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The Best Episodes of Gunsmoke Season 20

Every episode of Gunsmoke Season 20 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of Gunsmoke Season 20!

Binge this in 18h 0m•Peaking at 8.9/10

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 20 Episode 1 - Matt Dillon Must Die
    8.2/10(216 votes)

    #1 - Matt Dillon Must Die

    S20:E1

    A mountain family in an attempt to avenge the death of one of their own capture Matt.

    Director:Victor French
    Writer:Ray Goldrup

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  2. Gunsmoke Season 20 Episode 2 - Town in Chains
    7.5/10(158 votes)

    #2 - Town in Chains

    S20:E2

    A group of bandits attempt to rob a town while masquerading as soldiers.

    Director:Bernard McEveety
    Writer:Ron Bishop

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  3. Gunsmoke Season 20 Episode 3 - The Guns of Cibola Blanca (1)
    7.7/10(172 votes)

    #3 - The Guns of Cibola Blanca (1)

    S20:E3

    Doc and fellow stage passenger, Lyla are captured by renegade comancheros.

    Director:Gunnar Hellström
    Writer:Paul Savage

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  4. Gunsmoke Season 20 Episode 4 - The Guns of Cibola Blanca (2)
    7.9/10(167 votes)

    #4 - The Guns of Cibola Blanca (2)

    S20:E4

    Matt, Festus and Newly attempt to rescue Doc and Lyla from Shindrow's camp.

    Director:Gunnar Hellström
    Writer:Paul Savage

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  5. Gunsmoke Season 20 Episode 5 - Thirty a Month and Found
    8.4/10(197 votes)

    #5 - Thirty a Month and Found

    S20:E5

    Matt houses a drunk Will & Friends in the jail they go looking for $300 that they think Bill took. Matt thinks it was a misunderstanding. Will doesn't want to tell Matt that they shot Curly Wills (They buried him before going to Dodge. Doak stops to see his girlfriend and says marriage will need to wait, as Will & Quincy leaves without Doak Quincy and the storekeepers are shot.

    Director:Bernard McEveety
    Writer:Jim Byrnes

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  6. Gunsmoke Season 20 Episode 6 - The Wiving
    6.6/10(220 votes)

    #6 - The Wiving

    S20:E6

    Jed Hockett(Harry Morgan), a farmer, orders his three boys to go to town and return with prospective brides.

    Director:Victor French
    Writer:Earl W. Wallace

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  7. Gunsmoke Season 20 Episode 7 - The Iron Men
    8.0/10(180 votes)

    #7 - The Iron Men

    S20:E7

    Matt and former lawman now turned alcoholic, Chauncey Demon go up against land baron Carl Ryker.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:John Mantley

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  8. Gunsmoke Season 20 Episode 8 - The Fourth Victim
    8.7/10(217 votes)

    #8 - The Fourth Victim

    S20:E8

    A series of seemingly random killings have the citizens of Dodge City in near panic, but Dillon believes they are part of a pattern in which Doc is slated to be the next target.

    Director:Bernard McEveety
    Writer:Unknown

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  9. Gunsmoke Season 20 Episode 9 - The Tarnished Badge
    8.4/10(217 votes)

    #9 - The Tarnished Badge

    S20:E9

    Matt's friend, Sheriff Harker runs his town ruthlessly, punishing anyone disobeying him.

    Director:Michael O'Herlihy
    Writer:Unknown

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  10. Gunsmoke Season 20 Episode 10 - In Performance of Duty
    8.6/10(183 votes)

    #10 - In Performance of Duty

    S20:E10

    Matt is frustrated by Judge Kendall's insistence that the letter of the law be maintained, which could result in Emmett Kaysinger and his boys, all known outlaws, be set free unless there is solid evidence to hold them for a double murder and robbery they committed.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  11. Gunsmoke Season 20 Episode 11 - Island in the Desert (1)
    8.8/10(218 votes)

    #11 - Island in the Desert (1)

    S20:E11

    Festus, in the desert hunting escaped killer Gard Dixon is wounded by the outlaw. He is found by Ben Snow, a half-crazy hermit who has been living in the desert with his gold for many years.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  12. Gunsmoke Season 20 Episode 12 - Island in the Desert (2)
    8.9/10(204 votes)

    #12 - Island in the Desert (2)

    S20:E12

    While Matt and Newly hunt for Festus, Ben Snow and Festus attempt to haul his gold out of the desert.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  13. Gunsmoke Season 20 Episode 13 - The Colonel
    8.1/10(182 votes)

    #13 - The Colonel

    S20:E13

    Lee J. Cobb and his daughter Julie Cobb appear together for the first time when Cobb guest-stars as a once-proud military officer who is suddenly faced with a painful and unplanned reunion with his daughter.

    Director:Bernard McEveety
    Writer:Unknown

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  14. Gunsmoke Season 20 Episode 14 - The Squaw
    8.5/10(213 votes)

    #14 - 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.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  15. Gunsmoke Season 20 Episode 15 - The Hiders
    7.8/10(153 votes)

    #15 - The Hiders

    S20:E15

    A farmer comes by and asks Sharp where is cow is, Matt tells the milk cow owner that he has no proof to arrest ""the hiders."" The farmer wants to go after them himself. Matt tells the men that will leave Dodge if anyone else complains. Dink escapes from Carp after being hurt, Festus finds Dink and treats his wounds. Dink tells Festus he likes waking up in the morning, Martha warns Dink to watch for Carp. Carp asks Dink to help kill Festus.

    Director:Victor French
    Writer:Paul Savage

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  16. Gunsmoke Season 20 Episode 16 - Larkin
    7.9/10(190 votes)

    #16 - Larkin

    S20:E16

    Newly finds himself in a strange alliance with a professional killer as he tries to return to Dodge City with his prisoner (Jaeckel) before they are both killed by a trio of bounty hunters.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  17. Gunsmoke Season 20 Episode 17 - The Fires of Ignorance
    8.2/10(200 votes)

    #17 - The Fires of Ignorance

    S20:E17

    Henry Decory is a schoolteacher who makes a strong statement for compulsory education for frontier children as a stubborn father feels that books and education are a waste of time and tries to keep his son Tommy out of school.

    Director:Victor French
    Writer:Unknown

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  18. Gunsmoke Season 20 Episode 18 - The Angry Land
    8.2/10(180 votes)

    #18 - The Angry Land

    S20:E18

    Matt takes a young orphan Bessie Sutherland after her parents were killed on the prairie, to live with her Aunt Rachel. Rachel tells Matt that because of the devastating experiences that she has had, does not want to take in her niece, besides she wants to sell her land.

    Director:Bernard McEveety
    Writer:Unknown

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  19. Gunsmoke Season 20 Episode 19 - Brides and Grooms
    5.5/10(196 votes)

    #19 - Brides and Grooms

    S20:E19

    Farmer Jed Hackett (Harry Morgan) decides it's time for his three sons marry the women they brought back from Dodge City.

    Director:Victor French
    Writer:Earl W. Wallace

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  20. Gunsmoke Season 20 Episode 20 - Hard Labor
    7.7/10(180 votes)

    #20 - Hard Labor

    S20:E20

    Matt Dillon is sentenced to life imprisonment of hard labor for shooting a fugitive in the town of Bedrock.

    Director:Bernard McEveety
    Writer:Earl W. Wallace

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  21. Gunsmoke Season 20 Episode 21 - I Have Promises to Keep
    8.3/10(192 votes)

    #21 - I Have Promises to Keep

    S20:E21

    Festus is caught in the middle when an Eastern preacher (David Wayne) wants to build a church for the Indians and the townspeople to share, but by all of whom that are filled with prejudice.

    Director:Vincent McEveety
    Writer:Earl W. Wallace

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  22. Gunsmoke Season 20 Episode 22 - The Busters
    8.6/10(212 votes)

    #22 - The Busters

    S20:E22

    Two bronco busters try to raise money for a ranch in Montana, only to have the dream ruined when one of them gets a death threatening head injury when thrown off by a wild stallion.

    Directors:Bernard McEveety, Vincent McEveety
    Writer:Unknown

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  23. Gunsmoke Season 20 Episode 23 - Manolo
    6.0/10(181 votes)

    #23 - Manolo

    S20:E23

    Manolo (Robert Urich)is a Basque youth who is not recognized as a man in the eyes of his people because he refuses to fight his father Alejo (Nehemiah Persoff), a traditional Basque custom to prove one's manhood.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Earl W. Wallace

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  24. Gunsmoke Season 20 Episode 24 - The Sharecroppers
    7.1/10(216 votes)

    #24 - The Sharecroppers

    S20:E24

    A comedy of errors puts Festus behind a plow, farming for a family of shiftless sharecroppers.

    Director:Leonard Katzman
    Writer:Earl W. Wallace

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Season 20 Ratings Summary

"Matt Dillon Must Die" is the best rated episode of "Gunsmoke" season 20. It scored 8.2/10 based on 216 votes. Directed by Victor French and written by Ray Goldrup, it aired on 9/9/1974. This episode is rated 0.7 points higher than the second-best, "Town in Chains".