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The Best Episodes of Gunsmoke Season 8

Every episode of Gunsmoke Season 8 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of Gunsmoke Season 8!

Binge this in 18h 45m•Peaking at 9.0/10

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 8 Episode 29 - With a Smile
    9.0/10(406 votes)

    S8:E29

    A rancher's spoiled son believes even after he is convicted of murder that his father's wealth and influence will save him from the hangman.

    Director:Andrew V. McLaglen
    Writer:John Meston

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  2. Gunsmoke Season 8 Episode 38 - The Quest for Asa Janin
    8.8/10(288 votes)

    S8:E38

    A young man is convicted of killing the saloon girl he wanted for his own. Matt is so sure that the young man is really innocent that he goes on the road after another suspect to prevent an unjust hanging.

    Director:Andrew V. McLaglen
    Writer:Paul Savage

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  3. Gunsmoke Season 8 Episode 10 - The Hunger
    8.7/10(321 votes)

    S8:E10

    Matt and Doc come to the rescue of a farm wife and daughter who essentially are kept as prisoners by the farmer and his son.

    Director:Harry Harris
    Writer:Unknown

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  4. Gunsmoke Season 8 Episode 18 - The Renegades
    8.7/10(285 votes)

    S8:E18

    Quint says that white renegades, not Indians, are the cause of recent raids around Dodge. Working shotgun on the stage, he proves his point when he is attacked, then pursued by those renegades. His "Indian" skills save him and a colonel's daughter who has contempt for half-Comanche Quint.

    Director:Andrew V. McLaglen
    Writer:John Meston

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  5. Gunsmoke Season 8 Episode 19 - Cotter's Girl
    8.7/10(368 votes)

    S8:E19

    A father's dying request is that Matt go to retrieve his daughter. Expecting to find a little girl, Matt finds a near-grown woman, but one who's wild and desperately in need of civilizing.

    Director:Harry Harris
    Writer:Kathleen Hite

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  6. Gunsmoke Season 8 Episode 13 - Us Haggens
    8.6/10(356 votes)

    S8:E13

    When a boy witnesses his grandfather's murder, it sends Matt looking for a new found companion's uncle. Festus Haggen is tracking his uncle for killing his twin brother Fergus. Matt is wary but learns to trust Festus when he's shot and in bad shape.

    Director:Andrew V. McLaglen
    Writer:Unknown

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  7. Gunsmoke Season 8 Episode 3 - Quint Asper Comes Home
    8.5/10(324 votes)

    S8:E3

    A half-Comanche has joined his mother's tribe in killing whites to avenge the murder of his father, but Matt sees the good in the man and the chance to re-integrate him, perhaps, into white society.

    Director:Andrew V. McLaglen
    Writer:John Meston

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  8. Gunsmoke Season 8 Episode 28 - I Call Him Wonder
    8.4/10(274 votes)

    S8:E28

    An orphaned Indian boy latches on to a cowboy in need of work and the two of them find all doors closed to them in Dodge.

    Director:Harry Harris
    Writer:Kathleen Hite

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  9. Gunsmoke Season 8 Episode 8 - The Trappers
    8.3/10(254 votes)

    S8:E8

    A trapper leaves his friend dying alone in order to save his own life, only later to stumble across that friend in Dodge, very much alive and wanting him dead.

    Director:Andrew V. McLaglen
    Writer:Unknown

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  10. Gunsmoke Season 8 Episode 23 - Ash
    8.3/10(292 votes)

    S8:E23

    The friendship between business partners is jeopardized when one of them sustains a head injury, changing his personality. The injured man threatens to kill West's character, the fiancé of a young saloon woman.

    Director:Harry Harris
    Writer:John Meston

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  11. Gunsmoke Season 8 Episode 24 - Blind Man's Bluff
    8.3/10(276 votes)

    S8:E24

    Billy Poe is falsely accused of murder by a dying man, and flees to another town while Matt follows him, and encounters dangerous resistance from other men who hate lawmen.

    Director:Ted Post
    Writer:John Meston

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  12. Gunsmoke Season 8 Episode 34 - Old York
    8.3/10(248 votes)

    S8:E34

    Pardoned for his Civil War service, an old outlaw finds his way to Dodge, where there's a lawman who's in his debt.

    Director:Harry Harris
    Writer:John Meston

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  13. Gunsmoke Season 8 Episode 2 - Call Me Dodie
    8.2/10(309 votes)

    S8:E2

    An adolescent escapee from a cruel orphanage knows she has a lot to learn, and she starts learning it from the rough-and-tumble characters and loafers she encounters in Dodge.

    Director:Harry Harris
    Writer:Kathleen Hite

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  14. Gunsmoke Season 8 Episode 12 - The Way It Is
    8.2/10(285 votes)

    S8:E12

    While Matt is out of town, putting lawman's business ahead of Kitty yet again, a new man in her life has plenty of time and attention to give--perhaps too much attention.

    Director:Harry Harris
    Writer:Kathleen Hite

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  15. Gunsmoke Season 8 Episode 36 - The Odyssey of Jubal Tanner
    8.2/10(270 votes)

    S8:E36

    Aaron, sweet on saloon girl Leah and wanting to make her his wife, is attacked and killed by Colie Fletcher. When Matt goes after him, Colie runs into Jubal Tanner, wounds him, and steals his horse. Jubal, ungrateful to those who help him, meets Leah, and each helps the other's outlook.

    Director:Andrew V. McLaglen
    Writer:Paul Savage

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  16. Gunsmoke Season 8 Episode 26 - Anybody Can Kill a Marshal
    8.1/10(282 votes)

    S8:E26

    Two men want to rob the bank in Dodge, but are unwilling to try it while Matt lives. A man agrees to accept the job of killing the marshal, attaching some rather peculiar conditions to his acceptance.

    Director:Harry Harris
    Writer:Kathleen Hite

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  17. Gunsmoke Season 8 Episode 32 - Tell Chester
    8.1/10(246 votes)

    S8:E32

    Chester is smitten with Polly, but she has eyes only for Wade, a man new in town and newly her father's employee. Knowing little about Wade, Polly agrees quickly to marry him, but Chester discovers that Wade already has a wife.

    Director:Joseph Sargent
    Writer:Unknown

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  18. Gunsmoke Season 8 Episode 11 - Abe Blocker
    8.0/10(285 votes)

    S8:E11

    Civilization is moving in on the isolation of a rugged pioneer friend of Matt's, and he starts using lethal force against the settlers encroaching on the land he regards as his.

    Director:Andrew V. McLaglen
    Writer:John Meston

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  19. Gunsmoke Season 8 Episode 17 - Louie Pheeters
    8.0/10(245 votes)

    S8:E17

    The town drunk who saw a man drowned, believes it was dream, until he meets up with the guy who did the drowning.

    Director:Harry Harris
    Writer:John Meston

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  20. Gunsmoke Season 8 Episode 22 - Shona
    8.0/10(240 votes)

    S8:E22

    Gib Dawson brings his beautiful Indian wife, Shona, in to Dodge for treatment of a badly infected hand wound, at a time when racial tensions are running high against the Comanches.

    Director:Ted Post
    Writer:John Meston

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  21. Gunsmoke Season 8 Episode 15 - False Front
    7.9/10(230 votes)

    S8:E15

    A slick city reporter sets out to prove that even a milquetoast can pass for a feared gunfighter, if a few well-placed tidbits of rumor precede him.

    Director:Andrew V. McLaglen
    Writer:John Meston

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  22. Gunsmoke Season 8 Episode 33 - Quint-Cident
    7.9/10(267 votes)

    S8:E33

    A woman newly widowed is powerfully attracted to Quint, but when he gently turns her down, she vows to make him pay for scorning a white woman.

    Director:Andrew V. McLaglen
    Writer:Kathleen Hite

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  23. Gunsmoke Season 8 Episode 1 - The Search
    7.8/10(284 votes)

    S8:E1

    A young man named Cale may have earned Marshal Dillon's respect, but Tate Gifford says Cale has just ridden off on a stolen horse - Tate's horse.

    Director:Harry Harris
    Writer:Kathleen Hite

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  24. Gunsmoke Season 8 Episode 6 - Collie's Free
    7.8/10(253 votes)

    S8:E6

    Released after eight bitter years in prison, Collie Patten has difficulty adjusting to the fact that things have inevitably changed with respect to his relationships with his wife, his son, and the citizens of Dodge.

    Director:Harry Harris
    Writer:Kathleen Hite

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  25. Gunsmoke Season 8 Episode 5 - Jenny
    7.7/10(259 votes)

    S8:E5

    A bank robber hides out in Dodge, bringing along his girl. While he's gambling away his loot, his girl casts her eye on Matt.

    Director:Andrew V. McLaglen
    Writer:John Meston

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Season 8 Ratings Summary

"With a Smile" is the best rated episode of "Gunsmoke" season 8. It scored 9/10 based on 406 votes. Directed by Andrew V. McLaglen and written by John Meston, it aired on 3/30/1963. This episode is rated 0.2 points higher than the second-best, "The Quest for Asa Janin".