A former Army Officer wants Matt Dillon's job. Matt then takes Mr. Egan on his rounds.   Matt lets Egan try his brand of justice that almost costs Egan his life.

The Man Who Would Be Marshal

James Arness

Amanda Blake

Dennis Weaver

Milburn Stone

William D. Russell

Liar from Blackhawk

Daddy-O

After he is summoned unknowingly by Ben Pitcher to treat one of his cows, a human patient of Doc's dies. During a fight with Pitcher, Doc is knifed.

Cow Doctor

After his friend Ben Williams is shot down by Lou Shippen, Matt travels to Elkader to bring him him.  The only problem, he doesn't know what he looks like and the town is protecting Shippen.

Brush at Elkader

Matt refuses to turn the rustler Joe Trimble over to Major Banker for court-martial.

Custer

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

The Round Up

After gunman, Sam Kercher is killed by Matt, his 16-year-old brother arrives to fight Matt.

Young Man with a Gun

At Fort Dodge, home of the third cavalry, Mrs. Mary Cullen tells the colonel that the twelve year old white boy they recovered from the Cheyenne is her son Dennis. The tribe had taken him when he was two years old.

Indian White

Matt is used by an old friend in a con game.

How to Cure a Friend

Doc comes upon a homesteader with a busted leg—and a gun to protect himself from his wife.

Legal Revenge

Matt leaves Dodge City unprotected when he sets out to find a killer (Mike Connors) (Bert Rumsey credited as 'Bartender', but referred to by Chester as 'Sam Noonan').

The Mistake

An outlaw threatens to kill Doc if he does not help his wounded buddy.

Greater Love

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).

No Indians

Matt discovers that he was the intended victim of a murder he is investigating.

Spring Term

Matt helps a woman whose suitors are about to duel for her affections.

Poor Pearl

A landowner (Paul Fix) tries to terrorize homesteaders (Bartlett Robinson and Peg Hillias) off their land (Gordon Gebert, John Smith, and Stuart Whitman appear).

Cholera

An old buffalo hunter (Edgar Stehli) swears revenge on the skinner (Grant Withers) that left him to die (Richard Deacon appears as banker Botkin, Bert Rumsey credited as 'Bartender').

Pucket's New Year

Matt traps a cattleman (Tyler McVey) who shot two homesteaders (including Roy Engel) (Malcolm Atterbury and Vivi Janiss appear).

The Cover Up

An Indian woman (Angie Dickinson) faces prejudice for her father's raid on Dodge City (Peter Whitney and Paul Wexler appear).

Sins of the Father

A bank robber (Robert H. Harris) murders his wife and frames Tobeel (Frank de Kova) for the crime (Paul Lambert appears).

Kick Me

A young gunfighter, Tom Clegg, forces farmer Abe Curry into a duel and kills him. Matt can't arrest Clegg since Abe drew first. However, Abe's brother Morgan plots revenge.

Executioner

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

Gone Straight

The shooting of several members of an outlaw gang, though in self defense, triggers an emotional crisis in Matt, haunted by memories of all the men he has killed (Lawrence Dobkin, Russell Johnson, and Gloria Marshall appear).

Bloody Hands

An Eastern girl makes the long trip to Dodge, only to find that her fiancé has lost his money and won't marry her.

Skid Row

Rena Decker, a new dance hall girl, purposely gets her admirers into fighting over her. Despite Kitty's negative opinion of her, Matt befreinds Rena and gets her a job at the Long Branch. Soon afterward, 4 men are dead and Rena is the cause.

Sweet and Sour

Ex-gunslinger Joel Adams' past is about to catch up with him.

Cain

A Washington official is determined to tame Dodge City.

Bureaucrat

Kitty gets annoyed by a pair of old farmers who are each trying to have a fling with her.

Last Fling

Chester is drinking at the Long Branch and gets into an argument with a gambler over a girl. When the marshal breaks it up, he tells Chester to bring the man to jail. On the way there, the man is killed and everyone thinks Chester did it.

Chester's Murder

Dodge City meets a Photographer who shows the residents how a camera works.  Jacoby wants to take pictures of how the Wild West looks. When Matt learns someone died, he thinks the photographer may have hired someone to kill Grubby for a picture of the west.

The Photographer

A cowboy vows revenge for the shooting of his friend, who was mistaken for a criminal (Don Keefer and Catherine McLeod, real-life husband and wife, appear as a husband and wife).

Wrong Man

Philip Locke is looking for Laura Simmons, a saloon girl, but she doesn't want him to know where she works. Laura tells Matt that she and Philip were previously engaged, and she asks him not to say anything about her job. Philip warns Matt that he will be killed if he doesn't tell the truth.

Big Girl Lost

Matt fakes his death to lure a gunman (Vic Perrin) out in the open (Robert Karnes appears, Bert Rumsey credited as 'Sam').

What the Whiskey Drummer Heard

A former gunfighter has turned away from violence, but his fiancee's brother is determined to goad him into a gunfight.

Cheap Labor

After Charlie Brewer is found dead, Jack Salter who was a friend of Charlie Brewer comes to Matt's office saying Vint killed Brewer. Matt then tries to find out if Jack is right.

Moon

Joe Delk causes trouble at The Long Branch after shooting two men who were unarmed.

Who Lives by the Sword

Matt goes after an outlaw (Earle Hodgins) who shot Chester (Paul Wexler appears).

Uncle Oliver

Kitty's father, Wayne Russell, arrives in Dodge to meet his daughter after abandoning her and her mother as a baby.  He insists that saloon life is not fit for a proper lady and wants to take her back to New Orleans so he can pamper her and invest her savings in his freight business.

A braggart tries to provoke a gunfight with a harmless drunk.

Jack Kelly plays a hot-tempered husband who thinks Matt is after his wife.

Jealousy

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 West. The central character is lawman Marshal Matt Dillon, played by William Conrad on radio and James Arness on television.

The Man Who Would Be Marshal

Seasons20

Season 2 Episodes39

Cast4

Crew1

Discussion

Episode Summary