A coward gambler, who's too cheap to hire a gunman, wants Matt dead for a beating he got from him years ago, so he starts some talk around Dodge about the big reputation any person could gain, if they simply killed Matt.

The Coward

James Arness

Amanda Blake

Dennis Weaver

Milburn Stone

Jesse Hibbs

The F.U.

The Bear

Matt resigns as Marshall after Tom Samples accuses Matt of killing an innocent man;however, Doc and Matt's old friend Wild Bill Hickok come up with a plan that might clear Matt of this erroneous charge of murder.

Matt for Murder

Matt doubts the veracity of Long Branch hostess Holly Fanshaw's claim that she saw trail drover Fly Hoyt murder young Dave Thorp. His suspicions increase further when Hoyt voluntarily returns to Dodge in order to clear his name.

The Patsy

Matt believes white smugglers supplied the guns that a band of Pawnee used to attack local ranchers.

Gunsmuggler

Two murders result when an unscrupulous Eastern businessman named Ivy hires a psychotic killer to help him establish undisputed control of Dodge City's freight shipment business.

Monopoly

A rich landowner seizes the chance to get a little more acreage when he discovers that a homesteader has failed to file the paperwork to make his quarter section his own.

Letter of the Law

Matt and Chester, out of water while riding back to Dodge, come upon a man with two fine horses who is not very trusting. When they meet him later in Dodge, he is much different: friendly and spending money freely.

Thoroughbreds

A stagecoach on which Matt and Chester are riding is robbed and another passenger is murdered. Matt utilizes a ruse to incriminate the thieves when a "cowboy" appears and offers to show him where one of the thieves may be buried.

Stage Hold-Up

Matt refuses to arrest his friend Ben Tiple without more evidence, when the man he has been feuding with is found shot in the back.

Lost Rifle

When a stranger leading some immigrants planning on settling outside of Dodge wants Matt to give him a badge to avert trouble, Matt gets suspicious and rides out to their camp to see what is really up.

Land Deal

After mild-mannered Hank Blenis is "lynched" by the two men who stole his horse, self-righteous Charlie Drain decides to take the law into his own hands and is led tragically astray by the culprits.

Lynching Man

Two gamblers find Matt incorruptible and attempt to intimidate him by hiring gunman Toque Morlan. The two are ironically unaware that Morlan was Matt's close friend until a long-ago attack by a mob left Morlan scarred and harboring a bitter grudge against lawmen.

How to Kill a Friend

White men pretending to be Indians attack greenhorn Harry Pope at night, and he kills one of them. Now the dead man's friends want revenge.

Grass

When Doc arrives too late to save his patient, her husband, a good friend of Matt's, blames Doc for her death.

The Cast

Financially desperate Jack Fitch robs a stagecoach and abducts passenger Laura Church, unaware that she is "engaged" to an unscrupulous businessman who threatened to ruin her father if he did not agree to the marriage.

Robber Bridegroom

Claustrophobic plainsman Poney Thompson is arrested for murdering a man who maliciously shot his dog, but an ironic fate awaits him after he breaks free from Chester's custody.

Snakebite

Matt's attempt to find a man who shot at him from ambush leads him and Chester into the middle of a murderous feud between two bitter and isolated mountain families.

Gypsum Hills Feud

Over the objections of his sometime partner Rod Allison, treacherous Jim Box murders aging rancher Jesse Wheat, then attempts to steal cattle from Wheat's young widow.

Young Love

Matt goes along with a hoax when Chester's aging Uncle Wesley arrives for a visit.  Wesley thinks Chester is the marshal and Dillion is his assistant.

Marshal Proudfoot

A man's house is burned and his livestock killed, but he refuses to identify the perpetrators to the marshal.

Passive Resistance

An old friend of Doc's, a nurse, is visiting and he hopes she will stay around Dodge. In the meantime Matt is worried that an ex-con is gunning for him even though he thought he was innocent five years ago.

Love of a Good Woman

Trail boss Dolph Quince sends for his friend Matt to help escort his cattle herd into Dodge because he is having trouble with Jayhawkers (Kansas renegades), and he hopes to ease the animosity his men have towards all Kansans.

Jayhawkers

An old friend of the family comes to Dodge looking for Kitty, but when he finds out she's a saloon owner, he's dismayed.  Intent on defending her honor wherever she is insulted, he nearly gets himself killed.  Kitty finally tells him that she has no honor, and he keeps making a fool out of himself thinking otherwise.  It sends him away and saves his life at the same time.

Kitty's Rebellion

Young Billy flees Dodge in fear after being suspected of shooting dead an older saloon girl whose sexual advances he had been resisting.

Doc takes hard the death of a homesteader under his care; then a flashy new medicine man comes to town and takes away many of his patients.

Doc Quits

Rivalry for the affections of a former saloon gal leads to a frame-up for murder.

When Onie Becker is shot down on the streets of Dodge after quarreling with Al Clovis in a poker game, everyone thinks Al Clovis committed the shooting.

The plot thickens after Matt and Chester pursue Clovis on a train headed out of Dodge.

Men start killing each other over saloon girl Dolly Varden, who seems to bring gamblers luck just by standing next to them when they're playing cards.

Wind

After years of captivity, a white woman and her half-Indian daughter are set free by the Indians, but they are shunned in Dodge.

Fawn

A gunfight in the Long Branch forces Matt to arrest a drunk. Letting him go since it was a fair fight, he suspects him of selling guns to the Indians, and goes after him even though he may run into those Indians.

Renegade White

Matt and Dodge City's businessmen employ an unusual tactic to save ambush victim Lee Prentice from being taken to corrupt Baker City to face certain hanging on a trumped-up murder charge.

Murder Warrant

Matt becomes suspicious when Jerry Cass's plans to marry saloon hostess Bella Grant are complicated by Bella's sudden insistence that Jerry leave his recently-inherited ranch for six months.

Change of Heart

Marshal Dillon has to stop a ruthless, cold-blooded, greedy, buffalo hunter who is in the habit of brutally killing his hired help to avoid paying them their wages.

Buffalo Hunter

Matt tries to help Andy Hill, a young gunman who is apparently trying very hard to go straight, by getting him a job riding shotgun on the stagecoach.

The Choice

Gunman Kin Creed arrives in Dodge determined to enhance his reputation by outdrawing Matt in a gunfight. He goes to great lengths to force Matt into a confrontation and is able to wound him, but it proves to be a pyrrhic victory.

There Was Never a Horse

Print Asper is suspected of attempted murder when he forces a crooked lawyer, at gunpoint, to return the ranch he stole from him, and the lawyer still ends up getting shot later by someone.

Print Asper

Dodge City's businessmen learn a hard lesson when they reject Matt's advice and hire a meek constable to handle a gang of rowdy but free-spending trail cowboys.

The Constable

Seriously injured Matt faces a moral dilemma when Blue Horse saves his life and prevents the escape of a prisoner. The Marshal knows that Blue Horse is being sought by the Cavalry as a fugitive from a reservation, and he is well aware that he is duty-bound to assist their search in any way possible.

Blue Horse

Matt seeks the help of wise Chief Long Robe to track down gunrunners who are supplying renegade Cheyenne braves with rifles used to murder prairie-dwelling families. Long Robe provides Matt with the needed information, but warns him that the death of even a single brave could lead to a violent uprising.

Cheyennes

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 Coward

Seasons20

Season 4 Episodes39

Cast4

Crew1

Discussion

Episode Summary