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The Best Episodes of Gunsmoke

Every episode of Gunsmoke ranked from best to worst. Let's dive into the Best Episodes of Gunsmoke!

The Best Episodes of Gunsmoke

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...
  1. Background image for Blind Man's Bluff
    10.0/10(1 votes)

    #1 - Blind Man's Bluff

    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.

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    Director:Ted Post
  2. Background image for Anybody Can Kill a Marshal
    10.0/10(1 votes)

    #2 - Anybody Can Kill a Marshal

    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.

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  3. Background image for The Glory and the Mud
    10.0/10(1 votes)

    #3 - The Glory and the Mud

    S9:E14

    A retired lawman and showman wants only to settle down with the Dodge seamstress he left behind twenty years ago, but a young whippersnapper hopes to make a name for himself by challenging the aging gun to a duel.

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    Director:Jerry Hopper
    Writer:Unknown
  4. Background image for Seven Hours to Dawn
    10.0/10(1 votes)

    #4 - Seven Hours to Dawn

    S11:E1

    Mace Gore's gang has taken over Dodge. When Matt is believed killed, Festus and Doc have a plan to lure Gore into a trap, even though his usual plan is to leave by dawn.

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    Writer:Unknown
  5. Background image for Sanctuary
    10.0/10(1 votes)

    #5 - Sanctuary

    S11:E23

    An outlaw gang shoots it out fleeing Dodge City. When one of them is injured real bad, he hides out in the church where the reverend is fearful but not for himself.

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    Director:Harry Harris
    Writer:Unknown
  6. Background image for Uncle Finney
    10.0/10(1 votes)

    #6 - Uncle Finney

    S14:E4

    A comedic episode. Two hillbillies attempt to turn their 102 year-old relative in for the bounty on him.

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    Writer:Unknown
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  8. Background image for Magnus
    9.5/10(2 votes)

    #7 - Magnus

    S1:E12

    Chester is embarrassed at a visit by his estranged mountain man brother Magnus. To prove that Magnus is too uncivilized for town, Chester tours him through the highlights of Dodge: card gambling, drinking, and talking with Kitty. Meanwhile, the Long Branch women plan a Christmas Eve dance which is busted by the spiteful Lucifer Jones.

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    Director:Unknown
  9. Background image for The Gallows
    9.2/10(412 votes)

    #8 - The Gallows

    S7:E22

    While returning suspected killer Pruit Dover to Dodge to stand trial, Matt is shot and badly wounded, and yet Dover stays with him and nurses him back to health.

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  10. Background image for Tell Chester
    9.0/10(1 votes)

    #9 - Tell Chester

    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.

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    Writer:Unknown
  11. Background image for The Squaw
    9.0/10(1 votes)

    #10 - The Squaw

    S20:E14

    Fleeing from both Matt Dillon and his double-crossed partners, outlaw Gristy Calhoun discovers that his survival in the badlands depends on an Indian woman.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  12. Background image for The Widow-Maker
    8.9/10(266 votes)

    #11 - The Widow-Maker

    S19:E5

    A gunfighter wants to forget his past... and wants everyone else to forget it too. Unfortunately for him, this is not easy to accomplish...

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    Writer:Unknown
  13. Background image for Long, Long Trail
    8.7/10(372 votes)

    #12 - Long, Long Trail

    S7:E6

    A headstrong young woman will undertake the long, dangerous journey to her fiancé's fort on her own if she must, so Matt nominates himself to escort her.

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  14. Background image for Hung High
    8.7/10(299 votes)

    #13 - Hung High

    S10:E8

    As Matt takes a convicted man to Hays City for hanging, Matt and the prisoner are waylaid and the prisoner lynched. Matt is framed for the killing, then arrested by a sergeant with a grudge against him.

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    Director:Mark Rydell
  15. Background image for Chicken
    8.7/10(231 votes)

    #14 - Chicken

    S10:E11

    Mistakenly hailed as a hero who downed four robbers, a man rethinks his decision to let folks regard him as a gunfighter when protecting the woman he wants calls for a gunman's skill.

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  16. Background image for The Jailer
    8.7/10(705 votes)

    #15 - 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.

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    Writer:Unknown
  17. Background image for Gunfighter, R.I.P.
    8.7/10(289 votes)

    #16 - 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.

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    Director:Mark Rydell
    Writer:Unknown
  18. Background image for Matt's Love Story
    8.7/10(303 votes)

    #17 - Matt's Love Story

    S19:E3

    A wounded Matt Dillon suffers amnesia then falls in love with a widow. Matt's first TV kiss, not to Miss Kitty, but to guest star Michael Learned.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  19. Background image for The Round Up
    8.6/10(312 votes)

    #18 - The Round Up

    S2:E4

    Matt closes up shops to a group of drunken cowboys, which causes trouble.

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    Director:Ted Post
    Writer:Unknown
  20. Background image for No Indians
    8.6/10(280 votes)

    #19 - No Indians

    S2:E11

    Matt and Chester act as decoys to ambush outlaws (including Mickey Simpson) that are masking their crimes as those of renegade Indians (Fintan Meyler and Herbert Rudley appear).

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    Director:Ted Post
    Writer:Unknown
  21. Background image for Gone Straight
    8.6/10(229 votes)

    #20 - Gone Straight

    S2:E20

    Townspeople protect an outlaw (Carl Betz) they believe has reformed (Tige Andrews, Joe De Santis, John Dierkes, Marianne Stewart, and Ward Wood appear).

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    Director:Ted Post
    Writer:Unknown
  22. Background image for Apprentice Doc
    8.6/10(252 votes)

    #21 - Apprentice Doc

    S7:E11

    A young outlaw finds he has a knack for medicine and turns straight, telling Doc he wants to be his pupil.

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  23. Background image for Crooked Mile
    8.6/10(248 votes)

    #22 - Crooked Mile

    S10:E2

    Cyrus Degler is determined to keep Quint away from his 19-year old daughter, but no threats or beatings can keep them apart. They are about to leave town to get married when cousin Praylie comes to town bent on putting a stop to their plans any way he has to.

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  24. Background image for Durham Bull
    8.5/10(242 votes)

    #23 - Durham Bull

    S7:E26

    Little Bit and his grandpa, from Texas, are passing through Dodge after buying a breeding bull. When they meet Silva, someone grandpa considers a "fooler", they have their hands full making it back with their stock and their lives.

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    Director:Harry Harris
    Writer:Unknown
  25. Background image for Cotter's Girl
    8.5/10(2 votes)

    #24 - Cotter's Girl

    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.

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  26. Background image for Daddy Went Away
    8.5/10(2 votes)

    #25 - Daddy Went Away

    S8:E35

    Chester is sweet on a widow dressmaker. When the widow is not only intent on marriage but eager to make changes in Chester as well, he has second thoughts--especially after a talk with her child suggests that the widow may still be a wife.

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Best Episodes Summary

"Blind Man's Bluff" is the best rated episode of "Gunsmoke". It scored 10/10 based on 1 votes. Directed by Ted Post and written by John Meston, it aired on 2/23/1963. This episode scored 0.0 points higher than the second highest rated, "Anybody Can Kill a Marshal".