The Best Episodes of Gunsmoke Season 3

Episode Rankings

1. #1 Fan Favorite
   

   8.2/10(266 votes)

   #1 - Crack-Up

   S3:E19/14/1957

   Matt learns there is a hired killer in Dodge City, the hired killer gives Matt a challenge to find out who paid Nate Springer to kill Matt.

   Director:Ted Post

   Writer:John Meston

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   Director:Ted Post

   Writer:John Meston
2. 

   8.0/10(258 votes)

   #2 - Gun for Chester

   S3:E29/21/1957

   Chester believes Asa Ledbetter is out to kill him. After Chester is shot, he tells Matt Asa Ledbetter shot him. Matt worries that Chester may be working too hard on finding Asa Ledbetter. Asa Ledbetter claims Chester killed his brother.

   Director:Louis King

   Writer:Unknown

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   Director:Louis King

   Writer:Unknown
3. 

   7.8/10(240 votes)

   #3 - Blood Money

   S3:E39/28/1957

   After Harry Spencer's life is saved Matt receives a wanted poster for Joe Sharpe who robbed a bank. Matt learns that Joe and Shape left Dodge so Sharpe could try and get the reward money.

   Director:Louis King

   Writer:Unknown

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   Director:Louis King

   Writer:Unknown
4. 

   7.7/10(227 votes)

   #4 - Kitty's Outlaw

   S3:E410/5/1957

   Doc, Chester, and Matt suspect Kitty of helping a bank robber when she invites Matt to an out of the way spot for dinner. What they didn't know was that the bank robber was the first 'man' Kitty had ever known.

   Director:Andrew V. McLaglen

   Writer:John Meston

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   Director:Andrew V. McLaglen

   Writer:John Meston
5. 

   7.9/10(263 votes)

   #5 - Potato Road

   S3:E510/12/1957

   Budge wants the Marshall to arrest his Pa for murder but when they get to Budge's house they get captured by Bud & his Ma so they can rob the bank.

   Director:Ted Post

   Writer:Unknown

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   Director:Ted Post

   Writer:Unknown
6. 

   7.5/10(223 votes)

   #6 - Jesse

   S3:E610/19/1957

   Jesse comes to Dodge to kill the man who killed his Pa.

   Director:Andrew V. McLaglen

   Writer:Unknown

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   Director:Andrew V. McLaglen

   Writer:Unknown
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7. 

   7.8/10(240 votes)

   #7 - Mavis McCloud

   S3:E710/26/1957

   Mavis McCloud comes to Dodge to get married. She marries Barny but Lou Staley comes looking for Mavis and wants to kill Barney and the Marshall.

   Director:Buzz Kulik

   Writer:Unknown

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   Director:Buzz Kulik

   Writer:Unknown
8. 

   7.6/10(207 votes)

   #8 - Born to Hang

   S3:E811/2/1957

   Joe Digger wants to kill the two men who tried to lynch him.

   Director:Buzz Kulik

   Writer:Unknown

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   Director:Buzz Kulik

   Writer:Unknown
9. 

   7.5/10(221 votes)

   #9 - Romeo

   S3:E911/9/1957

   A powerful landowner threatens to wipe out Dodge when his daughter falls in love with the son of his archenemy. Matt has to find a way to stop it.

   Director:Ted Post

   Writer:Unknown

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   Director:Ted Post

   Writer:Unknown
10. 

    8.4/10(303 votes)

    #10 - Never Pester Chester

    S3:E1011/16/1957

    When Matt sends Chester out to handle a rowdy couple of cow pokers, Chester ends up nearly dead. Matt is so guilt ridden he vows to find the men who did it and make them pay.

    Director:Richard Whorf

    Writer:Unknown

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    Director:Richard Whorf

    Writer:Unknown
11. 

    7.5/10(225 votes)

    #11 - Fingered

    S3:E1111/23/1957

    The people of Dodge gets suspicious of Jim Cobbett (John Larch) when his second wife (Virginia Christine) vanishes just like his first (Karl Swenson appears).

    Director:Unknown

    Writer:Unknown

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    Director:Unknown

    Writer:Unknown
12. 

    8.1/10(242 votes)

    #12 - How to Kill a Woman

    S3:E1211/30/1957

    Pernell Roberts appears in this episode, as Matt tries to find a killer who robbed the stagecoach.

    Directors:Sam Peckinpah, John Rich

    Writer:Unknown

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    Directors:Sam Peckinpah, John Rich

    Writer:Unknown
13. 

    7.9/10(225 votes)

    #13 - Cows and Cribs

    S3:E1312/7/1957

    The whole town is caught up in a mystery: where does Joe Nadler get all his money---and where does he go to spend it?

    Director:Richard Whorf

    Writers:John Meston, Kathleen Hite

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    Director:Richard Whorf

    Writers:John Meston, Kathleen Hite
14. 

    8.5/10(275 votes)

    #14 - Doc's Reward

    S3:E1412/14/1957

    Doc kills a man who shoots his horse. The man's brother comes looking for Doc because he thinks Doc killed his brother for reward money.

    Director:Richard Whorf

    Writer:Unknown

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    Director:Richard Whorf

    Writer:Unknown
15. 

    7.6/10(238 votes)

    #15 - Kitty Lost

    S3:E1512/21/1957

    An eastern dude asks Kitty if she'd like to take a midnight drive, but when she doesn't return the next day, Matt goes looking.

    Director:Ted Post

    Writer:Unknown

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    Director:Ted Post

    Writer:Unknown
16. 

    7.6/10(244 votes)

    #16 - Twelfth Night

    S3:E1612/28/1957

    A hillbilly arrives in Dodge looking to continue a feud started back in the hills of Virginia.

    Director:John Rich

    Writer:Unknown

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    Director:John Rich

    Writer:Unknown
17. 

    7.9/10(256 votes)

    #17 - Joe Phy

    S3:E171/4/1958

    Matt goes to Elkader after the man who shot him and runs into Joe Phy "US Marshall".

    Director:Ted Post

    Writer:Unknown

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    Director:Ted Post

    Writer:Unknown
18. 

    8.0/10(260 votes)

    #18 - Buffalo Man

    S3:E181/11/1958

    Matt & Chester are taken prisoner by two buffalo hunters who are hunting buffalo in Indian territory. The hunters leave them tied to a wagon in hopes that the Indians will kill them.

    Director:Ted Post

    Writer:Unknown

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    Director:Ted Post

    Writer:Unknown
19. 

    7.6/10(234 votes)

    #19 - Kitty Caught

    S3:E191/18/1958

    The Gunner brothers rob the bank in Dodge and take Kitty hostage.

    Director:Richard Whorf

    Writer:Unknown

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    Director:Richard Whorf

    Writer:Unknown
20. 

    7.7/10(219 votes)

    #20 - Claustrophobia

    S3:E201/25/1958

    Ollie Ridgers is a free spirited man who hates towns and lives free on the prairie. His friend Jim Branch convinces Ollie to go into Dodge for a good time at Miss Kitty's saloon. While Ollie is in town, two men kill Ollie's hogs and mule. Ollie goes after the two men thus killing one of the men. Matt is forced to arrest his good friend Ollie for killing one of the men. After Ollie has been found guilty of murder and sentenced to a long prison term, Ollie's friend, (Jim Branch) kills Ollie to spare Ollie from the cruelty of being being incarcerated for the rest of his life.

    Director:Ted Post

    Writer:John Meston

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    Director:Ted Post

    Writer:John Meston
21. 

    7.7/10(253 votes)

    #21 - Ma Tennis

    S3:E212/1/1958

    Andy Tennis kills a gambler. Matt arrests him but Andy's mother breaks him out of jail.

    Director:Buzz Kulik

    Writer:Unknown

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    Director:Buzz Kulik

    Writer:Unknown
22. 

    6.8/10(223 votes)

    #22 - Sunday Supplement

    S3:E222/8/1958

    Clifton Bunker and Samuel Spring, writers from New York, come to Dodge looking for a story. Finding none they stir up trouble to get a story.

    Director:Richard Whorf

    Writer:Unknown

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    Director:Richard Whorf

    Writer:Unknown
23. 

    7.8/10(232 votes)

    #23 - Wild West

    S3:E232/15/1958

    Hattie throws in with two men to kill her husband and then sell his ranch for the money. Yorky Kelley sees the men ride off with his father and trails them till his horse breaks a leg. On the prarie Yorky finds Marshall Dillon and asks for his help finding his Pa.

    Director:Richard Whorf

    Writer:Unknown

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    Director:Richard Whorf

    Writer:Unknown
24. 

    8.8/10(360 votes)

    #24 - The Cabin

    S3:E242/22/1958

    Matt get caught in a blizzard then finds shelter in a cabin but finds more than he bargained for.

    Director:John Rich

    Writer:John Meston

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    Director:John Rich

    Writer:John Meston
25. 

    7.6/10(252 votes)

    #25 - Dirt

    S3:E253/1/1958

    Nat Seiber and Polly Troyman are to be married. When Polly's younger Brother finds out that Nat had visited another woman (Beulah)late one evening at her house, Polly's Brother (Henry Troyman) thinks that Nat has dishonored his Sister Polly and promises to stop the wedding anyway he can. When Nat is shot on his wedding day, everyone thinks Polly's Brother committed the shooting. After Matt and Chester do an investigation, Matt comes to another conclusion about the shooting of Nat Seiber.

    Directors:Ted Post, Sam Peckinpah

    Writer:Sam Peckinpah

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    Directors:Ted Post, Sam Peckinpah

    Writer:Sam Peckinpah