7.8/10208 votes#1 - The Lost
Season 17 Episode 1 - Aired 9/13/1971
Kitty is in a stage wreck and dazed and confused she sets out in the wild. Meeting up with a wild girl who does not speak, she winds up at a shack where a family takes her and the wild girl hostage. Intent on turning the child into a sideshow, they tie Kitty up but are stopped before they can get too far.
Director: Robert Totten
Writer: N/A
7.8/10165 votes#2 - Phoenix
Season 17 Episode 2 - Aired 9/20/1971
After convict wants to kill a man he has never seen before after he gets out of prison.
Director: Paul Stanley
Writer: N/A
7.9/10161 votes#3 - Waste (1)
Season 17 Episode 3 - Aired 9/27/1971
Matt helps a young boy find his mom while finding an outlaw.
Director: Vincent McEveety
Writer: N/A
8.0/10155 votes#4 - Waste (2)
Season 17 Episode 4 - Aired 10/4/1971
Matt helps a young boy find his mom while finding an outlaw.
Director: Vincent McEveety
Writer: N/A
7.7/10186 votes#5 - New Doctor in Town
Season 17 Episode 5 - Aired 10/11/1971
Dr. Chapman is arrested by Festus when he tries to sleep in Doc's office even though he has explained that Doc went to Baltimore to hone his medical skills. A letter explains that Doc felt so badly about a little girl's death that he could have prevented if he had been more in tune with modern medicine, that he had to leave. Not many in town are very cordial to Dr. Chapman and when Newly's shop blows up with Newly and Festus in it, they dislike him even more. Festus is all right, but Newly has a bone splinter in his brain and needs an operation. Chapman wins the town by performing the operation and saving Newly's life.
Director: Philip Leacock
Writer: N/A
7.1/10162 votes#6 - The Legend
Season 17 Episode 6 - Aired 10/18/1971
Ma Colter tries to dissuade her youngest son from following his older brothers into a life of crime.
Director: Philip Leacock
Writer: N/A
8.1/10203 votes#7 - Trafton
Season 17 Episode 7 - Aired 10/25/1971
Matt is out to find a gunfigther who killed two people.
Director: Bernard McEveety
Writer: N/A
7.4/10159 votes#8 - Lynott
Season 17 Episode 8 - Aired 11/1/1971
A former Marshall helps Matt by filling in for Matt, after he is wounded and sent to bed so he can rest.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
8.5/10188 votes#9 - Lijah
Season 17 Episode 9 - Aired 11/8/1971
A jury has the fate of a mountain man in it's hands.
Director: Irving J. Moore
Writer: William Blinn
7.8/10177 votes#10 - My Brother's Keeper
Season 17 Episode 10 - Aired 11/15/1971
While trying to hide from a storm Festus finds old Indian is about to die. Festus keeps trying to stop the indian from dying.
Director: Paul Stanley
Writer: N/A
8.7/10207 votes#11 - Drago
Season 17 Episode 11 - Aired 11/22/1971
Drago wants to find the person who killed a woman who helped him.
Director: Paul Stanley
Writer: N/A
8.4/10215 votes#12 - Gold Train: The Bullet (1)
Season 17 Episode 12 - Aired 11/29/1971
A hidecutter starts trouble in the Long Branch and Matt comes to the rescue throwing him out of town. When Festus goes up to fetch Dr. Chapman, he finds the old scudder there himself. Offering to buy Doc a drink, he can't resist and they surprise everyone down at the Long Branch. While they are all excited to see Doc, Matt is out checking the town and ends up shot in the back by the hidecutter he just threw out. Doc's homecoming is ruined when he realizes that if he tries to remove the bullet he could paralyze Matt and he doesn't want to be the one to do it. So, he contacts a surgeon in Denver, and loading Matt in the baggage car of the train, Kitty, Doc, Festus, and Newly all head for Denver along with a Federal gold shipment.
Director: Bernard McEveety
Writer: N/A
8.4/10184 votes#13 - Gold Train: The Bullet (2)
Season 17 Episode 13 - Aired 12/6/1971
As the train moves along to Denver we meet several passengers. One is a Pinkerton man handcuffed to Beth Tilton, a woman who doesn't want to go back to Colorado to her husband. The other, Allie Dawson, is a young girl that Newly befriends who does not believe in violence. The train is taken over by Jack Sinclair, an old enemy of Matt's. Matt had shot his hand off before sending him to prison. Making it look like Matt is a dead body in the baggage car, he is safe for now with Doc standing guard, but it can't last long. Kitty senses trouble when Beth starts cozying up to Jack Sinclair and worries she'll tell him what she knows. Warning her that she'll do anything for her man, Kitty watches Beth like a hawk. Festus and Newly are forced to help load the gold shipment on the wagon and when they get it loaded they end up driving off with it luring the gang out on foot to chase them. Beth tells one of the guards about Dillon in the back, and he goes to kill him.
Director: Bernard McEveety
Writer: N/A
8.6/10197 votes#14 - Gold Train: The Bullet (3)
Season 17 Episode 14 - Aired 12/13/1971
The conclusion to this three parter. Dillon kills the guard that was gunning for him and the passengers take the train back over. The only problem, all the fuel has been destroyed so they have to get more fast. Festus and Newly are still out with the gold leading the men from the train on foot. Dillon's legs are numb and Doc has no choice but to operate whether he cripples him or not. Leaving the gold shipment and taking the mules, Newly and Festus head back to the train to try to get it going. Sinclair has the men push the wagon back to the train and gets there in time to keep it from taking off. Beth tells Sinclair about Matt Dillon, but Dillon's faster than a gun even lying down and ends up killing him. The train takes off leaving the bad guys and all their gold sitting at the tracks with no way to get anywhere.
Director: Bernard McEveety
Writer: N/A
8.6/10270 votes#15 - P.S. Murry Christmas
Season 17 Episode 15 - Aired 12/27/1971
The meanest outlady in the US is coming to Dodge, at least that's what Festus has heard, but it's really Emma Grundy out to retrieve her seven orphans from Titus Spangler and take them back to the orphanage where they belong. The town finds it ludicrous that these children have never had a Christmas and plan on putting one on in the Long Branch. The problem arises when Mrs. Grundy arrives, and she has her own personal reasons for not giving the children Christmas. Kitty steps in to solve the problem single handedly and ends up messing things up worse than they were.
Director: Herb Wallerstein
Writer: William Kelley
7.9/10159 votes#16 - No Tomorrow
Season 17 Episode 16 - Aired 1/3/1972
Ben Justin must try and clear his name of false charges.
Director: Irving J. Moore
Writer: Richard Fielder
7.6/10153 votes#17 - Hidalgo
Season 17 Episode 17 - Aired 1/10/1972
After Matt is hurt, He makes friends who must help him stay alive.
Director: Paul Stanley
Writer: N/A
7.4/10164 votes#18 - Tara
Season 17 Episode 18 - Aired 1/17/1972
Newly falls in love with a woman who could put him in danger, once her past is known.
Director: Bernard McEveety
Writer: William Kelley
7.5/10164 votes#19 - One for the Road
Season 17 Episode 19 - Aired 1/24/1972
Lucius's daughter wants her dad locked up so she and Tom can have the estate. Judge Broker thinks Mr. Prince is sane and Mr. Prince proves he can be a dad.
Director: Bernard McEveety
Writer: N/A
7.8/10159 votes#20 - The Predators
Season 17 Episode 20 - Aired 1/31/1972
A former gunfighter returns to Dodge which worries Matt because Howard Cane was the one to survive the rage war. Can Matt stop him before more trouble comes to Dodge?
Director: Bernard McEveety
Writer: N/A
7.9/10184 votes#21 - Yankton
Season 17 Episode 21 - Aired 2/7/1972
A drifter wants to marry the rich family's daughter
Director: Vincent McEveety
Writer: N/A
7.5/10139 votes#22 - Blind Man's Buff
Season 17 Episode 22 - Aired 2/21/1972
A man gets shot, loses his memory, and gets taken in by a lonely woman
Director: Herb Wallerstein
Writer: N/A
8.4/10186 votes#23 - Alias Festus Haggin
Season 17 Episode 23 - Aired 3/6/1972
Festus is mistaken for a killer.
Director: Vincent McEveety
Writer: N/A
7.8/10182 votes#24 - The Wedding
Season 17 Episode 24 - Aired 3/13/1972
A father disapproves of the man her daughter marries.
Director: Bernard McEveety
Writer: N/A
The Best Episodes of Gunsmoke Season 17
Every episode of Gunsmoke Season 17 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of Gunsmoke Season 17!
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...
Genres:WesternAction & AdventureDrama
Network:CBS
Season 17 Ratings Summary
"The Lost" is the best rated episode of "Gunsmoke" season 17. It scored 7.8/10 based on 208 votes. Directed by Robert Totten and written by N/A, it aired on 9/13/1971. This episode is rated 0.0 points higher than the second-best, "Phoenix".