibbs

    Writer:John Meston
14. 

    7.6/10(225 votes)

    #14 - Robber Bridegroom

    S4:E1412/13/1958

    Financially desperate Jack Fitch robs a stagecoach and abducts passenger Laura Church, unaware that she is "engaged" to an unscrupulous businessman who threatened to ruin her father if he did not agree to the marriage.

    Director:Richard Whorf

    Writer:Unknown

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    Director:Richard Whorf

    Writer:Unknown
15. 

    7.9/10(223 votes)

    #15 - Snakebite

    S4:E1512/20/1958

    Claustrophobic plainsman Poney Thompson is arrested for murdering a man who maliciously shot his dog, but an ironic fate awaits him after he breaks free from Chester's custody.

    Director:Ted Post

    Writer:John Meston

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    Director:Ted Post

    Writer:John Meston
16. 

    7.1/10(226 votes)

    #16 - Gypsum Hills Feud

    S4:E1612/27/1958

    Matt's attempt to find a man who shot at him from ambush leads him and Chester into the middle of a murderous feud between two bitter and isolated mountain families.

    Director:Richard Whorf

    Writer:Unknown

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    Director:Richard Whorf

    Writer:Unknown
17. 

    7.3/10(196 votes)

    #17 - Young Love

    S4:E171/3/1959

    Over the objections of his sometime partner Rod Allison, treacherous Jim Box murders aging rancher Jesse Wheat, then attempts to steal cattle from Wheat's young widow.

    Director:Unknown

    Writer:Unknown

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    Director:Unknown

    Writer:Unknown
18. 

    7.5/10(222 votes)

    #18 - Marshal Proudfoot

    S4:E181/10/1959

    Matt goes along with a hoax when Chester's aging Uncle Wesley arrives for a visit. Wesley thinks Chester is the marshal and Dillion is his assistant.

    Director:Jesse Hibbs

    Writer:John Meston

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    Director:Jesse Hibbs

    Writer:John Meston
19. 

    7.5/10(204 votes)

    #19 - Passive Resistance

    S4:E191/17/1959

    A man's house is burned and his livestock killed, but he refuses to identify the perpetrators to the marshal.

    Director:Ted Post

    Writer:Unknown

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    Director:Ted Post

    Writer:Unknown
20. 

    7.5/10(213 votes)

    #20 - Love of a Good Woman

    S4:E201/24/1959

    An old friend of Doc's, a nurse, is visiting and he hopes she will stay around Dodge. In the meantime Matt is worried that an ex-con is gunning for him even though he thought he was innocent five years ago.

    Director:Arthur Hiller

    Writer:Unknown

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    Director:Arthur Hiller

    Writer:Unknown
21. 

    8.3/10(258 votes)

    #21 - Jayhawkers

    S4:E211/31/1959

    Trail boss Dolph Quince sends for his friend Matt to help escort his cattle herd into Dodge because he is having trouble with Jayhawkers (Kansas renegades), and he hopes to ease the animosity his men have towards all Kansans.

    Director:Andrew V. McLaglen

    Writer:Unknown

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    Director:Andrew V. McLaglen

    Writer:Unknown
22. 

    7.8/10(240 votes)

    #22 - Kitty's Rebellion

    S4:E222/7/1959

    An old friend of the family comes to Dodge looking for Kitty, but when he finds out she's a saloon owner, he's dismayed. Intent on defending her honor wherever she is insulted, he nearly gets himself killed. Kitty finally tells him that she has no honor, and he keeps making a fool out of himself thinking otherwise. It sends him away and saves his life at the same time.

    Director:Jesse Hibbs

    Writer:John Meston

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    Director:Jesse Hibbs

    Writer:John Meston
23. 

    7.5/10(216 votes)

    #23 - Sky

    S4:E232/14/1959

    Young Billy flees Dodge in fear after being suspected of shooting dead an older saloon girl whose sexual advances he had been resisting.

    Director:Ted Post

    Writer:Unknown

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    Director:Ted Post

    Writer:Unknown
24. 

    7.6/10(204 votes)

    #24 - Doc Quits

    S4:E242/21/1959

    Doc takes hard the death of a homesteader under his care; then a flashy new medicine man comes to town and takes away many of his patients.

    Director:Unknown

    Writer:John Meston

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    Director:Unknown

    Writer:John Meston
25. 

    7.6/10(208 votes)

    #25 - The Bear

    S4:E252/28/1959

    Rivalry for the affections of a former saloon gal leads to a frame-up for murder.

    Director:Jesse Hibbs

    Writer:Unknown

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    Director:Jesse Hibbs

    Writer:Unknown