8.2/10192 votes#1 - Matt Dillon Must Die
Season 20 Episode 1 - Aired 9/9/1974
A mountain family in an attempt to avenge the death of one of their own capture Matt.
Director: Victor French
Writer: Ray Goldrup
7.4/10140 votes#2 - Town in Chains
Season 20 Episode 2 - Aired 9/16/1974
A group of bandits attempt to rob a town while masquerading as soldiers.
Director: Bernard McEveety
Writer: Ron Bishop
7.7/10152 votes#3 - The Guns of Cibola Blanca (1)
Season 20 Episode 3 - Aired 9/23/1974
Doc and fellow stage passenger, Lyla are captured by renegade comancheros.
Director: Gunnar Hellström
Writer: Paul Savage
7.9/10148 votes#4 - The Guns of Cibola Blanca (2)
Season 20 Episode 4 - Aired 9/30/1974
Matt, Festus and Newly attempt to rescue Doc and Lyla from Shindrow's camp.
Director: Gunnar Hellström
Writer: Paul Savage
8.3/10176 votes#5 - Thirty a Month and Found
Season 20 Episode 5 - Aired 10/7/1974
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
6.6/10191 votes#6 - The Wiving
Season 20 Episode 6 - Aired 10/14/1974
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
8.0/10156 votes#7 - The Iron Men
Season 20 Episode 7 - Aired 10/21/1974
Matt and former lawman now turned alcoholic, Chauncey Demon go up against land baron Carl Ryker.
Director: N/A
Writer: John Mantley
8.7/10190 votes#8 - The Fourth Victim
Season 20 Episode 8 - Aired 11/4/1974
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: N/A
8.3/10186 votes#9 - The Tarnished Badge
Season 20 Episode 9 - Aired 11/11/1974
Matt's friend, Sheriff Harker runs his town ruthlessly, punishing anyone disobeying him.
Director: Michael O'Herlihy
Writer: N/A
8.6/10155 votes#10 - In Performance of Duty
Season 20 Episode 10 - Aired 11/18/1974
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: N/A
Writer: N/A
8.8/10194 votes#11 - Island in the Desert (1)
Season 20 Episode 11 - Aired 12/2/1974
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: N/A
Writer: N/A
8.8/10182 votes#12 - Island in the Desert (2)
Season 20 Episode 12 - Aired 12/9/1974
While Matt and Newly hunt for Festus, Ben Snow and Festus attempt to haul his gold out of the desert.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
8.0/10159 votes#13 - The Colonel
Season 20 Episode 13 - Aired 12/16/1974
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: N/A
8.4/10188 votes#14 - The Squaw
Season 20 Episode 14 - Aired 1/6/1975
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: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.7/10131 votes#15 - The Hiders
Season 20 Episode 15 - Aired 1/13/1975
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
7.9/10167 votes#16 - Larkin
Season 20 Episode 16 - Aired 1/20/1975
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: N/A
Writer: N/A
8.1/10168 votes#17 - The Fires of Ignorance
Season 20 Episode 17 - Aired 1/27/1975
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: N/A
8.1/10156 votes#18 - The Angry Land
Season 20 Episode 18 - Aired 2/3/1975
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: N/A
5.5/10172 votes#19 - Brides and Grooms
Season 20 Episode 19 - Aired 2/10/1975
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
7.5/10156 votes#20 - Hard Labor
Season 20 Episode 20 - Aired 2/24/1975
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
8.2/10170 votes#21 - I Have Promises to Keep
Season 20 Episode 21 - Aired 3/3/1975
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
8.4/10187 votes#22 - The Busters
Season 20 Episode 22 - Aired 3/10/1975
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.
Director: Vincent McEveety, Bernard McEveety
Writer: N/A
5.9/10158 votes#23 - Manolo
Season 20 Episode 23 - Aired 3/17/1975
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: N/A
Writer: Earl W. Wallace
7.0/10184 votes#24 - The Sharecroppers
Season 20 Episode 24 - Aired 3/31/1975
A comedy of errors puts Festus behind a plow, farming for a family of shiftless sharecroppers.
Director: Leonard Katzman
Writer: Earl W. Wallace
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!
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 20 Ratings Summary
"Matt Dillon Must Die" is the best rated episode of "Gunsmoke" season 20. It scored 8.2/10 based on 192 votes. Directed by Victor French and written by Ray Goldrup, it aired on 9/9/1974. This episode is rated 0.8 points higher than the second-best, "Town in Chains".