Gunsmoke (1955–1975)

Marshal Matt Dillon keeps the peace in the rough and tumble Dodge City.

Stars:

James Arness, Milburn Stone, Amanda Blake

Nominated for 4 Golden Globes. Another 13 wins & 19 nominations.

Cast

Complete series cast summary:
James Arness	...	Matt Dillon (635 episodes, 1955-1975)
Milburn Stone	...	Doc (604 episodes, 1955-1975)
Amanda Blake	...	Kitty (568 episodes, 1955-1974)
Ken Curtis	...	Festus (304 episodes, 1959-1975)
Dennis Weaver	...	Chester (290 episodes, 1955-1964)

Storyline

Marshal Matt Dillon is in charge of Dodge City, a town in the wild west where people often have no respect for the law. He deals on a daily basis with the problems associated with frontier life: cattle rustling, gunfights, brawls, standover tactics, and land fraud. Such situations call for sound judgement and brave actions: of which Marshal Dillon has plenty.

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Plot Keywords:

marshal | warrior | hero | colt .45 | tough guy | 

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Genres:

Drama | Western

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Certificate:

TV-G

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

10 September 1955 (USA)

Also Known As:

Marshal Dillon

Filming Locations:

Bell Ranch, Santa Susana, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Arness Production Company, Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS), Filmaster Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

60 min 30 min 60 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Black and White (1955-1966) Color (1966-1975)

Aspect Ratio:

4:3

Did You Know?

Trivia

Slated to be canceled in 1967 due to low ratings, but then-CBS president William Paley reversed the decision. He moved the show from Saturdays to Mondays (cancelling Gilligan's Island in the process), placing it back in the Nielsen's Top Ten (Paley and his wife were both big fans of the show).

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Quotes

Louie Pheeters: [sitting at the bar in episode "Slocum"] Excepting some women, of course, just ain't nothing prettier than a full bottle.

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Connections

Referenced in Pulp Fiction (1994)

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Soundtracks

"The Old Trail"
by Rex Koury and Glenn Spencer
Aspen Fair Music, Incorporated (ASCAP)

User Reviews

The best of the series

The best of the series is the first five years when John Meston did most of the writing. He had a real feel of, what I perceive to be, the Old West to be really like. He did not go in for all of the frivolousness of later episodes. He did not rely on loud talking and grandiose brashness by the actors.

People in the earlier episodes gave the impression that they were ordinary, hard working people who barely eked a living out of a hard land. They did what they had to do to get by, out on the lonely Kansas plains. When they met disaster, it was "implied" on screen and the viewer could use his imagination as to what happened. Those shows did not have all of the "Hollywood" glitz that pervaded later episodes.